Crazy busy at work; over the holiday weekend the minions of the law were scooping up drunk and drugged drivers right and left. Tuesday night I packed it in at 9:45 PM, tonight (Wednesday) at 10:15--and that wasn't long enough to get today's work finished. Tomorrow we should get a truckload of specimens from one of our larger police agency clients, and probably on Friday a double dose of coroners' work. Don't they realize that sort of stuff cuts into our coffee breaks? The nerve!
On another note altogether, does anyone here regularly pronounce "again" to rhyme with "rain, plain, main, brain" etc? All my life it has been pronounced "agin" except that we were taught it could be like "rain" in song or poetry.
Thanks, Alan. Ahem, some nerve those guys have, sending you *work* LOL
Like listener, I pronounce again to rhyme with men, then, etc. In poetry it can be a sight rhyme for rain and is sometimes used that way in song too, as you say. Handy to be able to use it in two different rhyme sets.
I have very mixed feelings about this, Alan. I like that the author may receive as much as 70% of the proceeds and retains the rights to the work. But I know underneath Amazon is just looking out for Amazon. Creating a private "Amazon Kindle only" literary world is not for the furthering of literature or the exposure of new authors so much as for accruing the bucks. Especially is this true because it undercuts the small bookshops which are already teetering on the brink of extinction, while handily rendering other tablets less effective. It may be good for business, but is smack more of greed than nobility. Of course, I am prejudiced in favour of small bookshops which offer local, intelligent, personal service.
Cat, without doubt, publishing is a PITA. Long, long ago I finally got the the drift from a much published friend who told me she averaged 37 rejections for each publication. Read: each poem she published had been rejected 37 times before it was accepted for publication. Her name is Linda Pastan, and she has quite a bibliography now.
A New Poet
Linda Pastan
Finding a new poet is like finding a new wildflower out in the woods. You don't see
its name in the flower books, and nobody you tell believes in its odd color or the way
its leaves grow in splayed rows down the whole length of the page. In fact the very page smells of spilled
red wine and the mustiness of the sea on a foggy day - the odor of truth and of lying.
And the words are so familiar, so strangely new, words you almost wrote yourself, if only
in your dreams there had been a pencil or a pen or even a paintbrush, if only there had been a flower.
Thanks, Puddle. I'm so insular I tend to forget the odds, and the vital importance of persistence. And thanks for the poems, both quite lovely. Seems to me I've heard of Linda Pastan...
I have to admit that I rebelled even then (in my thirties) against such pure scutwork. Therefore, she has twelve published volumes of poetry, and I have three unpublished ones, and rafts of loose poetry.
I'm with you, Puddle. Much as I believe in my poetry, and fiction too, and would love to be successful, the struggle seems like so much trouble. Also gave up trying in any organized way in my thirties, but am beginning to feel the bite of the bug again. Didn't get to it - or to a couple other chores - today, but I *am* going to scout out a new-to-me market and hopefully get that poem turned around. Chris, the editor of Breath and Shadow, warned me they're overstocked on poetry, which was helpful, since it will save useless submissions. I'm one for three with them and wasn't going to submit again for a while anyway. I'll let you know how it goes with Magnets and Ladders. No, I have no idear what the title means.
Renee, that is brilliant! You could start a psych (or parenting) blog with that as the first thread!!
"There are serious theological questions here." :Grin: Indeed! Were they fallen angels, or was there something blocking the way to heaven? Either way, where is God in this situation? Does this imply an absent sort of God who set things into motion and now takes Sunday (and every other day) off?
As for the 5 Little Monkeys... My 35 year old monkey (3rd of our 5) was jumping on the bed 33 years ago, fell off and broke his arm...above and below the elbow! One might ask where the parents were, and I can explain. They were all in a two-room motel suite, being new to town, and while one was entertaining the monkeys in the other room, so that the other parent could make a phone call to get (wait for it) a reference for a good pediatrician, one monkey escaped from the other room and began jumping on the bed in the telephone room. Monkeys really know how to make hay while the sun shines. In defense of the parental units, may it be said that at that juncture of life they had only safe futons on the floor for bedding when in their own abode. In the end, they ended up renting the house of a pediatrician and her internist husband, so that he could spend a year training in his field in California, and he went on to head up the lab at the medical center. And their little monkeys, in later years, went sailing with our little monkeys. And none ever jumped off.
But I digress. The doctor of monkeys here in New England only ever uttered the futile advice that no more monkey were to engage in the unsafe activity of jumping on the bed. Funny that in the land of the Puritans the "that's what you get" got dropped somewhere along the way. ;-)
How I wish it were possible to send in Special Ops to remove the chemical weapons.
