not without my soledad

This morning I turned on CNN for my familiar morning report with the O’Briens (Miles and Soledad) and instead, I was greeted by Kiran Chetry and John Roberts, the NEW anchors. W. T. F?

Not only did I not get my morning fill of Soledad’s news sass, but the 7am lead story was Nora the piano playing cat. Frankly, if it weren’t for Kashi’s Organic Promise Strawberry Fields cereal, I wouldn't have a reason to wake up.

troubled beehive albeit brilliant

amy winehouse. buy her cd.

black, white, red

It’s such a beautiful day outside. Finally feels like poetry month. Tomorrow I'm definitely heading to Locke 29 for a run. They've been working on the northside of the trail since fall, but I think it's cleared through mile 3, or a little after Boston. It's good to be in the season of outside runs again. The track was starting to really needle away at me.

I finally got my hands on a quality bootleg of the Grey Album (DJ Danger Mouse mixed the album in late 2004, which is Jay-Z’s The Black Album with samples from the Beatle’s The White Album,) and I can say that the long trek toward electronic civil disobedience was well worth the effort.

I think you can still check it out at bannedmusic.org.

thursday poem

It occurred to me that I've put poems up here, but not of Cora May, who is probably my favorite character. Anyway I'm starting on a new sequence now, but I didn't want this time to pass without a little Cora May.

Cora May Hears of the Slaughter

Abigail said millions of pigs
got slaughtered in late September.

Something about keeping prices
low, but I think the government

men have lost their goddamn minds,
because there’s madness in spilling

those fat, pink bodies to the mud.
Young pigs too, and not yet finished

suckling, Abigail said. My soul,
what are they going to think of next?

Burning pits for ripened apples?
Flour barrels set out in the wind?

the animal month

Rather than letting the snow bring me down, I'm revisiting a Georgia spring until we clear into ours.

under the pink moon

So Monday I defended my thesis. And I passed. Mary and Maggie both said that it would be fun and it actually was kind of fun. Not before—when I couldn't stop having mini-daymares about how I'd have to speculate what Saussure would think about the poems or do long division in front of them—but when everything started and I realized that it was really a conversation among poets. And that people who I admire greatly were asking me about my work. Anyway, it was such a nice feeling when they asked back into the room and everyone shook my hand and told me congratulations. I’m not exactly sure what will happen from here. But it was a good day.