tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67410492012-01-06T06:58:33.916-05:00<center>*where*content*is*just*another*vagarie*</center>Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.comBlogger28571100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-77369812541145232552012-01-06T06:58:00.001-05:002012-01-06T06:58:33.937-05:00

Scoping the selection of dvds at the library, I saw Super. The cover showed a masked superhero with the legend Shut Up Crime! I was hooked. Alas. It had its moments but I ended up despising too much of it. It started somewhat patently and cute, with this schlub happy about two things, marrying his wife, and helping a cop in a minor way catch a felon. He’s played by Rainn Wilson and she by Liv

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-19889777927922238592011-12-24T09:16:00.001-05:002011-12-24T09:16:31.418-05:00

Here is my review of Antiphonies for Galatea Ressurects, specifically an anthology of Canadian, women’s and experimental poetry edited by Nate Dorward.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-26246933864070477712011-12-23T07:42:00.001-05:002011-12-23T07:42:09.587-05:00

I flutter at the cluttered atrocities of popular music and entertainers. I mean, omigod, they preach the strange and enticing. An unexamined meaning persists, thrilling yet unqualified. Years ago, I saw a picture of the New Kids on the Block, back when they were both new and kids. Everything seemed to be arranged, pregnant with meaning. The clothing, the rat  tail, the postures, the gestures, the

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-61869258637406122232011-12-23T06:12:00.001-05:002011-12-23T06:12:51.519-05:00

Get thee here for numero seventeen of Eileen Tabios’ review blog. Your Love Boat captain has several reviews, to wit: What If by Skip Fox (or vice versa) Citizen Can by Ben Friedlander Fragile Replacements by William Allegrezza Antiphonies: Essays on Women’s Experimental Poetries in Canada edited by Nate Dorward (link currently broken but trust me)

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-33341169324906645362011-12-19T18:47:00.001-05:002011-12-19T18:47:27.092-05:00

After a hiatus, Antic View returns. Installment number 152 is here.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-66864066374622226712011-12-19T16:05:00.001-05:002011-12-19T16:08:19.583-05:00

Nobody woke with boundless energy yesterday, day after our party. At the crack of mid-afternoon, however, Beth and I saw that we needed to visit the mall. Not for Christmas shopping, we don’t do much of that, just to tour around. We are intelligent observers. Beth sees the economy almost as a living body by visiting the mall. Excuse me if I revert to narrative here. My interest in narrative hangs

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-72271552868380025942011-12-18T11:02:00.001-05:002011-12-18T11:07:07.033-05:00

I walk to work down a former railroad cut (down what had been one of the oldest rail lines in the nation). Basically, a walk in the woods. It comes out near the centre. As I came to the crosswalk on South Rd, you know, across from that red house, I heard dogs barking and a woman yelling. I looked to see a dog in the neighbouring yard racing toward me. Interesting, thinks I. I assumed that an

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-42417886946679296342011-12-11T21:27:00.001-05:002011-12-11T21:27:52.734-05:00

53 poem/posts this year, not grandly amazing, but I like each individual. Coax you, Readers fair, to visit Simple Theories.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-73759171552647540492011-12-03T07:33:00.001-05:002011-12-03T07:33:30.404-05:00

The song “Santa Baby” enjoys the world’s record for the creepiest Christmas song extant. I shan’t argue the point. One can hardly imagine an ickier song coming along to disturb posterity. I have not researched who exactly claims responsibility for this song. The less said about the perps the better. Somebody, clearly, consciously or not, had thoughts to the tune of “I have some weird, creepy

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-16349592686741220102011-11-28T17:41:00.001-05:002011-11-28T17:41:06.002-05:00

We’ve owned this fdvd or several years but could never bring ourselves to watch it. We held the reasonable theory that a movie about the Columbine shootings would be crushing. In sooth, tho serious in intent, it’s not as thuddingly depressing as feared. That is, Michael Moore maintains a stance of entertainment in this work. I know that sounds cheezy on my part, but crushing recitations of gravid

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-9827871527621051502011-11-25T07:00:00.001-05:002011-11-25T07:00:34.444-05:00

A brisk but sunny Thanksgiving here on the outer edge of the Hub of the Universe. On Wednesday, I made bread, pecan pie and, once again, the Apple-Blackberry Pie. The recipe for Apple-Blackberry pie comes from the eternal doyen of the kitchen, ex-con Martha Stewart. But wait, it’s quite tasty! That’s not crust, Friends, that’s pate brise!This year, I noticed that I am supposed to cook down the

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-13289967361346003012011-11-07T06:22:00.001-05:002011-11-07T06:22:02.171-05:00

Friends, and I hope I can accurately use the plural, I hate that I do not—recently—update this blog. It should be a tidal surge of surety, that’s my vision. PECAVVI! So here, now, I ruminate. Last weekend was a wash. We lost power, due to a storm dropping a few inches of snow (after mucho rain) onto trees still fledged. The power went at 3am, with broken trees, returned on Monday 3pm. I was

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-88131736726503296722011-10-16T07:30:00.001-04:002011-10-16T07:30:26.492-04:00

Reading a biography of this Scottish hero fellow. Points of agreement with the Mel Gibson extravaganza exist, but likewise gulfs of differences, if differences can be expressed in gulfs. I like the movie and have seen it several times, id est, it sits on our shelf. It presents a plausible world, and feels accurate in its presentation. I’m not asking for historical accuracy but that it holds some

