this is a section from my rawther long work, Days Poem, which Meritage Press will soon publish in 2 steroid-inspired volumes. I just happed upon this bit today and liked it. I have etched my own writing manner into the world's glass, or something such. excuse me while I believe in myself.

, originally uploaded by allen_bramhall.

, originally uploaded by allen_bramhall.

Jack Kimball riffs nicely on Bawston. I've lived this sub and/or exurban distance from Boston all, really all, my life but I'm no expert on the place. I like the physical place. as a thinktank, it smells too much like something. why would college town USA be so parochial and insular? not that I can't see difficulties in New York's competitive edge. saw this funky push on Poetics list to establish a poet laureate of Bean Town. needed? nah. it's one more parochial touch. unless, like, they made John Wieners PL, because I take it he ground into and with the town in a way that a PL ought, but aint likely to. otherwise, it is channeled cartoon, like Jack says. a Jetson style moving walkway at Logan presents welcome messages by Mayor Tom Menino and Ted uh uh Kennedy the uh senior uh uh senator of the great uh uh uh state of uh MuhMassaMassachusetts. forever. awk! the place is entrenched. re the Cartoon Network ad campaign, in the Boston Globe, someone described finding one of the gizmos. she said she saw this thing, it had lights and all, and an alarm clock attached to it. it looked like a bomb to her. she picked it up... no shortage of brains her. anyway, I'm wondering what a PL would in fact accomplish. at some state of the city address this poet could downside the message to something all the folks could understand, something like that, I suppose. my own observacation, Bill Corbett would just maintain the academic boundaries. the many schools in the area are rough on the culture.

a grate picture

a grate picture, originally uploaded by allen_bramhall.

lit tree

lit tree, originally uploaded by allen_bramhall.

more pods from otherwhere

more pods from otherwhere, originally uploaded by allen_bramhall.

yield

yield, originally uploaded by allen_bramhall.

John Dooley, head not hanging down, supplied me with this url for his Mubet project. and don't forget to rememberize to visitate Otolith #4, another eager selection of varied stuff.

some work by John Mercuri Dooley. John's the co-curator of the Demolicious Reading series. I didn't realize or forgot that he had work available for view. I really like this work, like the idea behind it. he keeps adding lines in alphabetical order, the piece continually mutates. amkes me think you could take a text and set it in alphabetical order, a Kenny Goldsmith kind of thing. John started writing only recently, I forget how recently. I started when I was 16, which doesn't strike me as especially early (a friend of mine was writing stories and making comix at 8). I'm fascinated by those who come late to writing, just as it still fascinates me that I started painting only 5 years ago. anyway, check the archive at No Tell Motel for more of John's work, as well as loads by everyone else.

I found 14 Yu-Gi-Oh cards. I think the age bracket for these is older than Pokemon and younger than Magic. I mean, you give your kid brother your Pokemon cards when you've stepped up to Yu-Gi-Oh. I find these card games recondite to the point of arcane. numbers, images, Japanese characters and 1-point type all deliver key info for those tuned in and have their glasses handy. which I don't and am not. but dude, check it out: Chaos Sorcerer, atk 2000, def 2000. compare that to candy ass White Magician Pikeru: atk 1200, def 0. that's zero, the big O. wtf? I have 3 trap cards (purple): Call of the Haunted, Magic Cylinder, and Spell Shield Type-8. I like how scientificky that Type-8 sounds, and heck, who wouldn't want a Magic Cylinder. great at parties, no doubt. I have 8 spell cards (green). Lightning Vortex must be enjoyable, maybe play some Blue Oyster Cult. Mage Power, mm hmm. Magical Dimension, sure. Mystical Space Typhoon sounds 60s to me, something Owsley might've opened the doors to. a couple of alarming ones: Premature Burial and Dragged Down Into the Grave. PB shows an electric zombie with only right arm and head free, a colourful flash intimating the sinking tho in truth it looks like the victim is climbing out. DDITG looks like someone backflipping into the psychedelic grave (break on thru to the other side) but on closer inspection one sees a big hand pulling the acrobat in. there are 7 brown cards (6 dark, 1 light) that bear no general title but all are characters. Princess Pikeru differs from White Magician Pikeru by having a hefty 800 more atk. still gonna get pwned with 0 def, tho. Mythical Beast Cerberus scintillates bad news but both atk and def are 1400. Magician of Faith sounds nice but gimmie a break: atk 300 / def 400. looks like a jester tho the staff looks good enough for Tarot. Gemini Elf pictures I guess a boy elf and a girl elf, long eared, and maybe a mite incestuous. "Elf twins that alternate their attacks". organized elf twins, that would be. one of the spell cards is Nobleman of Cross Out. an editor!!! and in sooth: "Destroy 1 face down monster and remove it from play." coolio!!!

