Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Curriculum Vitae

I taught my final class today. I'm retiring after 40 years in the college classroom and 35 at the same college. So I thought I'd report back after all these years--mission completed if not accomplished. My curriculum vitae (and that has to take a special place in the Academic Phrases Hall of Fame.


Curriculum Vitae

HANS OSTROM                                                                            2018                                                                  
Professor of African American Studies and English
University of Puget Sound
Tacoma, WA 98416
TELEPHONE: 253-879-3372 (work)
ELECTRONIC MAIL: ostrom@pugetsound.edu
Education
Ph.D. in English, University of California, Davis,1982
    Dissertation: “British Romantic Verse Satire”
    DAI 44, no. 01A (1982): 0177. Examination-areas:
    18th century British literature; 19th century British
     literature; modern British and American poetry.
M.A.  in English, University of California, Davis,1979
B.A.   in English, University of California, Davis, 1975
Academic Employment
University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington: 1983-present. Current appointment: Professor of African American Studies and English
2008-2011: James Dolliver NEH Distinguished Teaching Professor, English Department
Uppsala University, Sweden: Fulbright Senior Lecturer, 1994.
University of California, Davis: 1977-80; 1981-1983. (Teaching assistant;lecturer; director of the Campus Writing Center.)
Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany, 1980-81: Visiting Lecturer in American Studies.



Subjects Taught

Unless otherwise indicated, the courses have been taught at the University of Puget Sound; courses are listed alphabetically.
African-American Literature (senior-level seminar)
American and Japanese Cultural Identity (emphasis on literature and cinema), core-curriculum, senior-level course
American Literature: 19th century (graduate seminar, Uppsala University)
American Literature and Culture (undergraduate survey course, Gutenberg University)
Asian-American Literature (senior-level seminar)
British Literature: Survey, 1800-1950 (sophomore-level survey-course)
Composition (first-year college writing-and-rhetoric)—U.C. Davis, Johannes
     Gutenberg University
Creative Writing: Introductory and Advanced, Poetry and Short Fiction (sophomore-and senior-level courses)
Critical Reading of Poetry (U.C. Davis) (sophomore-level course for non-majors)
Detective Fiction (junior-level course, primarily for majors)
First Year Seminar in Writing and Rhetoric (core-curriculum)
Genre: Poetry (junior-level course—an overview of Anglo-American lyric poetry and a study of prosody)
Harlem Renaissance, The (core-curriculum, senior-level course)
History of Rhetoric (senior-level seminar)
Introduction to English Studies (sophomore-level course)
Playwriting
Twentieth-Century American Literature (senior-level seminar)
William Wordsworth (junior-level seminar)
Writing and Gender (senior-level seminar blending rhetorical theory,
    feminist theory, and literature)

