Eratosphere - Blogs http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php Eratosphere Forums - Metrical Poetry, Free Verse, Fiction, Art, Poetry Translation, Critique en Wed, 22 May 2013 02:54:01 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/images/visioncollison/misc/rss.jpg Eratosphere - Blogs http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php <![CDATA[because of "uninspired"]]> http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=159 Sat, 06 Apr 2013 00:58:06 GMT Received call at 5: 34 p.m.: "Serge?" – "Hm?"
"M. is dead!" – "Sure, asshole!" – "I’m so sorry."
"Wait!" – I dropped the phone, rolled a Blitz-joint. Stick
From lovely Muang Thai. Shouted: "Gotta pee. Hold on!"
Bathroom no option: stench like hell. Sink does it.
Lighting the stick: "K. what?" – It hit me like an angry boot in my face:
"Serge, she died in a car crash this morning! Switch on your fucking tv."
It was a grand scene in full color, they did not show the bodies
But I recognized the emerald Benz Coupé.
Leaned back, cried and did not understand.
Inhaled, noticed the stench, ignored the stench, “George!”

Had I seen his truck outside? Wait a sec … how come I’m here anyway?
She must have driven me back home. Did we have some horse here?
Total blackout. Last thing, very last thing: her green eyes sucking mine.
Nagas, Thai snake demons , hiss perfumed mantras directly into my clouded brains
The self of the I shrinks, a tiny black diamond explodes…

George’s a mess. Stinks. I hand him the last bottle from my stolen Whiskey supply:
Chivas, mind you. Throw 3 roofies into his gaping mouthhole.
You can tell: I like him. He wakes up. Love his smile. Fucked-up Sheffield trucker guy!
He’s trying to talk but of course it’s in vain. Just keep smiling so I know you’re good.
What, Jesus, what are we livin’ for? Love his blond hair. I’m not gay.

George! Ya think you can make it? Getting’ us downtown? He coughs:
Sure! – Got your license on you? – Wanna see? – No, it’s cool. Let’
s march!

We mount the cabin; 122 ° ; we roll the melting windows down.
You can’t miss it, George. Just roll ahead!
We roll, we smoke. “ Hitchcock!” – “Ya!”
“Turn to the right, then to the left and we’re done.”
Slow down, man. Left! – He’s such a sweetie! Some Turk
Fucked him down in Saloniki or Novy Sad, the dark Balkans,
Georgie lost his trailer back in Slovenia or Austria. Flotsam
On my dried-up shore. I needed a lift anyway so we smoothly
Make it downtown. Park at the city baths.
“Follow me!” – “Serge” – “Oh WHAT?” – “I, … I gotta go,
I think I just shit my pants!” – “GET LOST!”
On my own again I felt at home at once. Peers lurking
In front of our joint. M. is there, the dottoressa, brimming.
“Sweetie, what’s up? “- “ Come! Come! Serge, you ass, come over!”

“How is your boyfriend, M?” – “ Fuck you, Serge, want some?”
I gulp the pills down. “See that ass over there?” – “Ok?”
“He wants morphine. Got oxycodone” – “Haha, k, sure!”
She drives to his parents’ place: we park, we settle down,
He pays, more, he gets it, And then I like M.’s syringe in my vein!
“You said there were uhm… “ _ “Serge, you asshole, shut up!”
We are relaxed down in the park at the pond: the ducks are asleep.
“Nightbirds!” I yell. M. hits me with the Champagne bottle.
Hisses: “ Look at Heinz!” Heinz is staring at the moon and grins.
“Let’s go!” – she whispers. …
I think we left.

I sat there, embalmed with the stench George had left, and I did
Not really try to decipher his inane scribbling on that sheet of paper
He had put under the empty whiskey bottle.
I was M.’s official heir now. She seemed to have had some premonition.
A lot of people called, I’d never heard of. I spare you the dealing chatter.

M. - post mortem - made me rich. Why me I had no clue. We never had sex,
She did not love me. It seems I was just around at the right time.
George had abandoned me. I let myself and my apartment get wasted
By a schizophrenic punk songstress. One night I left the after-show party
Without her, puked in front of the restaurant and mounted a cab.
There was a red haired girl sitting next to me and that was you, as you know.

