poet, interviewer, musician, traveler
Ahab
the
unabashed
pursuit
of a series
of white whales
has left me
lashed
to the wheel
of a drifting
ship
searching
the thick sky
for a patch
of blue
13 February 2013
Auburn, AL
/ / /
The first part of this poem is a slightly paraphrased version of a footnote from this piece by Chris Higgins. The illustration is by Rockwell Kent.
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Romeo & Juliet
my therapist thinks we’re tragic
so tragic, in fact,
that when I told him our story, he laughed
not standard therapist behavior, perhaps
but it’s hard to fault the man
when you lay out the facts, line them up neatly
anyone would be incredulous, would doubt our veracity
wonder how the hell something like this could happen
I told him I don’t believe in God
but this whole situation makes me think
there may be a Devil
my mom thinks things happen for a reason
what’s the reason for this?
Shakespeare already wrote Romeo and Juliet
who are we to try to one-up the Bard?
Journalist and comic book artist Joe Sacco has been rightly praised for this intense account of his time in the Palestinian territories during the first Intifada. Sacco decided from the start to tell the Palestinian side of the story — not to aim for the false balance of much of modern journalism. His graphic novel is primarily a series of interviews with Palestinians, some arranged in advance and some on the spur of the moment.
If you enjoyed Art Spiegelman’s MAUS books, you’ll probably like Sacco’s work.
Highly recommended.
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Kurt Vonnegut would have been 86 today. In honor of his birthday, raise a glass to Indiana, which went blue this year. I’m sure that would have made Kurt happy.
After you lower that glass, use your hands to pick up one of Vonnegut’s books and read it.
Leave a CommentJen and I just got back from five days in San Francisco:
Leave a CommentSPOILER ALERT! If you’ve never read Don Quixote, be warned: This post will probably give away plot points.
A few minutes ago, I finished reading Don Quixote
Don Quixote by Jason Crane
All I knew about it before reading it was that it involved a crazy man who thinks he’s a knight and attacks windmills. In fact, I thought the entire book was about Don Quixote attacking various windmills. It’s one of those books that has entered the cultural consciousness even if most folks have never read it. Fess up, did you think, when you were a kid, that the book was called Donkey Hotee? I did, and I always assumed it was because he rode a donkey. Which, it turns out, he doesn’t.
Little did I know — and even less did I expect — what an amazing work it is. It’s beautiful, comical and tragic all at once. It’s a history lesson, a visionary look at the art of the novel, and a gripping story, too.
In many ways, Don Quixote reminded me of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, a work so large and full of so much of the human experience that it’s amazing to consider one person having written it. How could Cervantes and Shakespeare fit so much into a single work? And who were these men that they themselves contained so much wisdom and insight, coupled with the literary talent to set it down in works that will live as long as language? It makes blogging look a bit ridiculous, for one thing. (Hamlet and the first book of Don Quixote were published almost simultaneously. The early 1600s must have been one heck of a time in which to live and read!)
While I was reading the book, I also picked up a few critical studies to read afterward, including Lectures on Don Quixote
The book seems on its face to be a comedy about a crazy man, but to me it was an indictment of a society that had forgotten its values and lost its honor. The duke and duchess who torment Don Quixote and Sancho throughout much of Book Two are villians, as far as I can tell. You’d have to be callous and sadistic to find their “jests” funny rather than cruel. However, my interpretation of the book is through my own cultural lens, and Cervantes may have been in favor of the purges of Jews and Moors that he describes, even though a modern reader can see his commentary as criticism.
In fact, Don Quixote and Sancho maintain their dignity throughout the book, and even if that dignity’s foundation can be called into question, they still come off as more honorable and worthwhile human beings than most of the major characters who try to trick or cure them.
To be continued…
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A group of visionary artists and community leaders are trying to build a New Globe Theater on Governor’s Island off Manhattan. Learn more about this amazing project at newglobe.org.
