Any ideas?

I have not spoken with Mom or my step-father since Thanksgiving.  Actually, I haven't spoken with my step-father since September, but Mom expressed her dismay at one of my FB posts, so we spoke, and though she didn't directly ask me, I did delete said message.  The message was one urging her to make sure her GLBTQ congregation members understood that regardless of the election, the Methodist church, and her parish in particular still valued them and wanted to be inclusive.  My step-father has a tendency to belabor a point, to such an extent the those at the other end find it uncomfortable, and this he did with some lesbian members of my mother's church.  She mentioned that they also brought up their points, but she also implied they were left in tears, and in such as state as they actually screamed at her when she tried to call and placate them after the election.  Truly, this is all a mess, since I never picked my step-father for one who would vote for someone he described as an "idiot" for president, most likely because he believed Hillary was "crooked."  Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?

All of this said, I may actually get another call from Mom expressing discontent over this post, but this time, I don't really care.  While I have seen the Pope actually call out the recent refugee executive order as being un-Christian, I have not seen the leaders of her church do the same.  Perhaps if she wants to link me that, I will change my mind, but as I pointed out on someone's post, American Christianity is not about Christ helping the world, but it is about Christ helping me.



EDIT - I just went to the Methodist Church homepage, and they don't agree with Trump.  Here is a link.

For those visiting from the Ranch

I recently cross posted a link to my blog into a forum where I am a member.  The forum strives to be apolitical, since it can not be assumed that all reader of an MM forum have the same political beliefs. I respect the owners of the forum and enjoy their work enough that I have no issues with this.  If you are from the ranch and you want to avoid any of the posts here that may be political, then find the labels with Poetry, and you will be generally safe, as those either highlight my own poems or poetry that I have been reading.  On the other hand, if you don't mind my political leanings, then feel free to explore and comment as you will, and I will just hope that Google, the corporate overlord here, doesn't make that too onerous.  My Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ feeds are pretty much nothing but politics with the occasional breath of something else, so only follow me there if you won't be disturbed by links that illustrate my worldview.

Just before bed

I should probably not be writing this, just before bed,
because just before bed is when your brain
isn't quite thinking brainly sort of thoughts.

Just before bed your brain isn't thinking brainly thoughts,
because just before bed, it is already thinking
about the morrow, and what it holds,

Because we all, just before bed
Think about to-do lists and errands,
and how to make tomorrow better than today

Because we all, just before bed
Think about the day gone by
and wonder if it was a success?

Just before bed, because we all like that time
Just before bed.  Curl up with a book or
Cuddle with a spouse, just before bed.

Congress and Appeasement

I just posted something to my Twitter account about how Congress should recall Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement when they deal with Trump.  I really mean Congress as a whole, not just the Democrats.  McConnell ran a thorough policy of disruption during Obama's administration, and it is unfortunate that he did so, as I do think if the Republicans had been willing to work with Obama, then good things could have been accomplished, much like the Republican Congress worked with President Clinton and left the budget in good order when his term ended.  So far nothing that Trump has presented us with in the way of Executive Orders are actually appealing, and I am beginning to wonder if he thinks just because he issues them if they are valid.  For example, his wall order will come to naught if Congress never provides funding.  We should be glad of the line item veto has never passed constitutional muster.

Villanelle for Today, 25 January 2017

Something urges the writer to write
Meter, verse, free form or whatever,
To do such a thing, like a blight

Something urges the writer to write
Beyond hope of publishing ever,
To do such a thing, with such might

Something urges the writer to write
Mediocrity calling, verging on Palaver,
To do such a thing, it is his right

Something urges the writer to write
No Eternity summoned, now or forever
To do such a thing, beyond his sight

Something urges the writer to write
Diving muse or something less clever
To do such a thing, the writer's plight

Something urges the writer to write
Notes spastic, but truth, at least his, forever
To do such a thing, it is his right
To do such a thing, beyond his sight.

[The edit was because I had one stanza too few for a villanelle, so I had to add another.]

Did I Doom this?

I mentioned on Facebook that I have recently been active on my blog, for those who may still have the link.  I purposefully did not include a link, and I commented that I hoped my mention of the blog being active again would not curse me into inactivity.  If I had found something worthwhile in the translation, I would post something from Marcel Broodthaers' "My Ogre Book," but in truth it seemed a bit to disjointed and of a piece that removing a section didn't seem quite right, because they would have made even less sense out of context.  Anyway, his "Shadow Theater" is now on my reading list, and, after seeing Ocean Vuong's "Night Sky With Exit Wounds" on many year end lists, I did pick up a copy of my local bookstore (not Amazon), so, it too, is now on my reading list.

