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Michael Parker's Journal
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Saturday, September 30, 2006 |
Ocho # 6 has just been published. My poem "A Difference Between Us" is part of the collection of extraordinary poems that includes works from LORNA DEE CERVANTES, LYN LIFSHIN, DAVID RAPHAEL ISRAEL, DIEGO QUIROS, MICHAEL E. CARLTON, REYES CARDENAS, JOHN KORN, ZACHARY BLESSING, DAN COFFEY, GRACE CAVALIERI, ERICA FABRI, ADAM FIELED, and JESS MENENDEZ.
This twelve page edition includes a wide spectrum of evocative stories: a young woman reminisces the art of shelling pecans, as passed down through a long line of family matriarchs; a woman describes the long summer evenings and the secrets that the women reveal as they congregate on porches; a man accuses a friend of being too cavalier about the nation’s war on terror; a woman runs away from her lover; the poet, as Gov. Arnold, offers an apology for his recent racial remarks, in sonnet form; a poet offers insights on what it might mean to apply the spirit versus the letter of the law; a crowd at a park discover a holy face on a park bench; a poet describes silence; a middle-aged man imagines (in an extraordinary way) how he would react to seeing a past love; the poet relates detailed memories of a large family gathering; the poet reminisces going to the library as a pre-teen on "milky summer evenings;" the poet gives a one-thing-leads-to-another analysis of the effects of rain; the poet questions reality – is that really a change in the wind or has the sensation been fabricated to keep us happy in our embryonic cocoons; the poet relates a nightmarish dream of corpses and how the narrator attempts to tell her boyfriend; a woman counts the scars from forty-plus years of a terrible marriage and of her death; and many more.
Does that pique your interest? I sure hope so. You can purchase OCHO #6 here, at Lulu.com.
8:21:23 PM  | |
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Friday, September 29, 2006 |
I saw this post from the Democratic Underground ("Unhappy Camper") which made it on today's Dau Report over at Salon.
"In my 61 years on this planet, I thought I had seen most things. I have been married and divorced. I have children and have seen a child die. I have grandchildren and have seen a grandchild die. I watched my Mother suffer with Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia for years before passing away in 2005. I have spent 16 miserable days on a troopship from Oakland, California to Da Nang, Viet Nam. I witnessed Tet of 1968 up close and personal. In April 1970, I was in a forward base camp 100 meters inside the Cambodian border. I have learned to fly a helicopter, shoot a 4.2 mortar, repair teletype machines, high frequency and tactical radios, land mine detectors and pretty much everything in between. I have teed off a round of golf at midnight in Tronheim, Norway. I was at the 1972 Olympics in Munich when the unthinkable happened. Today I have been listening to the Senate debate about redefining Common Article Three of the Geneva Convention and revocation of habeas corpus. I have watched Senators argue that secret trials and secret evidence is good. Today our values may be time warped to pre-1215 values. I just can’t get my brain around what is being done to our dignity today. I can truthfully say I think I have seen everything. Something is really, really wrong here."
10:28:20 PM | |
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Thursday, September 28, 2006 |
Clint Eastwood seems to have yet another classic on his hands. Amazing.
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Wednesday, September 27, 2006 |
I became familiar with Richard Blanco’s poetry published varies MiPoesias publications. I just learned this week that he is a recipient of the 2006 PEN American Award for his work Directions to the Beach of the Dead. PEN is the world’s oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization. International PEN was founded in 1921 to dispel national, ethnic, and racial hatreds and to promote understanding among all countries. PEN American Center, founded a year later, works to advance literature, to defend free expression, and to foster international literary fellowship.
Richard Blanco is a professional civil engineer and accomplished poet. His first book of poetry, City of a Hundred Fires, explores the yearnings and negotiation of cultural identity as a Cuban-American; and received the Agnes Starrett Poetry Prize from the University of Pittsburgh Press (1998). His poems have appeared in The Nation, Ploughshares, Indiana Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, TriQuarterly Review, New England Review, and several anthologies including, The Best American Poetry 2000, Great American Prose Poems, Breadloaf Anthology of New American Poets, and American Poetry: The Next Generation. He has been featured on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, and conferences and venues including The Southern Writers Conference and Bread Loaf Writers Conference.
To read more about Blanco’s PEN Award, visit here.
Congratulations, Richard.