Oh, you know quite well, I don’t buy any metaphysical bullshit and still:
You were there! My guardian angel. And you bowed down for me,
Stretched yourself out, your limbs my playground, your ears my confessor.
And there was no sin big enough for you to stop loving me.
But still l craved Miryam, the punk girl. She satisfied my darker needs.
And so we all sailed lovingly into the abyss of insatiable human desire. ]]> moudiwort http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=159 S(w)ing Apocalypso http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=158 Thu, 04 Apr 2013 01:29:01 GMT (a lesson in Cockney, syncopation stomp

anf gospel funkified and loopings and infinite regress and Laing's knots)

swing apo-calypso so as sin copa tit sss st o(m)- p me now:

swing sing swing

swing apocalypso, a syncopated stomp, stop me now

Apo- so -ever-

calips-

so

sis

this

it

is:

This is where I'm coming from

(this) is where I'm heading at

Swing ellipsis

to sing it as sexy as I cum

sorry: can I – please say yes!

shake your hips, cutie,

shake your booty,

you'r for sure 's sexy as you cum

cum's to none's sur prizzzzzzzze

less oh so yessssssss

Swing apó-calyp-sis-

sie I dig do you to

do you

do me good too

and just as (s)wel l over

ever so yum

me is, sis:

swing sing this

sis

ap

ohhh

ca

lips-

,-)

---

I am incredibly grateful to Billy Preston singing to my ears in a never ending loop:

Swing down chariot (stop and

let me ride) and also of course to the composer of this sweet gospel song

and of course to the lyricist just as well ]]> moudiwort http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=158 pesach poem projectiles http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=157 Mon, 01 Apr 2013 12:30:51 GMT I.1.: title: [I]In order to exorcise the demons of pesach[/I]
I.2: in nuce: a cross/over attempt combining alf laila wa laila's frame story (according to Sir Richard Burton*) with the Jewish passover folk lore.
I.3: goal: to turn Dunyzade into the paschal lamb
I.4: motivation: because I can (show you)


I.5: show it to us: un pò più tardi!*****

I.6: teasers: (the skeleton roughly sketched.)

a) "Humming soothings to myself as dying tomcats do
I know, I must ignore my heart's voice
but it is Good Friday,
that one day of the year when miseries will likely happen.

But not to me.
(promise to myself)

My heart bleeds with the one on the cross,
even if my heart believes a lie. ...

b) And I want the ghosts of le renouveau catholique to disappear to me.

Huysmans has infected me and Bernanos made it worse. ...

c) "now that you have parked your jamal (camel) right next to our
badawiyyīn (bedouin) fire and are sitting down with a shisha smelling
almost criminally hashishly,
let me tell you this new to you anecdote,
another wild tale from mysterious mašriq . ..."

d) To break it down for you:

[I]alf[/I]:
a thousand
[I]laila[/I]:
night
[I]wa[/I]:
and
[I]laila[/I]: another one

and another night for Sheherazade to spin her yarn for the ḫalīf (caliphe)
just in order to save her little sister from being massacred by this monster
she, sheher now must entice him in order to charm away his evilness. ..."

e)" Zebaḥ Pesaḥ:


To quote the wise, the hakhamim : חכמים

[I] Only those who were circumcised and clean before the Law might participate; and they were forbidden to have leavened food in their possession during the act of killing the paschal lamb. The animal was slain on the eve of the Passover, on the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan, after the Tamid sacrifice had been killed, i.e., at three o'clock, or, in case the eve of the Passover fell on Friday, at two.[/I] (quoted from the Jewish encyclopedia**)

f) "By now, my friend, it must have become evident to you, that I will tell
the story of Dunyazade and the adventure of her not being butchered by this vile and mischievous Shahryar.

And by now also it will have become crystal clear to you, why I tell this cliffhanger fairy tale(s):

In order to
survive sorrow (melancholia de profundis****)
or to rephrase it:

In order to exorcise the demons of Easter. (the angel of death kept away from the Hebrew folk by way of the blood on their doors back then in Egypt. And we have another Pesah which we call Egyptian: Pesaḥ Miẓrayim.
And the blood that is to be smeared on the door is the blood of paschal lambs
to signal to the unspeakable malakh ha-mavet, to pass by this door."


[B]Comment by the author:[/B]

At the core, after I strip off all the religious and cultural layers from these 2 narratives, I get this basic rule:
[I][B]in order to live you have to kill.[/B][/I]

Eventually you still will die, but if you apply this rule you can postpone the moment of death.
I personally do [B]not [/B]believe this gory bullshit of course . ,-) I am just reporting .
But you could indeed say, that life is nothing else but the delay of the moment of death. Think of the presocratic Todeslose* or Beckett, but I strongly doubt that the latter is any less depressing a read. Or if you are more Alpine-bound, enjoy Jedermann.


Don't get me wrong : I don't offer solutions to help you cope with death. I mean: what have you done good for me to expect from me to please you back? We are definitely not in a [I]do ut des[/I] relation. Come on! If you really need soothers, then sure go for this lofty bletherings religions offer you. If you are able to delude yourself by believing this utter inanities, then go for it. I prefer more substantial lil helpers especially in their liquid form. I of course am aware, too, that I have to reapply them, preferably on a daily basis, just like Sheherazade has to make up another new lullaby for this pervert asshole aka death, but at least for as long as the magic spell of these spirits works for me, I am happy to report to you , from consumer to consumer, that I am quite satisfied about its effectiveness.