Awards, Fellowships, Honors

James Dolliver NEH Chair in Distinguished Teaching, English Department University of Puget Sound, 2008-2011.
Dirk Andrew Phibbs Memorial Award, presented by the University Enrichment Committee, University of Puget Sound, 2006.
President’s Award for Outstanding Teaching, University of Puget Sound, 2005.
Distinguished Professor, University of Puget Sound, 2000-present.
Burlington Northern Curriculum-Development Grant, University of Puget Sound, Summer 1999.
John Lantz Fellowship, University of Puget Sound, 1996-97.
J. William Fulbright Fellowship for Senior Lecturers, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, 1994.
Burlington Northern Faculty Achievement Award, University of Puget Sound,1986 and 1989.
Alumni Association's Citation for Excellence, University of California, Davis, 1989.
Invited Participant, Matsushita Seminar in Modern American and Japanese Literature and Culture, 1989.
Martin Nelson Sabbatical Fellowship, 1987.
Teaching Award for Outstanding Graduate Students, U.C. Davis, 1982.
Regents Fellowship, University of California, Davis, 1977-78.
Professional Memberships and Listings
--Lifetime Member, Alumni Association, University of California, Davis.
--Listed in the Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers and Contemporary Authors, volume 43, new series.
--Listed in the Poets & Writers directory (online).
Langston Hughes Society
National Book Critics Circle
PEN/American Center
Publications
Books
George Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” in the Age of Pseudocracy. Written with William Haltom. New York and London: Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2018. In the Routledge Series on Rhetoric and Composition.
Clear a Place for Good: Poems 2006-2012. Tacoma: Congruent Angle Press, 2012.
Without One: A Novel. Tacoma: Congruent Angle Press and Amazon Digital Services. ASIN: B00771XFF2
Honoring Juanita: A Novel. Tacoma, Congruent Angle Press, 2010.
The Coast Starlight: Collected Poems 1976-2006. Indianapolis: Dog Ear Publishing, 2006.
The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature. 5 volumes, 2,010 pages.  Edited with J. David Macey.  Westport and London: Greenwood Press, 2005. I also contributed 61 entries to the encyclopedia. They are listed below under Articles.
The Subject Is Story: Essays for Writers and Readers. Edited with Wendy Bishop. Portsmouth, N.H.: Boynton Cook/Heinemann, 2003. This anthology for college students and teachers includes essays about narration in nonfiction writing, narrative aspects of rhetoric, and related topics.
A Langston Hughes Encyclopedia. Westport, Connecticut, and London: Greenwood Press, 2002.  495pp.  Sole author, except for 8 entries.
Metro: Journeys in Creative Writing. (Lead Author.) Written with Wendy Bishop and Katharine Haake. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, 2001. This is a textbook for use in college creative-writing and advanced-composition courses.                                                                                                                  
Subjects Apprehended: Poems. Johnstown, Ohio: Pudding House Press, 2000.
Genre and Writing: Issues, Arguments, and Alternatives. Edited with Wendy Bishop.Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann/Boynton Cook, 1997.  The book is composed ofessays on genre-theory and on connections between writing-pedagogy and definitions of genre. I contributed a chapter in addition to co-editing the book.
Colors of a Different Horse. Edited with Wendy Bishop. Urbana, Illinois:National Council of Teachers of English, 1994. The book is composed of essays about the influence of rhetorical and literary theory on the teaching of creative writing, especially in American colleges.
Langston Hughes: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne/Macmillan, 1993.
 Water's Night: Poems. With Wendy Bishop. Grass Valley, California: Mariposite Press, 1994.
Lives and Moments: An Introduction to Short Fiction. Ft. Worth: Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1991. The book includes eighty stories, with critical overviews, writing-assignments, and bibliographies.
Three to Get Ready. Oakland: Cliffhanger Press, 1991.  Novel.
Spectrum: A Reader, co-edited. San Diego: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1987.
Leigh Hunt: A Reference Guide.  Written with Timothy J. Lulofs.  Boston: G. K. Hall, 1985.    The book is an annotated bibliography of secondary sources, including contemporary reviews of Hunt’s work. 264pp.
The Living Language: A Reader. Co-edited with Linda Morris and Linda Young. New York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich, 1984.
Articles and Chapters (Selected)
“Hidden Purposes of Creative Writing: Self, Power, and Knowledge,” in Teaching Creative Writing in Higher Education: Anglo-American Perspectives, edited by Heather Beck.  London: Palgrave, 2012.
“The Audiences of Wendy Bishop’s Writing,” in Composing Ourselves As Writer-Teacher-Writers: Starting With Wendy Bishop, edited by Patrick Bizzaro and Alys Culhane. New Jersey: Hampton Press, 2011.
“Rudolph Fisher,” in Scribners’ Contemporary Authors Supplement XIX edited by Jay Parini (Detroit and New York: Gale/Cengage, 2009), 65-80.
“Tutoring Creative Writers: Working One-to-One on Prose and Poetry,” in Creative Approaches to Writing Center Work, edited by Kevin Dvorak and Shanti Bruce. New Jersey: Hampton Press, 2008, 147-158.
 “Teaching The Ways of White Folks,” in Teaching the Harlem Renaissance, ed. Michael Soto. New York: Peter Lang, 2008, Part II, Chapter 13, 137-144.
“Langston Hughes,” in An Encyclopedia of Literature and Politics, edited by M. Keith Booker (Westport: Greenwood Publishers, 2005).
“Masks of Revision,” in Acts of Revision.  Edited by Wendy Bishop. Portsmouth, N.H.: Boynton-Cook/Heinemann, 2004, pp. 28-37.
“Story, Stories, and You,” in The Subject is Story. Edited by Wendy Bishop and Hans Ostrom.  Portsmouth, N.H.: Boynton-Cook/Heinemann, 2003.
"Edward Moxon" and "Frank O’Connor [Michael Francis O’Connor O’Donovan]" in the New Dictionary of National Biography, ed. H.C.G. Matthew. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. See http://www.oup.co.uk/newdnb/
"Spiders, Flies, and Other Creatures of Reading’s Brave New World," in The Subject is Reading, ed. Wendy Bishop. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann/Boynton Cook, 2000, 191-204. Co-written with Sarah Sloane, Wade Williams, and Teresa Giffen.
"Elizabeth Bishop’s ‘The Fish,’" in a Reference Guide to American Literature, ed. Thomas Riggs.  Detroit: St. James Press, 1999.
"Access: Writing in the Midst of Many Cultures," in The Subject Is Writing: Essays By Teachers and Students, 2nd edition, ed. Wendy Bishop. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann/Boynton-Cook, 1999, 62-72.
"Langston Hughes’s ‘The Blues I’m Playing,’" in a Reference Guide to Short Fiction, ed. Thomas Riggs. Detroit: St. James Press, 1999, 770-771.
"’Carom Shots’: Re-conceptualizing Imitation and Its Uses in Creative Writing Courses," in Teaching Writing Creatively, ed. David Starkey. Portsmouth: Heinemann/Boynton-Cook, 1998, 164-172.
"Countee Cullen: How Teaching Rewrites the Genre of `Writer,'" in Genre and Writing (cited above under Books).
"Grammar ‘J’ as in Jazzing Around: The Role Play Plays in Style," in Elements of Alternate Style, Elements ed. Wendy Bishop. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann/Boynton Cook, 1997.
"Letting the Boundaries Draw Themselves: What Theory and Practice Have Been Trying to Tell Us," co-written with Wendy Bishop, Cream City Review (volume 19, no. 2), Spring 1996.
"William Everson's `Earth Poetry' and the Progess Toward Feminism," Essays In Honor of William Everson, ed. Bill Hotchkiss. (Corvalis, Oregon: Castle Peak Editions, 1993.)
"Mary Morris: Riding the Iron Rooster" (profile of American travel writer Mary Morris and discussion of her book, Wall to Wall), San Francisco Review of Books 16.3 (Fall 1991), p.3.
"Edward Moxon," Dictionary of Literary Biography: British Publishers I (DLB, volume 106) (Detroit and London: Gale Research Series, 1991).
"Prelude: A Program for College Freshmen In Writing and Thinking," Washington English Journal 8, no. 3 (Spring 1986), 22-27. Co-author.
"The Blue Review," in British Literary Magazines: The Victorian and Edwardian Age, 1837-1913. Ed. Alvin Sullivan. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1984, pp. 41-43. (The Blue Review was edited by John Middleton Murry .)
"Samhain," in British Literary Magazines: The Victorian and Edwardian Age, 1837-1913. Ed. Alvin Sullivan. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1984, pp. 376-379. (Samhain was edited by W.B.Yeats).
"The Mint," in British Literary Magazines: The Modern Age, 1914-1984. Ed. Alvin Sullivan. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1986, pp. 264-267. (Edited by Geoffrey Grigson, The Mint published writing by W.H. Auden, Sean O’Casey, Graham Greene, Peter Taylor, and Simone Weil, among others.)
"New Poetry," in British Literary Magazines: The Modern Age, 1914-1984. Ed. Alvin Sullivan. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1986, pp. 284-286.
"The Disappearance of Tragedy in Meredith's "Modern Love." Victorian Newsletter 63 (Spring 1983): 26-30.
“Blake’s Tiriel and the Dramatization of Collapsed Language.” Papers On Language and Literature  Vol. 19, no. 2 (Spring 1983), 167-182.
"Pope's Epilogue to the Satires, 'Dialogue I'." Explicator, 36:4 (1978), pp. 11-14.
Articles in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature (5 volumes), edited by Hans Ostrom and J. David Macey (see under Books above), listed by volume number and page numbers.
“Ralph Abernathy,” I, 1-2; “Lewis Alexander,” I, 20-21; “Jeffrey Richard Allen,” I, 23; “Regina M. Andrews,” I, 34-35; “William Andrews,” I, 35-36; “Allen B. Ballard,” I, 78-79; “Melba Patillo Beals,” I, 100-101;”Barry Beckham,” I, 106-107; “Charlene A. Berry,” I, 116; “Michele Andrea Bowen,” I, 171-172; “Jill Witherspoon Boyer,” I, 174; “Sharon Bridgforth,” I, 178-179; “Theodore Browne,” I, 208-209; “Louré Bussey,” I, 221-222; “Ben Caldwell,” I, 230; “Civil War, The [American] [and African American literature],” I, 235-237; “Frank B. Coffin,” I, 298; “Maud Cuney-Hare,” I, 382; “Julie Dash,” II, 390-391; “Bridgett M. Davis,” II, 396; “David Drake,” II, 448; “Drama” [African American], II, 448-453; “Erotica,” II, 505; “Federal Writers’ Project,” II, 531-532; “Patrice Gaines,” II, 605; “Hattie Gossett,” II, 646-647; “Bill Gunn,” II, 683; “Abram Hill,” II, 767-768; “Laurence Holder,” II, 783; “Elaine Jackson,” III, 829; “Mat Johnson,” III, 885; “Edward P. Jones,” III, 890-891; “Alain Locke,” III, 988-989; “Monifa Love,” III, “Memphis, Tennessee [and African American Literature],” III, 1077-1078; “Gertrude Bustill Mossell,” III, 1130-1131; “Heather Neff,” III, 1190-1191; “Rob[ert] Lee Penny,” IV, 1272-1273; “Charles Perry,” IV, 1279-1280; “Willis Richardson,” IV, 1399-1400; “Kimberla Lawson Roby,” IV, 1409; “Signifying,” IV, 1477-1479; “John Steptoe,” IV, 1540-1541; “Natasha Tarpley,” IV, 1563-1564; “Eisa Nefertari Ulen,” V, 1635-1636; “Olympia Vernon,” V, 1659-1660; “Persia Walker,” V, 1682; “Michele Faith Wallace,” V, 1683-1684; “Afaa Michael Weaver,” V, 1703-1704; “Cheryl I. West,” V, 1714; “Edgar Nkosi White,” V, 1726-1727; “Roy Wilkins,” V, 1737-1738; “John A. Williams,” V, 1746-1747; “World War I [and African American literature],” V, 1775-1778; “World War II [and African American literature],” V, 1778-1781; “Charles H. Wright,” V, 1782; “Charles S. Wright,” V, 1782-1783; “Andrew Young,” V, 1801-1802; “Shay Youngblood,” V, 1803-1804.
Poetry (Selected)
(Listed alphabetically by title of magazine, journal, or book.)
Abbey, no. 99, “Stephen Spender,” “Story Problems”; no. 100, “Grief for the Number 10,” p. 80.
Acorn, The #41 [El Dorado Writers’ Guild], 2004, “One Feather Shy,” “A Hod Carrier Reflects,” “Wren,” “Bears Waking,” and “Squirrels,” pp. 8-12.
Arches (Alumni Magazine, University of Puget Sound; Summer 2003), "Emily Dickinson and Elvis Presley in Heaven" (invited reprint of the poem).
Art of Music: A Collection of Writings, Volume II, The, ed. Liz Axford (Del Mar: Piano Press, 2004), “Bobby’s Crop,” “The Lesson,” and “Interior Departments.”
Art Times (forthcoming 2005-2006), “Tour of a Painting.”
Aurorean, The (Winter 2003-2004), “Request” and “Can’t Complain,” p. 20.
Barbaric Yawp Volume 7, no. 3 (September 2003), “Story Problems,” p. 29.
Blind Man’s Rainbow (Spring 2004), “Fingernails.”
Blue Collar Review (Winter 2003-2004), “Hands of the Wind,” and “Cheap Labor.”
Blueline Volume XXV (2004), “Heat Stroke” and “The Son She Never Had,” pp. 148-149.
Bogg #74 (2004), “Weaponry Quatrain.”
Borderlines 34 (Anglo Welsh Poetry Society, Powys, Wales), Summer 2004, “Of the Valleys,” p. 39.
California Quarterly (Summer 1980), "Sierra City, September."
Cape Rock, The (October 2004), “Trees on a College Campus” and “The Leopard and the City.”
Christianity and Literature Vol. 53, no. 1 (Fall 2003), “Instrument of Good Works #59” and “First Scrutiny.”
Cider Press Review Volume 4/5 (2004), “Jack Benny and T.S. Eliot In Heaven,” p. 38.
Coal City Review (2004), “Christ and Camus In Heaven.”
Commonweal (October 10, 2003), “Orientation Meeting In the Afterlife,” p. 10.
Connecticut River Review (Fall 1985), "Of A Beaver's Other Dam."
Crazyquilt (Vol. 3, no. 3), September 1988, “Reconnaissance Pilot.”
Cream City Review (Spring 1988), "Paid Mourner" and  "Sierra Nevada in March."
Creosote (2005?), “Statement of Policies and Procedures.”
Cumberland Poetry Review (Spring 1983, Spring 1986, Fall 1990, Spring 2004),"Young Woman on Old Skates," "The Coast Starlight," "In Pompeii," "Migratory Executives,” “The Reinvention of Light in Sweden.”
Cutbank (Fall 1985), "Tornado in the Pennsylvania Hills."
Dominion Review (Spring 1989, No. 7), "Freudian Cowboys of the Purple Sage," "Once I Saw A Sad Old God," and "Harmonica River,” 1-3.
Edge City Review, The, #19 (Spring 2004), “Listless,” p. 43.
From These Hills: An Anthology of California Writers, ed. Judith Shears. Corvalis: Castle Peak Editions, 1991. "Six poems."
The Galley Sail Review, Series 2, #39 (Vol. XII, No. 1), Spring-Summer 1991, “Victory.”
Hadrosaur Tales (#19, 2004), “Suburban Xanadu.”
Harvest (Spring 1978), "Spider Killing" and "The Exiled Dead."
Hazmat Review (2005), “Back Lot, Paramount Studios,” “Düsseldorf and So Forth.”
Hidden Oak (Summer/Fall 2003), “Little Lyric” and “Listless.”
In Tahoma’s Shadow: Poems From the City of Destiny, ed. William Kupinse and Tammy Robacker (Tacoma: Exquisite Disarray, 2009), “A Tacoma Sonnet,” p.93.
Inside Poetry Out: An Introduction to Poetry, by John Hayden (Chicago: Nelson/Hall, 1983), "Calm and Fear" and "Spider Killing."
Intro 10 (1979), "Sestina: Ellis Island/Amelia Earhart."
Iris (Fall 1987), "Alicia's Affidavit" and "Funeral in Los Angeles."
Journal of the American Medical Association [JAMA], January 2004, “Morphine.”
Kersh (College of the Redwoods, Crescent City, California), June 2004, “Moth Anxiety.”
Kiss Off: Poems to Set You Free, ed. Mary D. Esselman and Elizabeth Ash Velez (New York: Warner Books, 2003), “Emily Dickinson and Elvis Presley in Heaven” (invited reprint of the poem).
Krax (England), forthcoming 2007, “Mum Is the Word” and “Memo to Citizens.”
Lantern Review (Ireland), 2004, and “Boden: The Rudiments.”
Laurel Review (Summer 1985), "In The Sierra."
Leading Edge: A Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy # 47 (April 2004), “The Trafficiad,” p. 69.
Love's Chance Magazine (Summer 2004), "Just Between You and Me."
Lullwater Review: A Journal for the Literary Arts Volume XIV, no. 1 (Winter 2003-2004), “Mum Is The Word,” p.13.
Medicinal Purposes Vol. II, no. X (Midyear 2004), “St. Petersburg, Russia,” p. 3.
Metro: Journeys in Writing Creatively (see under Books above), “Of Reading.”
Möbius (forthcoming November 2003), "Interim Report" and "The Last Place."
Nexus Volume 39, Issue 1 (Fall/Winter 2004), “Environmental Policy,” p. 53.
New Delta Review (Spring 1985), "The Collector."
Northern Review (Vol. 1, no. 2, Fall 1987), "Kiruna: New Year's Day."
Offerings (fourth quarter, 2003), “Cup,” p. 25.
Old Red Kimono, The, Volume XXIII, (Spring 2004), “Her Confession,” p. 47.
Opossum Holler Tarot #672 [Spring 2003] (New Orleans, Louisiana), “The Subject Is The Bicycle,”
Pablo Lennis (Spring 2000), "Whether Report."
The Panhandler (Fall 1986), “Night Bus In Frankfurt.”
Pennine Platform [England] # 55 (May 2004), “God’s Predicament,” “Interior Design,” “Monastery, Monserratt,” pp. 6-7; 13.
Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought [published at Hope College, Michigan] (January 2004), “To War Again,” “Eligible,” p. 20; (February 2004), “Skylights,” p. 18.
Plains Poetry Journal (July 1986), "Sierra City: April," "By Water," and "Alicia's Ceremonies."
Ploughshares (Spring 1992), "Sierra Nevada: Cold Work Moment."
Poetalk (Summer 2003) [Bay Area Poets’s Coalition], “Childhood: Sierra Nevada,” (Autumn 2003), “Aftermath,” p. 11.
Poetry Motel (2005), “Earth™.”
Poetry Northwest (Spring 1987), "From Another Part of the Forest."
Poetry Nottingham [England] 58, no. 1(March/April 2004), “Söderfors, Sweden” and “Not Walt Whitman,” pp. 22-23.
Pulsar (Ligden Poetry Society, Swindon, Wiltshire, England), “Self-Interview on the Subject of God,” p. 23.
Rearview Quarterly, Volume 2, issue 4 (Winter 2003-2004), “Fable: Noah and Raven,” p. 17.
Red Owl (Spring 2004--#18), “Zen Ambulance”
Red Rock Review (Spring 2001), "On Finally Understanding the Notion of a Happy Hunting Ground" and "Panic Attack."
Samsara, no. 11 (2004), “The Tasks of Grief” and “Grief and Kindness.”
Sierra Journal (Spring 1978), "Climbing" (Spring 1990), "Three Poems," (Spring 1996), "Child of the North Yuba River,” (Spring 2003), “The Acquittal of Socrates” and “Deer in the Headlights.”
Sierra Nevada College Review Volume 15 (Spring 2004), “Friendco,” p. 44.
Smiths Knoll [England] #32 (Fall/Winter 2003-2004), “The Son She Never Had.”
Something Understood (BBC 4 radio program), August 17, 2008, “For Librarians,” read by an actor.
South Carolina Review (Fall 1985), "High School Football."
South Dakota Review (Fall 1984), "Winter Nocturne."
Sow’s Ear Poetry Journal Volume XII, no. 4(Winter 2004), “Nose,” p. 22.
Spoon River Quarterly, Vol. XVI, no. 1-2 [single issue], “Balloonist’s Log, Final Entry” and “She’ll Be Driving Six White Horses.”
Sucarnochee Review (Fall 1989), "Elvis Presley and Emily Dickinson in Heaven."
Tacenda (Fall/Winter 2003/2004), “Environmental Policy” and “Annual Report.”
13 Ways of Looking at a Poem, ed. Wendy Bishop (New York: Longman Publishers, 2000). "Elvis Presley and Emily Dickinson in Heaven" (invited reprint of the poem), "13 Ways of Looking at Wallace Stevens," "Prepositions for the Waitress, "This Is The Gazelle Gazalle," "Fortuitous Twos."
Thorny Locust 10, #4 (2002), “Morphine.”
Timber Creek Review (Winter/Spring 2003), “Fox and You.”
Transcendent Visions (Fall 2003), 'The Quiet Child."
Tulane Review (Spring 2004), “Bobby’s Crop,” p. 71.
Washington Post (“Poet’s Choice” Column by Rita Dove), May 20, 2001, “Emily Dickinson and Elvis Presley in Heaven” (invited reprint of the poem).
Wavelength #9 (Spring 2004), “Ludwig’s Dinosaur” and “The Cherubs, The Harbors,” pp. 19-20.
Willow Springs # 53 (Winter 2004), “Bread and Bus: An Essay” [poem], p. 57.
Wisconsin Review (Fall 1987), "The Day of Small Things," "Electrician," and "Composer in Exile."
Vortex of the Macabre (Fall 2004), “Wickedness Tours,” and “Official Correspondence.”
Xavier Review 23, no. 2 (Fall 2003), “Jean Toomer,” p. 46.
Zillah (Volume 3, Issue 2), Summer 2003, “Career.”
Short Fiction
Red: A Book: open-ended online collection of short nonfiction, flash fiction, prose poems: http://redtalesbook.blogspot.com/
"Seven Fables For Teaching and Learning," in In Praise of Pedagogy: Poems and Stories, ed. Wendy Bishop and David Starkey, with an introduction by Ken Autrey Portsmouth, Maine: Calendar Island Books,  2000, 134-137.
"I Guard The White Rhino," Webster Review (Fall 1987).
"The Green Bird," Ploughshares (Fall 1986). Special issue edited by Madeline DeFrees and Tess Gallagher.
"Trouble Reports," South Carolina Review (1990).
"Bluestone," Willow Springs 24 (Spring 1989).
"The Wife of the Ambassador," Whetstone 6 (1989). Reprinted in WIND/Literary Journal, 1991.
Prizes for Poetry and Short Fiction
First prize, Warren Eyster Competition, New Delta Review, 1985. "The Collector." (Poem).
Second Prize, Redbook magazine's annual fiction contest, 1985 (announced in March 1986 issue). "Hostage in Residence" (Short story).
Grand prize, Ina Coolbrith Memorial Awards (California), 1979. Judged by William Dickey. "Elegy for a Distant Relative." (Poem).
First prize, Harvest Awards (University of Houston), 1978. Judged by Stephen Spender. "Spider Killing." (Poem).
Third Prize, Third Annual Art of Music Writing-Contest, Sponsored by Piano Press (Del Mar, California), “Bobby’s Crop” (poem), 2003-2004.