Related Websites
Blanco's website
MiPoesias review by Jack Anders
Poetry you can find online:
Smith College
MiPoesias, Volume 20, Issue 1
Ploughshares, Vol 30/1
10:34:19 PM | |
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Monday, September 25, 2006 |
M&M’s has just posted an interactive movie quiz to spotlight the M&M's Dark Chocolate Candies. I came upon it while browsing USATODAY’s “Hard Candy” column.
The object of the quiz is to solve riddles representing 50 dark movies. The riddles are part of a giant interactive painting.
To play, you look for images. If you think you know what film the riddle represents, click on the image and type
the name of the film in the available space. If you're right, the box turns green and the image is grayed out. If you are incorrect (or you simply mis-spell the title of the film), the box turns red. And you are then allowed to answer it again. Click here to play.
Enjoy!
8:52:30 PM | |
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Friday, September 22, 2006 |
Part 1
Today, September 22 marks the day that the casualties of our war equals that of Sept. 11. From the Associated Press:
Now the death toll is 9/11 times two. U.S. military deaths from Iraq and Afghanistan now surpass those of the most devastating terrorist attack in America's history, the trigger for what came next.
The latest milestone for a country at war came Friday without commemoration. It came without the precision of knowing who was the 2,974th to die in conflict. The terrorist attacks killed 2,973 victims in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
Part 2
From CNN International:
Ted Turner’s comments on why he chose to give $1 billion dollars to the UN:
"I am absolutely certain we would not have made it through the Cold War without the U.N.," Turner said. "When Khrushchev at the U.N. took his shoe off and hit podium he was so mad, but he had a place to let off steam. If the U.N. hadn't been there, that would have been war right then."
When a questioner from the audience challenged Turner on the United Nations's value, Turner shot back.
"The war between Lebanon and Israel and Hizbollah would still be going on if it hadn't been for the U.N., and that's only in the last two weeks, Bubba."
Turner's comments on the War in Iraq:
The U.S. invasion of Iraq has caused "incalculable damage" that will take 20 years to overcome "if we just act reasonably intelligently."
"It will go down in history, it is already being seen in history, as one of the dumbest moves that was ever made by anybody. A couple of others that come to mind were the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and the German invasion of Russia," Turner told the forum.
9:40:35 PM | |
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Wednesday, September 20, 2006 |
Yesterday afternoon, I had my second lumbar epidural injection.
Since I aggravated the bulging disk in my lower back, the disk has been inflamed and pressing on the nerves, causing pain to shoot down my left leg. If you could have seen how slow I walked the past week, you’ld know how badly I needed this.
The steroid, which is composed of an anesthetic (like lidocaine or bupivacaine) and medication (triamcinolone or methylprednisolone), thus, should reduce the inflammation and allow me to return back to a normal life. The first one, as you recall from my previous post, had helped me just after four days. (Then I took a turn for the worse when the physical therapist put me on the spine stretcher.)
They treat these procedures like a surgery. So I checked into the same-day surgery clinic. They attached a hospital tag around my wrist and then led me back to the recovery room where an empty bed is waiting for me. Some surgeons will complete the injection under fluoroscopy or an x-ray, to ensure proper placement of the medication. My specialist, however, simply accomplishes the procedure without the x-rays, with me laying flat on a raised hospital bed with my sterilized lower back and buttocks exposed to the open air.
This second shot hurt far worse than the first one. The procedure goes like this:
1. The surgeon inserts a thin needle of the local anesthetic into the skin and deeper tissues to numb them for the epidural needle.
2. The long epidural needle is inserted through the skin and deeper tissues.
3. The surgeon finds the desired space and injects the steroid. If I could describe this, it feels like thick peanut butter being injected into your back.
4. When the steroid has been fully injected, he removes the needle and you are good to go.
My doctor and his assistant kept telling me to breathe and breathe deeply. All I remember was holding onto the bed frame so hard I probably left grip marks. I also felt a bit dizzy afterward, most likely because I was holding my breath. The nurse kept me on my stomach for five minutes to relax and let the dizziness pass.
Has the shot helped? It’s too early to tell. In some respects, I can tell a slight difference. But I’m also experiencing other sensations that concern me. I was told that I will feel discomfort and pain for about two to three days.