I have matching chairs in my living room, one is for me, and one is for my books, and I have to say, if I don't get busy, the one for my books won't have space for anything new.  I could get it all electronically, but I do rather like holding a book, and flipping pages, that old-fashioned sort of nonsense which would likely get me nowhere if I ever have to look for a new job.

If I give my prose line breaks, does it become poetry?

The Arts

It is truly unfortunate, that as a whole, Americans don't see a value in The Arts.  Yes, I capitalized it, and I meant everything from Fine Arts (painting, sculpture, etc) to Performing Arts (Dance, Opera, and Theatre) to Musical Arts to Literary Arts (poetry, short stories, etc), and no doubt there is something I am missing, but my intentions likely include it as well.  Our new administration, both legislative and executive branches, have every intention of cutting off all federal funding for these organizations.

In the case of the executive branch, it is most likely because a good business case could not be made for them.  I am sure Mr. Trump liked "Hamilton" before Mr. Pence attended and the audience booed him, but Trump liked it because he was supposed to like it, it was talked about, it was sold out, and the tickets were hard to get, so how better to show how important you are than to go to the hottest ticket show in town, and I don't doubt that Mr. Trump provided Mr. Pence the tickets just to show his influence.  The fact that a fair number of artists don't like Mr. Trump and as showed during the "Hamilton" episode, neither do the audiences, but Mr. Trump has no desire to support anyone who won't flatter him.  If Narcissus wasn't already the origin figure for the word narcissist, then you would find Mr. Trump's photo in the dictionary, illustrating the definition.  Mr. Trump doesn't really see the value of the arts, how they expose people to new ideas, how they have the potential to expand horizons.  I will be the first to say that sometimes they get a bit too esoteric, but that doesn't make them bad (in truth, it tends to make me avoid certain poets or artists that I don't get), because what doesn't speak to me is very likely to speak to someone else, with a different background and with a different set experiences prior to experiencing the artwork in question.

For the Legislative Branch, I don't have quite so much sympathy.  The legislative branch wants to cut funding because they are a bunch of bitter folks who still want to fund nothing that President Obama found useful.  They don't like that NPR doesn't cover them with fawning praises, and they don't like art that challenges them; therefore, neither the NEA or NEH deserve any funding.  Stupid idiots.  I didn't like Ayn Rand when I tried reading "The Fountainhead" years ago, and I have even less desire to read any of her books knowing that Paul Ryan is a big fan.  Ugh... he will happily strip health care from his parents and then laugh while they drown in debt from big medical.

Monday mornings

My Monday mornings are actually nights, as I finish up my workweek and begin my weekend.  The last few Monday's I have spent cross-posting news stories to Twitter, Facebook, and Google+, though I know on none of those platforms do I actually have much of a following.  There is so much going on now it can be overwhelming.  The Women's March was a breath of much needed inspiration after the Inauguration the day before with the new President quote a Batman villain in his speech.  Saturday night and Sunday morning the new administration decided they were going to double-down on the Orwellian Newspeak/Doublespeak.  I wish I could laugh at how insipid it made them look, but on review my newsfeed on Facebook, it seems none of those people who voted for Trump actually seemed to care.  As I mentioned there, Lies in favor of the administration are "Alternative Facts," and accurate reporting is "Fake News," and for me this is so much bull.  I think every country with open elections is accustomed to a certain degree of political spin and manipulating the facts, but this wasn't just manipulation, it was downright dishonest, and so blatant that a blind man could see past it.

On another note, my last entry seemed to have alarmed folks, but that was probably because I was dreading the events of the day (the inauguration being foremost).  Writing and posting does a good job of getting those feeling expressed, as well as clearing my brain to think of something else.

Today

Just because I have been pretty decent at regular updates and what not.  Today I did spend a bit of time in Elder Scrolls Online.  I also spend time reading a bit of the most recent "Poetry" magazine, as well as some stuff in Marcel Broodthaers' " The Ogre Book."  If any of that reading would have lended itself to something to share, then I would have shared.