Erin's mock trail team competed for the 1st time this season. Erin got to be the 1st one to speak, as he gave the prosecution's opening remarks. I haven't witnessed this sort of thing before, Erin performing, so I found I was nervous. being as sick as he's been, he hasn't had the best opportunity to prepare. nonetheless he did great. he's an excellent writer, so his remarks were sharp, but he also gave them a good rendition. that he's 6'5" and wearing a suit, instead of his usual black t-shirts with rude remarks, makes for an impressive presence. there are 3 seasoned vets on the team, the rest are newbies (Erin and a couple of others were on the team last year but without roles). I've noticed it before, but it's worth speaking of again, the difference between homeschoolers and public schoolers. you can see the social yoke on the public kids, the way they react amongst each other and towards their coach. a smirking submissiveness. both the team and those who came with them joke sardonically thru out the trial. the homeschoolers are no more serious, just more focused. not crunched by the hierarchy. I'm not laying anything on the kids themselves, just pointing out how much effort and energy is wasted for the sake of school hierarchy. and also who gets left behind. the big red herring about homeschooling is socialization. like the socialization of high school (jock beat up nerd ha ha) is so cool. anyway, at least in populated areas, homeschoolers work out ways to socialize. homeschooling aint for all, but it is not just about fundamentalists concerned that someone will mention Darwin. anyway, proud of Erin, my family.

watched Inconvenient Truth last night, a largely intelligent presentation. he has a nice, surprising, self-deprecating humour. I was astonished how well he did on Saturday Night Live, comfortable and sly with good timing. Gee Double You got nuthin but that phony folksy smirk. but anyway. nice use of visuals in the lecture. even tho the idea that he said he invented the internet has been deprecated, Gore still comes off as being overly concerned about being a central figure. whatever leadership he showed in the environmental cause is beside the point, and playing up that leadership is pernicious to the cause. you know, oh that Gore. nearly 40 years ago I saw Allen Ginsberg explaining to Merv Griffin that the greenhouse effect was doing bad things, so Gore aint the only one in the fight. he pulled the heartstrings a few times. I'm sure the near death of his son rocked him, but maybe we don't need to know that his son's travail somehow sharpened his environmental concerns. and did it take the death of his sister to convince him that tobacco is a bad thing? that stuff aside, tho. the science was well done. even tho the conclusions might make you crap your pants, the ecological interplay is fascinating. for dessert, watch Day After Tomorrow, or whatever it is called. yikes!

a troll posted some anti-gay scurrility on the Poetics list. this brought forth an outraged response. rule one for the internet, let trolls bounce their effects off rock walls. okay, rule one ignored. so the discussion--I'll be whimsical and call it a discussion--became Comparative Suffering 101. it all sounds like what should be told to your therapist: I've had it hard being a member of group X. it all finally boils down to the singular. I was reading Ric Carfagna's interview with Vernon Frazer at Big Bridge (here). Vernon talks of having Tourette's syndrome. there's something that sets you apart. but then, we're all set apart. Vernon sounded like he was thru the wounding, you know, in and thru. those contentions and conflicts throw a light, if you're willing to see. what strikes me about the Poetics list is the seeming lack of self-observation. it's a performance area yet people don't regard how they might be performing. the icky academic closeness doesn't help, and thesis paper brand of assertion, with a dependence on crucial texts for back up. a largely dull waste of potential.

Professor! we've found some strange markings...

Professer! we've found some strange markings..., originally uploaded by allen_bramhall.