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BOA Editions, one of the brightest spots in Rochester’s cultural life, is moving to new digs. This is from this morning’s Democrat & Chronicle newspaper:
BOA Editions moving to North Goodman Street
Local publishing company BOA Editions will be moving to the Neighborhood of the Arts.
It is moving from 260 East Ave. to the Anderson Alley building, 250 N. Goodman St. The new address will be effective April 30.
Poet and editor Peter Conners from BOA Editions was a guest on The Jason Crane Show last year. You can check out that episode for an interview with Peter and poetry from a number of great poets.
Comments closed“As for the Pyramids, there is nothing to wonder at in them so much as the fact that so many men could be found degraded enough to spend their lives constructing a tomb for some ambitious booby, whom it would have been wiser and manlier to have drowned in the Nile, and then given his body to the dogs.” – from Walden by Henry David Thoreau
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Walt Whitman was born on this day in 1819. For more information about Walt and his work, visit the Walt Whitman Archive.
Speaking of the Whitman Archive, the NEH has offered the Archive a $500,000 challenge grant. To help them meet the challenge, please donate some money to the Archive. Thanks!
Comments closedJohn Nichols of The Nation has written a nice piece on Whitman and war. It includes a lovely funeral poem by Whitman. You can read it at thenation.com.
Comments closedIt’s going to take me a long time — maybe forever — to really come to grips with what yesterday meant to me. When I hatched this crazy plan last year, I wasn’t even sure I could make it happen. Then Connie Bodner stepped in, and it suddenly became possible, if not probable.
Then it was yesterday. Months of planning, literally thousands of e-mail messages, hundreds of phone calls. Dozens of readers, dozens of dinner guests, dozens of staff members, one actor. Could we really expect it to come off well?
When I finally sit down and write the story of my life, 21 May 2006 will be one of the high points. It was better than I ever could have hoped. The diversity of voices. The passion of the readers. The flow of emotion throughout the afternoon. Hail. Rain. Wind. Sunshine. (In late May!)
Then came the end of the reading. Wade Norwood was the final reader. He finished the last line — I stop some where waiting for you — and started down the stairs from the lectern. As his foot hit the first step, a wave crashed through the church. The audience of readers and listeners erupted with cheers, applause, and more than a few moist eyes, including my own. This wave of sound and emotion and joy and completion just kept building and building. It was almost too much to believe. (My hands are shaking right now as I type this.)
We took no photos, made no recordings. The event passed into the air. The sound waves are even now heading out across the solar system as almost imperceptible disturbances of whatever it is that makes up the cosmos.
I’m still awestruck at the experience. I feel so lucky to have been there, and to have been surrounded by such wonderful people. I have a debt to that room that I can’t repay.
Comments closedIt’s finally here! CELEBRATING WHITMAN: AMERICA’S POET, is today (Sunday) at 2 p.m. at Genesee Country Village & Museum. We begin by reading “Song of Myself” from 2-5 p.m., followed by a 19th century dinner at 5 p.m. and Will Stutts as Walt Whitman at 6 p.m. Please come to the reading and be part of this special event.
SHOW-ONLY TICKETS: The dinner is sold out, but you can get a show-only ticket for $20. Just come to the Education Center (next to the main entrance of Genesee Country Village) before 6 p.m. See you there!
Comments closedIf you have a time machine, you can watch me earlier today on News10 NBC here in Rochester, talking about the Whitman event.
If you have a radio or computer, you can hear me tomorrow (Wednesday) at 3:30 p.m. on Jack Mindy’s show on Jazz90.1. The station is at 90.1 FM, or on the Internet.
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Celebrating Whitman: America’s Poet is looking like a success, but we still need some more folks to buy tickets for the dinner and show. Click on the event title at the beginning of this paragraph for more information on how to get tickets. And remember, the reading begins at 2 p.m. That’s free with museum admission. The dinner/show begins at 5 p.m. It’s $30 for a single ticket, or $55 for a couple for dinner and a live one-man show. Not bad at all!