Anyway it is 6:45 am or thereabouts, so I am off to bed, but I did want something in here, since aside from an MMO, my other major activity has been tv, with both "Please Like Me" and "Dr. Who" getting my attention.

Silence = Death redux

Yesterday I was reading my Twitter feed, and author TJ Klune (who write MM romance) had mentioned that one of his readers had engaged him in conversation, mentioning that the reader was disappointed that TJ was anti-Trump.  TJ, in his comment on Twitter, said that he couldn't remain silent.  I replied to TJ some support, but then also added this slogan from ACT-UP, because I think it has gained a renewed use in the current political discourse.  If those of us who don't believe in Trump's lies don't mention it, and mention it frequently, then the death we will witness is that of our democracy.  The founding father's never said it would be easy, and Trump is the biggest bump in the road many of us have ever experienced.  I came of age in the 80's, when silence=death meant doing nothing in regards to AIDS research (and equal rights), and every decade that goes by I am still surprised I am around, not because I practice any dangerous sex acts, but because when I was sixteen, I really didn't think I would make thirty, and some I know, didn't.  While I think Trump really only cares about same sex marriage in regards to how it hits his company's bottom line, he knows his supporters are against it, so I think there is a good chance he will do what he can to make those voters happy, again, because he really doesn't care.  If you are looking for the epitome of if you don't support gay marriage, then don't have one, I think you are looking at Trump, but I also think he doesn't really care enough to make sure protections remain in place for those who do wish to be married.  Apathy in regards to everything but business is a good description of him.  I also think if people don't keep reminding everyone of the truth, then Trump, with his endless repetition of lies, will distort that truth (he lost the popular vote!) and eventually believe his distorted view.  I think there is an old phrase about something being repeated often enough and people begin believing it sort of thing.

I think everyone needs to remember and continue posting reminders and contradicting whatever lies (fake news) Trump is spreading (sad!), because if we don't we will allow the country to be brainwashed into whatever psycho realm it is that Trump inhabits, and that is not something the world needs now.

Sometimes a slow cooker just doesn't work

Actually I am going to cross post something I wrote for a forum (though it has nothing to do with crock-pots or slow-cookers).

Here is a bit of what took me as a non-sequitur.

Back home, having a long last name
    is like having a big dick, is like having a nice
cookie table.  My five aunts made hundreds
    of Greek cookies for my sister's wedding.

Sometimes you come across something that takes you aback.  Just an arresting collection of images and ideas. (Excerpt from Allison Davis' "The Heart of It All + A Free Beer")

I really do enjoy poetry, and I do love the oddities that authors use when composing poetry.  Good or bad I won't say, but since the poem ended up in the Best American (2016) compilations, I am going to say more thought it good than vulgar.

Wednesday night I launched something in my slow cooker (crock-pot), and while it was edible, it was also something I was unlikely to eat again, so I tossed the balance, much like I would probably do with this clam pizza.

Oh, and aside from dark chocolate M&M's, the bowl is something I made for a cold working class, in case anyone out there ever wonders what to do with such a thing, since it is too small for cereal.

Streep and Trump

I guess I just can't let yet another artist be declared over-rated without double checking for myself.  While I haven't flown out to see Hamilton, I did purchase Florence Foster Jenkins last night.  So far it is fun, and exactly the sort of entertainment I was looking for.

And here I decided to take a break from the screen

I have been online a reading news and posting to Twitter or Facebook for a good chunk of the evening, as I found articles that I enjoyed.  I decided to take a break, and picked up (again) Carlos Pintado's "Nine Coins/Nueve monedas" and found the poem, "Halfway through the poem" and here are the last lines:

Halfway through the poem, it seems something sacred
will force us to follow it down distant depths
where it opens the dreaming into what is dreamed.

I like the way that is phrased (in translation by Hilary Vaughn Dobel), and I like the sentiment, and how it reflects what I think is best when a poem can hit those notes and open the dreaming.  I frequently mention that poetry has the power to let the reader soar with it, and here the poet is reminding us that it allows us to dream with it as well.

Finally...

