10 things from lara

last year's lace leggings & shoes, this year's favorite dress

1) i miss blogging with julie, but have had a hard time knowing how to pick it up again.

2) i own mostly black tights this winter.

laundry day--tights for five girls

3) in case you haven't heard, you may now address me as "dr. candland."

laura ricks made this beautiful, delicious chocolate ribbon cake for me after i finished my doctorate in december in literature & creative writing (poetry).

4) my favorite foods right now are: canned pears with cottage cheese, cinnamon toast, pero mochas, sushi rice topped with cheese: all supremely unsophisticated, requiring little to no prep, and sublimely simple.

5) my favorite morning activity right now is trying out every single hair-do on the uniqlo website on beautiful cecily.

one of the plethora of hair styles i've been trying out on my barbie-head cecily

6) lula is officially a better cook than i.

lula's spudnuts:  maple, green tea, coconut glzes with butterfinger, jimmies and coconut toppings

7) like julie, i'm practicing right now--practicing living my life more fully & in the present, even though my future is in flux at the moment.  (& then--one's future is always in flux, no?  whether one knows it or not, no?)

8) i want to learn to speak french and spanish fluently.  am i too old?

9) i'm reading middlemarch,  mary ruefle's madness, rack, and honey,  c.d. wright's steal away, and i finished john green's the fault in the stars  last night.

the wonderful, beautiful, mary lynn cutler sent this gorgeous thing to me a few days after i had an online melt down in front of her.  thanks, girl!

10) writing poetry every day again, and its finally starting to feel good again.  it's all about the practice, baby!

bright spots

1.  sitting next to taylor j. in church today--suddenly realizing we were both shaking with semi-repressed & nearly uncontrollable laughter during the last verse of the last hymn--something about "reproving our every ill desire."

2. receiving my first valentine from moses--this bright yellow heart.

3.  sister tamara.  her stories.  her rocks.  her.

4.  mushroom crepes made by lula and anna.

5.  this bulgari snake watch.  thinking about liz taylor's jewelry. i know it's wrong, but i love rubies a lot.

tuesday: a list

better times will come again, no?

1) stayed in pajamas writing all day.

2) writing what?  well, my post about the anita hill documentary premiered at sundance 2013.  hopefully it will be up on bust tonight or tomorrow. 'twas a draining task.  you'll see why when you read it.

3) ate:  popcorn, blt, peanut butter m&m's.  diet coke.

4) did not:  clean house, do laundry, cook anything, grade, correspond with students, put on an outfit, lipstick or earrings, or read anything.

5) made one trip to doctor's office with mildly sick kid.

6) wondered:  should i take a shower and get dressed now?  or how about now?  wait, what about now?

hope your day was better than mine!

questions of a saturday morn

wool tights:  20 bucks or 60 bucks?

1)  it's 6 degrees outside.  i need to either buy wool tights or wear jeans (!!horrors!!)  will i regret buying the twenty dollar pair, or do i need to go upscale and get the sixty dollar tights?  also, can i buy the purple or red, or do i need to go neutral?

2) if i freeze the worry line between my brows with a little botox, will it also freeze my worries?  you know that "scientific study" showing that smiling makes you happier?  i'm wondering: if you are rendered physically incapable of frowning if it will have a similar effect on mood?

3) what should i do today:  fold laundry and pack up christmas decorations or read the trashy novel i picked up at d.i. yesterday for .75 cents?

4) what do you do when you feel totally overwhelmed? and how often do you feel totally overwhelmed?  and, if you're not totally overwhelmed, how do you keep from getting totally bored?

5)  what was your favorite movie in 2012?

6)  what is your favorite resolution for 2013?

7)  what difference do you think it will make having 98 women in the house and the senate for the first time ever?

mockery

moses, doing his best to stay focused.

does anyone else have children who mock them constantly?

today my kids mocked/complimented my outfit and then mocked my blogging.

as in (in sarcastic voice) :

"here's mom's blog post today:  1)  took kids to christmas party.  2) went to smith's to get mo's haircut. . . ."

so, not wanting to disappoint them or anything, plus because i don't have anything super interesting for you today, here is "mom's cheesy blog post":

1) kids to church christmas brunch.  it was quite charming.  members of the congregation shared some pretty hilarious anecdotes from holidays past.  and the children sang.  there's moses, singing and wiggling, and wiggling some more.

