Overheard some children talking around the swimming pool of our townhouse complex today.
Topics included a returning war vet (Iraq?) killing himself and family--the child saying this didn't know why it would happen since "he [the vet] should be glad to be back in the United States."
Another child wondered aloud whether World War III (nuclear war, if I heard the child correctly) would begin if Israel were to bomb Iran.
This is the world according to Canoga Park, CA children on August 30, 2010.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
New poem: LIFE IN THE POETRY ARMY
Epigraph--"A leader has to lead people somewhere." from Francis Coppola's film RUMBLE FISH (1983)
LIFE IN THE POETRY ARMY
When I joined the poetry army,
I should have remembered
that an army is an army
no matter whether it fights
with words or weapons.
No insubordination.
Keep your mouth shut.
Follow the leaders
at any given moment--
no, make that
at every given moment.
Take the morsel of bread;
the leaders think enough of you
not to leave you completely hungry.
I must have received
the wrong training manual.
I show too much mercy
to those poetry privates
considered mediocre
when I should be stabbing away
with my bayonet forged from
the steel of superior talent
(for excellence to thrive).
But at the same time
I'm expected to cull out the lower orders,
I must realize
that only the generals and colonels
in the poetry army
are allowed to denigrate everyone below them.
Any challenge to the officers
always leads to the firing squad.
I'm too in love
with the posibility of promotion
to resign my commission.
So I keep my mouth shut.
So I freeze my too-tender heart.
So I obey orders both good and bad
and get with the program
(which changes every few years)
led by whatever current general
that's been elected
by the temporary whim
of the Joint Chiefs of Verse
at the Pentagon of Art.
LIFE IN THE POETRY ARMY
When I joined the poetry army,
I should have remembered
that an army is an army
no matter whether it fights
with words or weapons.
No insubordination.
Keep your mouth shut.
Follow the leaders
at any given moment--
no, make that
at every given moment.
Take the morsel of bread;
the leaders think enough of you
not to leave you completely hungry.
I must have received
the wrong training manual.
I show too much mercy
to those poetry privates
considered mediocre
when I should be stabbing away
with my bayonet forged from
the steel of superior talent
(for excellence to thrive).
But at the same time
I'm expected to cull out the lower orders,
I must realize
that only the generals and colonels
in the poetry army
are allowed to denigrate everyone below them.
Any challenge to the officers
always leads to the firing squad.
I'm too in love
with the posibility of promotion
to resign my commission.
So I keep my mouth shut.
So I freeze my too-tender heart.
So I obey orders both good and bad
and get with the program
(which changes every few years)
led by whatever current general
that's been elected
by the temporary whim
of the Joint Chiefs of Verse
at the Pentagon of Art.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
And now, it's time for me to be shunned by Jaimes Palacio, Orange County poet/host..
Imagine Elton John's "Funeral For A Friend" playing as you read this.
Jaimes Palacio, someone of importance in the Orange County poetry community, has now shunned me. He unfriended me on Facebook--apparently because of the blog post below the one you're reading now (which I also put onto Facebook).
Here's my comment: I thought up until now that Jaimes and I were at least acquaintances, appreciated him and his poems and I have never given him any choose-me-or-them conditions re friendship during the decade I knew him. Time for a chorus of Taps.
[POSTSCRIPT 8/30/2010: At least I'm not banned from Jaimes' readings at Gypsy Den Grand Central in Santa Ana. But otherwise, whatever there was is over now.]
Jaimes Palacio, someone of importance in the Orange County poetry community, has now shunned me. He unfriended me on Facebook--apparently because of the blog post below the one you're reading now (which I also put onto Facebook).
Here's my comment: I thought up until now that Jaimes and I were at least acquaintances, appreciated him and his poems and I have never given him any choose-me-or-them conditions re friendship during the decade I knew him. Time for a chorus of Taps.
[POSTSCRIPT 8/30/2010: At least I'm not banned from Jaimes' readings at Gypsy Den Grand Central in Santa Ana. But otherwise, whatever there was is over now.]
