Publishing

I’ve had poems accepted lately by the Southern Poetry Review and the Tampa Review. The poems coming out in  SPR are in my maximalist mode whereas the ones TR accepted are minimalist. In any case, I was beginning to wonder if I still had any chops because — after a long spell of not sending [...]

Breaking Radio Silence

Winter has arrived with steady wet snow. I’ve filled the bird feeders and put away (most of) the summer equipment in the shed, binging out the snow shovels. The fall semester is winding down & with the exception of a heap o’ grading over the next two weeks, I’m pretty much in sabbatical mode. I [...]

What I Care about Politically

Okay, I have a couple of non-political posts in the hopper, but I want to get this down in pixils before returning to regularly scheduled programming. So, here’s what I care about at the present political moment:

Real health care reform that does not simply reorganize the current domination of insurance and pharmaceutical companies. I would [...]

Disappointing, to Say the Least

I’ve been posting furious denunciations of Lieberman at TPM & reading the bland responses at 538 in disbelief, where the consensus is that the DFHs really need to just get over Lieberman & move on (doncha know), but I won’t go nuts here on my own weblog. I’ll just say that: 1) I feel dissed [...]

Poetic Responses to the Election

My friend the indefatigable Anny Ballardini has begun assembling an online collection of poems written in response to the recent US election. There is a call for further submissions, as well. (Anny does a lovely job, by the way, of presenting poetry online.) The New York Times did something similar last week, with poems from [...]

Exhaling

Note: I began this post several days ago, but I haven’t felt much like writing. Partly this is mid-semester slump, partly that I have been busy with other things, about which I’ll have something to say anon.
It does feel different, doesn’t it, the country having elected Barack Obama president? For one thing, it appears to [...]

Voted

Carole & I voted this morning before 8:00 at our rural Community Center. I think there are fewer than 300 voters in our voting district and I was number 64. I think turnout is going to be huge, especially among Democrats. People were in a very good mood this morning at the polling place & [...]

Personal History

I voted against Nixon; I voted against Reagan; I voted against both Bushes — this time, while I’m voting against McCain, I am also voting for Barack Obama. That’s a good feeling.
Update: Josh Corey’s eloquent call to vote for Barack Obama.

A Few Thoughts about the Election, Or: “Socialist” is the New “Liberal”

Well, it looks as if Obama is going to win & that makes me proud to be an American. Still, there is a little voice in my head saying that the right is not going to relinquish power without a fight. I’m hoping for an electoral vote blow-out because it will limit the Republicans’ ability [...]