2) picked up two boxes of apples from allred's.

3) picked up two gingerbread house kits, in the hopes that eva and anna will come to provo tomorrow and make them with us.  and also make sufganyinot with me.

4)  worked on seminar paper.

5) got car inspected, registered, and oil changed.

6) mo's haircut so he can look fabulous at hanukkah party tonight.

7) grocery shopped.

8) rearranged furniture.

9) ate 99 cent fish taco from del taco.  surprisingly good on account of super finely shredded cabbage & fresh lime.

10) picked up hostess gift for tonight.

cecily, chatting up santa.

still to do:

11)  make apple sauce and apple crisp for party tonight.

12) get kids dolled up for party.

13)  get lula to do my party bun and make-up.

i'm feeling manically festive today.  and i woke up with 5.30 a.m., unable to sleep any more, so i'm definitely in something like a manic moment right now.

gotta reign it in.

or enjoy it.

not sure which.

*

legwear:  pink tights

inspired by: stories, shopping, kids

looking forward: to party after party.

ExistentialLIST

1.  Started the day at The Secret City.  The theme of "Ancestors."  Katherine Gleason presented her work on Alexander McQueen; Susan Birnson had everyone taste her canned cherries and apricots (lemongrass, etc--turns canning on its head); we saw Toshinori Hamada present traditional Japanese dance; we listed to Andru Bemis and his banjo, and The Secret City Singers sang Sweet Honey in the Rock.  

2.  Went from there to the dramatic conclusion of the marathon Moby Dick reading.

3.  Headed to the New Museum for the vintage Bowery artists exhibit and Rosemary Trokel exhibit.  Have you heard of her?  I hadn't.  And I have a hard time finding a good link to her online.   There was also a tattoo artist tattooing humans in the New Museum's window.  

4.  The conclusion of our year-long GITP blog experiment looms.  I'm still not sure what all these posts have added up to, if the daily blog practice has helped me in any way.   Still feel in so many tight places.  I still haven't accomplished many of the goals I set on 12/31/11 with Lara.  In fact, I feel like I've barely made a dent.  

what are you doing right now?

my baby!  her birthday's tomorrow.

i'm

1) reading rough stone rolling by richard bushman.

2) discussing the outcome of this season's rather tepid project runway.

3) hanging out with one of my favorite people, university of okalahoma musicologist michael lee, here for a performance and to do research in byu's special collections library, home of the max steiner papers.  and then to perform christian's fall of the house of usher on tuesday.

4) trying to push thoughts of how many papers i have to grade from my mind.

5) feeling uber-relaxed after scalp massage from lula.

6) experiencing both anxiety and anticipation for the next two busy days, including a very special birthday tomorrow.

legwear:  black tights

inspiration: going overboard with leopard

looking forward: to saturday morning donuts & farmer's market

a thursday in fourth quarter list

this is the very unzipped dress in item one, a find from my fashion idol julie turley

here's what happened today:

1) taught my first class, an 80 minute doozy, in a dress that was half-way unzipped.  the entire class.  no one told me.  this troubles one on several different levels.

2) re-read some totally insane wordsworth poems from the lyrical ballads.  for my 18th c. seminar.  decided to probably write my seminar paper on letitia landon, known as l.e.l.  why did i not think of the name letitia when i was naming my daughters?  it seems like it should have at least entered my mind.  did i tell you that wordsworth is quite nutty?

3) ate hand-shaved hot pastrami sandwich at caputo's deli, university of utah location.  listen, people, discovering caputo's on campus has changed my life.  all other food available on campus is utterly inedible.  i'm so happy that locavore is becoming more mainstream.

4) speaking of locavore, today i wondered if i should go to this conference in november.

5) revised a newish poem for the 25th time.  it's turning compulsive.

6) picked up some treats for various people at mrs. backers.  had the best molasses cookie of my life.