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Orange's Ugly Mug and the 10th anniversary of Two Idiots Peddling Poetry reading.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-ugly-mug-cafe-orange
Printing these review excerpts from the Ugly Mug page on Yelp.com:
"yep, the owner's a jerk. what's worse, is i went to open mic to read poetry and i felt like i stepped into a family gathering where i wasn't invited. not your open, creative, accepting environment , but a group of self serving, snobby people who don't welcome newcomers and instead of actually reading poetry, they stand on stage to grab attention and hear themselves speak. coffee's bad, too. there are much better places to go. save yourself from a bad aftertaste of coffee and people."
"I appreciate that the Ugly Mug supports creativity. Many of the poets I've heard there are very talented, as well. Unfortunately, during multiple visits, I have felt like an unwanted guest in somebody's home. Sometimes it feels a bit like an "in" clique and if you're not in, you're out."
"It's a real shame that the guy that runs this place has the biggest, baddest attitude I have ever met. At first I thought he was one of those guys that acted like a curmudgeon, because it amused him. Hey, that's funny and cool in a perverse way. Sadly, it doesn't take long for one to figured out that... it isn't an act."
And, especially after reading these three comments, to think I wasted time (and probably took a month off my lifespan from the stress) trying to get back in the good graces of the owner and the hosts--something that won't ever happen due to their pride and stubbornness and my one big sin committed way back in 2004.
Moral: Offend the owner and/or hosts, and be prepared for a lifetime ban. Trust me, Phil the owner doesn't kid about these things.
Obviously, I was lucky to have four years of acquaintanceship with Steve Ramirez (didn't know Ben Trigg very well at all during that period)--and, before I caused myself to Walk The Plank, I was also blessed with being considered good enough to feature (based on my open-reading performance), before my talent level became screened out of consideration.
And, during these half-dozen years of banishment, I was hoping to at least be admitted to watch and learn from the higher level of poets featuring there.
It wasn't and isn't to be. Phil the owner behaves like Craig T. Nelson's high school football coach in ALL THE RIGHT MOVES--and Steve and Ben just don't want to deal with the situation (and they have prominent poetry community friends/enablers like G. Murray Thomas, who scolded me backchannel on their behalf awhile back).
Essentially, the poetry community will stand up for progressive causes and people facing alleged Unjust Accusations (i.e. the Free Mumia movement going on in the late 90s when I began reading in coffeehouses). But they, by and large, will not risk their comfort and social standing to associate with unpopular poets, or--egad--speak up on their behalf.
There's a limit to how righteous a poet can be.
Printing these review excerpts from the Ugly Mug page on Yelp.com:
"yep, the owner's a jerk. what's worse, is i went to open mic to read poetry and i felt like i stepped into a family gathering where i wasn't invited. not your open, creative, accepting environment , but a group of self serving, snobby people who don't welcome newcomers and instead of actually reading poetry, they stand on stage to grab attention and hear themselves speak. coffee's bad, too. there are much better places to go. save yourself from a bad aftertaste of coffee and people."
"I appreciate that the Ugly Mug supports creativity. Many of the poets I've heard there are very talented, as well. Unfortunately, during multiple visits, I have felt like an unwanted guest in somebody's home. Sometimes it feels a bit like an "in" clique and if you're not in, you're out."
"It's a real shame that the guy that runs this place has the biggest, baddest attitude I have ever met. At first I thought he was one of those guys that acted like a curmudgeon, because it amused him. Hey, that's funny and cool in a perverse way. Sadly, it doesn't take long for one to figured out that... it isn't an act."
And, especially after reading these three comments, to think I wasted time (and probably took a month off my lifespan from the stress) trying to get back in the good graces of the owner and the hosts--something that won't ever happen due to their pride and stubbornness and my one big sin committed way back in 2004.
Moral: Offend the owner and/or hosts, and be prepared for a lifetime ban. Trust me, Phil the owner doesn't kid about these things.
