The Whole World

My voice is just a click away
from the whole world.

I come in peace.

Off to the Side

In his memoir, Off to the Side (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2002), Jim Harrison tells us "It is amazing how ineffective a mind can be when studying itself. The mind keeps trying to tell itself a linear children's story to cover the life it has watched the body live. The mind keeps trying to be an observer, spectator, rather than the director."
I think Harrison has figured a way to win the battle of mind over mind. In this memoir, and in his novels and poetry, one is struck by the pure honesty of the telling of his story. It's not just linear either. All facet of his or his character's emotional makeup are dissected and lain out. At the risk of sounding maudlin I would offer that Jim Harrison is a philosopher for our age. He is so without being pontifical and wordy. In all of his writing, whether he is being comic or serious, he exposes the bare facts of the human condition in such a way that the reader knows he or she can't not agree even though they might have to do so in the privacy of their own mind.
Apart from being an interesting commentary on one man's life, this memoir is also a worthy chronicle of the literary age of which Harrison is a part of. Most of all I think that here is book that can show us how a mind can be both spectator and director. His mind managed to study itself quite well.

Collected Soul

My friend is away
and I can't let go of the present
So I put Collective Soul
on the media player
and I fill my yellow cup
with bourbon and ice
and I try to break the trance
But the poetry has me
and won't let go
and I laugh at my audacity
in thinking I'm capable of ignoring the voice
What's it all about Alfie
if it's not about the inspiration
How cerebral can a man be
before he dies of lack of imagination
and what kind of muse would stand by
and let that happen
There's not a muse in the world
that doesn't know how
to jolt a poet back to life
Maybe it doesn't matter
It might just be about the trance
and the power of reality
over the imagination
Is one greater than the other
Perhaps not
For in the poets mind
they can't be separated

Two Person Book Clubs

How about a book club of two? Rather than join or form a book club of several or many members pick a good friend and start reading the same book at the same time. The two of you can even take turns reading to each other. You can do that in person or over the phone. Don't get hung up on over analyzing the book you have chosen. Instead have fun telling each other what you think the author is saying to you. Get into the fun of sharing particular sentences or passages that make you think, laugh or cry. Enjoy learning new words together. Enjoy sharing epiphanies when something in the book clicks with a particular line of thought you have been having for a long time.

Here are a few suggestions for books that are perfect for two member book clubs.

The Beast God Forgot To Invent
Jim Harrison

Death of a Nationalist
Rebecca C. Pawel

My Life As A Fake
Peter Carey

The Living
Annie Dillard

Native Speaker
Chang-Rae Lee

Loving Che
Ana Menedez

Bangkok 8
John Burdett

The Dante Club
Matthew Pearl

The Pyrates
George MacDonald Fraser

The Conversation at Curlow Creek
David Malouf

Crossing To Safety
Wallace Stegner

Islands: The Collected Stories
Alistair MacLeod

Turning Point

There is a turning point

in every relationship

that moment

when you realize

she's never gonna

squeeze your toothpaste

wrong again

and rather than

depend on her

for entertainment

you"ll be more than content

with self amusement

Been Gone A Long Time

I've let a month and more go by without a posting. I've been deep into poetry. I've been writing it and reading it. I've discovered Charles Bukowski. I've found out that Jim Harrison and Ted Kooser, our new poet laureate, are good friends. I've been reading Jim Harrison's novellas. I have been enlightened and it feels good. Here is a poem I wrote as an introduction to a poetry reading at my bookstore last night. I hosted "An Evening of Poets" in honor of national poetry month.

An Evening of Poets

Most of us shy from the effort of song
too conscious of our own being
to sing to the ones willing to listen
we let passion wither and possibility die

But the poet finds the courage
to bare his soul to those that can't
and speak sublimely the perfect words
to spark rapture or bring on despair

He draws from the deep well of his private pain
and plucks from the ether of his euphoria
and with one of his many voices
sings above the din of muttering humanity

The many poets know many songs
the common thread is that they must be sung
in an evening of poets the world is in tune
and the listener is able to sing along