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-27531628108839321952011-10-03T18:19:00.001-04:002011-10-03T18:19:21.150-04:00

I recently began a project, to write a book. With more than 10 pages writ, I feel like I have a path to follow. Not an entirely clear one, but I don’t want that anyway. The act of writing has to be one of discovery for me. Not to sound magical, I just mean that writing within a structured outline and plan removes a lifeblood sort of spontaneity from my writing. It’s the adventure of the writing

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-69577148412112316572011-09-05T16:17:00.001-04:002011-09-05T16:18:59.119-04:00

Search on the term BlazeVox and you will find bubbling opinions about the publisher’s attempt to make financial sense. The focus of concern icenters on  the press’ stated policy requiring money from authors to publish the work. Additionally, there is a question of how clearly Geoffrey Gatza, the publisher of BV, made this requirement. None of this agitates me. A poetry press, especially a small

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-62067948198964498112011-08-28T09:27:00.001-04:002011-08-28T09:27:30.742-04:00

We are now getting something hurricane-like, after several days of expectation. Thursday afternoon cumulous built impressively then the sky lowered and rain pounded for a while. That tasted, and even saltily smelled, like the storm but surely was no such thing. Event cancellation began thursday. The kind of substantiating effort beforehand by the media makes the expectation worse than the event.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-67667684096662057472011-08-21T19:52:00.001-04:002011-08-21T19:52:24.003-04:00

I always regard Tributary as a poetry blog, even when I write about movies, shopping trips, or what the heck. Maybe I do not know what poetry is and so simply consider my interests as poetic. I will say that poetry, to me, is found language, the amazing condition of discovery. Contradistinguished would be pressed or determined language, in which the writer tries to convince. Prose is not the

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-4203990467386721422011-08-14T08:16:00.001-04:002011-08-14T08:19:44.482-04:00

Henry Gould, of Minnesota by way of Providence, RI, is a poet who has created, and established, an oeuvre that deserves consideration. In his determined and energized way, he adds a luminosity to our empyrean. Really. I think heartily that we should give him his due. Henry numbers among the poets who found the Internet a fruitful field for the examination and expatiation (and expiation?) of the

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-2296042374771177302011-07-30T10:30:00.001-04:002011-07-30T10:30:49.492-04:00

I got a last minute invite to read this weekend (today) at whatever the sequel to last year’s Boston Poet Tea Party is called. I accepted. Work then precluded my participation. Oh well. Should I have accepted the last minute invitation? Yes, I would like to read, and be among those who take poetry seriously. But at the late date, I hadn’t time to prepare. Just digging around for something I felt

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-31298211279367818222011-07-06T13:46:00.001-04:002011-07-06T13:46:48.906-04:00

The kind of wonderful malarkey that we feed our young! I love reading this sort of motivated fashioning of subconscious response. The author—in this case, not a person but entirely a function—performs transcendental states of normalcy with his characters that requires a redefinition of normal. Excuse me, I should mench that I speak of the book TOM SWIFT and the Visitor from Planet X, by the noted

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-25888772036420844122011-06-30T07:06:00.001-04:002011-06-30T07:06:02.433-04:00

Tributary is now officially better than Ron Silliman’s blog. The data don’t lie.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-90685153910557832992011-06-29T20:38:00.001-04:002011-06-29T21:21:10.879-04:00

Watched Troy again the other night. I am truly a sucker for the invitation of this movie. I recall being fed the trailer whilst awaiting some other cinematic marvel, and the sight of those thousand ships viewed panoramically from above proved enough to make me want to see the movie. I rarely get riled this way, and currently have nothing riling me. Troy aint great, but moments it has. The first

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-27687712511233551662011-06-26T21:03:00.001-04:002011-06-26T21:06:29.840-04:00

Looking today at the blurb to Days Poem (the book is available here), which I wrote (both the book and the blurb), I thought I would write about it—the blurb, and therefore the book. Apologia or explanation, who cares? Just thought I would push the validity of the statements, as I see them. The italicized sentences that follow come from the blurb, in original sequence. Won’t this be exciting!

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-82832356943058257042011-06-19T22:08:00.001-04:002011-06-19T22:19:06.482-04:00

Well yes, I was feted today by Erin:  movie and dinner. First round was a visit to Barnes and Noble. Not there to buy, and held true to that. Spent a lot of time looking at books on PHP, HTML5 and such like. Perfunctory visit to the poetry section. I would say 3/4 of the selection are classic. The rest is pure random. Some memo went out saying, We support Mary Oliver, or some other maven of the

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-32878031192569500612011-06-17T23:29:00.001-04:002011-06-17T23:29:31.415-04:00

Excellent Movie Idea! The Glowing Green Osprey Dear Hollywood, Please remit $10 million dollars for can't miss movie idea. Adolescent boy (Max) and girl (Sam) rescue a strangely glowing green osprey from a flock of marauding crows that were harrying it. Both Max and Sam wear glasses but neither is fat or anything bad like that. The glowing osprey has an injured wing, which Max and Sam fixed by

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-83539614609478127132011-06-14T20:26:00.001-04:002011-06-15T19:42:29.442-04:00

I curiouslied Norman Greenbaum, “Spirit in the Sky”, on Wiki-Impedia, just because it is a perfection from somewhere (bluesy version). This led me, Youtube-wise, to “OhWell”, the Peter Green/Fleetwood Mac version. Just because. It turns out a bunch have recorded “Oh Well”. Hence this blog post. This is very important. Fleetwood Mac/ Peter Green: As I understand, Peter Green formed Fleetwood Mac