7) talked to my sister for an hour on the phone.  love sisters!!!!!!

8) did i mention that i woke up at 4.45 a.m.?  and spent some time reading richard bushman's on the road with joseph smith: an author's diary, a book that is currently blowing my mind.

9) went to writer's group.  it's a lovely little group, i think.  i hope they feel the same.

10) currently trying to decide from all the rad thursday night t.v. shows on my dvr:  the office?  30 rock?  up all night? project runway? elementary? the daily show?  colbert?  i only have 30 minutes max before i collapse, so i have to choose wisely.

hard week: a list

cecily's favorite sunday dinner, chicken n' dumplings.  now that bammy's back, we'll be having sunday dinner at her house again.  i'll be in charge of dessert.

it's been a rough week.

that tends to happen the week after you have a week away from work, right?

therefore, next week will be better, right?

so i'm gonna try to make myself feel better and write a list.

things i'm grateful for:


1.  i'm almost done reading james and the giant peach  to my youngest child.  i've read it to all of my children.  i have five children.  therefore, i will never, ever again have to read james and the giant peach out loud again.  i'm also grateful to have five beautiful children to read to, even if i hate some of the books i have to read.

2.  eva's new, for realz, legit job.

3.  craig dworkin's a handbook of protocols for literary listening and his pamphlet do or d.i.y.

4.  coleridge's a lime-tree bower my prison.

5.  extra-strength tylenol.

6.  my '98 green isuzu oasis.  after an unmentionably priced set of repairs this week, she drives like a dream, and i still have no car payment.

7.  bammy's return from canada after six months away.  sundays are about to get a lot radder.

8.  the daily show, the colbert report, and a new show based on sherlock holmes with lucy liu as dr. watson.  we're watching it in mere moments.  please god, let it be good!

9.  the carillon.  how many people have a carillon nearby?  it's pretty rad. also, how many people have a spouse who composes experimental music for carillon?  that's what i thought.

10. the fact that project runway's baby design challenge wasn't as lame as i thought it would be.  can you tell how i've spent my thursday night?  (in bed, with the remote.  i'm so ashamed, julie turley.  you're probably out watching avant-garde theatre on the street with philip glass).

thursday: a list

back porch at salon.  it was standing room only, so audience had to sit on the porch.  cecily took the photos last night, and due to her shortness, could only get my outfit in three parts.

for the second time in three weeks i missed a post--the only two times i've missed a day since january first.

things have really gotten intense, but it's good.  i have a couple of longer posts ready to write, but no time at all this week.  tomorrow is my catch-up day, so hopefully i can get back on track.

so, for today, i guess a short one is better than none at all.  better ones are waiting in the wings, trust me.

today's happenings:

1)  woke at 5.30 and got dressed for work.  struggled to find a cute outfit, but i think i finally succeeded, at least that's what the sales person at h & m told me tonight.

2) left the house at 6.25 a.m. with eva, anna and d.j.  we were all barely awake after the salon went so late last night.

3) wrote morning pages and prepped for class.  gave a quiz and worked with students on rhetorical analysis--specifically moving from "what" to "why" to "how."  trickier than you might think.

middle part of outfit.

4) ate too much 7-layer dip, a guilty pleasure, for lunch.

5) read wordsworth's essay, supplementary to the preface to the lyrical ballad's.  went to 18th C. seminar.

5) went to grad student creative writing meeting.

6) shopped at h&m with eva while waiting for the rush hour traffic on i-15 to go away.  got complimented on today's outfit.  eva's such a fantastic bargain shopper.  i was inspired by her diligence and creativity.  it also helps if you look fantastic in literally everything.

7) eva and i had dinner at shanghai.

bottom of the outfit:  zippered ankle boots & fishnets.

8)  listened to joe biden's "muscular" (as james carville called it, and i agree) talk at the convention on the radio while driving home.

9) got home in time to kiss kids' goodnight and watch most of president obama's speech.  and to admire the first lady's dress.  loved the one shoulder slightly off-shoulder thing.  oh, yeah, and felt inspired to be less cynical.

