Most of Don Marquis’ Archy pieces were written in lowercase. The literate cockroach, we learned, would stand on the typewriter and dive, head first, onto the keys. But this way, he couldn’t use the shift key to get capital letters or punctuation (he did get capital letters, once, when Marquis
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PostArctica: To My Alien Abductor
To My Alien Abductor Life sucks, life is awesome. Lucky. Didn’t ask to be born. But writing bad poetry. Makes this shit. More fun than a barrel of Monkeys. I’ve had. My ancestors. Would laugh. Because. I think. Well, You only go around once. lofuckingl. Augustine on your pillow. Plato
Continue readingPostArctica: To My Alien Abductor
To My Alien Abductor Life sucks, life is awesome. Lucky. Didn’t ask to be born. But writing bad poetry. Makes this shit. More fun than a barrel of Monkeys. I’ve had. My ancestors. Would laugh. Because. I think. Well, You only go around once. lofuckingl. Augustine on your pillow. Plato
Continue readingArt Threat: The outlaw love and godless gospel of roots rocker Rodney DeCroo
Albumn review, “Campfires on the Moon”, by Michael Nenonen. Rodney DeCroo’s latest album, “Campfires on the Moon,” reveals hidden faces. I’ll say more about that in a moment. “Campfires”, released by Tonic Records, is DeCroo’s seventh album (eighth if you count his 2012 spoken word album “Allegheny”, and you probably should).
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month in Canada. I don’t know if this gets widespread acknowledgement much less appreciation among the public and in the schools, but it should. Poetry is an important part of our cultural lives, although it seems to me our collective passion for it has waned over
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Politics, Re-Spun 2015-01-12 09:59:43
Bed-Sized Universe In the liminal state Between yesterday’s deluge of logistics and over-stimulation And tomorrow’s hopefully more meditative study Of deep river shore line, I lie in bed Between clay ground and vapour clouds. I can’t feel fully grounded I keep floating up, Like bed spins but more trippy. Like
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Poems That Make You Cry
I cannot read Dylan Thomas’ poem, ‘Do not go gentle into that good night‘ without a lump in my throat. I read it at my father’s funeral, several years ago, so for me it has a personal context that retains its emotional impact. Many poems move me or touch my heartstrings, however,
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Paused Gravity
Paused Gravity The silent accord Between the tidal bore and the falling backward Off the cliff The fire red maple leaf Giving up clinging to the twig Which itself is about to be blown off by the frigid gusting November wind Trying to stand perfectly still On the moss On
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Larry & Jerry’s Inferno
I had forgotten about this book until recently when I came across a reprint. I read it originally in the late 1970s when I was reading a lot more sci-fi than I do today. (Many years ago, I ran a Toronto computer convention where I invited the authors to be
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Cold Mountain Poems
I first became aware of the Tang dynasty poet, Han Shan, in the late 1960s, when I was engrossed in reading the poets of the earlier Beat generation. It was at that time that, through them, I started to discover and explore Western Buddhism – as it was adapted and
Continue readingcentre of the universe: A Gift of the Prairie
THE BOOK THAT MY POEMS ARE IN IS HERE! THE BOOK THAT MY POEMS ARE IN IS HERE!! Extra points if you can name the reference there. It’s called A Gift of the Prairie and it is published by the Last Mountain Lake Cultural Centre. This was a project co-ordinated
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: The Hunting of the Snark
I’ve always wondered why Lewis Carroll’s wonderful poem, The Hunting of the Snark – an Agony in Eight Fits – has never been redone, rewritten in a modern version, with modern references and people. It seems to lend itself to revision, at least to my eyes. Perhaps it’s because this sort of
Continue readingPostArctica: Community
My generation from Verdun grew up With Fathers who worked in factories and Mothers who, if they worked were in retail or service low paying respectable jobs. To do better was a challenge in many, many ways these were awesome people of incredibly principled standards but fun loving people they
Continue readingPostArctica: Community
My generation from Verdun grew up With Fathers who worked in factories and Mothers who, if they worked were in retail or service low paying respectable jobs. To do better was a challenge in many, many ways these were awesome people of incredibly principled standards but fun loving people they
Continue readingMelissa Fong: “I’m speaking with you as a human being and you’re talking at me as a politician.”
"I'm speaking with you as a human being and you're talking at me as a politician."— Melissa Fong (@internationalmf) April 21, 2014 When you ask me to open up […]
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: The difficult art of reading poetry
Synecdoche. Metonymy. Not exactly words that trip lightly off the tongue. Unless, I suppose, you’re Harold Bloom. Those are two of the four fundamental tropes in literature, Bloom tells us. Identified originally by Kenneth Burke, who, as Bloom calls him, was a “profound student of rhetoric.” Bloom references Burke in
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Spoon River: Smith, Goodman and Masters
VERY well, you liberals, And navigators into realms intellectual, You sailors through heights imaginative, Blown about by erratic currents, tumbling into air pockets, You Margaret Fuller Slacks, Petits, And Tennessee Claflin Shopes— You found with all your boasted wisdom How hard at the last it is To keep the soul
Continue readingPostArctica: Bookish Butch
Proud to say my favorite former used bookstore owner has won best blog in the GLBT category! Way to go, Caroline!! Canadian Blog Awards 2014 results Bookish Butch
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