9:53:14 PM | |
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Sunday, September 17, 2006 |
Thanks to Mike for introducing me to this Charles Bukowski poem. It's a great one to ponder on a cool September Sunday evening.
roll the dice
if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
otherwise, don’t even start.
if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
this could mean losing girlfriends,
wives, relatives, jobs and
maybe your mind.
go all the way.
it could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days.
it could mean freezing on a
park bench.
it could mean jail,
it could mean derision,
mockery,
isolation.
isolation is the gift,
all the others are a test of your
endurance, of
how much you really want to
do it.
and you’ll do it
despite rejection and the worst odds
and it will be better than
anything else
you can imagine.
if you’re going to try,
go all the way.
there is no other feeling like
that.
you will be alone with the gods
and the nights will flame with
fire.
do it, do it, do it.
do it.
all the way
all the way.
you will ride life straight to
perfect laughter, its
the only good fight
there is
8:32:07 PM | |
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Saturday, September 16, 2006 |
This is what I'm talking about!
A mobile version of my blog is now avalable through 411Sync, a mobile search company that lets users access content on their cell phones using SMS, WAP and Email..
Simply point your mobile phone browser to http://411sync.com and use the keyword "salon0002090". Similarly, send an SMS to 415-676-8397 and use keyword "salon0002090" to get the latest headlines in SMS.
411Sync also allows you to configure alerts to notify you when I post.
Technology rocks!
11:24:38 AM | |
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Added a Media Matters link to my blogroll. Hope you enjoy it.
11:13:40 AM | |
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Thursday, September 14, 2006 |
I’m a fan of the James Bond franchise and this year’s latest installment, number 21 if you can believe it, looks like a true winner. One of the great debates on the web the past year is whether or not the new Bond, Daniel Craig, fits the mold, especially since Craig is blond, which is a deviation from the usual tall-dark-and-handsome template. Personally, I think Craig will make a fine Bond, considering his performances in the crime thrillers Layer Cake and Munich and the dramatic-oriented The Mother. Craig has also appeared in the films Road to Perdition and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
Ultimately, however, that’s one of the answers that will come from how well the film does at the boxoffice.
Check out the newly released trailer for Casino Royale.
8:35:56 PM | |
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Wednesday, September 13, 2006 |
Last Tuesday, I reported that I had seen my specialist and he gave me an epidural shot into the troubled disk. The shot, as I suspected, was working like a charm. IN fact, last Friday I was able to work out on the stair-stepper (at a low impact setting) for half of an hour without pain. And Saturday, my back was feeling so well that I was able to walk on the treadmill and work myself up to a speed of 4.2, which was nearly a slow jog. Total walking mileage since the shot till Sunday was 18.5 miles. And, to highlight another milestone: Up to Monday afternoon, I was finishing a third consecutive day (out of the last six weeks) that I did not have to pop any ibruprofen and/or Tylenol to help alleviate pain.
Then, I had my physical therapy appointment Monday afternoon. This first session went as any other PT session that I had ever been too, until the last exercise. And this time, the therapist (who I have worked with twice before without any problems) put me on a spine stretching machine. He figured that it would help alleviate some of the pressure on my lower back.
So he straps me into this tight waist wrap, marks the setting on the machine, and lets it go through its series of stretching that reminded me of the ebb and flow of the waves. I was stationary like the beach and the sea would pull at my sand, trying to stretch out the shoreline. Well, I wasn’t even five minutes into the exercise and the machine began pulling so hard that my back immediately starting hurting. So I immediately told him what I was feeling. He quickly lowered the stretching value and had me finish out the series of stretching. Though it didn’t necessarily hurt me, my back felt very odd throughout each stretching.
After it was over, I crawled off the machine. It hurt just to walk. My back completely felt different--I felt literally different – leaving the PT office than it did when I walked in.
That night, I barely slept because of the back pain. Tylenol nor advil could even touch it. I had tingling sensations going up and down my left leg; sometimes numb spots migrated around the bottom of my foot. I was so distraught with this setback, that I thought to myself that I wanted to drive myself in front of the oncoming train that goes through town at 4 AM each morning.
Last night, I got out and walked some. I walked two miles but it took me nearly 50 minutes to walk those miles because of my decreased range of motion.
Today, I’m still in pain. Still have the shooting pain going down the left leg, accompanied with tingling and numbness. But, all of this isn’t as painful as Monday night or Tuesday day.
