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‘They Feed They Lion’ by Philip Levine | National Poetry Month

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The Poet as Witness

During the 1950’s Philip Levine was working in Detroit auto plants and writing poetry. In an interview at that time in Detroit Magazine he described how he found his compelling subject material. “I saw that the people that I was working with…were voiceless in a way. In terms of the literature of the United States they weren’t being heard. Nobody was speaking for them. And as young people will, you know, I took this foolish vow that I would speak for them and that’s what my life would be. …I just hope that I have the strength to carry it all the way through.”

They Feed They Lion was written in 1968, when Levine returned to Detroit following the race riots of 1967. It is one of his finest poems, reflecting the degree to which he found “the strength to carry it all the way through.” The poem is merciless in its judgements and propelled by the rhythmic insistence of the language itself.   [Read more…]

Paper Bag | National Poetry Month

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By Igor Goldkind

I am a paper bag, I am.
I’m not the smart one,
I’m not the successful one
I’m not the tall one who always won and
Then died.
I am a paper bag.
I’m only as good as what I can carry.

I am a paper bag,
I’m not plastic, not I.   [Read more…]

Back to the Spring Rituals of Baseball

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Baseball is back, and, as I do every year—no matter how bad the Padres are—I enjoy re-immersing myself in the game.  And, as opposed to our president who argues in this ridiculous interview that talent comes strictly from innate ability and is made manifest on the Social Darwinist proving ground of sport, I know that it’s all about focus and work.  Perhaps the most important thing of all is failure that leads to more focus and work and honing one’s craft.

You alone with the thing itself.

On the diamond this cliché holds true: even the best players fail most of the time, sometimes quite badly.  You strike out, commit an error, miss a sign, fail to hit the right spot with your pitch.   [Read more…]

What Poems Do | National Poetry Month

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By Sonia Gutiérrez

Let me tell you what poems do.
With letters hanging
from their chipped beaks
and sharp talons,
poems with their immense wings
fly over tempestuous oceans,
where an eye of a hurricane
awaits them—swallows
and spits them out.

Because some poems,
I must confess,
are difficult to chew.   [Read more…]

Bluebird – Charles Bukowski | Video Worth Watching

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April is Poetry month. To kick off this event here’s a favorite of mine: Charles Bukowski’s Bluebird, read by Harry Dean Stanton, with animation by Monika Umba.   [Read more…]

Maimouna Youssef, Ft. Daniel March – ‘Stardust’ | Video Worth Watching

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Maimouna Youssef, a.k.a. MuMu Fresh, reminds us that we’re Stardust in this live 2015 performance at The Rawkus in London.   [Read more…]

‘From Where We Sail’: Six and a Half Years Navigating Three Oceans and the Human Heart

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“If you can sail to Catalina,” someone once said to me, “you can sail around the world.” — From Where We Sail

The road trip is a well-established genre in America’s literary cannon, and San Diegan Dianne Lane’s recently released memoir From Where We Sail is an engaging narrative within this literary tradition. The full title of the book includes the additional description: A Family’s Six and a Half Year Journey Around the World on Sorcery.

Dianne dedicates the book to her family and “beloved Sorcery who brought us home.” Sorcery, their 61-foot sloop-rigged sailboat, is as much a character in the memoir as her husband Robb and their young children Alex and Annie.   [Read more…]

Resurrection | Geo-Poetic Spaces

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I will still be wrapped in silk
when the winding cloth
is placed on altars by priests

Fasting
when the darkened churches
glow   [Read more…]

Let’s Bring Back Dueling

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I saw and read a note to The New York Times the other day that set me to thinking of kinda complicated politics.

Well, that is what that newspaper likes to engage in, and so probably do they all. They’ll say, “If this, then that, and, pretty soon… The Apocalypse. On the other hand…,” they’ll say. So we end up back in the muddled middle, our fondest hopes for reason and enlightenment lost in the give and take back.

If you want to know what the news business stands for, play The National Anthem, or ask who’s interested in an interview with Donald Trump. Keep it simple.

Truth? Truth in the industry has become a now-and-then preoccupation, rising and falling as do other preoccupations, like getting people to read a story, or to consider buying all-electric, self-driving 2-ton cars that happen to be advertised as part of sports coverage.

Still, no one is as cynical as today’s out and out conservative, who believes in family values and then supports separating immigrants from their children. Or he’ll (usually it’s a he) advocate hard work after he’s invested in robot technology that eliminates jobs for humans, or he’ll recommend home schooling and send his own kids to prep schools and Yale.   [Read more…]

How the NRA Hijacks Gun Control Debates | Video Worth Watching

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Who does the NRA really represent? Is it its gun owning membership, or the companies that send millions of dollars its way? Hmmm. Vox’s Carlos Maza and Coleman Lowndes present some revealing statistics and a remarkably analogous historical situation to help answer that question.   [Read more…]

Shedding Tears of Hope and Joy As Children Make America Great

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I’ve lived a life
among children,
as a child initially, obviously,
and who knows how many
young ones there are
with whom I’ve had the honor
of being in their company
as their teacher
or their vice-principal
or their principal
or as Mr. Ernie   [Read more…]

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