Thursday, July 23, 2020

New York

I lived in New York for two weeks
once. Doing some research in Harlem.
The apartment's sad kitchen
had been in New York quite
a while, had arrived full of
confidence. The cockroaches,
who made me pine for my college
studio hole, belonged to well known
New York cockroach families.
I could tell by the way they
carried themselves. Only years
later did it occur to me
that New York's intensity
must, to lonely people, become
a merciless cruelty.


hans ostrom

Brilliant Plans

It's all right sometimes
to get something wrong
so it makes itself right.
A painter's accident
becomes a superb blue
stroke. A misheard word
makes someone laugh
and her laughter enchants
someone across the room.
So all those mistakes you
made with her, or with him,
when inspected retrospectively,
were part of a brilliant plan.


hans ostrom 2020

"Travel Tickets," by Samih al-Qasim

Terrific poem by the Lebanese Arab-language poet, Samih al-Qasim. Poem is translated by A.Z. Foreman from his great poetry in translation site.

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_guYEYMbkg

Saturday, July 18, 2020

Baseball Figures

In honor of baseball returning (well, maybe), a video with just text and music, featuring a poem about different baseball positions and roles. "Baseball Figures."

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF8RkFdqb0s

Friday, July 17, 2020

"An Old Song Resung," by William Butler Yeats

A bit longer than most of my poetry vids: 40+ seconds.

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5Q2L3S872E

Magnetic Resonant Imaging

Although recovering Inquisitors designed
the machine, I'm told it's safe--just as
a member of the Frankenstein team
goes into a sealed control room.

The gizmo's noises range from
from punk-goose-shrieks to
psychotic jackhammers howls.
A magnet orbits my head like a mad
moon, a sadistic satellite. All
for some photos? The total effect

hypnotizes me. That and boredom
put me to sleep like a chicken at dusk.
Thus my head moves, ruining pictures.
The operator's voice intrudes,
imploring me not to nod off, and although
Fuck you forms in my pummeled
brain, I still myself, who has become
a hot-dog stuffed into a plastic bun
at a nightmare country fair.


hans ostrom 2020

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

"Written at Scarborough," by Mary Tighe

One-minute reading/video of a poem written by Mary Tighe (1772-1810), an Anglo-Irish poet known mainly for her long poem, Psyche, which retells the Pysche/Cupid myth. I like the modern tone of this poem.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DKyYzZyIPI

She Looks Good

30-second reading/video of a poem I posted in 2017, "She Looks Good."  On the lighter side.

link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_KKj2h1jMk