Obviously, I was lucky to have four years of acquaintanceship with Steve Ramirez (didn't know Ben Trigg very well at all during that period)--and, before I caused myself to Walk The Plank, I was also blessed with being considered good enough to feature (based on my open-reading performance), before my talent level became screened out of consideration.
And, during these half-dozen years of banishment, I was hoping to at least be admitted to watch and learn from the higher level of poets featuring there.
It wasn't and isn't to be. Phil the owner behaves like Craig T. Nelson's high school football coach in ALL THE RIGHT MOVES--and Steve and Ben just don't want to deal with the situation (and they have prominent poetry community friends/enablers like G. Murray Thomas, who scolded me backchannel on their behalf awhile back).
Essentially, the poetry community will stand up for progressive causes and people facing alleged Unjust Accusations (i.e. the Free Mumia movement going on in the late 90s when I began reading in coffeehouses). But they, by and large, will not risk their comfort and social standing to associate with unpopular poets, or--egad--speak up on their behalf.
There's a limit to how righteous a poet can be.
Rosanne Cash--tight-lipped conscious artiste--on her new autobiography.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-rosanne-cash-20100825,0,628983.story
Salient passages from Randy Lewis' on-bended-knee profile of Ms. Cash:
"It's just not in my nature to air grievances in public — I find the whole trend deeply appalling," Cash, 55, said during a swing through the Southland recently that included readings and book signings at a couple of area stores.
I had a great model in my father about this very thing," Cash says. She flew to Paris in 2005 upon the release of the James Mangold-directed biopic "Walk the Line." Despite the wide acclaim Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon received for their portrayals of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, Rosanne recoiled from the film's Hollywood-style portrayal of her mother — Johnny Cash's first wife — Vivian Liberto.
"My father could be incredibly self-destructive and in a lot of psychic pain, and he would never, ever, ever blame anyone else — or purposely hurt someone, or take it out on someone," she said. "To me that defines integrity."
Shame on me. I'm too human, not as self-consciously artistic as Ms. Cash--and I can't afford to fly off to Paris just because I don't want deal with pesky journalists asking about the real Johnny Cash versus the biopic WALK THE LINE.
Rephrasing the last phrase above: I can't afford to fly to Paris anytime I have to face something difficult. I just stay home and deal with it--or fail to deal with it--like the other plebians Ms. Cash seems (to my mind) to want to briskly avoid in her comfortable life.
Salient passages from Randy Lewis' on-bended-knee profile of Ms. Cash:
"It's just not in my nature to air grievances in public — I find the whole trend deeply appalling," Cash, 55, said during a swing through the Southland recently that included readings and book signings at a couple of area stores.
I had a great model in my father about this very thing," Cash says. She flew to Paris in 2005 upon the release of the James Mangold-directed biopic "Walk the Line." Despite the wide acclaim Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon received for their portrayals of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, Rosanne recoiled from the film's Hollywood-style portrayal of her mother — Johnny Cash's first wife — Vivian Liberto.
"My father could be incredibly self-destructive and in a lot of psychic pain, and he would never, ever, ever blame anyone else — or purposely hurt someone, or take it out on someone," she said. "To me that defines integrity."
Shame on me. I'm too human, not as self-consciously artistic as Ms. Cash--and I can't afford to fly off to Paris just because I don't want deal with pesky journalists asking about the real Johnny Cash versus the biopic WALK THE LINE.
Rephrasing the last phrase above: I can't afford to fly to Paris anytime I have to face something difficult. I just stay home and deal with it--or fail to deal with it--like the other plebians Ms. Cash seems (to my mind) to want to briskly avoid in her comfortable life.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Writing that moved me almost to tears.
