It's a glum, soggy day in the Pacific Northwest--after some days of glorious sunshine. One student said, "I don't even want to discuss the weather."
Another student--not apropos of the weather--recommended the music of Roger Bobbo, who plays the tuba.
I found a video of Bobo playing on the Tonight Show, with Carson. Carson was interesting that way; he'd have unexpected acts on.
Anyway, Bobo's rendition of "Carnival In Venice" is a sunny one:
Carnival of Venice--Bobo
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Poetry Is Alive and Well
Here is a link to a nice essay by Donald Hall, "Death to the Death of Poetry"
Hall on poetry
I don't know the extent to which other nations/cultures engage in hand-wringing about the death of poetry, but I suspect American hand-wringing on this issue is more prevalent.
Hall on poetry
I don't know the extent to which other nations/cultures engage in hand-wringing about the death of poetry, but I suspect American hand-wringing on this issue is more prevalent.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Poetry From Captain Beefheart
I have to (well, I don't really have to) admit I'm partial to eccentric entertainers like Captain Beefheart, chiefly because of the off-beat wit, but also because they seem to resist the slots and categories of "culture." Another name Captain Beefheart has used is Don Van Vliet, is that right?
Here is a link to some poems by Captain Beefheart:
Beefheart poems
Here is a link to some poems by Captain Beefheart:
Beefheart poems
Monday, February 22, 2010
Community Colleges and Poetry
. . . And here is a link to U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan's poetry project, which includes work with community colleges:
Kay Ryan/Community Colleges
I must now hail Sierra College, the community college I attended way back when. Thanks especially to several fine English teachers there and one fine philosophy teacher, from whom I took a two-semester history of philosophy course.
Kay Ryan/Community Colleges
I must now hail Sierra College, the community college I attended way back when. Thanks especially to several fine English teachers there and one fine philosophy teacher, from whom I took a two-semester history of philosophy course.
Library of Congress Site: Black History Month
Here is a link to a "page" on the U.S. Library of Congress site that describes a variety of projects, exhibits, and archives connected to Black History Month:
Library of Congress
Library of Congress
Friday, February 19, 2010
Southeastern Kansas
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Southeastern Kansas
Grains of agrarian
patience sway, shimmer,
shall become bread
of memory. Clouds
have purchased sky.
Prairie is lightning-
lacerated. Grassy
hills take as long
to curve as they will.
Expanse fascinates.
Copyright 2010 Hans Ostrom
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Southeastern Kansas
Grains of agrarian
patience sway, shimmer,
shall become bread
of memory. Clouds
have purchased sky.
Prairie is lightning-
lacerated. Grassy
hills take as long
to curve as they will.
Expanse fascinates.
Copyright 2010 Hans Ostrom
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Great Site for International Poetry
Here's a link to a fine site for contemporary poetry around the world:
International Poetry Web
Once there, you may simply select a country from the drop-down menu, go to that page, and find dozens of poets.
Great stuff.
International Poetry Web
Once there, you may simply select a country from the drop-down menu, go to that page, and find dozens of poets.
Great stuff.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Say There's A Ship
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Say There's A Ship
Say there's a ship we can take out
on the sea of our lives. Say we can
cast nets and lines and thus retrieve
sources of regret, despair, haul them
on board, apologize, repair--make things
right. Tell it so we can find
unrecoverable people out there. They stand
or sit in boats, close enough to see,
to hail. Make it so that ocean's not just
time or loss, memory or change, failure or
death. We know that sort of ocean well.
Talk about the joy we'll feel. Describe
the laughter, redemptive weeping, songs
and delight. Now a harder part: tell us
how to get there. Please tell us how
to go down to that ship, get on.
Copyright 2010 Hans Ostrom
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Say There's A Ship
Say there's a ship we can take out
on the sea of our lives. Say we can
cast nets and lines and thus retrieve
sources of regret, despair, haul them
on board, apologize, repair--make things
right. Tell it so we can find
unrecoverable people out there. They stand
or sit in boats, close enough to see,
to hail. Make it so that ocean's not just
time or loss, memory or change, failure or
death. We know that sort of ocean well.
Talk about the joy we'll feel. Describe
the laughter, redemptive weeping, songs
and delight. Now a harder part: tell us
how to get there. Please tell us how
to go down to that ship, get on.
Copyright 2010 Hans Ostrom
Hughes and Hurston on Haiti
Haiti's being in the news, to understate things awfully much, has reminded me that two Harlem Renaissance authors, Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, developed a great interest in that nation.
An anthropologist as well as a fiction-writer, Hurston wrote the study: Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica. It was reissued in 2008.
Hughes wrote a play, Troubled Island, which concerns the Haitian rebel leader, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who helped defeat the army Napoleon had sent to Haiti and who later became emperor of Haiti. His dates are 1758-1806. Later, the composer William Grant Still and Hughes (as librettist) collaborated on the opera, Troubled Island.
An anthropologist as well as a fiction-writer, Hurston wrote the study: Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica. It was reissued in 2008.
Hughes wrote a play, Troubled Island, which concerns the Haitian rebel leader, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who helped defeat the army Napoleon had sent to Haiti and who later became emperor of Haiti. His dates are 1758-1806. Later, the composer William Grant Still and Hughes (as librettist) collaborated on the opera, Troubled Island.
Evening Hatch
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Evening Hatch
An evening hatch of gnats rose from the river
in a cloud. One gnat flew to a blue bluff,
landed there, pushed against infinite,
immovable stone mass. The gnat
fell away and down toward a pool,
out of which erupted a rainbow trout,
which snatched and swallowed the gnat.
I will have had less effect on things than
this gnat. It's good to meditate on that.
Copyright 2010 Hans Ostrom
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Evening Hatch
An evening hatch of gnats rose from the river
in a cloud. One gnat flew to a blue bluff,
landed there, pushed against infinite,
immovable stone mass. The gnat
fell away and down toward a pool,
out of which erupted a rainbow trout,
which snatched and swallowed the gnat.
I will have had less effect on things than
this gnat. It's good to meditate on that.
Copyright 2010 Hans Ostrom
Lucille Clifton Passes
It is sad that poet Lucille Clifton passed on a few days ago. She was a poet of great wit and insight.
Here are two links to more information about her, one a recent article following her death, the other from poets. org:
Clifton article
Clifton on Poets.org
This is a good day to re-read some of her poems.
Here are two links to more information about her, one a recent article following her death, the other from poets. org:
Clifton article
Clifton on Poets.org
This is a good day to re-read some of her poems.
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