Tag: post

Mush for Thanksgiving

crow14 Comments

So, before the day gets away from me completely and I slip into a carb/gravy/pie induced state of torpor, I just wanted to say, thank you.

I’m pretty technologically oriented. I’ve worked with computers in one way or another since I had the original Commodore Vic 20. If you had one when they came out, then you’re old like me. I wrote my first computer program by copying it out of a magazine, typing it into a BASIC compiler, and saving it to a cassette tape. Magazines, BASIC, cassettes… how Fred Flintstone can you get? Anyway, you’re probably a little better at figuring out smart phones than your parents are, too. And while I enjoy the gadgets, the internet, and all it has to offer, I can honestly say that this is first time that I have found a community online that I feel I belong to.

I’m not sure what drives traffic to my site. I know that a year ago, I first began to see real growth in the number of visitors I’ve had. I won’t lie and say those lives and views in the dashboard are unimportant to me. They matter because it means I’ve connected.

So thank you. Thank you for connecting with me. Thank you for reading, for commenting, for liking, for coming back.

I may be back with a poem of my own later, but to tide you over, here’s one that showed up in my inbox from poets.org this morning. I’m just providing the link, but it’s worth your time.

Thanks
W. S. Merwin

See you after nap time.

Post 20160421

crow4 Comments

So, I’ve had this conversation with a couple of you recently about whether I should use titles for my poems or continue to use only dates.

Pros of Using Dates:

  • I’m lazy.
  • I write a lot, sometimes two or three pieces a day (but usually one).
  • I might obsess about these titles, maybe working longer on them than the actual poems (not even kidding).
  • Dates offer no hint as to what you’re in store for.

Pros of Using Titles:

  • More appealing to readers
  • A title is easier to remember than a date.
  • The title might turn out to be what you enjoy most about my poem.
  • Might (or might not) give you a clue as to what you are in for.

Friends, I cannot decide this on my own. Please take the time to fill in the poll. I know you have opinions. And thank your for sharing them

Post 20160328

crow12 Comments

Hey, can you believe it? National Poetry Month IS IN 4 DAYS NOW! I’ve already started stalking the NaPoWriMo web site. And I am ready to tackle the prompts. In addition, I’ve just submitted my first pamphlet/chap book to a contest and I’d like to do something special for everyone who comes to my site, whose poetry I read, and who takes the time to read my poems (sometimes through their fingers, I’m sure).

Open Mic

Yes, inspired by Rose at https://poetrummager.wordpress.com/ (but not officially endorsed by her), I’d like to do some audio recordings of my poems. And I’d like you to join in. During the month of April, record yourself reading one of your own poems (it has to be yours so I don’t go to jail). Post it to your site, and add the link in the comments below, do a pingback, both.

And before any of you say you can’t, or you don’t like how you sound, let me just say that I am pledging to do at least two poems, and I hate the sound of my own voice so much that when I hear myself recorded, I turn into The Hulk and beat myself senseless.

So let’s all push boundaries, read and listen to each, and embarrass the hell out of ourselves. And if you can’t be embarrassed, great–I’ll get some rye and Swiss to go with all the ham.

OPEN MIC

Simple steps.

  1. Record yourself reading one of your own works.
  2. Post it on your site.
  3. Include a link to this post in your post.
  4. Comment below or send me a message using the contact form (I might see the pingback from your post).
  5. I will post a link with your name and  poem title RIGHT HERE.
  6. You’ve got all month.
  7. It’s an open mic invitation. NOT a challenge.

Remember, just pop your link in the comments or email it to me using the contact form and I’ll add it to the post.

Ok, as the host, I am going first. If you didn’t see it already, here is the link:

Crow Reading 20160406
https://wordsandfeathers.com/2016/04/06/reading-20160406/

******

Poet Rummager Celestial Stars
https://poetrummager.wordpress.com/2016/04/07/celestial-stars/

******

Elusive Trope Zeitgeist
https://elusivetrope.com/2016/04/12/zeitgeist/

******

Crow let us go 20160428
https://wordsandfeathers.com/2016/04/28/let-us-go-reading-20160428/

Post 20160101

crow5 Comments

It’s the first day of a new year and I’ve decided on something new.