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-18568935397615421902011-06-11T07:01:00.001-04:002011-06-11T07:01:30.141-04:00

The vote’s in that posting videos on his blog that are easily sourced is a two-wheeled trike. I know he must weary from his years of perspicacity, blogwise, but mining Penn Sound and Youtube does not require handholding.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-56443763713808004412011-06-10T06:47:00.001-04:002011-06-10T06:47:20.660-04:00

Thanks to Ron Silliman’s link collection, this collage by I saw her read last summer: go here. My laptop serves it up poorly, and I am thinking it works better as a physical object than a virtual one, but tra la, take what you get. I love the engravings, and the old postage stamps. Do I detect Monty Python’s vole up near the beginning? I’m not sure the words do much. As I said, impact is lost on

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-6654294524602750942011-05-22T13:38:00.001-04:002011-05-22T13:38:34.390-04:00

Nobody ever writes about Flarf but this child means to… Receiving a copy of Ben Friedlander’s book, Citizen Cain (available from Salt Publishing), occasions this determination. I will review the book, but anon. I’ve decided—trying something wild here—to read it beforehand, so I won’t have to make up so much about it. Seriously, I look forward to reading it because Ben (can I call you Ben?) is

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-78971264526534942952011-05-18T19:52:00.001-04:002011-05-18T19:52:59.812-04:00

Scanning and perusing the bookshelf, natch I find books and authors I haven’t read in a while. Such is Gil Ott, and The Yellow Floor (Sun & Moon Press). He was editor of Singing Horse Press, fine enough accomplishment, but I think his poetry is wonderful, too. I thought he died rather recently, but in fact, he died in 2004. Tempus fugit, and we can hardly keep score. I take it that he filled a

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-68217189074107746032011-05-14T20:16:00.000-04:002011-05-15T10:38:39.520-04:00

Marvel finally got around to committing Thor to the silver screen. I guess I saw an ad recently, and it seemed attractive. Not to sound overly eager. Erin and I saw the matinee today. Robin Hood may have been the last cinema feature that I saw, and I recall the dreary lineup of trailers. This time the upcoming goods seem at least palatable, given that I don’t want to see anything too heartwarming

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-16888599491763120142011-05-07T07:42:00.001-04:002011-05-07T07:42:38.461-04:00

I think I have carried the thrill of Fu Manchu since high school. Back then, I simply responded to the charged atmosphere of adventure, similar to what Raiders of the Lost Ark aimed at. I have since become more enthralled in the meta cloud surrounding Fu Manchu, tho admittedly I have been satisfied to leave deep cogitations on the subject alone. I will not get deep here, either. To a clear extent

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-49050727430789050502011-04-20T09:03:00.001-04:002011-04-20T09:03:17.884-04:00

Humour me. Innocently encouraging these two writers that someone someday will read their books, with all the false hope that that entails, I now present urls by which dear Reader can purchase these books, both of which carry my seal of approval. David Prior: The Yoke of the Horde  Steve Weiner: Tom's House It’s up to you, Reader!

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-33309014144886972202011-04-16T16:27:00.001-04:002011-04-16T16:27:41.473-04:00

Both David Prior and Stephen Weiner gave me their diy books to read. I finally have done so, and will speak of these works. I feel duty-bound, because they gave me the books in earnest. Furthermore, I really encourage the do-it-yourself initiative that computers have fostered. Be your own gatekeeper, sez I. I at least somewhat know both writers. David I met at a poetry reading. After the reading,

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-87719099718789461622011-04-08T07:43:00.001-04:002011-04-08T07:43:18.382-04:00

I was surprised to learn that Days Poem received a review. This is the third review of Days Poem to appear in Galatea Resurrects, or anywhere. Anny Ballardini and Jeff Harrison reviewed previously. Them I know. I know Nicholas Spatafora strictly from his bio. And what to make of this? I have sighed and exhaled welladay that critical consideration has become so secondary to the push of getting

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-6495075909529561022011-04-06T04:49:00.001-04:002011-04-06T04:49:24.792-04:00

It pleases me to announce the publication of my review in Galatea Resurrects of Doggy Doo, by Bob BrueckL and Jukka-Pekka Kervinen. Just the thought of reviewing Doggy Doo is a tickle, haha. In addition, the authors each are doing unique and driven stuff. The collaboration provides further testament to that.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-1095584645350177172011-03-27T17:08:00.001-04:002011-03-27T17:17:40.365-04:00

I picked up another book whilst roaming the personal library. Dream Songs, Berryman’s master work. You probably read on it, you college-educated poet type. Berryman’s suicide makes everything prior more serious, which isn’t fair, but, natheless, there’s some truthable qualities to that reaction. He untied the Gordian knot Alexander-style, but poetry along the way. Berryman twiddled with syntax,

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-58503066832623299872011-03-27T16:38:00.001-04:002011-03-27T17:14:12.013-04:00

I happened to pull this one off the shelf, and remembered its influence and challenge. Hard to believe that a major publisher could publish such a book. Granted Ashbery represents a cash cow, poetry division (7 bucks in the black?). But 3P is a difficult book, at least in terms of what the heck it’s about. I found the book difficult because it abounds in indefinite pronouns. You don’t know to