--------------
*[url]http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/burt1k1/[/url]
**[url]http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11934-passover-sacrifice[/url]
***"20. Clemens Alex., strom. 3,14,1

genomenoi zôein ethelousi
morous t' echein, mallon de anapauesthai;
kai paidas kataleipousi morous genesthai.

Einmal geboren, wollen sie leben,
und das heißt: Todeslose haben, oder vielmehr ausruhen;
und sie hinterlassen Kinder, damit neue Todeslose geboren werden."
zitiert nach /quoted from
this internet source:

[url]http://12koerbe.de/pan/herakl-1.htm[/url])

and here:

"γοῦν κακίζων φαίνεται τὴν γένεσιν, ἐπειδὰν φῇ· γενόμενοι ζώειν ἐθέλουσι μόρους τ' ἔχειν, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀναπαύεσθαι, καὶ παῖδας καταλείπουσι μόρους γενέσθαι."

[B]quoted from[/B]
Internet source:
[url]http://interglacial.com/~sburke/stuff/heracleitus/[/url]

once on that site please use the search function of your browser and type in: morous.
You will be surprised. ,-) has English rendering.

(and relax, I simply don't need to steal. I just wanted to make it easier for you to get the real thing. ;-) so I quote my sources. :-))

**** Democritus iunior (Robert Burton*) + Oscat Wilde** = survive sorrow

*****as I said: I'll show you procrastination ,-)

-----------------
*[url]http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10800/10800-h/10800-h.htm[/url]
** [url]http://www.gutenberg.org/files/921/921-h/921-h.htm[/url] ]]> moudiwort http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=157 <![CDATA[Eric Burdon's New CD, "'Til Your River Runs Dry"]]> http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=156 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 07:55:12 GMT Image: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8531/8452645549_7cbc6279cd_o.png You can listen to samples of music and also read an interview with Sixties...

You can listen to samples of music and also read an interview with Sixties English-born blues rocker Eric Burdon courtesy of Rolling Stone magazine at the following URL --

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...miere-20130126

I have been a follower of Burdon for almost fifty years, ever since as a schoolboy in Liverpool in 1965 I heard the diminutive frontman of the original Animals sing "In My Life." The song meant something to me -- the lyrics about a disadvantaged person succeeding whichever way they could -- and the Animals from Newcastle in the northeast of England with their gritty sound struck a chord with me given my own Liverpool background.

I soon became conversant with the other Animals hits, "The House of the Rising Sun," "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," "Don't Bring Me Down," and "We Gotta Get Out of This Place." When Burdon split from the first Animals and formed another Animals combo with some talented musicians, I followed them into the Flower Power era as they recorded "When I Was Young," "San Franciscan Nights," "Sky Pilot" and "Monterey." Later the second Animals line-up broke up and after a short period trying to break into acting, Burdon hooked up with the mostly African American combo War to record "Spill the Wine" and the long player The Black-Man's Burdon (1970). For the last forty some years, Burdon has been appearing solo with various line-ups and with varying success.

Recently Burdon has received a boost to his career from Bruce Springsteen who has performed onstage on "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" with the legendary former Animals front man as a guest. The Boss spoke about how hearing the Animals, fellow working class rockers, influenced him as an up and coming musician from Asbury Park, New Jersey. See Springsteen's 2012 Keynote Speech at South by Southwest in Austin on Youtube.

The last time I saw Burdon perform was a couple of years ago with another Animals lineup at the Ram's Head Tavern in Annapolis, Maryland -- a nice intimate cabaret-style venue, and he was sitting down and not standing or bouncing around as he has usually done while performing. I have since learned that he was experiencing severe back problems which have been remedied more recently with surgery. Burdon explained on the Tavis Smiley's PBS talk show that the enforced inactivity, unable to tour, led to the current album.

The lead-off track on 'Til Your River Runs Dry is called "Water" and you can watch the official video on the Rolling Stone site. Burdon told Tavis Smiley that the idea for the song came from former Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev whom he met. Somehow I can't bring myself to imagine Burdon and Gorbachev together... but nevertheless! In any case, the former Russian leader mentioned to Burdon that water is a worldwide problem... that the planet either has too much of it or not enough. This idea struck a chord with the singer who has lived for some 40 years in the arid southern California desert. He told Rolling Stone, "Some people are squandering the world's most precious resource while others have too little clean water to drink. At the same time, we have tsunamis and cities under water. And yet, we still ignore Mother Nature's warnings. I sing this song in the hope that I can bring some balance to the issue, to bring some awareness of the importance of water to our future on the planet."