Reviews (Selected)
Susan Koppelman, ed. Women's Friendships: A Collection of Short Stories. Studies in Short Fiction 28, no. 2 (Spring 1991), 231-233.
Carol Bly, The Passionate, Accurate Story. Choice: Current Reviews for College Libraries, March 1991.
William Pritchard, Randall Jarrell: A Literary Life, Choice: Current Reviews for College Libraries, January 1991.
Susan Lohafer and Jo Ellyn Clarey, eds., Short Story Theory At A Crossroads. Choice: Current Reviews for College Libraries, June 1990.
"Gluck's Vision of Text and Textuality" (review of Reader by Robert Gluck), San Francisco Chronicle Review, March 4, 1990, p. 5.
"Bones, Triggers, Continuous Dreams: Books on Creative Writing" (review-article on 12 books), Associated Writing Programs Chronicle, 22, no. 6 (May 1990), p. 1 and ff.
George Lakoff and Mark Turner. More Than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor. Choice: Current Reviews for College Libraries, February 1990.
R.S. Hughes, John Steinbeck: A Study of the Short Fiction, Studies in Short Fiction, Volume 26, no. 1 (Winter 1989).
"Small-Town Doubts in the Vietnam Era," review of Monoosook Valley by Elisabeth Hyde. San Francisco Chronicle Review, June 4, 1989, p. 8.
John O. Hayden, ed. William Wordsworth: Selected Prose. New York: Penguin, 1988. Choice: Current Reviews for College Libraries (January 1989).
Philip F. Deaver, Silent Retreats. Winner of the 1987 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. Choice: Current Reviews for College Libraries (November 1988).
"The Price of Sibling Rivalry," review of Born Brothers by Larry Woiwode, San Francisco Chronicle Review, September 18, 1988, p. 7.
"Understated But Powerful Stories," review of Indecent Dreams, by Arnost Lustig, "Books," San Francisco Chronicle, June 1, 1988, p. E4.

