"What time do you have to be home?"
"I promised I'd be back by 7. We still have a lot of packing to do and we have to drop off the cats tomorrow. Si I need toleave by 5. It's about two hours back to Lorrain from here."
"You aren't taking them?"
"Nope. "
"Why? Did Miami ban all cat ownership? Does Florida not allow new cats?"
"No. Travelling with cats is too hard."
"Typical."
"What?"
"Typical."
"Of what?"
"Of you. This is typical of you."
"Me? Why?"
"Did you make the decision or Margie?"
"Me."
"See? Typical Chris behavior. Take the easier way instead of the way that might mean a little more work."
"..."
"..."
"Ohhhkaaay. How is taking the easy way out typical for me?"
"Why did you get married?"
"Because it was next."
"Did you want to get married?"
"Yeah. It was next."
"Did you want to marry Margie? Did you want it to be the Chris and Margie show for 50 years?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Because from everything you've told me about her and your relationship, she doesn't respect you or your marriage. In fact, you even told me that you felt like she doesn't even like you."
"But she's been different since we started planning this move."
"Good. I hope it lasts."
"But you don't think it will?"
"I don't think that changing your geography is going to solve the fundamental problems in your marriage. I think that one of those problems is, in fact, me."
"Picked up on that, did you?"
"I'm not an idiot, Chris. She knows about our past and she has to know that we spend up to 5 hours a day on the phone with each other. You lied to her so you could meet me here to say 'Goodbye'. Yeah, I picked up on it."
"What do we do?"
"We stop. We step back. We each let our marriages work or fail on their own, without outside forces influencing us or our feelings or our actions."
"How am I supposed to go from five hours a day talking to you to no talking to you?"
"One hour, day, or week at a time. Kind of like quitting smoking."
"Neither of us have quit smoking."
"I know."
"We are totally sitting in the smoking section here."
"I know."
"..."
"..."
"I love you, Jen."
"I love you, too Chris."
"Thanks. For everything."
"You're welcome."
"See you in another few years?"
"I hope so."
"Talk to you tomorrow?"
"I'll call you tonight."
"Okay."
"Bye."
Monday, November 16, 2009
Rodrigo Toscano Post
I think that I've come to a place where I can appreciate poetry readings/performance art and believe that it has a place - an important place - in our society and communities, however it is still not my cup of tea, so to speak. I was sitting on the floor for the entire reading and couldn't see the stage, so I have to go by what I heard as opposed to what I saw. I suspect that this is why the second piece was completely lost on me. The only thing from that piece that I remember was, "Your old God is dead, asshole." That probably says a lot about me and what I find memorable and/or amusing.
I liked the recorded version of "Balm Bilk" than the one we saw. Without the music behind, it just felt vastly different as far as tone and style went. Again, it might be my biased dislike for poetry readings that makes me wonder, "Who *is* this guy and why does he get to command performance space and performers to read his work??" Then again, he commands it because he just does. He has the nerve and the determination to get his stuff out there for other people to listen to and decide if they like it.
But then again, if the words on the page don't jump out at people, in 100 years, it's not going to matter how you performed them last week. I want to know what he wants us to pay attention to: the words or how he says the words?
I liked the recorded version of "Balm Bilk" than the one we saw. Without the music behind, it just felt vastly different as far as tone and style went. Again, it might be my biased dislike for poetry readings that makes me wonder, "Who *is* this guy and why does he get to command performance space and performers to read his work??" Then again, he commands it because he just does. He has the nerve and the determination to get his stuff out there for other people to listen to and decide if they like it.
But then again, if the words on the page don't jump out at people, in 100 years, it's not going to matter how you performed them last week. I want to know what he wants us to pay attention to: the words or how he says the words?
Sunday, November 8, 2009
City Eclogue
Normally, I don't care too much for long verse or long style poetry. I mean, truth be told, I don't much like poetry at all, but this book struck me in a number of places. I liked the grittiness of it. The concrete details and movement of the words really showed and described a city in various stages. New construction, in the midst of battles of race and equality, senseless kilings, the rare types of beauty that can be found in unlikely places. I love New York City - it has this amzing energy that I've never found anywhere else that I have been and Roberson captured it perfectly.
Short Stories Response
Proulx:
Wow. I mean, I've read Brokeback and seen the movie and Annie Proulx writes amazing stories but she never fails to sucker-punch me. Her writing is, to me, the epitome of showing and not telling. Her descriptions of the Wyoming landscape create pictures of this place, even if you haven't been there. It's gorgeous scenery, but hard, awful things can happen there. And because of the desolation there, it makes them seem harder and more awful than things that happen in urban or more populated areas. My family and I drove through Wyoming on our move back to Michigan from California and it was an amazingly beautiful yet terrifying place. It allows for nothing to be hidden because it is so open and vast. And yet, it is so terrifyingly small and contained.
