THE NATION's Joan Walsh on Trump playing Beat The Press.

I'm not ordinarily a fan of former SALON columnist/current MSNBC mainstay Joan Walsh (the eternal Democratic Party centrist), but this paragraph from her article for THE NATION is essential reading:
Sometimes it seems that the media gets more upset about Trump’s abuse of its own members than his slurs against Mexicans, Muslims, women, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Vince Foster, and the handful of #NeverTrump Republicans who oppose him. Whatever it takes to prod more critical Trump coverage at this point, I’ll take it. Trump’s Tuesday meltdown was a new nadir of petulance and bullying, continued evidence of his inability to pivot to “presidential” behavior even after winning the delegates needed to become the nominee. This level of thin-skinned hysteria plays well with the GOP base; there’s no evidence it can win a majority of American voters. 

Entirety of article here: http://www.thenation.com/article/here-is-a-list-of-people-donald-trump-insulted-last-week/

Coda to the poetry rejection/rusty nail post.

Earlier I wrote this:
received a rejection letter.

Not from the host/poetry editor.

But from the publication's managing editor.

Of course, it could be the host/poetry editor may have chosen several poems and the managing editor may have kept some, cut others and taken on the task of e-mail notifications.

[ The host, earlier today, confirmed the above.  He has the Poetry Editor title, but the final editing/choices gets done by the managing editor.  But, hey, it's an honor and a step up on the ladder.]

I still feel that I've spent years wanting the host/editor to be someone of greater than superficial, "say what people want to hear" character.

Ultimately, a waste of my time and his.

Three poems not good enough for ANGEL CITY REVIEW.

FOUND POEM FROM LINES IN BETH CHENG POEMS

(Note: poem constructed from lines in Beth Cheng's chapbook SYZYGY)

 

History speaks,

but I'm not drawn into conversation

> 

It's not better,

just different you say

In response to my lament

> 

I do not grow, cannot,

I only deflate, shrivel,

shrink, sublimate...

OUTRAGE CULTURE

 

it's so easy

to be angry at Famous People

(justified or not)

for perceived sins of the past

and display purifying present-day scorn

in public forums

with no need

for nuance or perspective 

or historical context

> 

shut down opposing views

and make it absolutely sure

actual or imagined crimes

and dubious, outdated, chauvinistic remarks

will cause every second of their art

and/or entertainment

created in the imperfect past 

to be avoided like Video Plague

by future generations

and imprisoned in studio vaults

without much chance of escape

WHY YOU DON'T SEE ME ANYMORE

Didn’t want to be single at 50

Complaining all the time about change

Didn’t want to be around people

Pronouncing the word “multicultural”

As an obscenity that begins with the word “mother”

Didn’t want to hear the words

“violating the natural order of things”

If I objected to bigotry

Didn’t want to be hushed up

If I said I liked some new movies

Just as much as Old Hollywood classics

Didn’t want to hear discussions at Bob’s Big Boy

About Alan Ladd being superior to Leo DiCaprio

Didn't want to be single at 60

And unable to make a woman trust me

Because of spending decades

In the company of aging men

Who preferred to remain boys

My confession.

I honestly wish that, in 1998, I had never read a copy of NEXT magazine--and, instead, accomplished something else with my life other than go public with poetry. Most of the truly decent people I met along the way are either deceased or have moved to other parts of the U.S. And others are shining examples of "conditional love." I feel like I've lost at least two to three years from my lifespan due to not realizing how to properly cope with the differing values (aesthetic and otherwise) of others without feeling stressed and upset. I'm truly sorry to have ever believed, once I started going to Midnight Special [Bookstore in Santa Monica] and attending the workshop, that I might have some value or something to contribute artistically to part of the community. And I'm ashamed of my naivete in thinking that the openness/acceptance of Midnight Special was something I'd find just about everywhere else.

The poetry rejection that felt like stepping on a rusty nail.

