Birthday poem 1-4-50

Everything is easier in water

I can almost remember when
to bend meant nothing, its arc
jubilant, when a kiss was easy,

limbs in fluid motion, tended
to precise geometries, noses,
mouths put right immediately.

Fitting the bow of another's body
takes no thought, born aware, we
sense how to maneuver skin to skin.

The warm shower encourages
recollection, we are never closer
to birth than when we are wet,

some part engaged in gentle dance,
enough to create the longing ache,
then fill it, the earth's curve a bed.

New Year's Poem

Before the ball falls, I will

finish the last poem, clear clutter,
fold pigs into blankets, roll cheese logs,
find the sheet music to Auld Lang Syne
bite my lip, chop almonds, hang clothes,
empty hampers, trash cans, superstitions
clamoring to be met with everything new,
though all I can think of is you, and then,
not this bleak year to come, my birthday.

I’ll never get the house clean by five pm
much less midnight, I should have started
after Christmas, should’ve said yes, left
that night when plowed snow blocked
all the parking spaces, black sky
quilted with lights, you against the angled car
to apologize, we'd wait for some sort of magic
on nights like that, tonight, here’s another

year gone and to come making do, holding
memories like a chalice to my bloody lip,
I am dizzy with awareness, with regret,
a child who doesn’t gets what she wants
because she never asks, chopping onions,
for help, chopping, chopping, rolling, humming,
I will close my eye to better remember, wish
away the kiss at midnight, that sad song.

Plans for next year

Write more, talk less, get a book manuscript together!

I'm pretty impressed with Lulu.com, the books from Reb Livingstom uses it for her books (Here's the The Bedside Guide to No Tell Motel - Second Floor- in which I have a poem. thank you)

And go to New York City January 31st to read poetry at the Cornelia Street Cafe!

And remember, The Fat Lady Sings one more time at art6, 6 east broad, January 12th at 8pm. $10 a person.

poems from other places

here's some interesting poems by John Ashbery.

Here's mine:


Proof

Finger tip to mosquito bite, rub
the itch away, now there, rub,
now there, now there, a flash
of something else not right, not
bound by strange secrets that hide
behind chairs, sit very very still,
mouse-like, sibilance skitters
up the door jam while shadows mark
the wall between photographs of us
as we once were. Would you lie
to make the story more believable?

Of course you would, you always have.

2008- coming soon with poetry

I have this weird and sudden feeling of well-being- as if I am somehow assured all will be taken care of, as if next year will prosperous and wonderful.

As if all my poems will be simply BRILLIANT!!!

Yours, too!

The I Prov Holiday Special and The Fat Lady Sings (again)

Friday night at 10pm- An old-fashioned Holiday Special in the style of Perry Como, Andy Williams, and all those other guys in sweaters-

All- Music, All Parody, All Improv!

Richmond's (heck, Virginia's, no-the East Coast's, yeah, that's it!) only all music- all the time Comedy Improv group I Prov is performing for your pleasure!

Call ComedySportz for reservations- 266-YESS- do it NOW!

and on Sunday December 16th at Grace Church Episcopal in Goochland-

The Fat Lady Sings (again)

2955 River Road West (Goochland)

Potluck at 5:15, program begins at 6:00

followed by a festive sing-along!

All are welcome!

Wait til you hear the song!!

You'll love it!!

A true Richmond Christmas Carol! (with a nod to Meredith Willson)

jack and jen in the morning 8am 103.7

Everybody will be talking about it!

Then come to ComedySportz at 10pm Friday December 14th and see the I Prov Christmas Special- I've heard Al Gore is coming to sing a green song for us! Reservations HERE

Seats are going fast- this is a hot show for a cold night!!

I-Prov on the Radio!!

Be the first on your block to hear "The Richmond Christmas Song" tomorrow morning on the radio!!

It starts at 8:10 on The Mix 103.7 with Jack and Jen in the morning, the main song will play about 8:30- we'll be interviewed and make up songs on the spot!

Some of the members of I-Prov, the musical improv players from ComedySportz, went over today to make a recording. All the suggestions came from regular listeners from email and phonecalls- we didn't use them all- but we got a lot into a short parody.

It's poetry and music!

The perfect gift- tickets to art after hours at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

VMFA Ticket Desk or by phone at 340.1405
Tickets to all seven events are $60 (members $54) Single tickets are $10.
poetry readings at 6:30 and 7:00pm

January 10th Patrick Vickers
January 17th Stephen Kovach
January 24 Tarifa Faizullah
January 31 Angela Vogel
February 7 Catherine MacDonald
February 14 Michael Keller
February 21 Darren Morris

Bend Your Ear poetry reading at art6 3-5 pm Sunday November 16th

Come read, come listen, come see the THINKSMALL 4 show on the walls.