"Families Fraying at the Core," review of Valentino and Sagittarius, by Natalia Ginzburg, San Francisco Chronicle Review, May 8, 1988, p. 6.
"A Mad Poet Who’s Not Going To Take It Anymore," review of Easter Sunday, by Tom Clark, San Francisco Chronicle Review, February 7, 1988, p. 3.
Francis Blessington, Lantskip: Poems, Choice: Current Reviews for College Libraries (January 1988).
Harold Orel, Victorian Short Fiction, Newsletter of the Victorian Studies Association of Western Canada (Volume 13, no. 2, Fall 1987).
George Hillocks, Jr., Research on Written Composition: New Directions for Teaching, Washington English Journal (Spring 1987).
Anne Blainey, Immortal Boy: A Portrait of Leigh Hunt, Victorian Studies Association Newsletter 37 (Ontario) (Spring 1986), 31-32.
Richard Beach and Lillian Bridwell, New Directions in Composition Research, Washington English Journal 7, no. 3 (Spring 1985), 26.
Suzanne Ferguson, Critical Essays on Randall Jarrell, American Poetry 2, no. 1 (Fall 1985), pp. 90-92.
Lehman and Berger, eds. James Merrill: Essays in Criticism, American Poetry 1, no. 3 (Spring 1984), pp. 92-93.
Michael Allen, We Are Called Human: The Poetry of Richard Hugo, American Poetry 1, no. 1 (Fall 1983), pp. 91-93.
William Everson, Earth Poetry: Selected Essays and Interviews, Small Press Review (September 1980), p. 11.
Newspaper Column
Twice-monthly column on the literary arts, Tacoma News Tribune, Tacoma, Washington. Sunday readership: 300,000. August 1990-November 1993. The column included pieces on Antonia Fraser, P.D. James, Aristeo Brito, Robert Bly, Rita Dove, John Haines, Gary Snyder, Charles Johnson, Itabari Njeri, Helen Washington, Stuart Dybek, Sue Grafton, Philip Appleman, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Cristina Garcia, Coleen McCullough, Terry Tempest Williams, and others. The column combined author-profiles (based on interviews) with book reviews.


Conference-Presentations and Invited Lectures, Etc. (Selected)
“Revisiting Orwell’s ‘Politics and the English Language.’”  With Professor William Haltom. Pacific Northwest Political Science Association Conference, Spokane, Washington, Fall 2010.
“Teaching George Orwell in Karl Rove’s World: ‘Politics and the English Language’ in the 21st Century Classroom,” written and presented with Professor William Haltom, Western Political Science Association Conference, Vancouver B.C., March 21, 2008.
“Langston Hughes and the Poetry of a Dream Legally Deferred,” Law and Society Association Annual Conference, Humboldt University, Berlin, July 2007.
“Teaching Langston Hughes’s The Ways of White Folks,” brief presentation for a Roundtable Discussion on “White Scholars, Black Texts,” National Conference on Race and Pedagogy, University of Puget Sound, September 15-16, 2006.
“Langston Hughes and the Politics of Rhetorical Accessibility,” Conference on College Composition and Communication, San Francisco, 2004.
Moderator, panel on “Langston Hughes and the Critics,” Let America Be America Again: An International Symposium on the Art, Life, & Legacy of Langston Hughes, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, February 2002.
"`Imagination’ and Writing in the Disciplines," paper given at Conference on College Composition and Communication, Minneapolis, March 2000.
"Keeping the Personal Ghost in the Machine of Academic Writing," paper for panel on "Voices in Scholarly Writing: Reflections and Complications," Conference on College Composition and Communication, Phoenix, March 1997.
"American Literature Of  The Region, For The Region, and By The Region," lecture for seminar in American Studies, United States Embassy, Stockholm, Sweden, April 1994.
"African-American Literature from Douglass to Morrison: Some Key Challenges and Achievements," lecture at University of Umeå, Sweden, sponsored by the Swedish Fulbright Commission, Spring 1994.
"Round Up The Usual Suspects: American Crime Fiction," presentation to the English Society, Uppsala University, Sweden, Spring 1994.
"Langston Hughes's Short Fiction: Against the Modernist Grain," guest lecture in Professor Rolf Lundén's graduate seminar in American literature, Uppsala University, Sweden, Spring 1994. A revised version was presented at the 1995 MLA conference, Chicago.
"Reconsidering Genre-Boundaries," paper given Modern Language Association Convention, Toronto, 1993.
Co-designer and co-presenter, post-convention workshop on the teaching of creative writing theory and practice, Conference on College Composition and Communication, Cincinnati (March 1992) and San Diego (March 1993).
"Surviving to Write and Writing to Survive: The Complex Case of Langston Hughes," paper given at Conference on College Composition and Communication, Cincinnati, March 1992.
"Designing a Writing Course,” paper for panel on "A Case Study of a Successful Student Writer," National Council of Teachers of English 81st annual convention, Seattle, November 1991.
"Film Criticism as Autobiography: James Baldwin's The Devil Finds Work," paper given at Conference on College Composition and Communication, Boston, March 1991.
Chair, panel on "American Literary Journalism," Conference on College Composition and Communication, Seattle, March 1989.
"Writing in the Pacific Northwest," colloquium and reading (with Madeline De Frees and Joan Swift), St. Martin's College, Lacey, Washington, Spring 1987.
Poetry Readings (Selected)
Berkeley, California (KPFA Radio); Davis, California (KDVS); Ragdale Artists Colony (Lake Forest, Illinois); "Across the River" Reading Program (Oregon and Washington State Arts Commissions); Tacoma Art Museum; "Distinguished Poets Series," directed by Laura Jensen, funded by a Lila Wallace Foundation/Reader’s Digest grant, Tacoma, 1997; University of Puget Sound Faculty Club, 1998; Art Gallery, Pacific Lutheran University, at the opening of “Apertures,” an exhibit featuring the photo-collages of Betty Ragan and poems by Hans Ostrom, April 3, 2001; Lawrence High School and Centennial Elementary School, Lawrence, Kansas (February 2002), as part of an outreach program connected to “Let America Be America Again: An International Symposium on the Art, Life, & Legacy of Langston Hughes,” hosted by the University of Kansas; Center for Contemporary Art, Seattle (with Bill Kupinse), Spring 2006; Peninsula Book Group, Gig Harbor, Washington, 2006; Western Literature Association Conference, Tacoma, Washington, Fall 2007; Daedalus Society, University of Puget Sound, April 2008; Tacoma Public Library, reading in connection with the publication of In Tahoma’s Shadow: Poems From the City of Destiny, ed. William Kupinse and Tammy Robacker (Tacoma: Exquisite Disarray, 2009); Poetry in Hard Times, poetry reading at the Washington History Museum.

