Archive for November 2012

« ManicDDaily home page
Newer Entries »

Olive Branch (Of Sorts) To Bill O’Reilly

November 9, 2012

Imagine this as Olive Branch (no time for new sketch)

To Bill O’Reilly

Yes, Mr. O’Reilly
we want “things” – good schools, decent
jobs, a safer planet.

“Stuff” –  like
our soldiers home
with limbs
intact.  Our own bodies
our own.

You’re bile-full, Bill,
but I’m even willing
to give you some-thing
back – my belief that you too want
such things  – truly – the stuff
that dreams
are made of.

************************

Yes, yes, I’m supposed to be working on Nanowrimo – and I am here and there – but can’t resist the call of the G-Man.  

The above are 55 words responding to Bill O’Reilly’s comments re 2012 election saying that people who voted for President Obama just wanted “things,” “stuff,” that President Obama would give them.  (I’m guessing O’Reilly thinks that Shelly Adelson and the Koch Brothers and all those who gave tens of millions to Karl Rovian PACs were not interested in getting any “things,” “stuff” out of this election.)  (I’m sorry – that last bit is snarky and I mean to be conciliatory, because I really do believe that we all want what’s best for the country; that there’s way more good faith out there than each side likes to acknowledge.) 

Have a great weekend.  I am hosting dVerse Poets Pub’s Poetics tomorrow (if I get it together) so check it out–as well as the G-Man, of course, who has a great poem today about the wonderful tradition of the Hedgewitch!  

P.S. – just realized that this is my 1400th post.  No wonder my life/health/mental health is collapsing! 

  

Categories: news, poetry
Tags: , , , , , ,

Comments: 15 Comments

Thanks! And Cherry Pie!

November 7, 2012

Washington and Cherry Pie

A quick thanks to all who bore with me through this election cycle, and most of all to this country.

I have at times been reticent to post political views on this blog.  There is, of course, the fear of offending people.

But a larger fear has been, well, of getting into some kind of trouble.  Professional, political–you name it–trouble.

Some times that hesitancy may be sensible. But when it’s truly fear – a fear that partisanship is so strong that people on the other side will simply not forgive me or like me or read me, or hire me–then I kind of shiver inside.

Because if people are fearful of writing about their beliefs, it will be very difficult to maintain democracy.  (It will also be very hard to write anything very interesting.)

I’m not saying everyone should go around shouting all the time!  And some forms of speaking out are violent, inflammatory, dishonest and really not very useful, even if legal exercises of first amendment rights.

I suspect that I’ve bordered more on the boring than the inflammatory.  Still, I just want to say – thanks.  To you who agree, and especially to you who disagree.  For reading, commenting, and simply being kind.

And to you whose candidate lost, I really do know how very stinging and sour and awful that feeling is.  All I can ask is that you believe that those on this side are as sincere and well-meaning as you believe yourselves to be.

And to those on my side, come on!  Be gracious.

I’m not sure what George Washington and Cherry Pie have to do with all of this, other than the fact that both, like the right to vote and assemble, write and draw, are things (errr… people and things) for which I am supremely thankful.

 

PS – Adding this later – It’s not great to gloat, but I also think acrimony will be worsened if people try to deny the victory.  To say for example that it is a narrow popular vote victory is not mathematically or historically true (if one looks at past popular votes)–it’s a victory of millions of votes, far wider than any George W. Bush popular vote victory.  (Of course, Bush lost popular vote in 2000.)

Categories: news, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , ,

Comments: 10 Comments

Trying To Keep It Light On Election Day! (Sonnet) (Not Nano-ing At this Exact Moment)

November 5, 2012

Post-Eden

Before the sky, a lovely pale, a boy,
tall on glistening grass, tosses a ball,
and I wonder why it is that joy
is not simply inhaled.  Is it the Fall
that keeps us from feeling how it lines
the air we breathe?  Is it that first loss
that keeps us toiling within the confines
of our skins, unheeding unhidden cost?
A soft haze, like a blessing, nestles on
the sea, mutes the horizon, brings the far near.
So much within reach.  The brain wrestles on
its hardscrabble way, yet slowly fear
unwinds, diminished by sky, sea, view.
An inner hand makes the catch, more too.

*****************************************

Ah.  Why is it that joy is not simply inhaled?

In my case, it is partly because I am endlessly fretting.  This evening, the eve of the election, however, I  am feeling so much better–so very much more joyful –  because I’ve made a committment to get up super early and get myself to a swing state where I will work as a poll monitor, helping to people to avoid being disenfranchised.   So hopefully I’ll be able to get where I am supposed to be, and hopefully you will to!

The above is an older sonnet which, if I have access to internet, I also hope to link to dVerse Poets Pub Open Link Night.  (And I’m sorry the pic’s not the sea!)

And yes, I’m trying to take a break from blogging for Nanowrimo – and I will!  But for here and now, a wonderful and open-hearted day to all.  Take care, and may we all get some peace, wisdom, and sense of unity and pride from all this.  Thanks much.

Categories: poetry, Stress, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , ,

Comments: 36 Comments

Not Sure Where I’m Going (Nanowrimo)

November 4, 2012

20121104-105820.jpg

Working, sort of, on Nanowrimo in between kvetching about the election and missing blogging and now back in NYC without Internet access (except through iPhone) and can’t quite believe in my new “novel” yet.

So, a bit, frustrated.

Categories: Country weekend, Nanowrimo, Uncategorized
Tags: ,

Comments: 6 Comments

Tired! A (not) Novel Sensation!

November 1, 2012

Tired! But Ready To Write! (Maybe!)

I am very tired.

I have always thought of myself as a novelist (not poet!)

It is November 1.

All of these factors lead me to say I hope to substantially cut down on blogging over the next few weeks.

November is “National Novel Writing Month.”  (The original Nanowrimo, invented by Chris Baty – not napowrimo or nablopowrimo or any of the weird na-mo’s.)  The idea is that if you just have a deadline you can write a novel in a single month.

I have, in the past, continued blogging while also trying to write a one-month novel.  But this year, I know that I do not have the time or mental space  to devote attention to both a new novel and an ongoing blog.

So, I’m really going to try to discipline myself this month and not blog so much.

All that said, please do check in on this space every once in a while!  My discipline is extremely faulty.  I will terribly miss you!    Also, I’m still on the dVerse Poets Pub staff and will be doing an upcoming prompt this month (and probably participating in some.)

Before I sign off (and I’ll probably end up saying more about this before Tuesday) – please do VOTE!   Personally, I support President Obama:  because I am a woman who wants equal pay and the control of my own body, because I have a close relative who is about to go to Afghanistan as a serviceman, because I care about the environment, because I believe in science and public education, because I live in a City that is on the front lines of foreign policy bluster, because I live in a City that will need FEMA aid, because I am close to persons who deeply and romantically love others of the same sex.   There are a zillion other reasons, including jobs.  

Two very compelling endorsements of President Obama:  Larry Pressler, Republican South Dakota Congressman and Senator, Vietnam War Vet, here.  Also the Salt Lake City Tribune endorsement of Obama is very enlightening, called Too Many Mitts.   Read here.  

P.S. MANY THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE EXPRESSED CONCERN ABOUT THE WELL-BEING OF MYSELF AND MY FAMILY AND OTHER NEW YORKERS IN THE WAKE OF SANDY!  I still have not been home, I’m running out of clothes, but I am so very grateful for your support, and especially for the support of the online poetry community.  Thanks Thanks Thanks!  

 

Categories: Blogging, dog
Tags: , , , , ,

Comments: 17 Comments

Newer Entries »