10) talked about how inspiring last night's salon was with christian.  seriously.  the performances were amazing.  more details on this later.

thursday night

and i'm so relaxed after such an intense week that i'm having trouble finding one last ounce of adrenaline left over to write this post.

so great having the little kids back in school.  routines at last.  everyone's happier.

just starting haywire.  soderbergh always has the best music.

here's a rundown on the day:

1) left the house at 6.30 a.m.

2) taught class #1, wearing dress julie gave me.  i always get lots of compliments in that dress, including once in nyc from a woman on the street, which is like two compliments.

3) prepped for next week's classes.

4) read in-class essays from class # 1.  for my own personal reasons, designated writers "E" for emerging (i.e. not ready for college writing yet), "P" for proficient, and "A" for advanced.  don't know why i did that.  just got the urge.

5) taught class #2.

6) went to seminar, discussed habermas, byron, abrams, and the rise of the mass reading public.

7) commuted home.

8) printed out copies of a creative non-fiction piece i've been working on for writer's group.

9) went to walden back to school picnic in southfork.

10) brought warm peach cake to writer's group.  thanks to ingrid for making it.  it was one of the best cakes i've ever eaten.  custardy and peachy.

11) new writer's group!  more on that later.  i'm excited.

12)  watching haywire with c.  so looking forward to several hours of writing time tomorrow.

films to c*

gina carano in soderbegh's haywire

my love for facebook waxes & wanes.  one thing i love, love, love about it is how you can get advice from really smart people in an instant.  two weeks ago i put out a call for mystery novel suggestions & got a fantastic list, came home from the library laden down with new treasures of mysterious indulgence.  last week, i asked people for film recommendations, as i want to spend more time watching movies for the remainder of 2012.

i plan to start with haywire, suggested by the smart and uber-talented david veloz, my former co-editor of the byu lit journal inscape, and a groundbreaking screen writer/director.   i love soderbergh, and have seen most of his films, so i'm looking forward to checking this one out as soon as netflix gets her butt in gear and sends it to me.   suggestions from veloz are numbers 31-43, and listen to him--he knows what he's about.

last weekend i saw benoit jacuot's farewell, my queen at the broadway cinema in salt lake city.  i hope to get a review up in the next week.  also hoping to catch the queen of versailles and trishna at the broadway before they leave.

so here's the list from my facebook friends for your consultation--a list as varied and eclectic as the rad people i know from real life and cyber life.  feel free to add more suggestions in the comments section of this post.  and remember the wise words of christian's wise father:  the only thing worse than a bad movie is no movie.

1.  that thing you do
2.  millions
3.  wings of desire
4.  another earth
5.  bunny lake is missing
6. labyrinth
7. mirrormask
8. grosse point blank
9.  midnight in the garden of good and evil
10.  harold and maude
11.  tristam shandy
12.  end of august at the hotel ozone
13.  the friends of eddie coyle
14.  prime cut
15.  waking ned divine
16.  kiss kiss bang bang
17.  russian ark
18.  daisies
19.  any tarkovsky
20.  buck
21.  wanderlust
22.  el mariachi-desperado-once upon a time in mexico
23.  seventh seal
24.  romy & michelle's high school reunion
25.  jiro dreams of sushi
26.  32 short films about glenn gould
27.  mamma mia
28.  billy elliot
29.  muriel's wedding
30.  gun crazy
31.  sunshine
32.  haywire
33.  sacrifice
34.  nostalghia
35.  fitzcarraldo
36.  burden of dreams
37.  the conformist
38.  the dreamers
39.  state of things
40.  margaret
41. spinal tap
42.  13 assassins
43.  heaven's gate
44.  meet joe black
45.  the secretary
46.  the star wars series
47.  black power
48.  mixtape
49.  the films of jacques tati
50.  bottle rocket
51.  city island
52.  trishna
53.  girl with a pearl earring
54.  the beaver trilogy
55.  little miss sunshine

*i was thinking of this pun on terry riley's famous piece in c before i even saw julie's post.  synchronous, again, julie!

overwhelmed list

bottom half of new profile picture.  i love that c. still wears creepers and slim pants after all these years.