Miscellaneous Publications and Small Press Community
Web Log: http://poetsmusings-muser.blogspot.com/ . This features posts on poetry and on topics of general interest. I also post drafts of poems, and I post poems by others (public domain) and comment on them. @ 900 posts as of October 2009.
“Diversity and the University of Puget Sound,” Advice to New Students: 2008 Orientation, edited by the Prelude Committee, University of Puget Sound, pp. 8-16. Subsequently printed online.
Archive
“Hans Ostrom Papers 1978-1992 [and ff.],” Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, CA 94305 SPEC-COLL CALL NUMBER  1) M1713. Includes incoming correspondence from  Associated Writing Programs/David Fenza; Bishop, Wendy; Bly, Robert; Bryan, Sharon; Conoley, Gillian; Conroy, John; Davies, John; DeFrees, Madeline; Dove, Rita; Gallagher, Tess; Hammer, Andrea; Hayden, John; Hotchkiss, Bill; Hyde, Elisabeth; Mailer, Norman (to Lloyd Van Brunt); Redbook Short Story Prize; Runciman, Lex; Shapiro, Karl; Spender, Stephen; Thornberg, Newton; Van Arsdel, Rosemary; Wagner, Esther; Wiley, Richard.
Administrative Experience and Contributions to University Governance (Selected)
Faculty Member, ASUPS Media Board, 2012-present
Advisor, Writers’ Guild (student-run organization), circa 2005-2009
Catholic Campus Fellowship (student-run organization); and Blues/Swing Dance Club (student-run), current.
Member, University’s Budget Task Force, 2008-2010. Appointed by the President.
Member, Diversity Advisory Council and the Council’s Committee on Curriculum andAdvising, 2008-2010
Chair, Department of English, 2004-2007.
Member, Faculty Senate, University of Puget Sound, 2006-2009 (elected position).
Chair, Faculty Senate, University of Puget Sound, 2001-2003 (elected position).
Co-Founder and Co-Director, African American Studies Program, University of Puget Sound, 1995-2003.
Chair, Board of Trustees, Seabury School, Brown’s Point, Tacoma, Washington, 1999-2000.
Member, President’s Committee on Diversity, 1990-91.  The Committee was responsible for producing a comprehensive strategic plan for diversity at the University of Puget Sound.  The report was presented to the Board of Trustees in Spring 1991.
Co-designer and co-director of Prelude, a first-year orientation program involving critical thinking (1985; 1986).
Founding Director of the Writing Center, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington, 1984-86.
Assistant Director of Composition and Director of the Campus Writing Center, U.C. Davis, Davis, California, 1982-83.
Member, Academic Standards Committee; Diversity Committee; Library and Media (academic technology) Committee (various times), University of Puget Sound.
Miscellaneous Professional Activities
Member (1990-present), Editorial Board (involves reading of manuscripts), Writing on the Edge (academic journal), published at the University of California, Davis; manuscript reviewer for Journal of Advanced Composition and College English (intermittent); proposal-reviewer, stages I and II, for the national Conference on College Composition and Communication (Minneapolis, 2000; San Antonio, 2004); invited outside-reviewer in tenure-evaluations, Boise State University, Florida State University, Indiana University/Purdue University at Fort Wayne, Loyola University, Miami University (Florida), and others; manuscript reviewer for Boynton-Cook/Heinemann, an academic publisher specializing in books about composition, rhetoric, and pedagogy (Summer 1999); manuscript reviewer for a composition/rhetoric book submitted to Utah State University Press (Spring 2003); proposal-reviewer for an anthology of detective fiction, Oxford University Press; manuscript reviewer for the Publications of the Modern Language Association (PMLA), twice; book-prospectus reviewer (composition text) for Cengage Learning/Wadsworth Publishers.
Non-Academic Employment (Alphabetically Listed)
Cafeteria Server and Dishwasher (U.C. Davis, 1973-75); Carpenter’s Assistant, Summers, 1973-80; Editor (Office of the Auditor General, California State Legislature, 1981-82); Grocery-Store Worker, Summer 1971; Hod-Carrier and Mason’s Assistant, Summers (1973-80); Laborer, Gravel Pit (Summers, 1971 & 1972); Resident Assistant, Dormitory, Sierra College (1972); Sports Stringer/Freelancer (1971-73), weekly and daily newspapers (reported scores, wrote news articles).

out of the moonlight rode the tall grasshopper


history
          is
  all knotted up.
inactivity is active interactive interactive
i like
         dirt




hans ostrom 2018

These Awful Times

leaves make light
bright green. hate makes US
power White. these awful times



hans ostrom 2018

College Test in May

students see the test:
a contract with memory.
sunlight in windows




hans ostrom 2018

Monday, April 30, 2018

Cold April

unfriendly sky
new garden leaves shiver
the crows flap hard against the wind


hans ostrom 2018

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

American Rust

White Supremacy is like rust.
It never stops devouring
American structures.
It never gets eradicated.


hans ostrom 2018

Monday, April 23, 2018

Saint Anonymous

I pray to Saint Anonymous,
a martyr without publicity.

Anon's the patron saint
of the perplexed, who never

quite manage to move past
confusion to reach rudimentary

theological questions, let alone
answers. When I pray to St.

Anonymous, I imagine a mildly
fretful face staring at me,

suggesting neither comfort nor
salvation but not-so-merely

sympathy, which is the most
of what's available given

the circumstances in which we
the perplexed find ourselves.


hans ostrom 2018

More Lies

Some more lies, then:
today in a fabricated storm,
clothes fell from the sky.
The tiniest of birds flew
through my eye into my
brain, which dreams of
the bird every night now
in jail: I am. I have been
arrested for false imaginings.
I use state-invoiced spoons
to play the bars like a xylophone
hoping someone will answer.


hans ostrom 2018

The Letter L Gathers Intelligence

Xylophone, chlorophyll--
tones of green tunes.
Isopropyl, pteradactyl,
prophylactic: in each
of such words, the letter

L functions as a secret
agent. Yes, we found polygamous
platypus written on plain
papyrus but alas the key

to the code evaporated
long long ago.




hans ostrom 2018

Pope Pourri

pontiff, pope, papa.
paparazzi photograffiti vatican
man. Point If, on the coast of doubt,
where lives holy fatherson's

ghost. what toppings does
the top-of-the-Church
like on his pope-pizza?
geez, a woman really

ought to be pope soon,
breaking the arthritic
seal on a new era
that can breathe, a boon.

and let priests have
consensual sex if they
want to and even the pontiff too
if he-she has such a friend, or two.

time to re-sort-out which credos
are credibly from an above
and which are human edicts from
let's face it obsolete cultures.


hans ostrom 2018

Solitary Book

She's a solitary book. She
wants a shelf all to herself.

She's well printed inside
and bound with a durable,

beautiful cover. She's full
of ideas, pathos, and humor.

Sometimes she invites me in.
There it is a local heaven.

From her name and table
of contents through to the

colophon, back and forth
I go along innumerable paths,

knowing her story in some
of its endless ways. It's never

long before she sends me away.
She likes a shelf all to herself

and is most comfortable when
closed.



hans ostrom 2018

Monday, April 16, 2018

sierra nevada

sierra nevada see
air over nevada
serrated novena
snow sloughed redoubt

quartz veins in diorite
and granite, vanity
goes viral for gold
blast rock haul ore

or give up. for it is
written it shall be
hidden, gold generally
hides in specific gravity

gravely. washo and maidu
watched euro-waves crash
flash in the pans & rockers
sheer face of bluffs onlooked


hans ostrom 2018

culinary difficulty

culinary difficulty
your goose is cooked
you're all shook up
a chafed chef

the sou chef
vouchsafed for you,
said you can dish it out
after you bake it

par course par boil char
boil loyal to butter
salt and cream, utter
and scream, slow-

roast a daydream
of opening your own
someday restaurant
restore rant, saucy savant


hans ostrom 2018

Friday, April 13, 2018

white folks crazy

white folks crazy
lazily leaning
on a rotten post--
souperiority

one may try
to divest his
her their whiteness--
not so fast, say

the structures
holding one.
ruptures of these
structures

i do perceive--
but: too few,
too narrow.
it is very, very

late: 1619-2018,
and a White Supremacist
in the White House.
of course even

1620 was very late--
it should have stopped
then, should not have
started, white folks crazy


hans ostrom 2018

Friday, April 6, 2018

Five-Syllable Aria

For him, opera is a world
where people converse
in shrieks, shouts, cries, and
wails. (Too much like his family.)

Even an operatic comedy
sounds like catastrophe to him.

Right away, the first notes,
opera is too much for him.
Instantly it exhausts him.
Defeated, he sleeps until

a sweet whisper in his ear
sings, "It's over. Let's go."
The five-syllable aria
transports his would.


hans ostrom 2018

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

And the Frogs Croaked "Affidavit"

I think an affidavit should be something
different from a legal statement. An affidavit
should be a mythical bird or a frenetic folk dance.
Or perhaps a ritual response in a liturgy.
(Affidavit, affidavit, said the assembled, gravely.)

I was listening to some frogs last night, The
dear frogs, moist creatures enamored of moonlight.
They just kept croaking affidavit, loud and crisp,
with syncopation borrowed from another aural plane.
The amphibious chant mesmerized me. Down

the years it has done that, for I have listened to frogs
my whole life, and I will sign a statement to that effect.


hans ostrom 2018

Friday, March 30, 2018

Implied Narrative from a Language Lesson

(translated)

Can you please be a little more
quiet? I want to hug you. I
want to kiss you. I need to use
the bathroom. I want to move here.



hans ostrom 2018

Good News: You Seem to Exist

"That there is something is the first, most obvious, and best known thing conceived by our intellect and all the rest follows" --Umberto Eco, Kant and the Platypus 

"I think; therefore, I am"--a bit self-centered,
Rene. "It is, even if it's not what it seems

or seems different depending who or what
records the seeming"--awfully inelegant--
but better? Here's the thing:

something exists. Can I I be more specific?
Can the something? The questions answer
yes implicitly, being more specific themselves.

Here is a word: exits. Exits exist, or seem so to you
and so they do, and therefore so do you, so take one

to a fine and rational place.


hans ostrom 2018

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Thumpers

Hail Grace, full of Merry, how
does your garden grow? And another
thing: why are people
who are full of hate and empty
of sense in charge of things?
Is it just tradition?

Blessed art art, at least
it's a vector in which to stuff
the rage of futility, the roar
of despair. Jesus, Christians

have made up a bunch of crap
about you, turning you into
a white supremacist policer of sex
& gender and a lobbyist for guns and greed.
They preach the "gospel of wealth."
No, really. Thugs, they really
thump the love out of the Bible.


hans ostrom 2018

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

An Under-rated State of Being

Beside a creek, we discussed creeks.
At a table we talked of American
depravities--acidic combinations
of sex-policing, racist hate, and greed.

In a bookstore, we spoke of sex.
In many places, we used language
to evade. Hiding, we sometimes
told the truth. We asked questions

in anger, illness, lust, inebriation,
shock, exhaustion, and fear. We
fiercely expressed certainties
that, seen later, were all wrong.

At our best, we had nothing to say and
said nothing: an under-rated state of being.



hans ostrom 2018

You Take Requests

You're performing every night
inside your head. You play piano,
you play shame. You play

dream flute and percussive
regret. You turn rain into harp
strings and fear into drums.

A low tuba of worry
supports an anxious violin.


hans ostrom 2018

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

The Talk Artist

She kept talking. I let her talking
be the sound of a creek, an abstraction
made of sound waves.

Then her talking began to sound
like a sea, rising and retreating.
It mesmerized me.

"Does that make any sense?"
she asked. I roused myself
from hearing to answer:

"Yes, and it's beautiful in its
own way," I said, referring
to her talking. That

induced her to talk more.
She was a compulsive talk artist.
She talked as if to breathe.



hans ostrom 2018

Monday, March 19, 2018

Our Magic Shows

I am a salamander.
Your are a butterfly.
You are an eel,
and I am a walrus.

I am a sand flea,
and you are an eagle.
You are an armadillo.
I am an owl.

As you well know,
you and I change forms
quite often, at least in
the magic shows

we improvise so as
to keep each other entertained.



hans ostrom 2018

On Being a Professor

Being a professor
is like being a lounge singer.
It's hard work.

Small crowds
with big expectations.

You develop your act.
Then you memorize it.
Finally it memorizes you.


hans ostrom 2018

Saturday, March 17, 2018

Hello, Gray Salamander

Among the events occurring
in the universe today, one featured
a convergence of the life patterns
belonging to a salamander and me.

Ambystoma gracile is the alleged
name of this plump salamander's kind,
habitat--Pacific Northwest. Size of
a small lizard, gray on top, orange

like a fiery sunset underneath.
The head-lamp eyes were firmly
closed, he circular toes
mythically delicate. A chill

had wedged A. gracile between
nap and coma on concrete.
I picked it up by the tail
and moved it near a pink azalea

so crows wouldn't spot it.
It arced its body in slumber
and opened its mouth to mime
complaint before I set it down.

Our meeting has made me
committed to becoming
an affiliate member of the Pacific
Northwest Salamander Society.


hans ostrom 2018

Friday, March 9, 2018

Chewing Moon

As I reached for the moon,
it shrank to the size of my hand.
Then it turned into a disc
no thicker than a sandwich.

Coincidentally, I took two
bites out of it. The texture:
that of sugar granules.
Taste: smoky lemon.

The moon in my hand bled
dark green where my teeth
had seized lunar flesh. Stung
by self-rebuke, I put the moon

back where I had found it, or
almost. It healed in its orbit.


hans ostrom 2018

Bar Codes

Draperies, and some of the folds
bunch together. The merchant
has pulled them across the whole
window in order to hide from customers.

Rain came straight down that day.
At the same time, wind plowed
it into mountains like harp strings.
We were desperate for beauty.

Was the wall in that baked town
painted white at first, with black
stripes added later? Or black
first, white lines later?

From my roasting room across
the street, I kept asking such
questions in my stupor,
in my visitor's defeat.


hans ostrom 2018

It Will Be Our Secret

Tell me a secret. One
that belongs to someone else.
Change the name to prevent
feelings of betrayal--or glee.

Indeed, alter the secret.
Create, embellish. Make
it as rare as you want.
Too weird: What does that

that even mean? Go ahead,
tell me the awful inside
knowledge you've invented.
It will be our little secret.


hans ostrom 2018

Monday, March 5, 2018

The Second Syllable is "Vice," After All

I have some advice for you.
Actually--no, no I don't.
I suppressed it. What a relief
for both of us I think you will
agree. Advice is well intended

only 6% of the time, well
received 3%. As to its
efficacy, that would be
lower than 3%. It's mostly
old news, bad memory, a

control-tactic, a hunk of blather,
or just plain wrong.  I just advised
myself not to give advice unless asked,
and even then . . . .I'm taking
my advice. Someone has to.


hans ostrom 2018

Notebook Problems

He flipped through his notebook
til he found a blank page.
Before he could write on it,
words materialized by themselves:

Your are very far away
from where you ought to be.
The truth of this statement
deflated him. He waited

for more words to appear. Some
did: Turn the page now, and write. 


hans ostrom 2018

Blood Estuaries

Blood estuaries, the slaughter arts,
and radioactive crania of psychotic
power-addicts all have me a bit on
ledge. Industrial Whiteness

sells bigot spigots, 90 days
same as cash. Keep the hatred
flowing is their slogan. A
certain segment of the public

weaponizes Jesus and beats up
people who know facts.
Dictators proliferate worldwide
like syphilis chancres.

Ignorance is tidal.
Civilization's suicidal.


hans ostrom 2018

Friday, February 23, 2018

A Visit to the Sun Building

Why are you here? asked
the moon people in the sun building.
By mistake, I replied, adding,
Anyway, hello. They said

if I were to stay,
I would have to conform.
A tempting offer. But no,
for I saw there already

things that rankled. After
my departure, I walked
under invisible stars
and put money in the cardboard
coffer of a street musician
who sang of asteroids.


hans ostrom 2018

Monday, February 19, 2018

Miffle's Expanding Tardiness

Miffle asked Lubi what time it was.
Lubi said, "It's the eternal present
of an expanding universe." Krokson

interrupted the two. He said,
"Actually, it's about five minutes
after the eternal present of an

expanding universe." "Oh,
Hell," said Miffle, "in that
case, I'm late!" "For what?"

asked Lubi. "I don't know,"
replied Miffle. Krokson said,
"That's unfortunate--for now

your tardiness may expand not
unlike the universe.



hans ostrom 2018

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

At Motel Depression

At Motel Depression, you're just not interested.
You recall what being interested is like,
but it's a proper tall hotel in another part of town.

Best not to strain against the circumstances.
See the salt-and-pepper screen of the broken
TV. Guess the age of the smelly drapes.

Toss your clothes on the embattled chair.
The painting is a kind of punishment.
No moaning, no wailing, please:

the walls are thin. Keep the sheets
between you and the blankets. There's
a good chance you'll check out tomorrow.


hans ostrom 2018

Monday, February 12, 2018

Facts and Oxygen

We need a system.
We need a Boris or a Jean.
We don't need a judge,
but we do need a day with a
stream in it.
We need facts like we need
oxygen: no substitutes.


hans ostrom 2018

Friday, February 9, 2018

Cigar Smoke is Thick and Blue

"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

--psychiatrist Allen Wheelis (1950), who credited the statement to Freud


Sometimes a cigar
isn't a cigar, such as after
it's been smoked
and the remaining brown wad
has gone away.

Then the cigar
becomes particles
as well as neural bits
of cigar-likenesses,
or a word in a story
about that one night
and its cigars.



hans ostrom 2018

Concerning Cricket

A Cubist concoction of layered planes,
seems cricket. A match progresses
in a stiff-legged imperial ballet
with yachting costumes. Scoring

is prolific, as with stock markets.
There are slap-bats and wee wooden
sticks--quite droll. Cricket is so
very, very something, far afield

from clarity but highly ordered,
bright and secretive. Sedate, surreal.




hans ostrom 2018

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Eye Doctor

Asked to read lines of letters and numbers projected
on a wall, my eyes confuse G with O and 2 with Z.

The doctor puts large drops of rain in my eyes,
and my eyes get stoned.

He puts a contraption on his head. To my eyes,
it makes him look like a cyborg ant-eater.

A gentle torturer, he shines bright light behind
my eyeballs, and I feel like I'm in a movie from 1971.

He tells me I have "divergence inconsistency"--one
eyeball's a lazy focuser, or is on a work slow-down.

When the doctor giggles, he sounds like Jim Backus
as Mr. Magoo. My ears see the humor in this.


hans ostrom 2018


Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Angel with a Punch

I met a counter-punching angel.
She didn't strike with fists and kicks.

Glances delivered her rebukes.
So too did words full of biting angel wit.

Her effect on her targets is conclusive.
I myself felt like giving up on petty

pretense and posing pride, and at
that instant the angel's smile spread wide.


hans ostrom 2018

Monday, January 29, 2018

Semi-Descript Suburb Somewhere

In a semi-descript suburb somewhere,
people believe in Counting Your Blessings
and First World Problems. Some
even get the idea of privilege.

But hedges there become overstuffed
couches. Rain hardens into visual
static. Before people go to work
elsewhere each day, they lie down

on lawns and gnash their teeth
and lash their consciences with
shaming pep-talks. The contents
of one house there rarely

interacts with those of another
house, and this include people.
Everyone's regrets pile up, become
invisible drifts that never melt.


hans ostrom 2018

Another Last Page

Here we are at another
last page. No need

to revisit what's
previous. It's just a

last page, not the end
of books. Open

the drapes. See what's up
out there with light.


hans ostrom 2018

Monday, January 22, 2018

Terms and Conditions

"not because blue pill"

      --fragment from the old online deluge


Not because blue pill
have I seen shards of epic
gibberish & websites blocked
error 404 forbidden you do not
have access, note that you

is neither formal nor familiar
in algorithmese. Search,
surf, just-type-in, click
to download, take a trip
on a keyboarding ship,
reach your destination in
the slink, on the sly.

Ultimately every download
loaded down must become
a disappointment & you feel
as if you're clerking on a volunteer
basis for authoritarian bots. All

manner of things shall be well
when you use two-step verifcation
and, well, have your credit
card info including security
ready. You must fill in required
fields, approve terms and conditions.


hans ostrom 2018

Dream Snow Leopard

I haven't seen
the snow leopard
in dreams. I know
it's there behind
mind's mist or
inside subconscious
caves. The psychic

snow leopard
is meant to be
absently present.
It represents something,
I can't know what,
perhaps just itself.

It is a messenger
sent from forever
and never quite
arrives. Its eyes
follow me now,
is my surmise.


hans ostrom 2018

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Dutiful Blues

He saw that she,
like him, was locked
into an acceptable life
that held no interest
anymore. They

exchanged polite
comments, maybe
at a cafe or on the job.
The glances they
shared never found

words because words
can involve truth
and risk. Each had
decided to plod
along their separate,

acceptable paths.
Both were made sluggish
by the weight of
boredom and
frustration. Their

existential crisis remained
bland--never boiled over.
Poignant that both
saw in the other a case
of the dutiful blues.


hans ostrom 2018

Sunday, January 14, 2018

No Crisis, No Crescendo

On a night-train to Athens,
I met a woman from Gunnison,
Colorado.  She had blond hair
and seemed self-contained.
I could tell she traveled well.

Together we counted the stops
until the stop we wanted.
There'd been an earthquake.
Greeks out late at night had
much to say, much to smoke.

We walked to her hotel. She
kissed me thanks on my cheek.
Her perspiration smelled
sweetly metallic. I walked to my hotel,
knew no one in the city. An exhausted
desk-clerk looked like she hoped
I wasn't an overbearing American.

I complied. In the cheap room I
wanted to see the woman
from Colorado again and knew
I wouldn't. On with the flow.
These stories that aren't stories
are more important to me than
ones with crises or crescendi.
They are the life.


hans ostrom 2018

He Finds It Very Unsatisfying

He tells me the same fantasy
visits him often, coming around
like a city bus. A woman takes
him in: the main plot. She sorts out
his confusions. Comprehends.

She is bemused. Of course
there is sex. The genre's fantasy,
after all. It's the understanding
occurring before sated lust
that appeals, he claims.

He doesn't need to figure out
what the woman wants. She
tells him what. He's enough
and amuses her.  Triangulations
of pretense and wasted effort

disappear. Her perfume smells
great. So does she. Her sense
of irony, her management
of him and desire, create a
palace of satiety.  She's not

put off by words like satiety.
But it's just a fantasy, he says.
A real bus never comes round.
Where is she? Is she? She reclines
in an oasis. He thirsts.


hans ostrom 2018

So It Goes

The scene's a blue barge
on a green river. Twilight.
Many lights on land: a
society, a world. The illusion

of a fixed place moves
away from me like a barge.
I am a point of view, a wry
observer on a river dock.

Then I am of the darkness
falling. Then I'm the
darkness itself, then
nothing, & I am not.


hans ostrom 2018

Hawks Don't Often Perch That Low

A hawk, bedecked in variegated
brown feathers, had parked on a low,
thick fence post. I walked by on
a muddy road. The hawk ignored

me, also two horses grazing in rain.
What did domestication and the
privileges of an American horse
farm have to do with his carved

beak and mythic talons? Just before
the bird leaned forward, pre-flight,
I squinted to see through rain
and wondered what a hawk's

thought looks like. The gone
hawk left that topic open,
and I went on plodding
down the sodden road.


hans ostrom 2018

At a Reservoir of Inquiry

Warm winter day at
a California university:
this one's origins lie
in agriculture. Between
academic terms, the campus
is deserted. Squirrels

maintain their studious
consumption of acorns
raining from valley oaks
that have mused over
millions of scholars
down the decades.

One squirrel runs
up the steps of the Success
Center, which is closed.
The current campus
populace will flood in
soon, filling the reservoir
of inquiry as feudal
stupidity reigns on the
other side of the continent.



hans ostrom 2018

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Dante Alighieri Finds Out Valentina Lodovini Lives on Earth

Dante went to the movies. In the film
he saw,  Valentina Lodovini played
a main role. Even if she had appeared
in just one scene,  Aleghieri
still would have phoned Beatrice
from the lobby afterward to say
he was finally moving on from her.

Dante hadn't met Signora Lodovini
yet, but watching her likeness in motion
for two hours destroyed all his adjectives
concerning beauty and allure.

He wanted to listen to Valentina talk
for a long time, hear her laugh. His
desires didn't stop there, but he reigned
them in out of respect. After all, he
was a Catholic, and as inventor of
Hell Circles, he had a reputation
to uphold. He put it all in God's hands,
as most medieval Italian poets would.

The image of the Lodovinian bright
brown eyes, full of mischief and wisdom,
and of the dark brown hair and rapturous
proportions, all these became Dante's
new mental companions.

It was all too much to bear.  Not really.
He recalled the noble shape of her nose
and her poise as an actor. He wondered
what might make her laugh: perhaps
the sight of an ancient poet in a tunic
going to a 21st century movie? Droll.

There was nothing for it. Dante looked
at his phone.  Beatrice had texted him.
He ignored her. He decided to go home
and to try to find a Valentina Lodovini
film or series on Netflix. He felt sure
that God would understand. God never
ran out of adjectives for beauty and allure.



hans ostrom 2018

Friday, December 29, 2017

Remember, You Know?

To know, remember.
Remember to know.
December and snow:
Remember? September,

remember, is a different
month, and November's
hardly a June. So
long ago. So long, Ago!

Words are diplomats
They mean to know.
All are members
of the Memory Chateau.



hans ostrom 2017

Absent Sister

Sister I never had, I miss you--
rather formally. I know
you would have taught me
important things and listened.

Maybe right over there
in Anti-Matter, you live
and I live; or you live and
I am the brother you never had.



hans ostrom 2017

Thursday, December 14, 2017

She Looks Good

She looks good
in a mirror.
She looks good
in a bed.
Looks fine in
a forest,
and alluring
in my head.

She looks splendid
in the Spring,
intriguing in
the rain.
She looks smart
in a debate
and languid
in a lane.

There's an essence
in her presence,
which distracts
and then attracts.
To be drawn
to her is
to travel
past mere facts.


hans ostrom 2017

Of Time and the Prairie

There's a lot of prairie
under all those cities.
It isn't waiting--that's
a sad human thing. It
is, however, prepared--
ready for any histories
that come along to replace
the previous ones.



hans ostrom 2017

So Many Surfaces

He went there for the job.
Stayed there for the duration.
Now his ambition has gone,
migrating one way.

He takes great interest
in what is there, in which
here is embedded:
the surfaces of the world

beyond the body, but also
his mind's interior terrain.
The meaning of what's there,
here, is beyond naming,

The surfaces, the terrain--
they mean what
they are, and from
a certain angle, no more.


hans ostrom 2017

Monday, December 11, 2017

I Am a Native of Earth

You tell me I seem as if
I'm not from Earth. You
tell me I am an alien
and wish to see my documents.
(I have so many documents--
please specify.)

Sadly for you, certain
verified claims of physics
and biology confirm
my native status.

Yes, that's right, you
may infer that we are all,
that they who lived and
shall live are all, Earth Natives.

Our segregations, degradations,
and depravities seem
to spring from a different premise,
one I can see you share--
you with that supreme look
of deranged identity in your eyes.



hans ostrom 2017

Ice Hockey

They are painters on skates,
brushing and dabbing the cold canvas
on which they glide and whirl.

They are sleep-walkers
in colorful pajamas, wandering
on the bright stage of a dream,
everyone else in darkness,
looking on, fascinated.

They are hornets and wasps
in dubious and snarling battle,
released in groups from their
nests, terribly distracted by one
black fly that moves among
them, a dark dot 
playing dead, then jetting off. 



hans ostrom 2017

A You You Can Believe In

"Victor Hugo was a madman
who believed himself to be Victor Hugo,"
said Jean Cocteau, except in French.

Take heed: Cocteau and Vic
showed the way. Dream yourself
up a magnificent, protean you

that has robust self-regard,
if you haven't done so already.
Believe you are

that person. And maybe
my you will see your you
around--in Paris perhaps.



hans ostrom 2017

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

She Carries Egypt

Today she is the most beautiful one.
Egypt's in her face. What does that
mean? It must mean something.
Faces, bodies, and minds carry
their own history. You knew about that.

Her face says without saying
she carries Egypt--lightly,
calmly, confidently. She doesn't
require boldness, which is for
the nervous. Human, she's not
impervious. Only strong.
And not only strong.



hans ostrom 2017

Read and See

("Aspiration," painted by Aaron Douglas, 1936, oil on canvas, 60" x 60", Fine Arts Museum of
San Francisco)


Black chained hands rise. They have
become the shears of history and cut
through evil. Tilting, layered stars
share a central point that rests
on the right shoulder of a reading,
seeing Black woman. Read and see.

Two Black men stand on an indestructible
foundation. It goes by many names.
Read and see. The men's broad
shoulders defy the past and square
up with the future. Their jaw-lines
assert. One man points through
a spectral sun at pale green towers
and 36 lit windows on a mountain.

The lightning bolt is permanent in purple
skies. It portends the death of White
Supremacy, the Master Depravity.
The men carry necessary tools,
the most necessary of which
are spirit, body, mind. Read
and see. Aspiration is a prophecy.


hans ostrom 2017

A Valediction Forbidding White Supremacy

God damn it, would you just stop?
If you really were inherently superior,
you wouldn't cling to Whiteness like a
street drunk hugging a bottle
of fortified wine.  It's a bit of a tell:
trumpet your Whiteness, admit
you're weak. Here's the thing:

nobody's White. It's just an invention,
like the Hindenburg blimp. Google
Johann Friedrich  Blumenach. Your
fantasy kills people.  Living off hate, as
you do, will kill you, too. It will
weld your arteries shut, not to
mention your mind. Get your DNA
tested. The results will show you're
from Earth like every human who's
ever lived. What a shocker.  Grow up.



hans ostrom 2017

Yawn and Stretch

Yawn and stretch
in the life of the body.
Let the exhausted mind
go off by itself and get caught
in tangled, sanguine vines.

Yawn and stretch.
Savor air, situate yourself in light
or shade. Don't ask why.
Sigh. Focus on a thing nearby,
a souvenir from the infinite universe,
let us say a stone, graffiti,
or a grimy thumb drive.

Yawn and stretch.
Let your mind believe at least
for a moment it can change
the world, that it knows
what the world is. It needs
such fictive encouragement.


hans ostrom 2017

Monday, December 4, 2017

The American Climate

It's easy to think you'll just go
to the sea (e.g.) and ignore the wreckage
wrought by these White Supremacist
huns of the American oligarchy
and its minions who are hypnotized
by vicious religion and depraved hate.

It's easy to give up, as surrender
seems like the most logical next
move, not just the most sensible
emotion. Ritually you'll talk yourself
into caring again, keeping up
childishly with current events,
polishing your opinions,
and doing something small and local.
You'll round up your usual responses.

You know though that what's happening
is hard weather from the only climate
America's ever known. For it's a
fatally flawed culture in which the
powerful flawed exact fatalities
from their customary targets,
and unrelenting on and on it goes.



hans ostrom 2017

Friday, December 1, 2017

A Composed Affair

I recall the affair
as clearly as if
it had happened a long
time ago, which it
did, but not before

starting as an impromptu,
developing into an etude,
going through a prelude
to get to some
energetic nocturnes,
with several scherzos,
rondos, and sarabands
included for good pleasure.

The affair ended
as if by composed
design, how refreshing.
The final note
was held but not
amplified or for long.


hans ostrom 2017

Allegory at Alpine Elevation

You're standing outside in the dark.
In the mountains, alpine elevation.
The cold wind's blowing hard enough
to keep the crust on the snow,
and to blur your vision, so the stars
seem momentarily to reel.

You say a word, any word,
to yourself but out loud. Wind
takes it from your mouth so fast
the word never gets fully formed.
All evidence of your having
spoken vanishes. You recognize

what has happened as the briefest
allegory about ego's status
in the flow of matter. You go
back inside. You're glad for the
warmth. Still the light and things
inside seem trivial and doomed.
You feel embarrassed for them.



hans ostrom 2017

Monday, November 20, 2017

Knowwhere

A bed surrounds itself,
just to be sure. A bookshelf
raises questions and sells them
at the Saturday market. There
are wishes stored in cobblestones.
I have a list. Certain colors
made promises to lightning.
They lied.  Hence thunder.
This is how we talk in Knowwhere.



hans ostrom

The economic reason why tax cuts for the rich are so stupid

Catfish and Koi

There are always women
swimming in the sea somewhere.
To me this is a comforting thought.
Thoughts that comfort us move
into and out of our thinking
calmly, like catfish or koi.
It isn't necessary to catch them.
It is preferable not to.


hans ostrom 2017

Salted Desert

Desolation amidst abundance:
the United States,
permanently warped by white
supremacy, mad with virulent
greed and perverse religion,
addicted to violence, proud
of ignorance. The salted
desert of its soul grows vast.



hans ostrom 2017

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Bartok and Stars

"The ways of life are infinite and mysterious."  --Georgio Scerbanenco, Traitors to All, translated by Howard Curtis


In spite of my playing, the piano
produced a simple minuet by Bartok,
which made me think of walking
cautiously across a frozen pond.

An empty coffee cup was sitting
on the bookshelf.  Cool ceramic.
Out there, and "up," night,
are stars, which we think of

as a permanent installation,
not a chaotic map of explosions
or freckles on an infinite face.
I dream recurrently about new

stars, close and bright,
flowing past in a sky-parade
as I look up from a meadow
in mountains and watch,

thrilled and terrified. I almost
forget to breathe. Someone I can't see
says, "Words are stars. I've
told you that before."


hans ostrom 2017

Monday, November 6, 2017

The Sound-Track Goes with the Screen

They moved me to a different office
again. Nothing personal, although
they must admit I've been an unyielding
piece of grit (I said grit) in the academic
machine. Sometimes a crow

comes to the ledge outside the small
wood-framed window, three brick
stories up. Crows always know
where I am. This one looks like
a private investigator.

The office doesn't have a door.
I put up a three-panel screen
instead.  Film noir. It suggests
I can tell fortunes during office hours.
The other people up here aren't

in my department; rather, I'm
not in theirs.  What is my department?
In this tepid exile, I seem to thrive.
I prepare for class, read, write poems,
eat bananas, look online for art,

music, Oakland Raiders updates,
and arcane information. Lately
I've been listening to the wind's
long moans in the duct system.
The sound track goes with the screen.



hans ostrom 2017

every year another live show

black branch, red
leaves. brown leaves,
green branch. white
branch, gold leaves.
red/brown/gold/orange/
mottled leaves; brown branch.

and an array of variations,
deciduous improvisations.

and dancing down the street,
with ice-shoes on her feet,
comes the woman who
calls herself Winter.



hans ostrom 2017