It has taken me long enough, but I finally finished putting in the billing arrangements to pay for two online news subscriptions that I regularly use, The New York Times and The Guardian UK.  I have been complaining to myself for too long that I need to subscribe, but have never put all the pieces in place, but now I managed to subscribe and only one will be billed monthly, and now I don't need to worry about how many NYTimes articles I read in a given month.  Like virtually everyone, I love the concept that "information want to be free" or whatever Google's earlier phrasing may have been, but one thing I do think has been lost is just who is paying for the information to get placed on the internet initially, prior to the reader being able to read it for free?  For the most part everyone pretends advertising pays for it all, even as various sites go under due to lack of said advertising and no other revenue streams in place.  As much as anything, I have avoided these two sites because I didn't like maxing my article limit or anything else that stopped me from reading whatever I liked.  I have no problem paying for the material, just had a problem of figuring out when was a good time to set up all the accounts (lazy if a lousy but convenient excuse).

Ariosto's Orlando Furioso

CANTO V 
1 
No creatures on the earth, no matter whether 
Of peaceful disposition, mild and kind, 
Or fierce and merciless as wintry weather, 
Are hostile to the females of their kind. 
The she-bear and her mate in sport together, 
The lion and the lioness, we find; 
The she-wolf and the wolf at peace appear; 
The heifer from the bull has naught to fear. 

2 
What dreadful plague, what fury of despair 
In our tormented bosoms now holds sway, 
That wives and husbands constantly we hear 
Wounding each other with the things they say? 
With scratching, bruising, tearing out of hair, 
Assault and battery, in bitter fray 
They drench with scalding tears the marriage-bed, 
And not tears only; sometimes blood is shed.

Ariosto, Ludovico (2006-11-30). Orlando Furioso: Part One: Pt. 1 (Classics) (p. 197). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition. 

This is one of my project books, considering its length and such.  While the tale is about chivalry and knights and all that sort of fun stuff, the lines here about men attacking their women, and how that only seems to happen with mankind, I thought interesting.  Perhaps he hadn't really a great knowledge of the wild kingdom, or perhaps he just felt it unnecessary for his poem, but he doesn't make mention of the species (especially arachnid) where the female make a meal of the male after copulation.

Ranger Station Haven, by S.A. Stovall

Ranger Station Haven, by S.A. Stovall is a short story/novella in the Dreamspinner Advent Calendar for 2016, and I thought it deserved a bit of a mention.  Sometimes you find those stories that are make you laugh a bit, and perhaps hope that the author actually does a follow-up.  I think watching Carter and Owen learn to be fathers to Edmund and Luke could be enjoyable, especially if the author were able to incorporate the other children into the adventure, especially Justin, who seems to have been in the foster system too long to be healthy.  Not every story in the collection made me hope for more, and I doubt the story I would enjoy watching, that of Owen and Carter learning to be parents, would be ideal for everyone, it is something that would be fun to watch play out.  There is no reason a Christmas story can't be played out into something a bit more detailed.  Two park rangers adopting brothers, what could go wrong?

Marriage (and my changing opinion of it)

When I was younger, I thought "gay" marriage
would lead to nothing but "gay" divorce.

As a child of divorce, this made sense.

Then, as I got older, I learned marriage
wasn't just a pre-req for divorce.

As a child of divorce, what changed?

My father, who said he would never do it again,
married someone, someone he dated for years.

As a man of divorce, what changed?

Certainly not my mother,
happily remarried for 30 plus years.

As a man of divorce, what changed?

Cancer changed things, and my father,
being a man, didn't wish to burden his mother.

As a man of divorce, what changed?

His treatment should not be the burden
of the one who brought him into the world,

but rather, what changed?

Was his decision to let the woman,
The woman he had lived with for twenty years

Twenty plus years? what changed?

His decision that they should decide, together
what was to follow, and how to cope.

As a man of divorce, what changed?

He decided, after many years, to remarry.
Because their future was together.

As a child of divorce, what changed?

I learned that not all marriage
was strictly a divorce in the making.

As a child of divorce, what changed?

I learned that life happens, and
who you love requires a legal commitment.

As a child of divorce, what changed?

Her church doesn't recognize
Her commitment to him.

As a gay man, what changed?

Knowing my father's relationship
is valid legally, though not religiously.

As a gay man, what changed?

If I were in the same position, with one I loved,
then I would make the same choice as my father.

Kate Sherwood's Long Shadows

Before venturing into the book review, today has mostly been spent sleeping and playing Elder Scrolls Online.  I am still trying to get a character there up to 50, but it will be a bit.  After leaving the game, I looked around the kitchen for food.  Bachelor food is always interesting, but this wasn't frozen tonight, instead I found tortillas, salsa, maxi-blend cheese, and some bacon that I had already cooked.  Layering tortillas, salsa, chopped bacon, and cheese, then cooking them in the oven to warm everything up, and you have bacon tacos.  Surely not something to win an award, but it was quick and easy.