It's not me

who's the crazy one
I'm only talking silence
solitude and silence
for a few hours, not forever
no clacking nuisance
at my ear, no whispered
requests, dinner, wine,
then disregard, needs met
earlier this afternoon when
you went out for brake fluid
I sat on the couch flipping
channels I wasn't watching
claiming the space that long
solitaire is not solitude is not
silence is not crazy
is not forever is not
me I'm not
the crazy one.

or you can go hear Ron Smith read from his new book, Moon Road, just out
Book People, 536 Granite Ave, 2-4 pm

Famous poet in town THIS WEEK!!!

NEWS-
November 8th- CK Williams reading from Collected poems,Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007, 8 p.m. It will be held at the VCU Business Auditorium.

DO NOT MISS THIS!!

Read the poem "Tar" here

I have been remiss- actually, I've been crazy-busy with the THINKSMALL show at art6 coming up in two days.

Poetry has definately taken a back seat.

BUT JUST YOU WAIT!!!

I'll be back...

The best way to prepare for a big show is to alienate and annoy your family.

Works for me anyway- I'm very self-centered right now getting ready for my "FAT LADY SINGS" Sunday night at ComedySportz at 7pm. I'm trying to get the words memorized, work on chords for "Dust in the Wind" - NO NOT THE KANSAS SONG! The one by Todd Rundgren!

It would be so nice to have peace and quiet, maybe meditation time, a hot bath, a cup of tea- instead I have to negotiate (fight) with my son about not having a friend over tomorrow night.

I can only hope it gives me that edge I need to really sing my heart out.

What was that old David Letterman tag line? Something like "I give and I give and I give, and this it thanks I get??"

yeah, that's it.

Come to the show- it'll be great, you'll have a good time- I promise.

Repent

I have ruffled petticoats older
than you, my otiose offspring,
with no one to left inculpate
but your maternal grandparents.
My, they were a pair of japes,
short-lived and filled with fluff.

There is a balm, of course
there is, a way to rise above
this square dance do-si-do
out of a turn about's fair-play
excursion into indulging you:
too much love, too long time.

It was not for me, a spindle
turned smooth by the chase
for the safer road, a grind
toward some vanishing point,
wrought wonky at their hands,
I was young and disinclined

to hear Timewise, it was jangle-
as all the addled ducks scattered,
their late parliamentary laws askew,
consistent order devalued
as this year's model driven off
the lot, new car scent gone too soon.

Please come!

THE FAT LADY SINGS!

Shann Palmer sings Broadway hits and more,
the great old songs, the ones you seldom hear!
She may throw in a poem or two!
Oct 21st at
ComedySportz Improv Theatre

7115-a Staples Mill Road

for reservations call: 266-9377
7pm (doors open at 6:15)
tickets $10
light supper menu available

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll sing along!

(All ticket proceeds will go to sending Shann to NYC in January to read poetry at the Cornelia Street Cafe during the AWP conference- well, that and the piano player, the waitresses, maybe a fancy dress for the show and a nice pair of shoes)

The man who wrote the screenplay to the original "Little Shop of Horrors" has died. If you've never see the original Roger Corman film (it contains a very brief appearance by a then-unknown Jack Nicholson) go rent it NOW!

It's excellent Halloween fare.

It seems to me there are more Halloween displays this year- at least here in the Lakeside area.

I wonder if I've ever written an October poem?

The endless immensity of the sea

removed for submission-

That Kind of Girl

Yes, I am,
in my mother’s silk slip
rubbing all the right places
before I was sure
which places were
right
and which places were
very right
who
was allowed
and when
it was wrong
and when
it was very wrong
becoming
that kind of girl
behind closed doors
while
on the other side
I become something
very different.

My poem "Bread n' Butter Pickles" is up over at Moondance!

Published ten years ago in the now defunct Conspire, it has always been one of my favorite poems. I particularly like the painting they have up to accompany it!

A Tuesday poem-

One Last Chance

In ten years, loyal glue
will have stuck me here
in spite of your wall,
indifferent convenience,
more than half my life.

I smell like bad cheese,
the furious stink of bitter
held in, every pedagogy
says, no- the writer is not
the story, somewhere else

the truth curls smoke
around implications,
summer porches where
nice people sit, drinking
up their creative alibis.

Is everyone half-blind?
Or is it just me, only
the lonely can make it
real, time catches flies,
waves traffic around

a stalled heart, shouts
"clear" then leaves
the room backwards
as if eye to eye combat
takes prisoners. Can I

go now? mouth set
for adventure, new
possibilities popping
in my ears, nothings
whispered at my neck.