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Hudson Lights
January 28, 2011A Gnashing of Teeth (State of the Union)
January 26, 2011
Obama must really frustrate the GOP. For months, some have painted him as an anti-American (as well as non-American) totalitarian mastermind determined on jamming things down America’s throat in order to bring her to her knees. (Stephen Colbert had a wonderful rif on this after Obama’s speech in Tucson accusing Obama of causing him to be moved by Hitler.)
Obama’s inherent “otherness” has contributed to this caricature: his mixed race, his articulate and complex intelligence, his Hawaiian birth, his school experiences overseas, even his bony physique are atypical of U.S. politics (and not exactly “Reaganesque”.) On top of this, his intense decorum, which sometimes translates into a kind of aloofness, have kept him from directly responding to the kind of crazy character-assassination that has dogged him through the last election cycle.
But he has taken the national stage at some very charged moments recently-from pushing through compromises at the lame duck session, to the Tucson Memorial, to last night’s State of the Union–and unmistakeably (and on television) shown himself to be compassionate in ways that are tied to religious as well as moral precept, and to be open, thoughtful, serious, pro-progress, and notably unvengeful, petty, or throat-jamming.
One imagines a great gnashing of teeth (some of them tea-stained.)
PS – Although, at first, I found it a little disconcerting, I was happy for the absence of endless applause lines in the speech. Also, I was very glad that O. left out the traditional phrase = “the state of the union is strong.” Yes, I want it to be strong, but I’ve always found this phrase to be somehow, well, childish, as if the president were playing doctor.
PPS – don’t forget to check out “Going on Somewhere” by Karin Gustafson, Diana Barco, and Jason Martin on Amazon! (The state of its poetry is strong!)
Putting Brain To Bed
January 24, 2011
Brain In Bed
Sometimes the brain just gets tired–too many holidays, too much work or age, (any is too many) reports of violence.
It begins to shy away from the unpleasant and the uncertain, merely scanning (at most) headlines, seeking out known books to re-read, vaguely trolling through mild TV show clips on the internet.
What the brain is really looking for at these times is a full frontal lobe lie-down, an occasion for occipatal un-occupation, a cozy cover for the cerebellum, i.e. sleep. Indulge it! (Says she to self.) Try to shut the lids of the eyes (and laptop.)
P.S. – for poems about brains, even villanelles–check out “Going on Somewhere” by Karin Gustafson, Diana Barco and Jason Martin on Amazon.
Apologies. Breakthrough? Push through.
January 24, 2011
Pearl Does Not Believe in Contests
My apologies for a somewhat desultory blog of late!
I have been working on entering a novel contest. It is one of those sort-of-hopeless endeavors that one tells one’s self is nonetheless worth doing.
In this case, it’s the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest (called ABNA Contest.) I have been busy (among other things) revising an old novel that was written during another sort of contest–Nanowrimo, or National Novel Writing Month. This was not the novel I wrote this past November (which needs more than revision), but an older one, which I have been working on sporadically for some time.
The odd thing here is that over the last year or so I spent a great deal of time cutting the novel to streamline it. I had gotten it down from 52,000 words to less than 42,000.
Then I realized that ABNA contest rules require a novel of over 50,000 words.
When you cut things, you really can’t just add them back in. It’s a bit like hair. You can grow new, but you can’t somehow just paste the old back on. Even in the age of computers. It doesn’t somehow work that way. You made the cuts because you thought the stuff should be cut.
So now… so now….I had to figure out what was missing.
Yes, I could just have kept the novel short and not entered the contest, but things were, in fact, missing from the novel.
At any rate, I have more or less finished it now, at least gotten the book to the necessary word count.
I’m not sure I can yet call it polished, but the entry got in on time.
Silly! (Probably.) Unlikely to be a commercially successful endeavor. (Who knows?) But doing this type of thing offers a deadline, a standard, a goal. It gets one moving, forces one to push through obstacles, burn the midnight oil. Right now, for example, it is past 1:30 AM on a work night.
What?!!!!
(P.S. – if you are interested in writing, check out “Going on Somewhere” by Karin Gustafson, Diana Barco and Jason Martin on Amazon!)
Trained To Complain?
January 20, 2011
Trying to Pack It All In
It’s been one of these days and weeks in which there are not enough hours. The odd thing is that a long list of tasks, and a short amount of time, typically does not make me efficient. Instead, these circumstances inspire me to to (somehow, magically) find a huge amount of extra time which I spend complaining, resisting both reality and my own prior choices, and avoiding and bemoaning same.
I am on a train right now (where I was able to do above drawing with great iPhone brushes app), thinking of how I managed to squeeeze it all in.
Big Announcement! (Poetry Book – “Going On Somewhere” on Amazon)
January 14, 2011
After many glitches (some probably yet uncovered), my book of poetry Going On Somewhere is available for purchase on Amazon. Here’s the link.
The wonderful interior illustrations for the poems are by Diana Barco, an artist, architect and social activist living in Colombia. The cover painting (above) is by Jason Martin, an artist, hiker, sweet person, living in the Catskill Mountains. They really are worth the price of the book (which is modest by today’s standards.)
The poems, of course, are mine. (Karin Gustafson) Some you have seen if you follow this blog regularly; they are better edited in the book. (I hope.) And there are many others that you will not have seen.
There really is a painful side to finally getting a project to fruition. It is a lot of work – not just artistic but bureaucratic–and the result (to the workers) may seem a bit slim. But my sense is that those feelings are “writer’s remorse.” It really is a lovely book, and I urge you to check it out.
I also want to thank all who’ve followed the poems on the blog and sent suggestions and encouragement.