The difference between the early songs sung by the Animals and Burdon's material now, and also a factor in the demise of the Animals -- apart from marked personality clashes between the band members and managerial mismanagement -- is that they were recording songs written by others: Lieber and Stoller, Goffin and King, etc. By contrast, Burdon is co-writer on the majority of the songs on this album, and presumably wrote most of the lyrics.

A much more subdued track, in which the blues shouter achieves some surprising falsetto notes is the thought-provoking "Devil and Jesus" (see the video) whose lyrics go "The Devil and Jesus / Controlling my soul / They fight with each other / But I pay the toll. . ."

I have been listening recently on my train trips between Baltimore and Washington D.C. to my work as a medical editor to Bob Dylan's recent CD Tempest (review upcoming in a future blog posting). It strikes me, as great as that CD is, you never get the feeling that the songs are about Dylan, rather he seems forever to be wearing a mask, always playing with the listener... he might use the terms "I" and "me" but it's a persona. With Burdon, it's different -- each of these songs, to various degrees, is transparently personal.

As a blues singer and rhythm and blues artist, Burdon has had a love affair with black America, going back to "The House of the Rising Sun" and beforehand in Newcastle... that song having been recorded by black blues singer Josh White in 1947, and adapted with swirling organ and mesmeric guitar licks by Animals organist Alan Price and lead guitarist Hilton Valentine. Thus perhaps it's no surprise that one of the tracks on the new album is the fun and funky "Bo Diddley Special" -- not the first time Burdon has sung about that rhythm and blues artist who did a show in the singer's native Newcastle in those early years, and whom Burdon describes in the lyrics as "The most African American I ever did know!" Nor that the ending track of the CD is a great version of Bo Diddley's "Before You Accuse Me" which fully matches some of the rhythm and blues numbers done by the original Animals.

Perhaps the nadir of Burdon's career was a track on his 1967 Winds of Change album, a pretentious piece titled the "Black Plague" (check it out if you dare on Youtube), and unfortunately "River Is Rising" begins with similar doomy shades as Burdon intones, "And darkness was upon the face of the deep / And the spirit of God moves upon the face of the water" ... but ultimately and luckily for us, the song shakes off such lugubriousness and becomes a funky, jazzy piece. And it does at least fit in with the water theme. :rolleyes:

Social consciousness is also a characteristic of "Memorial Day" which explores some themes that the singer has treated before (e.g., in 1968's "Sky Pilot" etc) -- how it is the poor that fight the nation's wars. The veteran singer told Rolling Stone, moreover, "on Memorial Day, I don't want to only remember the combatants. There were also those who came out of the trenches as writers and poets, who started preaching peace, men and women who have made this world a kinder place to live. So it's the hippies, the poets and the spartans that I will remember on this Memorial Day."

"Wait" is a poignant and engaging tribute to the singer's wife Marianna who took the atmospheric black and white photographs for the album.

"Old Habits Die Hard" contains the admission by the former Animals frontman that Scotland Yard has a file on him... er, well, along with Jagger, Richard, the late Brian Jones, a certain Sir Paul McCartney, and other rockers who indulged in drugs during the Sixties and Seventies: "Well, I was born in troubled times / Yeah, yeah, I've wasted my youth / Moving so fast / I missed middle age / but I found out the truth...."

In a similar vein, perhaps, "27 Forever" is an affecting song memorializing the singers who got involved with drugs and other celebrity excesses and didn't escape the grip of such vices. Burdon is now age 72 (he was born May 11, 1940 and will celebrate his 73rd birthday at his Southern California ranch in three months time). He knew and performed on the same stage as performers who died early such as Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix -- in fact, he knew Hendrix well: Chas Chandler, the bassist for the original Animals, became Hendrix's manager following the Geordie group's demise. After Hendrix's death on the night of September 18, 1970 at the Samarkand Hotel flat of Monika Danneman, in Landsdowne Crescent, Notting Hill, London, she called Burdon who advised her to call an ambulance (see the Rolling Stone obituary on Jimi Hendrix). The coroner's verdict was that the rockstar died after choking on his own vomit.

"Medicine Man" is a strong, affecting song that asks "who is gonna save the Medicine Man" -- Burdon said: "I fell in love with this song as soon as I heard it. It's penned by Mark Cohn. I never met the gentleman but this song is more than brilliant. It's a great story, a novel wrapped up in the form of a song." It could be about an Indian medicine man or equally about any doctor or healer.

Before the fine Bo Diddley track that closes the album there is "Invitation to the White House" which is something of a tour de force -- Eric Burdon's interesting reflections on and imagined interactions with President Barack Obama, yet another black man that Eric Burdon has romanced in song during his long career. The veteran singer mused to Rolling Stone -- "My visit with him was just a dream but maybe someday my dream could become a reality." ]]> ChrisGeorge http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=156 Your Support, Still http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=147 Mon, 31 Dec 2012 19:35:54 GMT Dear Eratosphereans,

It's time (or past time, going by the endless months of dry spell) to remind those can or are willing to, of the need to support Able Muse/Eratosphere per all the 'donate' links on the Sphere pages, or the sticky thread here.