i was feeling uber-overwhelmed this week on account of next week, when all hell breaks loose in my life.  julie wisely told me i could only put three things on my list today.  i took her advice and had a simple list:  1) yoga, 2)  syllabi creation, and 3) composing an email i've been procrastinating.  i did all three things, plus a few fun, non-stressful things.

i'm learning that it's smart to DO LESS when you're overwhelmed.  because then you realize you really don't have to get everything done.  it won't kill you.  & you might even learn to cut out some extra crap on your agenda that you really don't need.

here's my friday list:

1) wrote morning pages on back porch, eating my favorite childhood breakfast:  a toasted cheese sandwich broiled until bubbly and brown, topped with tomato, mayo, salt & pepper.

2) wrote procrastinated email while chatting online with julie, sitting on back porch, noticing that it's already cooling off and the trees on the mountains are showing glimmers of reds and golds.  also sent procrastinated email.

3) wrote syllabi and schedules for both sections of the writing classes i'm teaching this fall.  also, lesson plan and handouts for first day of said classes.  ALSO labeled file folders for those classes and put everything in my briefcase.  i'm totally ready for tuesday.

4) yoga.  rad and raucous kirtan singing happening in the adjacent room made the practice kind of special and a little extra fun today.

5) changed profile picture.

6) got salted caramel ice cream cone from neighbor boy's ice cream stand.

7) grocery shopping.  then, my favorite moment of the day: passing a dude on a motorcycle wearing a batman mask and headgear, cape flying behind him.  he looked so good i almost screamed.  also, at smith's i spotted the chihuahua ingrid thinks i need being carried by an adorable young woman.  ingrid said i can have her as long as i buy her matching yoga pants with me and name her "chanel."  i promise i will.

8) unpacked groceries and made nachos.  got into nightgown while ingrid quipped, "i see there's to be nothing in between yoga pants time and nightgown time today."  can't get away with anything around that girl.  about to watch ru paul's drag race, since christian's away camping and all.

mundane

men's choir on the left, gospel on the right.  gospel choir posed in dynamic "gospel style" figurations.

christian found these two sets of barbie choirs at d.i. in the locked "rare or vintage" cases in the front of the store.  he photographed them for me, knowing how much i love barbies.  each set is a hundred dollars.  a good price, but where on earth would i display them?

did anyone out there know of such a thing as barbie choirs?  please tell me what this is all about.

other than a tiny pique of curiosity about these two choirs of barbie dolls, i felt emotions ranging from blah to depressed today.

hey, maybe a list will make me feel better!

1.  wrote morning pages.

2.  took lula to tennis.

3. took lula to lifeguarding camp.

4.  answered 15 emails for online class.

5. submitted 6 manuscripts.

6. made my first batch of ice cream in my new ice cream maker (after agonizing for weeks over what to spend my williams sonoma birthday gift card on).

7. washed and dried, but did not fold, three loads of laundry.

8.  polished off the last of the 26 ears of corn we bought on tuesday at a dinner with my sister and her boys at grandma and grandpa's house.

9.  reunited with cecily and moses after they spent 10 days in arizona with cousins.  i missed them so much! so grateful to the cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents who took care of them.

10.  took lula, ingrid, and nephews to sammy's for pie shakes (but no one got a pie shake, in the end, rather italian sodas, cokes, and a mango shake.) dropped ingrid and lula at muse music for open mic night.  cover charge:  $1.00.

happy list

my writer & soulmate

i was searching for a scrap of paper to write an address on (how quaint!  no smartphone!) & came across a list from cecily, written in her 7 year-old hand, that made my day:

happy vocabulary

outstanding
thrilled
incredible
marvelius
exited
joy
lovely
glorius
high as a kight
wonderfull
outraging
proud


maybe i'm just a smitten mother, but it seems to me that everything this gal writes has a touch of poetry in it, even her humble "happy vocabulary" list.

hope you're having a marvelius friday night, like, out raging somewhere or something.