Phil in Iowa wrote these pithy words: "The killing in Syria has gone on unabated for two years. Maybe it did take a threat of US involvement to open honest dialogue with the Russians who are key to any diplomatic solution? Even Putin now says take it to the UN. What is the objective, what the end game. Firing missiles to send a message doesn't make sense, a war resolution only does if we are prepared to go to war to take sides in their civil war. Let's not pretend there is NOW a humanitarian crisis, that was last year. And if the charge is crimes against humanity there is a court for that."
I wonder what is involved in bringing a leader before the War Crimes Tribunal? Anyone know?
A woman in Vermont responded to Congressman Welch's request for constituents' thoughts on the situation, with these thought-provoking words: "Congressman Welch, Thank you for your conscientious work in representing Vermont citizens. My main concern is that any attack on Syria will indiscriminately kill and wound folk on the ground. Since Assad has gassed his own citizens, he will have no qualms about placing people at possible target locations, and then showing the world the carnage caused by US missiles. In fact, such photos of dead women and children may already be ready for release before any attack is launched! I don't think any good can come out of a US attack on Syria, and I wish President Obama had not set the red line forcing the US into this conflict. The only way out is for Congress to vote against authorizing the use of force."
The web of support/allies in that area of the world. . . . Syria/Iran/Russia; Israel/US. Throw in AQ for spice. Now toss in an American bomb or two. . . . More booby traps in this than I care to think about. Karen was talking about seeing a dog in a hot locked car. What if the car were booby trapped so the adjacent building would go up? Want to talk unintended consequences? The *need* to act to feel right about one's self is not a guarantee that that act will be either effective or get the intended results.
The shoulder's so much better that I was able to use the elliptical today (Thursday) for the first time in about two weeks. Overdid it just a bit, but am still definitely on the mend at last.
Frost warnings overnight for surrounding counties, though not for Hamdon. Still going to be pretty nippy tonight though.
I think Howard Dean would be balm for our nation.
ReplyDeleteI liked your poem, cat.
Crazy busy at work; over the holiday weekend the minions of the law were scooping up drunk and drugged drivers right and left. Tuesday night I packed it in at 9:45 PM, tonight (Wednesday) at 10:15--and that wasn't long enough to get today's work finished. Tomorrow we should get a truckload of specimens from one of our larger police agency clients, and probably on Friday a double dose of coroners' work. Don't they realize that sort of stuff cuts into our coffee breaks? The nerve!
On another note altogether, does anyone here regularly pronounce "again" to rhyme with "rain, plain, main, brain" etc? All my life it has been pronounced "agin" except that we were taught it could be like "rain" in song or poetry.
--Alan
We've always pronounced again to rhyme with "men".
DeleteThanks, Alan. Ahem, some nerve those guys have, sending you *work* LOL
DeleteLike listener, I pronounce again to rhyme with men, then, etc. In poetry it can be a sight rhyme for rain and is sometimes used that way in song too, as you say. Handy to be able to use it in two different rhyme sets.
Aha! A transformation of publishing due to technological progress; great for authors and readers both. [Click]
ReplyDelete--Alan
I have very mixed feelings about this, Alan. I like that the author may receive as much as 70% of the proceeds and retains the rights to the work. But I know underneath Amazon is just looking out for Amazon. Creating a private "Amazon Kindle only" literary world is not for the furthering of literature or the exposure of new authors so much as for accruing the bucks. Especially is this true because it undercuts the small bookshops which are already teetering on the brink of extinction, while handily rendering other tablets less effective. It may be good for business, but is smack more of greed than nobility. Of course, I am prejudiced in favour of small bookshops which offer local, intelligent, personal service.
Delete*is smack = it smacks
DeleteCat, without doubt, publishing is a PITA. Long, long ago I finally got the the drift from a much published friend who told me she averaged 37 rejections for each publication. Read: each poem she published had been rejected 37 times before it was accepted for publication. Her name is Linda Pastan, and she has quite a bibliography now.
ReplyDeleteA New Poet
Linda Pastan
Finding a new poet
is like finding a new wildflower
out in the woods. You don't see
its name in the flower books, and
nobody you tell believes
in its odd color or the way
its leaves grow in splayed rows
down the whole length of the page. In fact
the very page smells of spilled
red wine and the mustiness of the sea
on a foggy day - the odor of truth
and of lying.
And the words are so familiar,
so strangely new, words
you almost wrote yourself, if only
in your dreams there had been a pencil
or a pen or even a paintbrush,
if only there had been a flower.
Here's another:
ReplyDeleteWILDFLOWERS
You gave me dandelions.
They took our lawn
by squatters’ rights—
round suns rising
in April, soft moons
blowing away in June.
You gave me lady slippers,
bloodroot, milkweed,
trillium whose secret number
the children you gave me
tell. In the hierarchy
of flowers, the wild
rise on their stems
for naming.
Call them weeds.
I pick them as I
picked you,
for their fierce,
unruly joy.
(from Carnival Evening: New and Selected Poems)
Breathtaking! Both!