Putting my regular feelings for Victor Infante to one side to reprint this moving passage he recently wrote in a tribute to a comatose friend of his (highlighting by me):
"But I keep thinking back to that 16-year-old kid I used to be, and remembering that slow, piecemeal decision to make myself into the person I wanted to be, and realizing that what I'm feeling in that anger is the kid who was hurting a lot from a lifetime of early losses, who didn't know how to stand up for himself and didn't feel he had anything worth standing up for. And sometimes, when the world seems intent on putting you in what it feels is your place, intent on belittling your work and essentially eroding hard-won self-respect, it seems so easy to just lash out again, to start throwing punches. But that's a dead end. I knew it when I was 16, and I know it now. At 16, I found places to put that anger, to make it work for me. And maybe I need to find that again. "Anger," as John Lydon once sang, "is an energy." "
The complete post can be found at http://ocvictor.livejournal.com/868791.html
"But I keep thinking back to that 16-year-old kid I used to be, and remembering that slow, piecemeal decision to make myself into the person I wanted to be, and realizing that what I'm feeling in that anger is the kid who was hurting a lot from a lifetime of early losses, who didn't know how to stand up for himself and didn't feel he had anything worth standing up for. And sometimes, when the world seems intent on putting you in what it feels is your place, intent on belittling your work and essentially eroding hard-won self-respect, it seems so easy to just lash out again, to start throwing punches. But that's a dead end. I knew it when I was 16, and I know it now. At 16, I found places to put that anger, to make it work for me. And maybe I need to find that again. "Anger," as John Lydon once sang, "is an energy." "
The complete post can be found at http://ocvictor.livejournal.com/868791.html
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
When anger and resentment go too far: film critic bans commenter for salacious remark about the former's personal life.
Precis of the events you will read about below:
LexG is a gadfly (working in the post-production part of the film Industry) who posts to a lot of film blogs (including Jeffrey Wells' HOLLYWOOD ELSEWHERE--where I post as well). Lex has a horndog persona (in LexG world, Megan Fox and Kristen Stewart are the Ultimate Women)--occasionally, he'll say something fairly interesting and cogent. But he's an acquired taste for most.
Glenn Kenny used to be a film critic for PREMIERE magazine; now his reviews can be read on MSN.com. Glenn has a blog called SOME CAME RUNNING, where Lex was a commenter until recently.
Two years ago, Glenn played a small and memorable role as an adult-film critic in Steven Soderbergh's THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE, which starred adult-film actress Sasha Grey. In a fit of lack-of-manners, Lex wrote a somewhat offensive remark regarding Glenn (and somehow relating to Ms. Grey), which I won't quote here. Lex's banishment came afterwards.
http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2010/08/right-as-usual-sir.html
http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2010/08/anxiety-of-potential-influence-and-vice-versa.html
http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2010/08/on-appearing-to-have-struck-a-nerve.html
http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2010/08/as-iggy-pop-said-in-the-leadin-to-louie-louie-on-metallic-ko-i-never-thought-its-come-to-this-baby.html
LexG is a gadfly (working in the post-production part of the film Industry) who posts to a lot of film blogs (including Jeffrey Wells' HOLLYWOOD ELSEWHERE--where I post as well). Lex has a horndog persona (in LexG world, Megan Fox and Kristen Stewart are the Ultimate Women)--occasionally, he'll say something fairly interesting and cogent. But he's an acquired taste for most.
Glenn Kenny used to be a film critic for PREMIERE magazine; now his reviews can be read on MSN.com. Glenn has a blog called SOME CAME RUNNING, where Lex was a commenter until recently.
Two years ago, Glenn played a small and memorable role as an adult-film critic in Steven Soderbergh's THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE, which starred adult-film actress Sasha Grey. In a fit of lack-of-manners, Lex wrote a somewhat offensive remark regarding Glenn (and somehow relating to Ms. Grey), which I won't quote here. Lex's banishment came afterwards.
http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2010/08/right-as-usual-sir.html
http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2010/08/anxiety-of-potential-influence-and-vice-versa.html
http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2010/08/on-appearing-to-have-struck-a-nerve.html
http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2010/08/as-iggy-pop-said-in-the-leadin-to-louie-louie-on-metallic-ko-i-never-thought-its-come-to-this-baby.html
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