xo

summer dinners

ingrid making grilled peaches in a vintage apron

tonight we grilled on the patio: burgers, portabellos, & peaches (inspired by this recipe & joy the baker--heart her) and ate them with cole slaw and sweet potato salad.  it's been 103 degrees out, both yesterday and today. here's a list of meal ideas i hand- wrote and put up on the fridge at the beginning of summer, knowing i would be feeding a lot of people during june, july, & august.

too hot to eat inside

not all of these ideas are summery.  some of them are just stock ideas, traditional home cooking that i grew up with, like pot roast and chicken n' dumplings, two meals that my non-vegetarian kids love.  some of them are things i may or may not actually get around to making (soup dumplings!  many, many steps and ingredients, but so delicious!) and some are things i really want to try.

peaches dipped in raw sugar & grilled, filled with honey flavored marscapone garnished with fresh basil

i've been consulting the list this week for meals that don't use a lot of heat to prepare.  any more ideas or inspiration out there?  here's my list:

*slow-cooker bbq
*tofu pad thai
*soup dumplings with
   chinese green beans
*spaghetti with fresh tomato sauce
*mole enchiladas
*kale & chorizo soup
*watermelon avocado salad

condiments

*spaghetti & meatballs
*wild mushroom lasagne
*salmon with pernod (alice style)
*chicken marbella
*thai curry with tofu
*roast chicken
*vegetable lasagne
*fettucine alfredo
*pasta pesto salad
*farro salad

i don't know what to say.

*black beans & rice
*french salad with deviled eggs
*grilled cheese with homemade
   sweet potato chips
*taco salad
*zucchini tacos
*grilled zucchini sandwiches
   (a la communal)
*steak strips & tomatoes
*ratatouille
*chicken n' dumplings
*fig stuffed pork tenderloin
*pork chop
*fritto misto

i'm going crazy with the grilled peach photos.  but how can i help it?

*french lentil salad
*shrimp curry
*lentil dal with raita
*homemade mac n' cheese
*lettuce cups & rice
*bok choy/shitake mushroom night
*wedge salad
*poached eggs with asparagus & prosciutto
*ketchup chicken
*pot roast
*homemade pizza
*white castle style burgers
   and home fries
*focaccia
*brown rice & vegetables
*melon wrapped in prosciutto

quantification & a shrine

shrine under construction:  a stem of fresia, a tiny bowl of water,  ashley mae hoiland's mormon sisters watercolor, crystal necklace from grandma eva in her glass & mirror box, hand written letter from grandma beth with her mother's sewing card.  what does one put in a shrine?  i need candles.

it's nice sometimes to put a number on things. 

1 new poem edited

12 manuscripts submitted

5 loads of laundry washed and dried, not folded

4 one-dollar tickets to the pirates (so good!  darwin a main character.  very funny & entertaining.)

1 shrine under construction/ assemblage (what's in your shrine?)

really hot day supper.  the simplicity of black beans and white rice.

1 pot of black beans, 1 pot of rice, 1 plate of cold vegetables, 6 fresh sparkling limeades (2 fingers of fresh lime juice to 8 oz. cherry 7-up)

17 emails responded to for online class

1 kitchen cleaned

4 poems from my emily dickinson-inspired manuscript edited

3 morning pages written

1 violin lesson chaperoned

1 kid dropped at lifeguarding camp

1 kid dropped at summer adventure camp

4 hours of very languid micro bursts of work through a 100 degree afternoon

2 kids dropped at yoga

1 kid's travel arrangements made for visit to cousins' house next week

1 package of peanut butter m&m's consumed

sparkling fresh limeade

an amano day & my amazing dead people

(here's probably my favorite hildegard piece.  long, but worth it.)

julie, here are the dead people i'd like to meet:

1. hildegard von bingen

2. gertrude stein

3. jesus

4. sojourner truth

5. charlotte corday

& here's a list of my day:

1.  lunch at black sheep cafe with our former guest blogger and resident GITP bio-ethicist teresa blankmeyer burke.

2. laundry.

3.  ice cream from homemade ice cream stand on the corner, from the amano chocolatier's 12 year-old son, with amano chocolate chips. (he's been out there practically every day this summer.  yesterday he made cinnamon ice cream, today sour cream strawberry and amano chocolate chip.)