PS – Also check out 1 Mississippi on Amazon, my children’s counting book. I was able to get the price lowered. A great book for those who like elephants and numbers.
More on Obama’s Speech in Tucson – A Gift a la John Keats
January 13, 2011
John Keats' Tracing of Grecian Urn
The man has a gift.
He can wade through painful murk and leave a balm of clarity in his wake. (No, he can’t change water into wine, but he sure can change whine into water.)
Like many types of gifts, this one may not always be at Obama’s disposal. He’s human, he gets bogged down and worn down. But when he’s inspired, he’s inspirational.
It’s so interesting to compare Obama’s speech in Tucson with Palin’s delivered via Facebook earlier in the day. I don’t mean here to express any particular animus towards Palin—she was speaking in a totally different context—an actual memorial service tends to bring out eloquence in a way that a home video does not. Still, the differences are striking. Even her calls to unity feel a bit like bludgeons—there is a defensive “or else” tone to her voice, and she seems to jump from catch phrase to catch phrase as if they were foothold rocks in a rushing steam. (Unfortunately, some of these catch phrases, a/k/a ‘blood libel’ proved, like foothold rocks, to be a bit treacherous.)
Obama also uses age-old phrases at times—“a more perfect union”, references to Giffords’“updated version of government by the people, for the people, of the people.” Even, I suppose, the remarks about rain puddles in heaven and the juxtaposition of the “hands over our hearts” has a certain very traditional rhetorical cleverness – but he manages to use these phrases in a way that is resonant and not catchy; he captures a kind of poetry. This poetry not only has emotive force, but a certain rightness, the human mind (as noted by John Keats in his Ode to a Grecian Urn) seeking always to equate truth and beauty, beauty and truth.
It’s an amazing gift that Obama has, and that he gives us.
Pray, Let it Be Silent.
January 12, 2011
Prayer Lapel Pin?
I, for one, am tired of being told to pray for people.
Wait. Before you misunderstand me–I’m not against prayer. I really would like all beings to be free from suffering.
(Okay, sorry, that sounds Buddhist; let me broaden it.)
I really am not against–let me rephrase again–I am actively in favor of prayer: religious prayer, private prayer, meditative prayer, even group prayer (in a religious or quasi-religious setting, or as part of a shared ritual or genuine uprising of community emotion).
But I am getting really tired of political-speak prayer, tired of politicians asking or telling me about prayer.
One more backtrack--I don’t mean prayer in the midst of crisis especially the brief but heartfelt, “our thoughts and prayers.”) And I don’t mean prayer or other spiritual references by a political figure at a memorial service or a religious or quasi-religious event, such as President Obama at the memorial service for the Arizona victims.
Such references to scripture and prayer in such a setting and moment can offer true and appropriate solace, comfort, poetry.
(I don’t even have a problem with prayer breakfasts, if seeking wisdom and accompanied by, you know, marmalade.)
What I’m balking at are prayers, and calls for prayer, used as major portions of political speeches and commentary. (Okay, in order to be clear, I guess I’m talking about Palin here, and Beck, and others who seem to use prayer frequently to make political points.)
I am disturbed, in part, by the feeling that the God invoked is swayed by numbers–as if He or She makes decisions by petition, popularity contest, votes. This is a notion that I find insulting both of God and of those whose prayers are not somehow answered (i.e. lots of people, lots of times.)
Please, I really am not saying people or a politician shouldn’t pray for a loved one or stranger, for the country or the planet. But the ubiquitous political use of prayer in a non-spiritual and politicized setting diminishes its gravity; references to prayer begin to feel like a litmus test, a new form of flag pin, one more codeword.
I pray not. (Amen.)
Guns and Necklaces
January 11, 2011
Protective ring?
We live in a world full of fear, and of fearful prospects.
(Everyone says it, so it must be true, right?)
Certainly, we know an awful lot about fearful events these days. I was just in Florida within hearing distance of my parents’ TV (half a mile away might be within hearing distance), and it seemed, even before the Giffords’ shooting, that there was an emergency breaking news story of violent crime–possible bomb here, shooting there–every few minutes.
In the face of fear, or perhaps in order to face fear, it’s pretty natural to look for a mechanism of control, some tool by which we can protect ourselves. For many, that mechanism is a gun.
For others–i.e. me–that mechanism is a particular necklace. No, I don’t want to choke anyone–I just make a point of wearing it every day. You may not know it but that necklace has protected New York City from terrorist attack for over nine years now.
It is made of hollow silver balls, strewn together on a silver chain. (It has a sentimental background relayed in another post.) Its magical protections are unique, but, as I discovered on a recent trip to Taxco, Mexico, relatively similar looking necklaces are available by the storefront-full, albeit the ones in Taxco are brightly shiny while mine is clouded with tarnish/power.
I was shocked to realize as I arrived at my office today that I had somehow forgotten to wear it. I quickly looped a wool scarf around my unprotected bare neck so that the collective fates that overlook both me and New York City would not notice the absence of those clouded silver balls.
I don’t know much about guns, but my sense is that some people like the idea of carrying one for reasons similar to my insistence on my necklace: just in case.
One big difference, of course, is that my necklace could not do too much damage to myself or others. (It would hurt my feelings if I lost it, but that’s about it.)
Crazy people could wear necklaces like mine with no problem at all.
Another big difference– I really do know that my necklace is (probably) not essential to New York’s protection. I don’t fool myself that having lots of guns…errrr….necklaces around is any true shield.
Sadness Out of Arizona
January 9, 2011
Freedom of Expression? (Fired up, untethered, armed.)
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