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-37957769839489662762011-03-25T06:48:00.001-04:002011-03-25T06:50:57.808-04:00

Eileen Tabios remarks on how Knopf finally got a book reviewed in Galatea Resurrects. Why would Knopf need reviews? In all ways, Knopf poetry books look the same. I saw one once. Knopf’s containerization of this intellectual property into middle class normalcy makes me tune out. I mean, I go to the library or bookstore, and by offchance lift a Knopf to curious eyes and all sense of curiosity

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-4491264645318017082011-03-20T08:42:00.001-04:002011-03-20T11:51:50.598-04:00

Erin and I saw Dropkick Murphys last night at Tsongas Arena in Lowell. Tickets were general admission, which I was leery of, especially as we didn’t leave home betimes like we might’ve. I thought finding seats might be an issue. A ladies line and a separate gents line to accommodate pat down. Luckily the guy missed my gun, my pills, and my picture of Obama. Lots of people milling around

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-8632317769887473962011-03-14T07:22:00.001-04:002011-03-14T07:22:11.270-04:00

Adverting once more my continued gathering of recent works, poems I call them: Simple Theories.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-84389128013144699722011-03-09T20:55:00.001-05:002011-03-09T20:55:29.235-05:00

Oh, hello.  Just to say, I like what I write, having developed a kinship with that which flows thru me. Further, I like Jeff Harrison’s writing, the other and strange. With that up front, I hereby advert yet another installment of Antic View.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-15595562233488481342011-02-27T07:36:00.001-05:002011-02-27T07:39:11.380-05:00

My copy of Basil Bunting’s Collected Poems found its way into my attention span recently. I have the Moyer Bell edition, © 1985. I presume later editions have been released. Bunting represents one more hole in my reading—or more accurately, my grasp—to go along with the likes of John Wieners, Joanne Kyger, and more. I mean that I have given these writers a bum shift, insofar as I came to them

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-39183796980340058042011-02-21T20:22:00.001-05:002011-02-21T20:27:28.557-05:00

Mark’s Twain’s effort to produce an autobiography brings a number of ideas to mind for me.  He provides a hint of post-modern potential. By post-modern, I think I mean post-maudlin. And that means (or perhaps just suggests) something at least straying from the sentimental. In Boswell’s Life of Johnson (can we say that the diary of Samuel Pepys is the life of his johnson? Okay, moving on), we

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-75234288258390993142011-02-19T08:25:00.001-05:002011-02-19T08:25:40.914-05:00

Beth’s mother, colluding with Beth, gave me volume 1 of Autobiography of Mark Twain. Two more volumes await publication. The Mark Twain Project prepared the book. And I’m like, wow! The Mark Twain Project, if you don’t follow the link, dedicates itself to producing scholarly work on Twain’s apparently abundant oeuvre, and to put most if not all of it online. This scholarly dedication fascinates

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-86560670365746086902011-02-11T06:33:00.001-05:002011-02-11T06:33:03.731-05:00

According to Wikipedia, Vanna White’s 54th birthday occurs next Friday. That would make her 108 in tv hostess years. She played Venus, Goddess of Love, in a tv movie in 1988. That is all.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-83773599086935597142011-02-08T20:17:00.001-05:002011-02-08T20:41:15.419-05:00

Super Bowl? Naw, we watched Plan 9. I am not anti-sport. I find the SB oppressive, however, and am against the tawdry idea of looking forward to commercials. That’s playing into their hands far too easily. So Plan 9, which I’ve seen a number of times. I used to own it, but I guess it went out on permanent loan. Every time I watch it I feel compelled to defend it against the charge of worst movie

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-10231767852213131312011-01-30T08:22:00.001-05:002011-01-30T16:49:23.800-05:00

I used to ramble, mentally peregrinate, on this blog, but I think readers want more topic in their blogs, so I have taken to being more topic orientated. So three things in mind now, and I will muster a course thru them… First, or, to give it an 11 on style, firstly, our car got slammed by a truck. Beth parked in front of the UPS store. While Beth prepared her package, the proprietor said, That

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-14051550650489873952011-01-22T07:40:00.001-05:002011-01-22T07:40:59.989-05:00

The full title of this is: The Complete Poems of Gaius Valerius Catullus, published by Bootstrap Press (2008). Bootstrap’s website is currently under construction. I choose not to bury the lead: this is a worthy translation of a fascinating poet. Ryan Gallagher is one of the founder’s of the press, which is located in Lowell. Chugging away in Lowell. I was given this book a couple years ago, and

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-9806837634947460772011-01-16T09:06:00.001-05:002011-01-16T09:06:17.549-05:00

Over the past while I have been more formal in my blog posting. What’s a blog posting? the children ask. Blogs are places where writing can go. A posting is just an attempt to make use of the Internet. Okay. I turned to formality, as well as formality and I can suit each other, with the intention of upping the ante for the format. I do not begrudge my own loose wheels—blogs of yesteryear—and was

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-5773379678144764432011-01-14T12:01:00.001-05:002011-01-16T06:17:45.012-05:00

available at Shearman Books Context as framework has received attention lo these many post-modern years. I submit that we have found holes in objectivity. Call objectivity an admirable quality, but do not expect to see much of it. Silk Egg by Eileen Tabios immerses in subjective context. Subtitled Collected Novels, the book supplies a stuttering array of contexts. Basically, the book is all