7:30:30 PM | |
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Tuesday, September 12, 2006 |
Do you remember Mike Tea, the illustrator I spotlighted last week? So, he's more talented than he let on to be. He also writes poetry; and pretty damn good poetry at that. Consider this "Sky between the branches," one of his personal favorites:
Sky between the branches
Morning,
and the skies' opening salvos,
Bleed the horizon
in crimson and azure.
a cracked window,
and the icy fingers of a cooler hour linger,
sliding gently across his naked form,
uninvited in this dimness.
eyes open wide,
in the moments of young light,
he dreams wildly.
Hearing his own voice,
singular in that rusting echo,
He gently wipes the condensation
from the damp tin,
hastily erected around his aching heart.
What he feels is not unique.
He knows this all too well.
autumn creeps in through the back door,
revealing itself in full splendor.
Her tired colors push at the horizon,
fighting to explain.
Barefoot, and cold inside
he walks slowly.
moist concrete,
and shades of grey around him.
walking through dead leaves,
they crackle, and concede to the wind.
in faint light,
the colors of his desire burn.
The ocres, and burnt umber.
lamention of a kinder season.
letting go,
falling down,
a transfer of energy.
A selfless offering,
a cycle of things
that cannot be avoided.
Their time together,
as with all others,
a brilliant sliver of this forever.
Another morning breathing life
into the hollow frame of a man.
a single star,
burns without emotion
on the western horizon,
surrounded by the palest of blues.
Who is Mike's favorite poet? Charles Bukowski.
Read my spotlight of Mike's illustrations here.
9:41:27 PM | |
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Sunday, September 10, 2006 |
A continuation of my novel 40. This falls after the post 40: Vegas.5.
The drug-induced sleep, like a large leviathan, finally opened its mouth. I swam up from the dark pit of its belly and it took a few moments before I regained the strength to open my eyes and keep them open in the light that danced upon the seeming fluid waves above my head. I heard the voice of a gruff, yet concerned old man say "he’s come to."
Suddenly, the shadow of a man appeared over me. A bright yellow aura burst out from around his frame. His face drew close to my face. It was dark; seemed hot. His fingers kindly parted each of my eyelids so that he could cast a bright light into each of my eyes. I tried speaking, asking "why am I here?" but I don’t know how much of that actually found its way out of my mouth because my lips felt heavy and immovable.
I felt the man take a seat on the side of the bed, close to my shoulders. He looked at me and then back in the direction of the older man. Because of this, the light kept dancing around the contours of his face, sometimes making him appear as if his eyes were just black holes or that he was part human and part shadow. "Let me check this..." he said kindly as his large hand came up and touched the top of my forehead where I had found the stitches. "Yes, this is looking much better than before."
"Good." The older man replied. "A few more days then?"
"Yes." The shadowed man said convincingly. "We’re very close now."
His face drew close again. "What is your name?" he asked.
"Tanner." I replied.
"Tanner, is it?" the shadowed man replied questioningly as he turned his back to me in order to face the older man.
"What does this mean?" asked the older voice.
"That’s a good question," the man replied, fiddling around with something at the side of the bed. "I don’t know the answer to that right yet. What I do know, though, is that we are going to continue to mend this head injury. Maybe by healing that, we’ll resolve this predicament too."
The shadowed man turned toward me again. "Mark," he kindly started, "I need you to get some good rest so I’m giving you something to help with that. This shouldn’t hurt too much...maybe not at all."
And he was right. I felt a prick in my right arm, the arm closest to him; and I was still so far under from whatever they drugged me with the first time that I didn’t feel the pain from this shot.
"You’re in good hands, Mark," he said as he drew in close for one last time. "You get some sleep, okay? I’ll see you again soon."
I shook my head the best I could.
He got up from the bed and disappeared over to where the man with the older voice stood or sat. "He’s going to be out for most of the day. Just keep an eye on him. Let me know if his vitals drop."
"Oh, I will..." laughed the older man. And for the first time, the older man crossed into the periphery of my vision and stood there watching me. His face was narrow and lean. His eyes were as black as a crow’s. He pulled his sunglasses from off the top of his head of thick gray hair and dropped them in front of his eyes, as if he realized I was analyzing his eyes. "Be good, Mark Byatt," he said loudly. "Be very good."
He disappeared. I heard the movement of bodies, the rustling of clothes, walking away from me. The room went dark. I heard the heavy door to the room open and then close. Silence filled the room; it grew as heavy as the darkness. Ah, my new intimate companion, I thought.