Thanks!
...Alex ]]> Alex Pepple http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=147 <![CDATA[April Lindner's This Bed Our Bodies Shaped - Poems: Just Released]]> http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=146 Sat, 04 Aug 2012 16:07:29 GMT
Dear Eratosphereans:

I'm pleased to announce that This Bed Our Bodies Shaped, a 2011 Able Muse Book Award finalist, and the second full-length collection from our very own April Lindner has been released by Able Muse Press and is immediately available worldwide through Amazon, Barnes & Nobles and most popular distribution and retail channels here (ISBN 978-0-9878705-9-9). Or, just go to April's website, www.aprillindner.com, or the Able Muse Press website, www.ablemusepress.com. Besides the traditional print edition, an Amazon Kindle, and a Barnes & Nobles NOOK digital editions are also available now. A Kobo reader and Apple iTunes/iBooks digital edition should also be available within days.

Please, join me in congratulating April!

This Bed Our Bodies Shaped - poems by April Lindner

Blurbs from Denise Duhamel, Molly Peacock, Thomas Lux and Mark Jarman--

This Bed Our Bodies Shaped from April Lindner is a finalist in the 2011 Able Muse Book Award. This collection is a celebration of the universal human experience—childhood, puberty, parenthood, aging—from a uniquely personal and sensual perspective. Lindner's craft, which finds masterful and original expression in metrical and free verse, enlivens each experience until we seem part of the scene. Eavesdropping on this engagingly narrated life gives us startling new insights into our own.
"April Lindner’s This Bed Our Bodies Shaped is a beautifully intimate and domestic book about the culture of family—what we bring to each other, boldly or tentatively, and what can never be known. Lindner pauses at the imprints we leave, what is buried under sand and snow, what returns to us again and again. Her poems are tender and fierce, startling in their excavations.."
                                                                                     – Denise Duhamel
. . . read more

Cheers,
...Alex

]]> Alex Pepple http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=146 <![CDATA[James Pollock's Sailing to Babylon - Poems: Just Released]]> http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=145 Fri, 06 Jul 2012 20:58:46 GMT
Dear Eratosphereans:

I'm pleased to announce that Sailing to Babylon, the first full-length collection from James Pollock has been released by Able Muse Press and is immediately available worldwide through Amazon, Barnes & Nobles and most popular distribution and retail channels here (ISBN 978-0-9865338-7-7). Or, just go to James's website, www.james-pollock.com, or the Able Muse Press website, www.ablemusepress.com. Besides the traditional print edition, an Amazon Kindle and a Barnes & Nobles NOOK digital editions are also available now. An Apple iTunes/iBooks digital edition should also be available soon.

Please, join me in congratulating James!

Sailing to Babylon - poems by James Pollock
(with a Foreword by Jeffery Donaldson):
Blurbs from Edward Hirsch and Sven Birkerts--

Sailing to Babylon is the first full-length collection from James Pollock. These are poems of exploration and discovery of the self and the universal. Closer to home, there is the schoolboy fascination with the English teacher; the grandmother's old Bible; a Dantean-style extended account of a hiking adventure with a young son, fully realized in terza rima. Further out in time and geography, Pollock muses on figures from Canadian history—explorers Henry Hudson, David Thompson, and John Franklin; pioneering literary theorist Northrop Frye; and pianist Glenn Gould. Each of these quests has accompanying trials or triumphs. This is a collection full of surprises and pleasures, with a treasure-chest mapped for discovery in “an image of the world/ made small enough to hold inside the mind.” A book that has the power to take you “to the place/ exactly where you always meant to go.”
"You will hear in these poems something like the jouncing and ruckus of a wilderness traveler adjusting the gear on his back, steeling his resolve, finding his footings and heading off. In the end Pollock’s departures are an exploration of that inward Northwest Passage where the borderlines themselves between real and imagined, the present and the past, the found and the lost, seem almost to dissolve—passages, as Pollock says, “breaking up within”—and where, in this anthem of mixed voices, our wondering where home is becomes our wandering where home is. . . . I would almost prefer to be the reviewer, or some boastful exegete revealing to readers one hundred years from now some of the untold treasures that, its many readers notwithstanding, lie hidden here still."
                                                                                     – Jeffery Donaldson (from the Foreword)
. . . read more

Cheers,
...Alex

]]> Alex Pepple http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=145 <![CDATA[Lawrence Ferlinghetti's Paintings]]> http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=144 Sat, 23 Jun 2012 01:59:04 GMT Yes, the title reads correctly. He has an exhibition of his paintings opening up today, June 23, at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art and showing through September 23. There are some of examples of his artwork in the latest, July-August, issue of Poetry magazine. I don't subscribe but have been picking up the issues in this the periodical's centennial year, as I noted in a recent blog entitled "A Hundred Years of Pegasus."