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-82093640988138916122011-01-01T13:56:00.001-05:002011-01-01T13:59:08.891-05:00

Eileen Tabios sent me a packet of little books called Hay(na)ku for Haiti. She offered them as payment for contributing to Galatea Resurrects. I already feel more than recompensed by the review copies (which you can get yourself, if you are willing to provide engagement. Check out the website.). But I’ll take them. Hay(na)ku for Haiti is, if you bothered not to follow the wonderful link that I

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-44203191263666687702010-12-31T10:20:00.001-05:002010-12-31T10:30:38.142-05:00

I don’t mean to dwell in the past, but certain timely landmarks occur, or recur, and… I remembered last night that 10 years before, we were at Boston Children’s Hospital waiting for Erin to have surgery. At some point after he was settled, a nurse informed us that only one parent could remain in the room. I was shuffled to the game room, where a sofa sufficed. The hospital’s heating system blew

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-5831142051998194202010-12-27T07:03:00.001-05:002010-12-27T07:03:28.646-05:00

It behooves me to note the 100th anniversary of Charles Olson’s birth today. He has meant much to me as a writer. I cannot easily say what my debt to Olson consists of. I think thru him I came to understand how our knowledge inhabits our language. He insisted in his poetry on embracing aspects of the world that poetry had not largely been allowed to embrace. Science, history, philosophy, politics

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-18417349949572310422010-12-25T08:35:00.001-05:002010-12-26T07:22:13.283-05:00

To quote the Beach Boys, “Christmas comes this time each year”. Which I myself have observed, as well. We celebrate the time in our own way. Beth, Erin,and I focus on a Christmas party. We had a party our second year together, and every year since except last year. Our digs were just too small to accommodate a party, tho we had small groups over. Last Saturday, then, we had our Christmas party.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-83827021859936921592010-12-23T07:01:00.001-05:002010-12-23T18:46:36.915-05:00

Watched the movie the other night. The trailers were inviting, whenever I saw them (no explosions!). Enjoyed it. I haven’t read the book but the movie supposedly is based on facts. The idea of the military attempting to find use for New Age psychic powers is both unbelievable and not so. The operation would necessarily be crazy ass. Thus the movie. The plus of the movie, and a word to movie

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-91385279507110557172010-12-16T19:09:00.000-05:002010-12-16T19:43:35.772-05:00

I have heard Bruce Springsteen’s version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” a bunch of times lately, and am compelled to ruminate on that horrible rendition. I think I may have slipped a clue as to where my rumination might tend by the use of a certain adjective, but so it goes. The song itself is one of those forgettable cutesy songs that no one can forget. You can deconstruct it into its

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-69715824309414575792010-12-15T20:49:00.001-05:002010-12-15T20:49:48.896-05:00

Last night—or yestreen, as the poets say—Beth and I left Erin to recover from his chem final (tonight it’s the charms of calc), to have dinner with Jack Kimball. In the course of said repast, Jack handed me a copy of Post-Twyla, version 2. Post-Twyla is the subject of today’s sermon. I reviewed Twyla lo these four years ago, here. Jesse Crockett did likewise. Excellent setting of scene, I’m sure

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-30318133945400915572010-12-08T16:44:00.001-05:002010-12-15T17:58:02.486-05:00

Just to let you know that I have four reviews online at Galatea Resurrects. You should be attending to this site anyway, but my sterling appearance in this issue makes it that much more de riguer, don’t you know. Since it’s all about me, here are links to the specific reviews: Anne Gorrick Laura Carter Stephen Ellis Harold Abramowitz Gorrick is also reviewed by Lynn Behrendts, and interviewed

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-19109878403372317902010-12-03T08:56:00.003-05:002010-12-03T09:05:12.299-05:00

Jeff Harrison has a work available on Scribd called Granduncles of the Cattletrade. I do not imagine that the title brings forth any immediate intimations for the reader. I find it a book of weird and wonder, to which I recommend your intellect, dear Reader.Jeff and I have collaborated for 5 or 6 years on two email projects (we have never met in person). We have written a lengthy poem together.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-22668390347128330962010-11-29T20:54:00.001-05:002010-11-29T20:54:18.647-05:00

Rodney Koenicke takes notice of Dana Ward’s notice of a filmmaker’s notice of Art Garfunkle’s hands in his (Garfunkle’s) pocket, here. The deal is this: said filmmaker edited Simon & Garfunkle’s famous Central Park concert down to only showing Garfunkle with his (like I said, Garfunkle’s) hands in his pocket. What a deliciously odd idea! Ward’s reactions to this are bright and useful, as is, just

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-61129254054790132612010-11-28T08:24:00.001-05:002010-11-28T08:39:39.409-05:00

We got tickets to see the King Tut exhibit in NYC. With blackout dates and other scheduling matters, Thanksgiving Day was when we could do it. Which sounded a little wait a sec, what with the parade and all, but we soldiered on. We picked Erin up at UMass Lowell at 4:00 pm, which seems desperately late for setting out on the day before Thanksgiving, but Erin had a class he would not skip out on.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-58485938534655180912010-11-24T12:38:00.002-05:002010-11-28T11:30:50.689-05:00

The power of Ron Silliman's blog. As explained below, Clayton Eshleman wrote to me regarding my post about Paul Blackburn that Ron Silliman linked to. Well, that’s a fine story. It’s not about me, after all. I attach Clayton’s note, and his essay, which I find of use. Check out the note (#4), where Clayton explains how a Blackburn poem managed to cancel funding for Sulfur. Sulfur along with

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-62564059208326268122010-11-24T09:53:00.001-05:002010-11-24T09:53:41.562-05:00

Just thought that I would mench that Opulence by Stephen Ellis can be ordered thru Small Press Distribution, click here for that opportunity. Support small presses, support poetry, support friends. Support!

