John Sullivan @johns@librem.one

Very much wishing I'd come up with this poem title, "Self-Portrait as Combination Taco Bell / Pizza Hut / KFC" https://poets.org/poem/self-portrait-combination-taco-bell-pizza-hut-kfc #poetry

Finished "Hello, the Roses" by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge. Starting "The Rupture Tense" by Jenny Xie. Have not read her before, except for one poem in the NYT magazine. #poetry

"We have seen the best minds of our generation destroyed by boredom at poetry readings." Happy Lawrence Ferlinghetti Day! #poetry

Sad to learn this. Lyn Hejinian's book My Life was very influential for me -- I didn't know #poetry could be like that until reading it. I'm glad there are still books of hers I haven't read yet.

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2024/03/08/remembering-lyn-hejinian-1941-2024/

Starting "Hello, the Roses" by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge #poetry

"Four year old girl" was very influential on me during my MFA program, but inexplicably haven't read anything by her since, until now.

"and at last I think if I remember correctly I could find no / argument against your seriousness, it matched / my distance from you too exactly"

from "Second Aubade", Jana Prikryl

#poetry

Simply amazing:

https://www.theonion.com/sellout-poet-made-over-150-in-2023-alone-1851012377

#poetry

"A poem is a ouija board without the wood" --Robert Kelly, "Fire Exit" #60

#poetry

Finished Thread by Michael Palmer. Starting Midwood by Jana Prikryl.

Been reading Palmer for 20 years, feel only a little closer to understanding how he does it.

#poetry #books

"Act so that there is no use in a centre." --Gertrude Stein, *Tender Buttons*

#poetry #fediverse #quotes

Ashbery reading tonight, unexpectedly timely:

By the next day, Thursday,
bank examiners blew up the espaliered
orangery like at the charm school
massacre when milady partakes
of mildness, all smilax and curls,
and through the *tonnelle's* damp falls
as though this were a hirsute day
on the river.

#poetry

I've learned many new vocabulary words from reading Ashbery over the years. Not sure if that's a plus or not, just a fact. Tonight's is "pellucid" -- adj, transmitting light; able to be seen through with clarity. As in, "Yet the froth of activity / before mealtimes crowded the pellucid element, frosting it slightly." #poetry

Ashbery vowel sounds:

"withers wrung, stalls swept, a stray colt consoled, mud / drained, dried, blown off into the sun."

("The History of Photography")

#poetry