So there's this host who, for years, would say things like "I'm in your corner" when I felt I needed to confide in someone.

And, years ago, he was willing to lose a reading at a corporate bookstore and move elsewhere--this to defend someone who dared read Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" (or at least a portion of it) at an open mic.

The host, for years, compiled and sold a quarterly poetry publication where all were welcome to submit--and he would select the best poem/poems from each submission.

Then, the host got an MFA from a small university on the Westside of Los Angeles and things changed.

The quarterly publication was ceased as a newer showcase was phased in.

The new zine sought to include more eminent poets (perhaps a reaction to a L.A. poetry anthology titled WIDE AWAKE that the host wasn't part of) and began to have either prompts or "themes."

Now, there are some hoops to leap through.  Just submitting for someone to choose what he/she thinks is your best work isn't enough.

Let's start culling the herd to impress others.

And the host became the poetry editor of a webzine (with various forms of writing).

On a certain social network, the host/poetry editor invited submissions.

So, I submitted.

[SIDEBAR: the host used to do a pay-for-publication-of-chapbooks where poets at least were published with someone else's imprint instead of their own.  And I paid to have a handful of chapbooks done in this way.]

And today, I received a rejection letter.

Not from the host/poetry editor.

But from the publication's managing editor.

Of course, it could be the host/poetry editor may have chosen several poems and the managing editor may have kept some, cut others and taken on the task of e-mail notifications.

It's always disappointing to get rejections--certainly from people you know.

And it's up to the poet to decide whether or not to keep submitting.

To me, today's rejection meant:
host/poetry editor was just patronizing me for years because what I did benefited him and put some extra money in his pocket.

Now that he brandishes his MFA with pride, he can afford to leave the little people behind in his quest for parity with some of the major figures in Los Angeles poetry.

And I'm a little person who, again, realizes that rejection is a lot better when I've submitted to a publication where I know no one (and vice versa).

Because at least the rejection (or acceptance) is free of taint, bias or career advancement agendas.

Bob Dylan playlist: 2000-2016

1. Things Have Changed
2. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
3. Mississippi
4. Summer Days
5. High Water (For Charley Patton)
6. Thunder On The Mountain
7. Beyond The Horizon
8. Beyond Here Lies Nothin'
9. It's All Good
10. Duquesne Whistle
11. Roll On John

Bob Dylan playlist 1962-1997.

1. Blowin' In The Wind
2. Mr. Tambourine Man
3. Like A Rolling Stone
4. Positively 4th Street
5. Just Like A Woman
6. Rainy Day Women #12 and #35
7. Subterranean Homesick Blues
8. It Ain't Me Babe
9; Chimes Of Freedom
10. All Along The Watchtower
11. Girl From The North Country (w/Johnny Cash)
12. Lay Lady Lay
13. Tangled Up In Blue
14. Hurricane
15. Mozambique
16. Precious Angel
17. The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar
18. Every Grain Of Sand
19. Jokerman
20. When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky
21. Dark Eyes
22. Political World
23. Everything Is Broken
24. Man In The Long Black Coat
25. Brownsville Girl
26. Dignity (MTV Unplugged)
27. Love Sick
28. Trying To Get To Heaven
29. Not Dark Yet
30. Knockin' On Heaven's Door

The Los Angeles 70s playlist.

1. Fountain Of Sorrow--Jackson Browne
2. FM--Steely Dan
3. LA Serenade--Livingston Taylor
4. Come Monday--Jimmy Buffett
5. Someone To Lay Down Beside Me--Linda Ronstadt
6. Use Me--Bill Withers
7. Different Drum--Michael Nesmith
8. Why Can't We Be Friends?--War
9. Best Of My Love--The Eagles
10. Breakaway--Art Garfunkel
11. Tenderness On The Block--Warren Zevon
12. Just A Song Before I Go--CSN
13. You're Only Lonely--J.D. Souther