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-75942498937980983022010-11-24T08:38:00.001-05:002010-11-24T09:35:31.715-05:00

Ron Silliman posted a link to Robert Creeley’s essays, now online thanks to UCal Press. Go here for the goods. First of all, it pleases me NOT to see a picture of myself on Ron’s blog, leastwise one with 2 sets of 4 numerals separated by a dash. Ah, I breathe. Second, it is nice to have these essays readily available. I mean not because I am cheap, but that they provide a general usefulness.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-31812438814435682782010-11-22T16:28:00.001-05:002010-11-22T16:28:18.395-05:00

The 150th installment of Antic View now preens visibly on the Internet. Go here to read Jeff Harrison and I go back and forth regarding poetry, writing, and stuff.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-69049261723338166122010-11-20T22:51:00.001-05:002010-11-21T07:25:38.295-05:00

I have The Collected Poems of Paul Blackburn, which I believe I scored thru some remaindered book catalogue, years ago. I was psyched to get it. Blackburn fits sturdily in the Lesser Known and Under-Appreciated Poets category. So life goes, but I am thankful for the book. I know the controversy attendant on this collection. Edith Jarolim chose to glom all the poems together in chronological order

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-70311082710617015522010-11-20T09:24:00.001-05:002010-11-20T09:25:05.354-05:00

Stephen Ellis has published numerous books, albeit mostly in various diy formats. Opulence itself first appeared as a fresh-from-the-library-printer edition, back in 2002 (it has since been much revised). I have nothing but praise for the samizdat initiative, believing as I do that stupidhead cultural gatekeeping occurs relentlessly—take that, MLA programs!—but there's something to be said for

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-76362911737581181212010-10-30T20:07:00.001-04:002010-10-30T20:07:40.745-04:00

Erin’s at UMass Lowell now, after a prep school (pretty much his only school) experience of community college. UMass had a parents day last week, a feature of which was a rendezvous of the various school groups. Erin’s in environmental studies so gathered with them folk. It was nice to see the energy, because all these groups are basically geek havens. I mean geeks in the sense of focused

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-5567955424987615092010-10-28T20:52:00.001-04:002010-10-28T20:52:33.255-04:00

I just wanted to alert you, Gentle Reader, that I have finally counted coup on Dostoyevsky and read one of his books. That I haven’t till now is just one of those holes in my reading. It may not be instructive but it is interesting to note the books and authors that one has not read. I shan’t delve into that now, but I admit that I have yet to read Don Quixote. I guess I had ought to make a list.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-62849857102843899182010-10-16T21:32:00.001-04:002010-10-16T21:32:05.262-04:00

In reading a collection of 16th Century English poetry (Silver Poets of the 16th Century, edited by Gerald Bullett) I came across this whizbang by Thomas Wyatt: EACH man me telleth I change most my devise,And on my faith me think it good reasonTo change propose like after the season,For in every case to keep still one guiseIs meet for them that would be taken wise,And I am not of such manner

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-37310498430516237292010-10-06T21:28:00.001-04:002010-10-06T21:28:38.720-04:00

Maybe I am a stupidhead* but I believe that narrative is vital to poetry. Furthermore, novels can be lushly instructive in the creation thereof. Not just the creation, that sounds crassly utilitarian, but in the understanding and the undertaking of a poetic course. We regard narrative as a straight line to something. Yeah well, that’s gotta be wrong. We don’t got any straight lines! Narrative is

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-35903447976734767882010-09-26T18:51:00.001-04:002010-09-26T18:51:21.683-04:00

The Fountainhead includes a character called Lois Cook, described by another character as “the greatest literary genius since Goethe.” Goethe, are you kidding? How in the world did Rand pull Goethe out as the exemplar? Were they suspiring Goethe’s name in the 40s so richly? What ev. Rand treats us to a passage from one of Cook’s books: “… Toothbrush in the jaw toothbrush brush brush come home

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-79429885004407500202010-09-25T20:42:00.001-04:002010-09-25T20:42:32.118-04:00

I am reading both On the Road, by Jack Kerouac and The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. Just cuz. I’ve tasted both before. At this point, it is hard to see the news in OTR. It is there, but the legends, the promotions, the bullshit, and the votive actualities of the real world participants of the events described all overwhelm the tender novel. Still, it reads with freshness, even as it sags into the

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-34401269957456645042010-09-25T06:01:00.001-04:002010-09-25T06:01:19.966-04:00

Stephen Vincent comments on my Kerouac post below. I bring it forward here because it is apposite: At this point in history - apart from shear pleasure of much good "Beat" writing, whatever that might connote (& there is a lot of it), it's also interesting to contemplate its primarily masculine orbit and the corollary view of women with particular myths, and methods of enforcing those myths; it's

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-14351120861503499312010-09-20T20:43:00.001-04:002010-09-20T20:45:11.317-04:00