As you might anticipate, seeing Ferlinghetti's name on the cover of the new issue, I plucked the magazine from the shelf fully expecting to read some poetry by Ferlinghetti, having been an admirer of his work since I saw a video of him reading "Dog" while I was attending Loyola College here in Baltimore circa 1969. I came across a nice Youtube video of five of his poems including "Dog" uploaded by PoemsBeingRead. Check it out.

Can't say I am too fussy about your art, Lawrence, sorry... a bit on the messy side, with a smudgy Jasper Johns feel to it, but I do like your poetry. I almost met you once, back in 1982 when I attended a poetry extravaganza at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Ginsberg was there and Gregory Corso along with English pop poet Adrian Mitchell and three Liverpool poets that I like, the late Adrian Henri, Brian Patten and Roger McGough. Also British poets Basil Bunting, aging, grizzled, and looking like Ezra Pound with a blanket over his thin legs, as I told him later after the show at a gathering at the Chelsea Arts Club, and Roy Fisher. Although you were on the program, you couldn't make it over to London. If I recall correctly you had been in a car accident which explained your absence. My loss!

The Liverpool triumvirate of poets, Henri, Patten, were heavily influenced by you and Ginsberg, and the other Beats. And didn't Allen declare in 1965 that "Liverpool is at the present moment the center of consciousness of the human universe." Pop poetry created in the Beatles' wake.

Adrian Henri was a painter as well as a poet. He painted a dramatic painting of tributes laid on the ground after the April 1989 football (soccer) disaster at Hillsborough, Yorkshire, in which 96 fans died when they were crushed and the authorities were slow in responding to the emergency. For shame. That's the painting below, "Flowers for Liverpool."

You can hear Adrian's elegy on the tragedy, "The Bell", if you go here.

Adrian told me that he felt in the shadow of Adrian Mitchell, now also now sadly passed on. But while Mitchell's work might have garnered more attention for its leftist political stances, Adrian Henri's work was softer edged and I think more heartfelt and poetic. I miss him.



Flowers for Liverpool by Adrian Henri, 1989 ]]> ChrisGeorge http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=144 My Own Promise http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=143 Sun, 03 Jun 2012 18:29:54 GMT I promised myself when I joined this site that I would take everything at face value, that I wouldn't become discouraged, and I wouldn't let anyone make me believe I'm not good enough. This is the pinky promise I made myself. I recieved a lot of negative comments, and I was made to feel like the poster child for all "novice" on this site. It was very discouraging. However, I also recieved several PMs that were very encouraging, and I was given some positive crit that I found helpful. So to those who were open to help I say thank you! I can't say it enough. I believe those of you who were encouraging are the reason I found the courage to submit to other publishers. Yesterday I recieved a letter in the mail saying that one of the pieces I submitted was being published in a book. The book is set to be released in August! I'm super excited. The irony is my piece is titled "Pinky Promise". So to the other "novice" here, I say: Keep your head up. Never quit and believe in yourself even if others do not. Your words are of value to someone, even if not to everyone! Best wishes to all.

Candi ]]> Candis Brooks http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=143 Tact http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=142 Thu, 24 May 2012 19:38:35 GMT I read the "Keep out" posts on the thread I started with a piece of my work. And now I just want to take the time to get out how I feel about this.

Respect goes a long way with me, if you want respect you give respect, if you give respect, you get respect. It's very simple. I feel like the point to be made would have come across A LOT more tactfully and respectfully, if it had been sent in a PM and not displayed publically. However, the moderator thought otherwise. To that, I say, you can't pick and choose which of the "guidelines" you want to use. If you are going to post on a thread I start, about me being a novice, and quote the "guidelines", then you should have noticed the part of the guidelines that states "You should raise reminders or complaints, especially ones involving Moderators, in private by PM, not in public on the Forums." I just feel that if you felt this needed said then you should have sent a private message to me, and worked it out with some tact and decorum. However, if you don't have tact, you don't have it and there isn't much anyone can do. ]]> Candis Brooks http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=142 New Able Muse (Print Edition, No. 13, Summer 2012) http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=141 Thu, 17 May 2012 16:08:46 GMT Image: http://www.ablemuse.com/v13/images/v13-book-front-cover2.jpg The NEW ISSUE of * The NEW ISSUE of ABLE MUSE, Print Editon (Number 13) - Summer 2012, has just been released, with order/subscription information (for print & Kindle editions), with online excerpts at: www.AbleMuse.com. The digital edition of the complete issue (available to the print edition subscribers only), is also available now online at www.ablemuse.com.

