Monday, April 13, 2009

Like Roaches

The moment you flick the light switch,

the way they scurry from sight


is not art, nor the sound


of them skittering. You have begun

to understand.


Not even the painting

of the lit room, empty. Art is this:


to look at it, the room painted

the moment after


the lifting of the black


and still be able to feel

the roaches there.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

University of Chicago

I visited the University of Chicago over the weekend. What can I say? The neighborhood is awesome, the school is beautiful, and the program is extremely impressive. Hyde Park is much less intimidating than downtown, and there is so much diversity. There are awesome bookstores, and the whole feel of the place is very intellectual.

The bottom line is financing. If I can figure out the money situation, I'll probably be living in Chicago next year; if I can't, I won't. Despite that, I cannot say enough about my experiences with the University to this point. It's definitely on a whole other level. I would be extremely honored to study there.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

There Was a Little Magpie


after Joan Miro


nothing is important


your tiny heart

stitching itself to the sky,

planets like a girl's fingerprints


children singing about

the sorrow of winglessness,

a heavy secret never to be told


nothing was more important


you became the first

small thing with blood

to love your own face in the mirror


flight

the way you named yourself

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Will the Real False Prophet Please Stand Up?


Image from a Borders bookstore's CHILDREN'S SECTION.

Friday, February 13, 2009

On the "Stimulus"

“There is plenty to complain about for everyone, and perhaps that’s the sign of a good compromise. Regardless of party, we all cast our votes with one hand and crossed our fingers with the other.”
~ U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D)

"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
- George Orwell, Animal Farm, Ch. 5

"No question now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."
- George Orwell, Animal Farm, Ch. 10

"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever."
~Thomas Jefferson

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Wordplay



The reading by Michael Dumanis tonight reminded me of this (he talked about the importance of wordplay...cue Bahamadia).

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Dear God It Is Me Calling


after Carla D’Aguanno

Drawn to false sheen, you were

captured by wrongness, couldn’t

look up from the lie.


No little girl wears a dress

into a hayloft, not unless she wants


it torn. What could she want there,

anyway?


Unless it is forbidden,

a pitchfork is boring, those walls

too shiny to be real.


Why pray here, except to beg

for grace?