The contrast between the Dunmire and Tinsley families is as vast as those Wyoming plains. The Dunmire boys are without a mother for most of their lives and do pretty muich what they want, when they want. Ras Tinsley is not doted on, but is smothered by an over-protective mother and when he is able, he leaves home. But Proulx turns things on their end and makes the Dunmire boys, Jax in particular, almost the hero. But with Proulx's writing, it makes it believable. In a part of the country where it seems as though there are no rules, there are still basic ones that man and men have to live by.
I was able to get more involved with this story that the ones by Evanson and Field. This one, to me, had better flow and more "human" characters. I liked the narrative better and the style of writing.
Wow. I mean, I've read Brokeback and seen the movie and Annie Proulx writes amazing stories but she never fails to sucker-punch me. Her writing is, to me, the epitome of showing and not telling. Her descriptions of the Wyoming landscape create pictures of this place, even if you haven't been there. It's gorgeous scenery, but hard, awful things can happen there. And because of the desolation there, it makes them seem harder and more awful than things that happen in urban or more populated areas. My family and I drove through Wyoming on our move back to Michigan from California and it was an amazingly beautiful yet terrifying place. It allows for nothing to be hidden because it is so open and vast. And yet, it is so terrifyingly small and contained.
The contrast between the Dunmire and Tinsley families is as vast as those Wyoming plains. The Dunmire boys are without a mother for most of their lives and do pretty muich what they want, when they want. Ras Tinsley is not doted on, but is smothered by an over-protective mother and when he is able, he leaves home. But Proulx turns things on their end and makes the Dunmire boys, Jax in particular, almost the hero. But with Proulx's writing, it makes it believable. In a part of the country where it seems as though there are no rules, there are still basic ones that man and men have to live by.
I was able to get more involved with this story that the ones by Evanson and Field. This one, to me, had better flow and more "human" characters. I liked the narrative better and the style of writing.
Abstract Word Poem
Mexico In Santa Monica
Why? Now? Here? Where?
Fuck.
The origin is absent.
The cause too hard to see.
The others only notice the blank stare -- sweaty face -- hard fall.
The hard fall into the blackest of skies and the deadest of skies.
Flashing! Pulsing! Thundering! Crashing!
Stealing your breath.
Why? Now? Here? Where?
Fuck.
The origin is absent.
The cause too hard to see.
The others only notice the blank stare -- sweaty face -- hard fall.
The hard fall into the blackest of skies and the deadest of skies.
Flashing! Pulsing! Thundering! Crashing!
Stealing your breath.
Poetry Packet Post w/o 9/21/09
Three points of interest from the poetry packet:
Parade:
Parades are times of excitement, fun, and celebration. I wonder if this poem was written about a seperate holiday parade during the time of segregation. If so, the parade is still a celebration of race, a celebration of things to come, and marching towards freedom.
Gray Room:
The phrase "pale white gown" popped out at me before I read the rest of the poem. That, combined with the fretting and furious beating of the heart makes me wonder what she's nervous about? First sexual encounter? Maybe a wedding night or a new affair? Maybe even just a reuniting with a long time lover. I knw that when I'm nervous and in a room by myself, I tend to notice all of the small details around me - the bruststrokes of a painting, the accessories places around a room, how they work. The nervousness of the subject really spoke to me.
How Light is Spent:
"Light" in the title is not just relating to the lightof day or of artificial light, but the light that actually makes all sight possible. The fourth stanza of the poem "The vanity of the blind..." was something that hit me. Vanity is usually associated with what the self and others see. Naturally if you have no sight, you can't see or judge people based on their appearance.
Parade:
Parades are times of excitement, fun, and celebration. I wonder if this poem was written about a seperate holiday parade during the time of segregation. If so, the parade is still a celebration of race, a celebration of things to come, and marching towards freedom.
Gray Room:
The phrase "pale white gown" popped out at me before I read the rest of the poem. That, combined with the fretting and furious beating of the heart makes me wonder what she's nervous about? First sexual encounter? Maybe a wedding night or a new affair? Maybe even just a reuniting with a long time lover. I knw that when I'm nervous and in a room by myself, I tend to notice all of the small details around me - the bruststrokes of a painting, the accessories places around a room, how they work. The nervousness of the subject really spoke to me.
How Light is Spent:
"Light" in the title is not just relating to the lightof day or of artificial light, but the light that actually makes all sight possible. The fourth stanza of the poem "The vanity of the blind..." was something that hit me. Vanity is usually associated with what the self and others see. Naturally if you have no sight, you can't see or judge people based on their appearance.
Monday, September 21, 2009
My First Response
My very first response was probably something along the lines of, "Wow. Much cooler here. Not as wet." but as I was only a few seconds old, it's hard to use the power of recall on that one.
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