Friday, May 31, 2013

I Love the Internet: Small Press Friday

Photo by Tjflex2



The small press comes in many different varieties. I like to think of certain websites as small electronic presses and in the forefront I'd place "Moving Poems."

In this edition, the poet Kevin Barrington is bringing it with a humor as sly and wry as his knowing little smile. Of course, this originally appeared on the not-so-small-press Rachel Maddow blog (still, Moving Poems is drilling down to those of us crouching in corners, across the room from the keyboard, without cable, scratching the backs off mirrors - so it's new to you), so many of you might have seen it already. But on the off chance you didn't, here you go, with text to follow for the Gaeliclly challenged.



 
 
I Love The InternetKevin Barrington
Opium to DeQuincy
Sin to Milton
Congo to Conrad
Aran to Synge
I love the internet
Castles to Shakespeare
Deceit to LeCarre
Dublin to Joyce
Marketplace to Chaucer
Did we say
‘Daffodils to Wordsworth?’
We couldn’t forget that.
Or mounted jihad to Tennyson
Or the weird wild wonder
of the whole g** damn show
to Dylan
I love the internet
Wild, lewd, bawdy, bullying, smelling of cats.
Cranks, crank, meth, conspiracy, snipers, knoll.
Fascists made cartoon on ripe digital soil.
Erudite waltzing with trite.
In eternal ballroom
Dedicated skiers on seas of trivial loon.
Self help soma screaming thinnin tv hair repair.
And always the smiles of the filippino brides
And promises of untold nigerian riches.
Flashing wheel spinning ace poker squared
You Have Been Chosen
But
Shhhhhhh
Somewhere down there in the fly fishing section
the first faint whispers
(If ears are right)
of hushed talk
of
bold revolution.
I love the internet
The sheer
dull
scintillating
infantile
anarchy
of
it
all.
Boisterous Brughel medieval market.
Futuristic Middle Ages
Directed
by
Friar Tuck.
And offset, whispers
of
Robin
lurking
in
wood.
I love the internet.
Cos it’s ours.

------------------------


Photo by lylevincent



Seen
through a telescope:
ten cents worth of fog
Issa
translated by Robert Hass




best,
Don   
 

Send a single haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.

Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 166 songs
 

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Lisa Espenmiller & Michael Newell: Wednesday Haiku, #117

Photo by Bernt Rostad



listening to the wind
sing to the redwood -
fiftieth birthday
Lisa Espenmiller


 



 Photo by Sleepyjeanie



ally ally in come free
down the street
my past calls

Michael L. Newell




Photo by Oryctes




spring rain--
there's one window
per person

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue




best,
Don   

Send a single haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.

Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 166 songs

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Frank O'Hara Hit: Issa's Sunday Service, #166




 
 

Frank O'Hara Hit by Chelsea Light Moving on Grooveshark 
In case of wonky widget, click here

One of my favorite bands - strike that, one of the best alternative bands of the last 25 years, Sonic Youth is currently on what may prove to be permanent hiatus. It is often difficult to overcome the tribulations of love within a band, especially when it goes decidedly south. But, you never know.

I've great faith in Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore.

That being said, I discovered last week Moore has a new band - Chelsea Light Moving (tip of the hat to Philip Glass) - and they seriously rock and, in the case above, seriously litrock.  

"Frank O'Hara Hit" has got everything going for it in the art rock sense - already there are complaints that Chelsea sounds just like Sonic Youth. Yeah, well, complain away, great music is great music, so there you go.

And then there is: "Yes no, yes no, yes, yes", which you will hear at the very end of the cut, if you make it all the way through the glorious noodling (yes, I recognize this isn't everybody's cup of meat) . 

And, if not and you are still here (yes, I do love you), you can hear it in it's original context, if you prefer the lyrical to the sonic (pun intended): here is Frank O'Hara, reading his poem "September 14th, 1959 (Moon)."
 



September 14th 1959 (The Moon)

Serenity lopes along like exhaustion
only windier and silver-eyed
where fragments of distress in hunks
lay like the plaster in the bedroom
when the bed fell down, greenly
murmuring a phrase from the Jacksonville
Chamber of Commerce of the Pacific
yes no, yes no, yes, yes, yes

an agate breeze pours through the gate
of reddish hair there is a summer
of silence and inquiry waiting there
it is full of wildness and tension
like a gare, the warmly running trains
of the South escape to sweet brooks
and grassy roadbeds underneath the
thankful and enlightening Russian moon 



There's another song called "Burroughs" on the new album, which I have on order, and which no doubt will be making an appearance here sometime soon.

--------------------


Moon Gazing, Hokusai School 19th century




if only she were here
for me to nag...
tonight's moon!
Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue




best,
Don   

Send a single haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.

Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 166 songs

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Constance Brewer & Chen-ou Liu: Wednesday Haiku, #116

Photo by Visualpanic



full tea mug
warms eight fingers
gunpowder blend
Constance Brewer



Photo by Yersina


 
 
dust to dust...   
a butterfly flitting
over her grave

Chen-ou Liu




Art by Yashima Gakutei





a nightingale singing
included in the price...
five-penny tea
Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue




best,
Don   

Send a single haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.

Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 164 songs

Friday, May 17, 2013

David Giannini: Felt in a Heartbeat - Small Press Friday

Click to zoom in


David Giannini is a formidable poet of both short and prose poems. Recently, Feral Press has published an astonishing number of his books, seven in the last year, showing their dedication to David's fine work

The book at hand, Felt in a Heartbeat, consists of 8 brief poems and, counting the cover illustration, 7 beautiful artworks by Judith Strauss Koppel. The cover is pictured above and 2 poems, each individually illustrated, pictured below. 

The first poem confirms for me my own personal Jungian leanings, and the second our collective membership to that unique, and occasionally, as here, breathtakingly beautiful club known as the human race. 

Yes, sadness and suffering can shatter the human heart, but spirit and beauty and poetry go a long way to healing it. These 8 poems, with subtly stunning art, do that and more.



 
Click to zoom in




Click to zoom in
 


Felt in a Heartbeat is a limited run of 100 copies and is available from Feral Press, (P.O. Box 358, Oyster Bay, NY 11771) for $8. Contact John and Joan Digby and let them know where you saw it. That would please David and myself.

If you'd rather get a copy direct from the poet, drop David an email at <davidgpoet AT gmail DOT com> or snail mail at PO Box 562, Becket, MA 01223. In the former case, make a check out to "John Digby," in the later to "David Giannini." 


----------------------



 Photo by Taysm



first winter rain--
the world fills up
with haiku
Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue




best,
Don   

Send a single haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.

Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 164 songs
 

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Rehn Kovacic & James Krotzman: Wednesday Haiku, #115

Photo by Philip C




Light desert rain
      the scent of creosote—
   still no smile.
                   Rehn Kovacic




Photo by Denis Collete





Boundary Waters
paddling deeper
into myself

James Krotzman




Photo by Nick Hobgood


rainstorm--
a naked rider
on a naked horse
Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue



best,
Don   

Send a single haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.

Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 164 songs

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Science Fiction: Issa's Sunday Service, #165



Science Fiction by Divinyls on Grooveshark

In case of wonky widget, click here


There were very few high spots, musically and, come to think of it, otherwise, in what for me was the dismal 80s.  The Australian rock band The Divinyls, led by Christina Amphlett was, ever so briefly, one of them. Amphlett died all too young a couple of weeks back. 

This NY Times obit lightly skims the surface. Rolling Stone's take is hardly much better - everyone harps on the single, "I Touch Myself," and so, there it is.  

There's more to it, but, it would seem, Rolling Stone didn't have the time.

Over the last ten years or so, they rarely do.
 
Charlie Drayton, the Divinyls' drummer and Christina's husband, hits the mark, however briefly, in the RS obit: "With her force of character and vocal strength she paved the way for strong, sexy, outspoken women."  The Examiner adds a bit more substance to the above obits. The Sydney Morning Herald does a nice job, filling in some details both personal and professional. Finally, The Herald Sun is best of all.

It's really a shame that you have to go through so much to glean so little.

Above, is the song that gets them here with a literary connection: "Science Fiction." Below is the one that won over all the fan girls and boys very early on - "The Boys in Town," which, though not a huge hit, was the song that put the band on the map and set the tone for much of what followed. 

Rest in peace, Christina.

 
 
 
--------------------



bonfires for the dead--
soon they'll burn
for us
Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue



 Photo by Gregor Younger



best,
Don 

Send a single haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.

Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 164 songs

Thursday, May 9, 2013

James Krotzman & Stella Pierides: Wednesday Haiku #114

  Photo by Chris Potako 



winter
loosens
drop by drop

James M. Krotzman



 


Art by Hokusai




poems in waiting
the years I lost for fear
of chrysanthemums

Stella Pierides





Photo by audreyjm529




grassy thicket--
what karma lets
the chrysanthemum survive? 
Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue



best,
Don   
 

Send a single haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.

Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 164 songs

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Huffstickler Green Dedication Day: City of Austin Proclamation, May 4th, 2013

Click to enlarge

Well, the day arrived and it actually happened. For those of you who don't know Huff (Albert Huffstickler), it may seem hardly imaginable or, worse, a local recognition of a minor talent. A city proclamation for a small press poet 11 years after his passing? 
 