WITH THE 2011 ABLE MUSE WRITE PRIZE FOR POETRY —
Includes the honorable-mention poems.

Includes the 2011 Able Muse / Eratosphere 30-Day Workshop poetry & fiction winners.

editorial: Alex Pepple • featured artist: Andrew Ponomarenko • featured poet: Patricia Smith (interviewed by Reginald Dwayne Betts) • fiction: Janice D. Soderling, Rob Wright, Michael George • essays: Peter Byrne, Bruce Bromley, N.S. Thompson • book reviews: Stephen Collington • poetry: M.A. Schaffner, Brian Culhane, Timothy Murphy, Richard Wakefield, Wendy Videlock, Catharine Savage Brosman, Kim Bridgford, Jennifer Reeser, Julie Bruck, Ned Balbo, Anna M. Evans, Ed Shacklee, Gale Acuff, Matthew Buckley Smith, Adam Penna, Jay Rogoff, Sarah Giragosian, Michael Bradburn-Ruster, Tim Suermondt, Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas, Rob Wright, Carolyn Moore, John Beaton, Kevin Corbett, T.S. Kerrigan.

Read all the details at Able Muse.

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With special thanks for an outstanding new issue to -- Juleigh Howard-Hobson (Assistant Poetry Editor), Gregory Dowling (Nonfiction Editor), Nina Schuyler (Fiction Editor), Janice D. Soderling, Tim Love & John Riley (Assistant Fiction Editors). ]]> Alex Pepple http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=141 Migration Alert + Your Support http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=140 Sat, 07 Apr 2012 20:48:58 GMT Dear Eratosphereans,

We're being forced to move - that is, move the server and all the data. To explain what's going on in layman's terms, the bigger hosting company that's just acquired the one that had been hosting the server wants to shut down the facilities they've just acquired: they have handed out an eviction notice to transfer everything over to their own facilities proper in a month or so, or else.... The problem is that they're not lifting a finger to help so, I'm completely on my own on this!

Thus, this is just a heads-up to everyone that there's the likelihood that things will be in flux at the Eratosphere for an indeterminate amount of time in the near future as I figure out how to move that huge amount of data and services and web connectivity, etc. etc.; and, whether to stay with this company despite their pushy ways (since their service is very reliable), or look for something else to move the Eratosphere server to. I'm hoping the move will eventually happen non-destructively, and with little or no glitches. However, when we eventually reach the final switching point, there is the possibility of the loss of about a days worth of the most recent data. If that's the case, I'll post a special warning at that time.

Furthermore, this migration has the making of an expensive project. Since donations have dried up for an endless number months now, which means that I've been, as usual, carrying all the financial burden on my own, then this is a good time to remind those can or are willing to, of the need to support Able Muse/Eratosphere per all the 'donate' links on the Sphere pages, or the sticky thread here.

Cheers,
...Alex ]]> Alex Pepple http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=140 walking with sheep http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=139 Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:50:49 GMT As I zig-zag behind the scattered sheep, to group them into a flock, steer them my desired way, I wonder - is this really a sensible activity for an... As I zig-zag behind the scattered sheep, to group them into a flock, steer them my desired way, I wonder - is this really a sensible activity for an untrained human? One person and his dog would take minutes to get the sheep from where they are to where they are wanted. It takes me an hour.

Multi-tasking, the body working, the brain concerned with something else, is not an option. Sunday morning I brooded on why T.S. Eliot decided that it should be 'lilacs' that were forced out of the dead land by the cruel month of April as opposed to any other of the spring flowering bushes. Perhaps lilac referred back to 'dead land' because it was a colour in the stages of formal Victorian mourning. Possibly, he used it because 'lilac' has a hard, plosive sound. Somehow, breeding 'viburnum', or 'forsythia' out of the dead land is not impressive. He chose 'lilac'.

By the time I stopped ruminating on this non-problem, two ewes and their respective twins, had managed to get behind me. They were busy on a patch of particularly delicious grass with daisies. So, after a wide circle round them, waving outstretched arms, I urged them to join the others. Once, before the Wonderful Arnold was with us full-time, the sheep knew my voice. I only had to yell - 'come on les filles' - and they would duly come.

Nowadays the whole operation works on a balance of power basis. I want them out, into a particular field to 'mow' that fairway. They just want out. But with arms and a lot of patience, I get them near yesterday's field. Suddenly they remember that there is where they want to be, rush through the open gate. The lambs mostly follow. Chaos follows if one of the lambs gets left behind. Lamb panics, cannot see the open gate, hurls itself at the fence. Fingers crossed that mother ewe comes to fetch it before its head gets stuck in the fencing. Lambs have sharp little hooves that make great bruises. Ewes have been known to head-butt anyone helping with their off-spring.

