Take your fun and go
Chris Burden’s famous “Urban Light,” made from original Los Angeles street lamps, marks the unofficial entrance to the L.A. County Museum of Art. Unlike many sculptures that use pedestrian elements in unusual ways, this work is not eerie. Indeed, it is oddly cheerful. Seeing it felt like a celebration of the good things cities have […]
The rumbling
One of the most famous artworks at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is Chris Burden’s “Metrpolis II.” It’s a miniature city, possibly L.A., with what feels like 100,000 cars rushing through it. Needless to say, it’s very popular with the kids. The audible rumbling of the piece and the silent rumbling of Tomas […]
Calder Texts
Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer visits the Calder exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Read Los Angeles 2013
Penetrable, #2
In the background, children play in Jesús Rafael Soto’s sculpture Penetrable. In the foreground, Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer feels sad. Read LACMA, 2013
Penetrable, #1
During a recent trip to L.A., a friend took me to LACMA, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. I was impressed by how successfully the museum incorporates inside and out, grown-up and child. One of LACMA’s many outdoor interactive sculptures is Penetrable, by Venezuelan artist Jesús Rafael Soto. It’s basically a large square space […]
The thing we turn out to be
The first book of poetry I ever had is an anthology called Sleeping on the Wing, compiled by Kenneth Kock and Kate Farrell. It was part of my eight grade reading list. I still have it and go through it on occasion because it’s truly a great introduction to modern poetry. Since today is Friday […]
Write something nice
Sweet notebooks for sale at Rio’s Modern Art Museum.
You mistake yourself
A friend who is not really into poetry lent me a book of Jackie Kay’s poems recently. She said it’s one of the few she owns and one of the fewer books of poetry she’s ever read. So, I took this as a good sign and spent time with the book, which is called Darling. The […]
I did it again
This week, I will once again be posting my readings for Zeteo Journal’s ‘Zeteo is Reading’ series. Below is the first of several… It’s hard to say how truly controversial an article written on poetry can really get, since the controversy will always be limited to the interested few. So is the case with a […]
The “So what” trick
According to Andy Warhol, and Buddha, the secret to happiness is simply not caring. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol. Read Bogota 2013 Related articles Andy Warhol from A to Z (thegenealogyofstyle.wordpress.com) Pop stars as caught by Warhol the ultimate pop artist go on sale (thetimes.co.uk)
Two poems, two sites
In trying to get my poems published in places other than my blog, I’ve been very happy to discover the amount of beautifully-run online poetry journals and sites. Among them is the Boston Poetry Magazine, Pilgrims and Kumquat Poetry. Today, both Kumquat Poetry and Pilgrims published one of my poems. So, thank you Kumquat and […]
Skin problems
Even Andy got zits. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol by Andy Warhol. Read Bogota 2013
Get the Rape Joke
The news always seems to find me last. This would even include poetry news, which is supposed to be my thing. So it is that today I finally heard of a poem, published by The Awl, that went viral on social media and prompted responses in outlets as varied as Feministe, Salon and The Guardian. The poem is […]
The Drugstore Notebook went rogue
This week I will be posting daily on Zeteo Journal – The Journal of Interdisciplinary Writing. Very excited about this gig. I have fellow blogger William Eaton to thank. He posts regularly at http://www.montaigbakhtinian.com. Here is an excerpt from my first post: “I bought The Good Thief by Marie Howe because it was the only poetry […]
Maya – who? Mayakovsky! Part III (Or heartbreak done right)
Vladimir Mayakovsky gets dumped. The third of four excerpts from his poem The Cloud in Trousers. Read New York, 2004. Related articles Mayakovsky’s “The Brooklyn Bridge”: A Short Essay on the Futurist Poem (talesofrussia.wordpress.com) Mayakovsky’s daughter speaks out on her parents’ love story and her own legacy (rbth.ru)
The 19th century’s best-selling novel
Since I was never forced to read Uncle Tom’s Cabin in high school, I decided to make the effort. As a story, it moves forward consistently and is engaging. Most of the characters enjoy happy endings. As a historical document, however, it is sad and disturbing. Suspect rumor has it that when Abraham Lincoln […]
Cortazar’s Hopscotch turns 50 (but The Pursuer hasn’t aged a day)
Today, Twitter is tweeting about Julio Cortazar’s Hopscotch turning 50, and there is a lot of reflecting going on about this book’s impact on Twentieth Century Literature. But, when we are all done with that, I would like to suggest revisiting, or even rereading, The Pursuer. Prompted by the 140-character summaries of Hopscotch, I grabbed […]
Somewhere, it’s pool time
While getting Lady Chatterley’s Lover for a friend’s birthday, I found a thin book on David Hockney and couldn’t resist. Thin art books are great because there is a much better chance that you will actually read them. This one is by Peter Clothier, from the Abbeville Modern Masters collection. Above is a nimble […]
Courage with language
In honor of Salman Rushdie’s birthday, I am posting two excerpts from his novel The Satanic Verses. These quotes hope to suggest how deeply Rushdie delves into questions of identity and language in his novel. They also hope to encourage those who haven’t read his book, to include it in their reading lists. It is […]
Poetry of the witch
From Ginosko Literary Journal’s 12th Edition. To read the complete poem, download the entire journal here. For other editions of Ginosko, click here.