On receiving the proclamation via email, I wrote the following to the folks in Austin who made this happen.  
 
Elzy Cogswell, of the Austin Poetry Society, informed me that if someone else didn't get to it before him, he would be reading it among the other tributes to Huff. 

------------------------
 
Lovely - I'm misting up, and so very proud of Huff and his accomplishment. 

As you all know, whether with words or his simple presence, the most important thing he accomplished is Huff touched the hearts of those he met and those who read his work very deeply, indeed.

There is no greater accomplishment for a poet, none, and no greater accomplishment for a human being. 

I do not say this lightly - in his compassion and caring for the suffering and joy of others, Huff was something of an American Bodhisattva. 

At least that's the way I will always think of him.

And, of course, as a great poet.

Thanks so much to all of you for your dedication and  resolve and obvious returning of love back to its source.

Lilliput Review has had quite a few accomplishments over the years. Being listed on this proclamation I will always cherish as the greatest.

------------------------ 






 
In loving memory of Albert Huffstickler and Susie Bowers.




awaiting the stars--
does the grown man
feel young again?
Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue



best,
Don   
 

Send a single haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.

Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 164 songs
 

Friday, May 3, 2013

On Losing a Teacher Losing a Friend: Norbert Blei (1935-2013) - Small Press Friday


Recently, sad news came down the pike: the passing of journalist/writer/poet/small press legend, Norbert Blei. I got to know Norb late in his career, via the magic of the interwebs. The natural intersection of Lilliput/Issa's Untidy Hut with Norb came via his website, Bashō's Road. Norb often featured Lillie there and, through his 'promotion,' gathered many a new subscriber. Over the years he expressed a desire to do a full blown piece on the mag and blog but, as noted by Paula Kosin below, it was just one more thing on a perpetually long list of unfinished things to do.

And what an honor it was and, in a very real sense, is to be on that unfinished list.

Below is a poem and reminiscence by Paula Kosin recently posted in memory of Norb which I asked permission to share with blog readers and which she so graciously granted. In addition to this reminiscence, I'd just like to add a note of thanks to Monsieur K of Outlaw Poetry Network for his tireless efforts to get Norb's words and thoughts out to the world. Here is K's to the essence post on Norb.

For another, hometown perspective on Norbert Blei click through. 


----------------------


Paula Kosin
On Losing a Teacher, Losing a Friend
Norbert Blei (1935-2013)

Your coop in the woods,
so like you,
stacked floor to ceiling
precious books
unfinished manuscripts
correspondence from friends
a million compelling projects.
You had a bucket list
decades long,
driven by intense urgency.
So many things to do,
to learn to write to teach
and, always, to challenge.
So many conversations to savor,
seasons to welcome,
seasons to weather
in your beloved Door.
You used to wish me:
Nazdar! Be well!
Now I pledge to you:
Na shledanou!
Until we see each other again.
I knew Norb through his articles in the Chicago Tribune during the late 60's and early 70's. I was in high school and college, and this man's writing made that kind of impact on me. I had always wondered what happened to him, since his byline disappeared from the paper. (Of course, that's when he moved up to Door County.) In 2003, in preparation for my first trip to the Door, I eventually came to The Clearing's website. Scanning the list of classes, I clicked on Writing Workshop -- and there was Norb!  I immediately emailed him, asking if he was available to meet with me to discuss my possibility of attending his class that next summer. That weekend we met over a beer, and talked of both his class and of "the old neighborhood." You see, my grandparents and parents - and large extended family - are from Cicero, Illinois, the ethnic Czech/Bohemian/Polish culture so beautifully captured in Norb's Tribune articles and book, Neighborhood. Since then, I have had the opportunity to be in several of his classes and a couple of weekend workshops up on Washington Island. I knew from the minute I saw his picture on that Clearing website, I had been given a second chance. And I took it.

To leave this world with a perpetually unfinished long list of things you still want to do -- and no unfinished business with the people in your life...well, I think that's the way to go.


Norbert Blei | August 23, 1935 – April 23, 2013 Stories at birth, before birth, every moment of our lives to the end. We breathe telling tales. And then what happened? The story ends? The story never ends. We are immortal. We are myth. We remember. — Norbert Blei 



-------------------- 


A bath when you're born
a bath when you die -
how stupid
Issa
translated by Robert Hass 






 
best,
Don   

Send a single haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.

Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 164 songs

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Ernesto Santiago & Scott Wiggerman: Wednesday Haiku, #113


Photo by annais



among the roses
the prickles
they overlook

ernesto p. santiago









naked pin oak
its last leaf falling
my empty hand
Scott Wiggerman










the old hand
swats a fly
already gone
Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue


                                  
 
best,

Don   












Send a single haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.






Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 164 songs