Tag, You're it!

I guess it is only a matter of time to be tagged, if you are involved in the Blogosphere. I am a bit short on time, so I cannot go into depth on my choices. I remember as a kid always being being asked, “Dude what three albums would you bring on a deserted island?” and never being able to narrow down all the music in the world to three choices, so today these choices are off the top of my head and have not involved too much thought. After all books are my life and I can answer each of the following questions a million different ways. These are just the answers that came to me this Sunday afternoon as I filled in the blanks:

1: One book that changed your life:

People’s History of the Untied States by Howard Zinn. Although it was fairly late in my life, this book more than any other radicalized me and opened my eyes to the true nature of the American government. I have since read Chomsky and Tariq Ali and others, but Zinn’s tome is the quintessential read for anyone who wants to understand the nature of both domestic and foreign American policy. I think it was Marx who said that history is written by the winners, well this is the story of the struggle made by the people of the US. Starting with the genocide of the native population to the Vietnam War and beyond, this is a must read for anyone who considers politics a worthy topic.

2: One book you have read more than once:

There are so many great books that I have yet to read that I rarely read books twice. But I have read Big Sur and The Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch by Henry Miller at least twice, and I am looking forward to reading it again soon. In this book we fined an older, gentle, more mature Miller discussing the role of Art and his life in Big Sur during his older years.

3: One book you would want on a desert island:

I think I would want a definitive collection of Rumi’s poems. Because realistically how many times can a person read a novel or non-fiction book. But Rumi’s poems like wine, open up, and deliver something new every time they are read. I think they would stimulate me intellectually and spiritually.

4: One book that made you laugh:

Anything by Dave Sedaris. Me Talk Pretty Someday and Naked come to mind. I seldom laugh out loud when reading, but Sedaris is the master of comedy writing.

5: One book you wish had been written:

I am sure this has been written, but a readable history of the fall of the Roman Empire. Something not too academic, but all-inclusive that will show us the signs as our empire collapses.

6: One book you wish had never had been written:

Anything by Ann Coulter.

7: One book that made you cry:

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. I think this may be the perfect novel. Funny, sad, insightful and beautifully written.

8: One book you are currently reading:

The Autobiography of Ghandi. It is called My Experiment with Truth. I am 175 pages into it and it is a bit slow. He is currently in South Africa and starting his work in public service. I hope it gets better.

9: One book you have been meaning to read:

Anything by Trotsky and Das Capital. I know it is ambitious, but I hope to get to it someday.

10: Now tag five people:

1. Chronicles of Me

2. HoboPoet

3. The Vapid Lemur

4. Journey's With Jood

5. Life's journey

Poetry Thursday- August 3rd

This week’s Poetry Thursday was to find inspiration in a song. There were so many songs I wanted to do, so I just sat down and this is what came out. I don’t particularly like this song anymore, but the moment was there for the writing so I did.

In 1994, I was twenty years old; I had orange hair, a nipple ring, and a chip on my shoulder. The following poem is about the Rollins Band set at Woodstock 1994.


1000 hands

you are small
smaller than the rest

rage crammed
between only skin and bones
percolates more intensely

you have lost your shirt
hours ago
only now you realize
you are barefoot

the mob opens into a ring
the big one
covered in mud
and ink
steps on your foot
as he assumes his position
in the middle
the rain making the ground
gratuitous

electricity
saturates the air
a storm has settled
the opening riff,
thunder,
a voice is singing:

don't like to think too much, it makes me think too much,
it keeps my mind on my mind
don't wanna see too much, it makes me see to much
sometimes I'd rather be blind

you enter the ring
make eye contact
shake out the nerves

all the things that they're saying & doing
when they pass me by just fills me up with noise

here,
now,
flesh determines nothing

a slow bassline
the ring shifts
and moves

it overloads me

you bump chests
his breath stale
eyes closed

the ring moves faster
caught in the whirlpool
the chorus hits:

yeah, I want to pull it out, yeah
i wanna break it all down, hey, I wanna pull it out
yeah, yeah, disconnect myself, disconnect myself
i wanna see it go down, yeah, disconnect myself

you charge
he falls
as the ring closes
a thousand hands carry you away
as the earth explodes.

Self-Portrait in an Enclosed Space- (Technology)

A friend of mine often warns me not to explain my art too thoroughly, “By over explaining your work, you deprive your audience of the gift of interpretation, and one could argue, that interpretation is the true nature of art.”

I have noticed that many people here, myself included, explain each portrait at time of posting, well, I want to simply put this week’s image(s) out there and invite you to share your interpretations with other readers and me. I believe in art that is interactive and one that unites people through an exchange of ideas. So I will not post the explanation of what I was thinking when I took my self-portrait in an enclosed space until later.

This month’s Self-Portrait Challenge is enclosed Spaces. I chose to be enclosed in technology. I had about twenty different shots, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not narrow it down to one. So here are my two shots, they are to be seen as a pair, not two separate shots: