 Radioactive sky on my bucket list.
This experience I crave like no other. Northern Lights -- never a guarantee. So electric, so rare. A gift from the vault of heaven.
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 Spring Thaw - Photo by Jack Blueberry on Unsplash The Grass blades are stretching upwards these past few days, trying in earnest to get closer to the sun's warmth.
Spring training games in Florida and Arizona are about to usher in another season of baseball. Baseball always seems to me to be the great equalizer. It should not go without notice that SAD (or seasonal adjustment disorder) coincides with the off season, and seems to vanish with the words, "Play ball!" The days get lighter and there is a bit more spring in everyone's step. Spring is a good time for poets to try and pull back a bit from the darker influence on their work. Okay, I didn't say stop altogether but let the green grass and the warmer days have a little more control and see where they take you. Right now, I don't need to tell you things are a mess in this country, and God knows we need a break from chaos, the uncertainty, the restart of job losses and inflation. I could tell you this was predictable, but oh well. The voters have spoken, but we need to know that we don't have sit quietly through the dismantling of government and the American Democracy. There are some things that require our attention and that includes the inhumanity of the administration. The shredding of our constructional rights and responsibilities. We cannot be dead to what is going on. We must be resolute and call out Trump when he goes too far.  Photo Credit: Poetry Foundation Mahmoud Darwish is a Palestinian who was considered by many to be the National Poet of Palestine. He spent the part of his life in exhile. He is a poet who had a real read on the pulse of Palestian and made it a point to be a voice for those who had none. He considered himself a Trojan Poet, in that he was searching for the voices of the defeated. Like the Trojins.
He had friends and ties to some in Israel. He said of the region of Palestine, it's history includes multiple cultures. Canaanite, Hebraic, Greek, Roman, Persian, Egyptian, Arab, Ottoman,English, and French. Darwish said, "I want to live all of these cultures. It is my right to indentify with all of these voices that have echoed on this land. For I am not an intruder, nor a passer-by." Darwish maintains it is " the right of poetry to proclaim dispair without triggering all this media outcry. I don't know ny great poetry that is the daughter of victory." He noted that lacking of the Greek heratige of Troy. He says it was said to have been written ontablets that disappeared. He therefore is drawn to speakfor the losers, those deprived of voice. It is not losers that dell the stories of defeat, those stories are all told by the victors. We don't hear form the loser's side. This I suppose is why he idetified with those without a voice. This is just a small introductions who were perhaps not familiar with Darwish. I will share some of his poetry and interesting quotes in the near future. #MahmoudDarwish #PalestinianPoet #TrojanPoet  Good Morning -- This is My Confession Tuesday Literary Confession.
My friend, Quickly, follow me to the confessional. I confess that I am struggeling in these early weeks of the Trump V.2 administration to keep my mind from going so very dark. But, alas that is not necessaraly a bad thing in terms of writing. On the other hand, it really sucks in terms of governing. I won't go into details but I confess that Trump is exausting with his Blitzkrieg attacks on government institutions. The Chaos is not condusive to good governance. I am presently reading Paletine as a Metaphore by Mahmoud Darwish - it is Translated by Amira El-Zein and Carolyn Forche'. Darwish is a highly recognized Palestinian poet whose works are extrordinary and the give us much insight into a culture and a people burdened by apharthide and ethenic cleansing. This book is a serise of 5 interviews with with the poet by other literary individuals. I confess I am learning much from it but I am also questioning my own thoughts on poetry - it's process, it's passon, and what it means to be a poet. I have been writing with The Grind this month. It involves writing a poem draft or revising a poem daily for the whole month. We are broken into groups and we email each day's work to the group. It is not a group for critique, but simply as a means of being a source of accountability. I confess some of thes one day works suck, but some have promise. The main things is we write. Day after day. That's it until next week. Go forth and read and write. What is it about us (Americans) that we have become so laden with self indulgence? I'm not apeaking of everyone here, but far too many. Enough that the water is tainted and not drinkable.
I understand looking out for oneself and family. But why is it that we fail to wish for other anything less thanwe would wish for ourselves? Why is it that we can judge others harshly that through no falt of their own they were born in a geographical location outside of the United States, and under circumstance that allow them less freedom and oppertunity - in some cases oppression so extreme that they would walk great distances and at great risk to come here. Why would we begrudge them of this? I don't get it. Honestly. This is not the country I was born into. Not the country I learned about groeing up and believed in. There is a deep rooted dark side to the souls of many people in this country today. It is not a pretty site. It is dangerous, and just like the man in the White House presently - it is a side of humanity that is ripping the fibers of this nation and our whole purpose into pieces. #NationalPurpose #DarkSide  Photo by Vinicius "amnx" Amano on Unsplash Sometimes we see similarities and we may think nothing of it. More than once I have come out of the mall and walked to a silver Kia Soal in the parking lot only to find as I got to the door that this is not my soul. I mean everyone should know their own soul, right?
Just as there are things that we can find throughout the day that may be similar also means there is yet another category of things that are dissimilar. I rather like the word unique. I think of unique often in terms of randomness, while similarities evoke thoughts of pattern. We sometimes may call upon likeness when we write. A yellow sunrise spreading out across the sky like a cracked egg spreading across a skillet. We sometimes utilize similes and metaphors in our writing to help us give description where we feel it is needed. But that which has a unique physical likeness allows us different perspectives in writing. This also allows us to at times employ dissonance we play one common thing off another that is unique. Perhaps that is why I find paintings or photos of abstract artwork appealing. It appeals to my desire to visualize what I am looking at from a very open mind. In the same way, I like at times to write poetry that is abstract. That has caused me to go outside the box. Such poetry when read by another gives them a role in the message being told, and it may well not be my own. The poem becomes a collaborative venture between the poet and the reader. In the very same way the creation above could be a mountain range from air to another it might be gift wrap Christmas morning on the floor. There is no right or wrong answer. That is why when someone reads a poem of mine and asks what it means, my first answer is generally, "What does it mean to you?" #abstract #art #writing  I try to turn my thoughts inward but it’s not easy. There is so much going on in the world and much of it is not things anyone should want to dwell on. Let me just sy that the time since Trump has taken office for a second time has been so fucking exhausting.
Some thoughts running through my mind that are void of the Trump thoughts and that deal with creativity and writing lead me this direction:
#Poet Thinking |
AuthorMichael Allyn Wells - notes & musings |
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(c) Michael Allyn Wells - 2017