I saw a bio of Kerouac at the library while looking for other things, and brought it home. By Paul Maher, Jr., who’s from Lowell, it made me think how little I have read by or learned about the Beats. Passing odd. I never read Kerouac in high school. It seems like aspirant high school writers will naturally tilt towards Kerouac. There is an appeal there that perhaps mimics that of Catcher in the

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-82311140589938987772010-09-18T07:58:00.001-04:002010-09-18T08:23:30.169-04:00

Beth’s mother and aunt were watching the movie version of Ayn Rand’s book when we arrived earlier this week. We were greeting, and the movie was well along, so I did not get the full experience. What I saw, tho, was compelling. I’m not saying it’s a good movie, nor am I promoting Rand. The movie was made to pack a wallop. There is a wallop there, tho not what perhaps was intended. I read the book

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-76379129807052567002010-08-29T16:51:00.001-04:002010-08-29T19:19:27.445-04:00

The following tastefully italicized passage is Kent Johnson’s comment to my post below. I bring it to the fore for the sake of fairness, and to provide content for his web searches. As part of the fairness doctrine, here is Kent’s further on. While there, check out the cool picture of John Clare (scroll down), who was a sad wonder, and bookmark Latta’s excellent blog. Allen,Found this. I did

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-25710198590550375582010-08-24T16:19:00.001-04:002010-08-24T16:19:04.368-04:00

Jack Kimball in cunning concision provides a useful encapsulation of the Boston Poet Tea Party here, the very same occasion to which I applied a lot too many words. BPTP was a social event first, which is good, but the yards of excitement were not holding poetry so much. I compare with the eager reportage by Geof and Nancy Huth on the Avant Writing Symposium at Ohio State. Others are reporting on

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-60796524699940333962010-08-24T15:44:00.001-04:002010-08-24T15:44:24.161-04:00

John Latta’s blog is about the richest extant.In this post, he simply offers space to Tony Towle, to refute the ever shaky assertions of Kent Johnson. Hey, I remember Kent sending me a note saying he had satirized me in a book of his, and that I should buy the book. Well, at least he’s down with the concept of Internet marketing, id est: scamming (I do not think he even performed said satire,

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-33165395505638962952010-08-23T19:08:00.001-04:002010-08-24T15:51:22.643-04:00

I adverted this book earlier here, now I shall review it, in my muddling way. The Chained Hay(na)ku Project was curated, so it says on the cover, by Ivy Alvarez, John Bloomberg-Rissman, Ernesto Priego, and Eileen Tabios. Meritage Press and xPress(ed) somehow jointly published it. As always, my reviews are invitations. I aim to direct you to the mine, and hope you dig (!) as fruitfully as I have.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-23404889444121990062010-08-11T19:00:00.001-04:002010-08-11T19:00:58.408-04:00

Here is the announcement from Eileen Tabios for The Chained Hay(na)ku Project. It is an anthology of collaborative works, including one between Anny Ballardini, Jeff Harrison, and myself, and another that grew publicly on the WRYTING-L listserv. The anthology includes loads of other collaborations. Great stuff and a good deal! Eileen’s projects should be supported because she is so supportive.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-68048442837165562962010-08-08T09:01:00.001-04:002010-08-08T09:01:27.275-04:00

My English teacher in 10th grade made poetry possible for me. He did so by asking the class the simple question, What is poetry? The class replied with the expected answer, that poetry—groan—was rhymed and metered muck that we did not want to read. His next question was on the order of Who said? Dialectic, that friend of educator Paulo Freire, ensued. I think I started reading poetry on my own

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-84204746101895978642010-08-05T20:26:00.001-04:002010-08-06T09:16:45.917-04:00

One) Ron Silliman celebrates his birthday today. OR if he does not, I do. His work has been with for me yikes many years. My copy of Tom Beckett’s mag The Difficulties, Silliman issue, an early nudge in the right direction, is mightily scribbled upon and highlighted. I learned from Ron Silliman. In the blog space he provides many opportunities of expansion, plus a stable critical anchoring that

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-44945462671936642172010-08-03T09:29:00.001-04:002010-08-03T09:52:24.499-04:00

If you need a place to stay for a while after Ron gave you the boot, feel free to park here at Tributary, the sensitive blog. Leave when you are ready, when he’s ready, when the world can again encompass your special love.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-87625792930699625382010-08-01T09:36:00.001-04:002010-08-02T07:08:12.504-04:00

I attended, well, 2/3 of Day 2 of The Boston Poet Tea Party, a local poetry marathon. Busy yestreen (Friday, that is) with early birthday celebration, and I just cannot manage tomorrow (meaning today: started last night, finished this morning). Feel like it was a game effort, ne’ertheless. Poetry is tiring! Beth had to work, so I trained in, making my lonely way. She dropped me at a train station

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-48410725131296915252010-07-31T06:08:00.001-04:002010-07-31T06:08:10.281-04:00

I stopped looking long ago: I knew the dickheads lay in wait, like ant lions. And we weren’t even getting the juicy stuff because Ron was scuttling what he found most offensive. My guiding stance is that comment boxes should be open and unedited, but the dickheads have gamed it too well. You have to put a fence up,just to keep the bots from taking over with their automated commercial pressure.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-13861135275421822662010-07-30T22:18:00.001-04:002010-07-31T05:47:45.011-04:00