4. dinner with visiting pianist keith kirchoff and composer & musicologist michael hicks at pizzeria 712.

5. "more than dessert amano chocolate cake", thus proclaimed by chocolate connoissuer/fanatic m. hicks.

6. late-night chat on front lawn with teresa.

7. just starting american version of girl with the dragon tattoo.  i think i won't make it very far into the film before nodding off. . . .

8. (graded for online class). (wildfires still raging, it seems like it might be the end of the world.  hard to breathe.)

9. thought about, but didn't write, new poem.

10. answered interview questions for a blog i'll be appearing on next week (stay tuned!)

give her some

worked on revising my exam lists today (item number one on my utterly ridiculous list).  it took three hours, rather than the projected one hour.  but i ran into this poet, who i don't know well but who's on my list.

my lists are organized around gender, performativity, and experimentation.  every text on the list has to be relevant to at least two of the three themes or it gets cut. 

i'm particularly interested in performance and poetry, one of the reasons eva gave me the poems of kabir sung. 

what happens when the importance of sound in poetry recedes, gives ground to the written word?

what's the relationship between the way the poem looks and the way the poem sounds?

what are the advantages of an orally conveyed poem over a poem conveyed on the page?

since some of my work resides in the sound category, particularly with lalage*, this area of the exams is personal and important.  also something that comes more and more to the foreground in the work i want to do in the future.

(i forgot to put on my summer to-do list:  get you tube channel)

i look forward to learning more about morris, and to this aspect of my exam lists in general.  here's the text of tracie morris' piece:

She's the one. Give her some. Under fire. Smoking
gun. Of which songs
are sung, raps are spun, bells are rung, rocked, pistols
cocked, unwanted
advances blocked, well stacked she's jock. It's all about
you girl. You go
on. Don't you dare stop.


*lalage performs next week in seattle on the wayward music series: 

Lalage and Christian Asplund/Greg Campbell Trio

Thursday 31 May 2012

8 pm

Chapel Performance Space

4^th Floor of the Good Shepherd Center

4649 Sunnyside Ave. N, Seattle (at 50^th, Wallingford)

$5 - $15 suggested donation

legwear:  none

inspiration:  poetry in the air rather than on the page

looking forward:  what to expect when you're expecting with eva tonight/ingrid's return

an utterly ridiculous list

the prada heels julie picked up at her kids' school's rummage sale.  all the women at my house have tried to wear them.  

here's what i intend to do this summer, even though i realize it's probably not  possible at all:

1.  send final draft of ph.d exam lists to committee chair. ( 1 hour)

2.  finish stage play. (40 hours)

3.  revise & submit second collection of poems, the gentian weaves her fringes. (8 hours)

4.  finish spanish language requirement for ph.d. (40 hours)

5.  finish new screen play. (40 hours)

6.  revise & submit paper on gertrude stein's miss furr and miss skeene. (20 hours)

7.  finish chaucer paper. (20 hours)


8.  finish poetics paper & allan grossman paper.(20 hours)

9.  go swimming. (2 hours)

10.  write episodes for new t.v. series,  l. m. l. (40 hours)

all i need to do is find 231 hours this summer to work on these projects. . . . i get more carried away with resolutions at the beginning of summer than at any other time of the year. 

somebody stop me.

to balance out frenetic mental activity, i'm reading and LOVING the book of meditative kabir poems eva gave me with a cd of kumar gandharva's singing of the poems. 

here's a fragment from a poem that really struck me today:

Like the musk deer*
who holds in his centre
enchanting aroma
but wanders all over
searching like a fool,
he sees his own mind
and comes to rest.
Where does the beautiful fragrance reside?
Between upbreath and downbreath,
concentration, rapturous form,
no description.
Kabir says, listen, seeker, friend,
self turns, merges 
with self. 


*translator linda hess' note:  "The musk deer is a common metaphor for the seeker who chases madly in search of a beautiful fragrance, not realizing it is located within herself."

legwear:  post church yoga napping pants

inspiration:  the beautiful fragrance within

looking forward to:  sunday dinner on the patio with the family