DeleteThanks, Puddle. I'm so insular I tend to forget the odds, and the vital importance of persistence. And thanks for the poems, both quite lovely. Seems to me I've heard of Linda Pastan...
DeleteI have to admit that I rebelled even then (in my thirties) against such pure scutwork. Therefore, she has twelve published volumes of poetry, and I have three unpublished ones, and rafts of loose poetry.
ReplyDeleteYes, I comprehend that...it being that I remain a languishing, unpublished rebel.
DeleteI'm with you, Puddle. Much as I believe in my poetry, and fiction too, and would love to be successful, the struggle seems like so much trouble. Also gave up trying in any organized way in my thirties, but am beginning to feel the bite of the bug again. Didn't get to it - or to a couple other chores - today, but I *am* going to scout out a new-to-me market and hopefully get that poem turned around. Chris, the editor of Breath and Shadow, warned me they're overstocked on poetry, which was helpful, since it will save useless submissions. I'm one for three with them and wasn't going to submit again for a while anyway. I'll let you know how it goes with Magnets and Ladders. No, I have no idear what the title means.
DeleteSome silly musings on the matter of the 3 Little Kittens.
ReplyDeleteRenee, that is brilliant! You could start a psych (or parenting) blog with that as the first thread!!
Delete"There are serious theological questions here."
:Grin: Indeed! Were they fallen angels, or was there something blocking the way to heaven? Either way, where is God in this situation? Does this imply an absent sort of God who set things into motion and now takes Sunday (and every other day) off?
As for the 5 Little Monkeys...
My 35 year old monkey (3rd of our 5) was jumping on the bed 33 years ago, fell off and broke his arm...above and below the elbow! One might ask where the parents were, and I can explain. They were all in a two-room motel suite, being new to town, and while one was entertaining the monkeys in the other room, so that the other parent could make a phone call to get (wait for it) a reference for a good pediatrician, one monkey escaped from the other room and began jumping on the bed in the telephone room. Monkeys really know how to make hay while the sun shines. In defense of the parental units, may it be said that at that juncture of life they had only safe futons on the floor for bedding when in their own abode. In the end, they ended up renting the house of a pediatrician and her internist husband, so that he could spend a year training in his field in California, and he went on to head up the lab at the medical center. And their little monkeys, in later years, went sailing with our little monkeys. And none ever jumped off.
But I digress. The doctor of monkeys here in New England only ever uttered the futile advice that no more monkey were to engage in the unsafe activity of jumping on the bed. Funny that in the land of the Puritans the "that's what you get" got dropped somewhere along the way. ;-)
How I wish it were possible to send in Special Ops to remove the chemical weapons.
ReplyDeletePhil in Iowa wrote these pithy words:
"The killing in Syria has gone on unabated for two years. Maybe it did take a threat of US involvement to open honest dialogue with the Russians who are key to any diplomatic solution? Even Putin now says take it to the UN. What is the objective, what the end game. Firing missiles to send a message doesn't make sense, a war resolution only does if we are prepared to go to war to take sides in their civil war. Let's not pretend there is NOW a humanitarian crisis, that was last year. And if the charge is crimes against humanity there is a court for that."
I wonder what is involved in bringing a leader before the War Crimes Tribunal? Anyone know?
A woman in Vermont responded to Congressman Welch's request for constituents' thoughts on the situation, with these thought-provoking words:
"Congressman Welch, Thank you for your conscientious work in representing Vermont citizens. My main concern is that any attack on Syria will indiscriminately kill and wound folk on the ground. Since Assad has gassed his own citizens, he will have no qualms about placing people at possible target locations, and then showing the world the carnage caused by US missiles. In fact, such photos of dead women and children may already be ready for release before any attack is launched! I don't think any good can come out of a US attack on Syria, and I wish President Obama had not set the red line forcing the US into this conflict. The only way out is for Congress to vote against authorizing the use of force."
Thoughts, anyone?
The web of support/allies in that area of the world. . . . Syria/Iran/Russia; Israel/US. Throw in AQ for spice. Now toss in an American bomb or two. . . . More booby traps in this than I care to think about. Karen was talking about seeing a dog in a hot locked car. What if the car were booby trapped so the adjacent building would go up? Want to talk unintended consequences? The *need* to act to feel right about one's self is not a guarantee that that act will be either effective or get the intended results.
DeleteI definitely have thoughts on this, but am far too tired and muddled to put them coherently. Guess it's past my bedtime.
DeleteThe shoulder's so much better that I was able to use the elliptical today (Thursday) for the first time in about two weeks. Overdid it just a bit, but am still definitely on the mend at last.
ReplyDeleteFrost warnings overnight for surrounding counties, though not for Hamdon. Still going to be pretty nippy tonight though.
Thanks for the kind words on my Three Little Kittens blog post, listener.
ReplyDelete