Might be the 4th movie we saw this year. Judging by the trailers, I for one will not be seeing anything soon. Basically nothing exploded, it looks like it is all temperate melodrama. A new Ben Affleck movie (oxymoron alert) looked like solid old hat. Set in Bawston, and I am sure the plot has been done 3 times before, at least. Maybe some further hunting of Good Will will resuscitate his career.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-76023967389393260242010-07-29T07:26:00.001-04:002010-07-29T15:12:54.957-04:00

Not the band, just a mark on the calendar. Beth and I attended the Boston Poetry Marathon in the summer of 2000. It was an important event for me, and a new one is this weekend. Tempus fugit. Beth and I were not married yet as of that poetry gathering. It was an exciting meet and greet for me, who had only just got connected to the wider world of poetry via the Internet. Beth and I met thru the

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-6022557098364679492010-07-27T08:44:00.001-04:002010-07-27T08:44:18.231-04:00

Just a reminder that Antic View, the mental and poetic tussle between Jeff Harrison and myself, has been updated, #148. Visitez maintenant.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-21124783063416035112010-07-24T08:25:00.001-04:002010-07-24T08:25:15.860-04:00

Having finished with Middlesex Community College, Erin transfers to University of Massachusetts at Lowell. He had an orientation last week, consisting of 2 days and a stay over. We had some heavy weather the night before. Er, um. The trip to Lowell (next town over) included meeting a major detour in an unfamiliar part of town. The traffic cop helpfully assured us that we would get there in time.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-67572557019423180382010-07-06T20:31:00.001-04:002010-07-06T20:31:51.983-04:00

Tom Beckett ended his blog some while ago, a not uncommon event, and this time I never caught up to the phoenix that arose. Until now. The world is too much with us, late and soon. I have missed his missives, and the percolation of his art in process. I shall clean up my links soon, not now, to reflect Tom’s reappearance. My own blog seems a-mould’ring, one because I do not update it often, and

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-70090864229756554972010-06-27T10:39:00.001-04:002010-06-27T10:39:23.565-04:00

Contemporary poetry started in the early 1950s. It began because a bunch of American poets got together and started to write in a contemporary vein. This continued strong until the late 1960s, when contemporary poetry ended. During its heyday, contemporary poetry was considered very popular. Readers liked to read contemporary or hear it read by recognized contemporary poets. The appeal of

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-13275913121362577892010-06-27T09:12:00.001-04:002010-06-27T09:12:14.674-04:00

Poetry was invented in the early 18th Century, somewhere in England. It is not known who invented poetry, though it is known that John Milton did NOT. William Shakespeare cannot receive credit for inventing poetry either, even though his stuff looks like poetry. Remain cautious when trying to determine if certain literary productions are poetry. Sonneteers, poetasters, and the like will try to

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-15957566558158430122010-06-11T05:51:00.001-04:002010-06-11T05:51:37.304-04:00

Goals of Writing · To Surprise · To Entertain · To Communicate Writing is functional. We write toward goals (see above). Poets (if anyone cares) write in the beguiling wonder and agitation of words—the surprise of discovery (or the discovery of surprise). To entertain, one writes with oneself as the meter measuring the entertainment, i.e., if I laugh or feel thrilled then it succeeds. In writing

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-31753532007321907502010-05-27T22:00:00.001-04:002010-05-27T22:00:13.809-04:00

Erin and his father spent Tuesday walking (slogging) the Freedom Trail in Bawston. Blistering hot day. We lack no humidity hereabouts. This comes as a shock to those used to drier heat, viz Erin’s father from Idaho and even 10 year New England vet Erin. To unwilt them, we made a day trip up the coast to Maine on Wednesday. We got on Route 1 and hugged the coast. It was much cooler than Tuesday.

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-61389021218323722372010-05-24T21:30:00.001-04:002010-05-27T20:52:14.302-04:00

We spent the weekend with two foci: visit Beth’s mother and aunt, and see the Dalai Lama. Beth’s folks live in Brick,  NJ, on the Jersey shore. The plan was to have Beth’s mother join us in NYC, to see the Dalai Lama, but plans changed. We left civilization around noon on Friday. We had a brisk run down the parkways, which clearly is the most pleasant way to reach NYC from Massachusetts. The

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-16151266774101028752010-05-15T19:08:00.001-04:002010-05-15T21:26:23.915-04:00

Yet another version of Robin Hood, and possibly the most different. Robin Hood no kidding is an enduring character and story. Ridley Scott makes a real tangent from the usual Robin Hood arc. Might not work for everyone, but it worked for me. Of course, I endure movies so I can enjoy the entertainment of the trailers. Not much to look forward to, according to this infallible expert. There’s a

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-37725435961397794322010-05-01T14:48:00.001-04:002010-05-01T14:48:37.627-04:00

Bill Knott posted the following in a comment on my previous post. I bring it forward here because he brings up points that I did not, plus he sounds a cranky note that I can only aspire to. Join me, fellow cranks! the "blog poets" they nominate are alike in one way: they don't publish their poetry on their blogs or the web— unlike them, I post/have posted ALL my poetry online for free open access

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-13327952333810128852010-04-30T20:51:00.001-04:002010-04-30T20:51:54.447-04:00

Ron Silliman’s last minute electioneering for Sine Queyras as PL of the B was my 1st notice of this election/gameshow. Yes, I knew votes were gathered in previous years for such contest, but I thought you were supposed to regard it as a trivial internet meme and pass on to the next shiny object to come along. What this thing contains, this vote and contest, seems not just lacking in content, the

Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com1