Sharp Sand

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jd — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:02:52 +0000

My month in paradise has come to an end & I have returned to . . . paradise. It is lovely to be home, though it’s going to take a while to get through the mail. I already feel a bit of nostalgia for BMC, but am also carrying forward certain consolidations in my work that were achieved. I also already miss the people I shared the month with — the good news is that we’ll be setting up a group weblog in order to carry forward the conversations begun in paradise. That dynamic — between Eden & the World — can be very rich, for those of us privileged to experience it. The first time I went to BMC fifteen years ago, I felt as if I deserved it; no one deserves such a luxury, but sometimes one is lucky. The problem then is how to live up to one’s good fortune. To have had those conversations, to have listened to the crows, to have seen the loons on the lake, to have watched through the clear water huge bass hanging motionless . . . that exerts a responsibility.

BMC: Finishing Up

jd — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:48:48 +0000

I’ve been circumspect blogging about BMC — I don’t want to have the sense that I’m invading anyone’s privacy, while at the same time wanting to give some impression of my time here. (I have in fact password protected one post that seemed overly personal.) Now that the month is winding down, I’d just like to say how impressive a group my fellow-campers are. Each & every one a fine artist from whom I’ve learned something. I’ve had a pretty good month working & will leave with seven or eight finished poems I didn’t have before, as well as with an outline of the book-length poem I’ve been thrashing around with. I probably could have done more, but I’ve always been a streak worker — I’ve had three mini-streaks each lasting a few days while I’ve been here & I couldn’t have expected more. In the periods between streaks I did a lot of useful reading & had many, many fine conversations. A good month.

They Always Get My Name Wrong

jd — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:42:13 +0000

But usually it’s my last name. The Washington Post got that right, but called me James in this piece by ombudsman Deboara Howell. Along with 1,700 other people, I wrote to protest the Post’s sleazy article on Barack Obama’s mortgage. Howell’s article is pretty wishy-washy, but ultimately agrees, I think, that the Post’s story left something to be desired.

My Life With Dogs

jd — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:42:12 +0000

Testing out a slideshow service here.

Protected: Pizza for Twenty

jd — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:32:46 +0000

BMC Week Two

jd — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:03:58 +0000

Didn’t get a lot of writing done during my second week, but I read a great deal & thought about what I was reading, which is often the way I feed the work. I like the semi-solitude here, but a month of it will be enough. As with most arts colonies, one is able to participate as much or as little in group activities. I tend to be a loaner, though I do enjoy the dinner conversations.

Beautiful weather today — nearly cloudless sky, a little cool this morning but promising warmth by afternoon. The forcast says the next couple of days will be the same. I haven’t really minded the rainy days we’ve had since I’m not a big hiker, boater or swimmer (I’m a walker); but the sparkling lake this morning is a joy.

Reading: Hayden Carruth’s Collected Shorter Poems, John Dewey’s Art as Experience, William Barrett’s The Illusion of Technique, Marshall Berman’s All that is Solid Melts into Air, & John Ashbery’s Notes from the Air. About half of this is new reading, half things I’ve read before. Naturally, in my reading & in my own work I’m still fussing with the relationship between word & thing, mind & world. I’ve been fussing at these issues since I was eighteen, so why should I stop now? This is certainly a lovely place for such fussing.

Buyer’s Remorse

jd — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:40:13 +0000

I think I want my money back. The money I’ve sent to the Obama campaign & the DNC over the last few months, that is. First Obama sells out the 4th Amendment by supporting the wiretapping “compromise,” then yesterday he writes off my political generation by sneering at “the sixties” as if he were some kind of right-wing culture warrior, & today we get to hear about his “faith-based” initiatives. Seeing him run away from General Wesley Clark’s dead-on analysis of John McCain’s use of his status as a “war hero” turned my stomach. Next I expect him to come out for teaching creationism in public schools.

I wonder how many other of the small contributors to the Obama campaign are beginning to feel as I do. I wonder who the Obama campaign thought was sending in all those contributions during the primaries. I think a lot of them were people like me, with politics similar to mine. I wonder if the contributions will keep coming. Mine won’t. I will vote for Obama in the fall, but I will do so without enthusiasm, conviction, or hope.

BMC Photos

jd — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:17:43 +0000

Here is a link to pictures of BMC. I’ll post more to the set in the next few days.

First Week at BMC

jd — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:37:08 +0000

To be honest, the first couple of days I just decompressed. While other residents were saying things like “each day is so precious I can’t bear to waste a minute!” I was drinking beer & sleeping, doing some reading & note-taking. Then I flailed around with my work for a couple of days, then I was depressed by a couple of rejections from magazines, then, the last couple of days, I settled down to fairly steady work. My main concern now is to try to eat less & to skip desert from time to time. I’ve finished one poem & most of another, both featuring crows, and have begun to map out the manuscript for a book from a welter of drafts — the main reason I came here. The next book will not be just a collection of poems, but (somehow) one whole thing. (I’m thinking of it as being composed of “suites.”) The problem is that, while all the parts have roughly the same tone & use the same structures, I’ve been collecting them for so long that the settings range from California to New York to Vietnam, with several places in between. So my problem is how to organize that stuff formally & thematically. I guess I’ll have to make my bed this morning so I can spread the manuscripts out & have a look.

George Carlin (1937 - 2008)

jd — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:46:47 +0000

There are various uses for anger, one of them being humor. I found Lenny Bruce via George Carlin, who was criticized for being angry. Anger is one of the major fuels of art, especially the verbal arts of comedy & poetry. Iusually found him mostly sweet-natured & amazed at the absurdity of the world, though. From the NY Times obituary:

Although some criticized parts of his later work as too contentious, Mr. Carlin defended the material, insisting that his comedy had always been driven by an intolerance for the shortcomings of humanity and society. “Scratch any cynic,” he said, “and you’ll find a disappointed idealist.” Still, when pushed to explain the pessimism and overt spleen that had crept into his act, he quickly reaffirmed the zeal that inspired his lists of complaints and grievances. “I don’t have pet peeves,” he said, correcting the interviewer. And with a mischievous glint in his eyes, he added, “I have major, psychotic hatreds.”