On the return, the balance of power is much more in my favour. Towards the end of the day, the ewes realise that they would like assorted grains and lucerne served in a nice manger. They stand grouped at the gate, bawling. With luck they don't panic when they see me rather than Arnold. They walk more or less steadily towards the barn, calling their offspring. The racket is appalling. They still get distracted; a good back scratch under the twisted pear tree, a drink from a different water tub, a patch of grass that was missed on the way down has to be eaten now.

Then, o bliss, they are in the run to the barn. I close that barrier and hurry to close the barn doors before one does an about turn and tries to go out again. The first comers are munching their grain, yelling with their mouths full for lambs to come, now! I close and tie up the inner gates. Why don't I get a sheep dog? Well, I don't like hairy dogs, no longer have the patience to learn another language, am in enough trouble with Spanish and Catalan as it is. ]]> doina percival http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=139 Able Muse Book Award: LAST Day / GRACE Period... http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=138 Fri, 09 Mar 2012 03:28:38 GMT Entry...]]> [indent]


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BOOK AWARD GRACE PERIOD:
Entry Deadline Extended, by popular request, to END OF DAY, APRIL 2, 2012!

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** Less than THREE ONE WEEK to entry deadline for the Able Muse BOOK AWARD! ***
** Less than 12 HOURS to entry deadline for the Able Muse BOOK AWARD! ***

  • ABLE MUSE BOOK AWARD (Poetry) - $1000 prize, plus book publication
    Judge: Mary Jo Salter
    Deadline: March 31, 2012
    Read the guidelines and ENTER now!

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The new issue of Able Muse, print edition -- over 230 pages, which is about a double issue of poetry & fiction including those from Sphereans that won or made the finals of the last year's Write Prize, plus the essays, reviews and art & photography.


Order the new, winter 2011 issue, and/or subscribe at www.ablemusepress.com .

# # #


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All applicable links are at the Able Muse homepage - www.ablemuse.com
Or, at the Able Muse Press website - www.ablemusepress.com

Cheers,
...Alex
]]> Alex Pepple http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=138 Sanctorum http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=137 Thu, 01 Mar 2012 17:36:29 GMT Image: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7190/6944211381_06099567b8_z.jpg Yes, you read the title correctly. I initially thought that GOP...

Yes, you read the title correctly. I initially thought that GOP Presidential candidate Rick Santorum made for an attractive candidate, which I made a note of a few weeks ago when I wrote here "Rick Santorum for President?" That was after his speech in Iowa where he spoke about his working class upbringing and his immigrant coalminer grandfather's large hands as he lay in his casket (Santorum often says those hands "dug freedom for me"). By now, I know a lot more about the candidate, so the title to this blog is not a mistake. He has shown himself to be a sanctimonious theocrat who would like to control women's lives and counsel the great American public that to aspire to go to university is a snobbish aspiration. He has openly said that a university education is not to be desired. What happened to upward mobility and the American dream, the GI bill that sent countless American servicemen to college?

Yes "Sanctorum" is a pun and being British I love puns. In fact it has been something that Santorum has done with his video attacking Republican front runner Mitt Romney as "Rombo" for Romney's super-PAC commercials that have tried to fire mud at the former Pennsylvania senator. Check it out. When I was in school back in Liverpool I and my dirty little school friends used to get a titter in European history when the master would talk about the Pope passing a "Bull" or the convening of "The Diet of Worms" in Germany. But that's education for you.

Santorum has increasingly shown himself to be an intolerant man, against gay and women's rights, including opposing both abortion and contraception, actively stating that birth control leads to immorality. Recently he even mocked President John F. Kennedy's speech to Protestant ministers in Houston in 1963 when Kennedy vowed that he would hone to the accepted American convention of maintaining the separation of church and state and that the Vatican would not dictate his policies.

If only Santorum had kept his views to himself and not tried to foist them on the American people. Due to his various statements, he may have made himself to be unelectable should be become the Republican nominee. On the other hand, his views are going to appeal to many in the U.S. Heartland, as his delegate haul in midwestern states already indicate, and he might well crow that although Romney won the Michigan primary by a few percentage point, he himself picked up an equal number of delegates -- 15 delegates compared to the former Massachusetts governor's 15 delegates. (Update: The Michigan GOP has since determined that Romney should be alotted 16 delegates to Santorum's 14.)

It's certain, I believe, that this thing is going down to the wire and maybe all the way to the Republican convention in Tampa. Nonetheless, Santorum remains as I indicated in my earlier blog posting in many ways a more appealing candidate than the rather stiff Romney. He is more personable and less prone to gaffs -- erm, except ones of his own unwise making. ]]> ChrisGeorge http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/blog.php?b=137