I’ve been running this blog for over a year now, just over a year. November of 2014, I decided to try to write a poem every day. At least one poem every day. I wanted to do this for a couple of reasons. First, my novel writing wasn’t going anywhere. Everyone would tell me my writing was good, but no one wanted the novel I had produced. t was discouraging to say the least. And I had this old WordPress blog for years that had been sitting silent and getting dusty. Why not use it to put my poems out into the wild?

So I did.

And two, I really had an itch to write poems. Maybe it had been building up in me for years. Maybe all those embarrassing self-indulgent poems I wrote in high school weren’t out of my system. Whatever the cause was, I had poems that needed to come out.

The result? A little more than a year’s worth of poems, almost one every single day of the year. I think I may have missed less than a handful of times, and I posted other things too. Pictures. Songs that got stuck in my head. The occasional post baring my soul on one or another topic. But really, it all came down to the poems.

Now, with a new year upon, I’ve decided take the WordPress blog and squeeze it into my other social media accounts. Facebook. Twitter. Google Plus (is that still really around?). Even Tumblr. Why?

Because I am indulging myself. The poems here are not to everyone’s taste, but they are to mine. Some are not good at all. In fact, some are downright bad. Most are okay. Some are spectacular.

And that’s not just me having a big head, though everyone who’s ever encountered me knows, my head needs its own zip code.

So enjoy the poems if you can, hide them if you can’t. Because every day for a year. I’m going to crank them out. Good. Bad. Mediocre.

The internet is my notebook in 2016. Thanks for reading.

Post 20151220

crow2 Comments

IMG_4688

So this is prose and rambly, and won’t be very skillfully put down.

Tonight my wife and I went to a local mall. If you live or have been to Southern California (or have ever watched one those news programs about malls and how much money they make at Christmas), you may have heard of South Coast Plaza. It’s been around for years and years, and has evolved apace with the unending passionate consumption South Orange County. When I was a kid, the had a Woolworth’s and my dad would take me to the lunch counter after church for lunch, usually greasy deep fried burritos.

I have no idea how or why Woolworth’s was selling these fake-a-ritos. I’m sure they were the Mexican analogue that Chun King chow mein in a can is to Chinese food. But to a kid, they were good.

That was over forty years ago. Woolworths is long gone. Many stores appeared and disappeared like capitalist fever dreams over the years. Sears has remained, maybe the one and only store to not change. That and the carousel.

Tonight though, my wife and I went to get her an early Christmas present. Spur of the moment thing, something she’s been wanting, but not really asking for. We are weird when it comes to presents for each other. We avoid waiting for birthdays and holidays, and if one of us really wants something, we just buy it and the gift is presented with a “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Birthday” even if those events a half a year away. So this was a little unusual, this trip so close to Christmas to buy a present. (Though to be be true to our own natures, there was no wrapping or waiting. She opened the gift when she got home.)

After buying her present, there was no need to rush home, so we walked around. And I discovered, that, without the pressure of having to be there, of needing to find the perfect present or toy without which Christmas would be ruined and our children would have to seek therapy later in life, without that hanging over my head, it was really kind of wonderful to walk around. To see people.

Yes, there were some, rushing, pinched, panicked faces, and I could relate because I have been where they were. But I wasn’t tonight. I enjoyed the happy people who were just enjoying themselves, the kids excited to see Santa, the kids screaming because they wanted to be anywhere else, the couples clinging to each in the crowds, the music, the bells, the lights, the lights, the lights.

The press of people, for once, didn’t bother me.

And for that, for being able to enjoy that time with my wife, I am grateful. And I wanted to say it.

Well, write it.

IMG_4689

Post 20151024

crow

Here’s one of my infrequent posts.

I just posted something a little spooky. Probably not too spooky. But here’s the deal. I love Halloween. So I’d like to offer a challenge to anyone who still reads this (my stats indicate I don’t get many actual visitors). We have exactly one week until Halloween. For each day, pick a Halloween theme and write a poem. For example: a trick, a treat, something scary, a Halloween memory, anything as long as you can relate it to Halloween. Tag it with “halloween challenge” so I can find it.

No prizes. Who am I, Rockefeller?