Anyway, after finishing my snack/dinner, I focused on finishing Kate Sherwood's newest "Long Shadows."  Over on Goodreads I mentioned that it was sort of a book-length prologue for her new series, and I will stick with that description.  She fleshes out the characters, covers a good deal of back story, and creates a current story where these are all explored, while wrapping the book up in a way that is not a cliff-hanger.  Yes, there are unanswered questions, but there need to be in order to set up the series.  Since there is nothing life-threatening left at the end, I don't consider it a cliff-hanger.  For those who like MM Romance, it is a reunion book, but one with no make up sex, even though Jericho and Wade haven't seen each other in fifteen years.  Sometimes a romance is even better when the set up is explored and the relationship is more fully developed, and this is what I think Ms Sherwood is aiming for -- creating a set of characters we like regardless of what happens in the bedroom.  Those two and Kayla (also a childhood friend), now the sheriff, will have an interesting time in the books ahead.  Riptide is the publisher, and while I don't know if they still have all four available as a bundle, I bought the set because I have enjoyed Ms Sherwood's previous work.

One last thing, Kayla is described as having been a tomboy in her youth, and here she is twice divorced, and here I am hoping the Ms Sherwood doesn't make her a lesbian, because a nice non-stereotypical woman in a role of responsibility, that is not a mother, is a nice to see.

Aeneid, Book VI, translated by Seamus Heaney

This is one I bought because I enjoy the work of the translator, because in all honesty, Virgil does not rank high amongst my favorites of the ancients.  This translation though, I did enjoy.  Perhaps it is just time, but I could clearly see where Dante pulled some ideas, which I don't recall noticing in whatever earlier reading I would have done in university.

Rather than "rosy-fingered Dawn" we have "Dawn in her rose-flushed chariot" which I rather like.  There is much to like here, even if you aren't a major fan of Virgil. (It is only one section of that big book, so it isn't quite that bad.)

Vagaries of Resolutions

Yep, with the New Year comes that inevitable question about what resolutions are you making.  I actually gave up on resolutions more than a few years ago, when I learned that what they were for me was a list of what I wouldn't accomplish that year.  Why they never got done is hard to say, since I am not sure if I kept track of what they were and when they died in any given year.

For me now, a resolution would need to be pretty specific, for example, if I said I intended to read more poetry, is that just more poems?  And if it isn't more poems, how do you factor in those book length works, one poem?  Again, if I were making that resolution, I would have to figure out how to qualify it so I could measure if I accomplished it.

Considering this blog, would a resolution be to write in it more than last year?  Would a better resolution to be to write in it more regularly than last year, regardless of total number of posts?  Again, it is a resolution too vague to actually be measurable, unless I wrote more entries over more months than I did in 2016.

I feel for one of the managers at work.  He is taller than me and decided his resolution would be losing 25 pounds in 13 weeks.  From what he said last night during the shift, he is planning on doing it by cutting his calorie intake to 1000 a day or something ridiculous.  Maybe it will work for him, but my hunch is he is doing himself more harm than good.

The main reason I don't do resolutions, is that life always gets involved, and when life is going on, then whether you get a blog entry done or not is totally irrelevant.  I like having the time to write, and I like being able to share what I am reading here.  I don't really write here to accomplish a specific goal, there is no overarching theme of my blog, like book reviews, current events, or some sort of project, but rather a running commentary of what I choose to share, and when I get a bit distracted or busy, well, then like last week, there is no sharing, though I did get a character from level 22 to level 37 last week, which was one reason I spent too much time online (ESO).

Ernest Cline's "The Importance of Being Ernest"

Over the weekend I finished Ernest Cline's book of poetry, "The Importance of Being Ernest."  Unfortunately it was not for me, though I can't say if it was his style or his subject matter, perhaps I am not the right sort, since I liked Knight Rider and the author was an Airwolf fan.  Maybe like Tolstoi or Dostoyevski, folks tend to like on or the other, but not both, and that difference shows up in other choices as well.  Anyway, it was an interesting read, but it never quite sang to me, and I never found those lines I felt compelled to share.  Poetry is so subjective that I will just say it wasn't my cup of tea, though I am sure it is someone's, since his verse did get published..