I looked over to the window. Though the curtains were closed, I could see the glow from the immense city outside breaking into the room through the seams. And just as I was beginning to plot my escape, the clutches of the drug pulled me back down into the thick belly of the leviathan.
12:29:36 AM | |
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Thursday, September 07, 2006 |
I just finished another anti-war poem "The Difference Between Us." I'm going to submit it around and see if I get any takers.
Now, back to 40.
11:08:23 PM | |
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Wednesday, September 06, 2006 |
Last week, Ron Silliman posted "Julia’s Wild" a poem from the new Zukofsky Selected Poems, the text of which is the same line taken from Act IV, Scene 4 of Shakespeare’s Two Gentleman of Verona and morphed 19 different ways.
Zukofsky, starting and ending the poem with the same line, creates a concentric circle in which the front of the poem is wittled down into a tightening point and the backside works from that tightly-sounding sentence (and completely opposite in structure)"Shadow this, take and com up shadow, come" until it seems to unravel back to the "Come shadow, come, and take this shadow up."
I simply find the machinations of this poem clever. And it makes for a fascinating case study of the grammatics of the English language–how the rearranging of words can alter, even if just slightly, the sentence’s meaning, figuratively or literally.
Side note: I’ve been gathering quotes about shadows for my appendix to 40. This is an excellent addition. Thanks Ron for introducing it to me. Speaking of Ron, his critical reviews of poetry, film, literature, and even tv are astute as they are fascinating. Don’t take my word for it, click here and read his thoughts regarding this poem.
(Julia is the name of the character in the play.)
"Julia’s Wild"
Come shadow, come, and take this shadow up,
Come shadow shadow, come and take this up,
Come, shadow, come, and take this shadow up,
Come, come shadow, and take this shadow up,
Come, come and shadow, take this shadow up,
Come, up, come shadow and take this shadow,
And up, come, take shadow, come this shadow,
And up, come, come shadow, take this shadow,
And come shadow, come up, take this shadow,
Come up, come shadow this, and take shadow,
Up, shadow this, come and take shadow, come
Shadow this, take and come up shadow, come
Take and come, shadow, come up, shadow this,
Up, come and take shadow, come this shadow,
Come up, take shadow, and come this shadow,
Come and take shadow, come up this shadow,
Shadow, shadow come, come and take this up,
Come, shadow, take, and come this shadow, up,
Come shadow, come, and take this shadow up,
Come, shadow, come, and take this shadow up.
8:04:19 PM | |
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Tuesday, September 05, 2006 |
I have been having back problems the past month. They've been so bad that I have not run, except for the four blocks two weeks ago to see how my back was healing. It wasn't. I canceled the great Hood To Coast relay race in Oregon because of this.
Well, good news. I finally got in to see a specialist today and he gave me an epidural shot directly into the disk that is bulging. I'm hoping this helps me get running within the month. I will be going to physical therapy that concentrates on running so I hope the combination of the two get me back on the path I love so well. If things go well, I might run the St. George marathon just for the heck of it. You know, not for time.
7:34:41 PM | |
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Monday, September 04, 2006 |
I'm frustrated. I've been trying to finish a poem for over a week now, really concentrating on it over the weekend. And now I've re-written it three times and I still don't like it. Two pages of content. I've also been writing the next segment of 40.
I picked up The Selected Verse of Federico Garcia Lorca, edited by Christopher Maurer at Borders today. I was trying to purchase Drive by Lorna Dee Cervantes but they didn't have it in stock. I'll have to purchase it online.
Here is another grand shadow quote, found in the prologue of one of Lorca's works:
So like the shadow our life doth slip away that never doth return nor us restore....Pero Lopez De Ayala.
10:20:25 PM | |
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Friday, September 01, 2006 |
I've been working on this new banner for a couple of weeks. Tonight, I'm finally publishing it, along with other tweaks in the page. I hope you like it.
The illustration you see in the banner is not me. It is Mark Byatt, the main character of 40. I created him using Adobe Illustrator. Actually, I created the whole banner in that program. I then updated the HTML code using 1st Page. I liked how the banner viewed in that HTML preview screen. I hope it looks as good in Salon. Clicking Submit in 3 - 2 - 1. Blast off.
Tell me your thoughts.
7:41:32 PM | |
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