i agree

“Writing poetry is a state of free float.” —Margaret Atwood https://t.co/M5FLeTHuhN
— The Paris Review (@parisreview) April 20, 2017

“Reading is the finest teacher of how to write.” —Annie Proulx https://t.co/zRfMzZMQb5
— The Paris Review (@parisreview) April 20, 2017

poetry is everywhere, even in photos

:self.migration: (poet's seat finalist 2017)

Here is the new unpublished poem that made me a finalist.

: self.migration :

I self.migrate here, from there

I drive unfettered multiple times to multiple states to multiple addresses

I cross unchecked boundaries, through invisible state lines, past fenced farms and gated communities

I am free so I self.relocate here, since I am free to relocate anywhere in America

I bring boxes filled with memories, with enough to rent a storage unit

I arrive unscathed, unhurt, but not exactly state-approved

Does Massachusetts care that I am here?

I self.migrate with papers, with proof, without arrest

I raid my fiancé’s space, his territory, his living room

I marry him, and I marry his identity and my identity and take his name

I register my car, get my driver’s license, and register to vote

Would this happen if I was from Iran, Nigeria or Guatemala and not from Wisconsin?

Does Massachusetts care that I am here?

Does it matter that I am a Connecticut-transplant, a journalist, formerly employed by a tribe?

Cameras pointed at cars would be able to find me eventually

How long will it take for me to become a local? How long?

How many years?

Does Massachusetts care that I am here?

I find descendants here of many generations, of bloodlines not my own

How long before I am questioned?

(written in the BigY parking lot)

and the Bardo Group's MAY 2017 BeZINE published me HERE
May 2017, Vol.3, Issue 8, Honesty and Transparency the Post Truth Era

[...I finished Crime Machine by Giles Blunt (OMG, I love his entire crime series), finished Letter from Point Clear and Prince Edward by Dennis McFarland, then on to any book I can find by Wilson Roberts who I met at the Poet's Seat contest. And my friend AskiAkira published a new book HAIKU POEMS which I reviewed on this blog and on Amazon. I'm reading a pile of books at one time - it's my escape.]

One task at a time... I have to remind myself.

whistling pig farm (ah the places I have lived)

Groton, Connecticut

I had a ground hog (his other name: whistling pig, wood chuck) named Woody. He wasn't afraid of me but he wasn't a pet.
I came home from work and found him sitting in front of the clothes dryer, which was in the garage. Apparently someone had gnawed and eaten a hole from the crawl space (maybe) into the garage behind the oil boiler/furnace.
The crawl space (dirt floor) was home to family of skunks, too.
Yes, I had a critter farm in the city of Groton, CT.
I didn't feed Woody, my grass did. (Or the skunks ate the mice/rats in the crawl space, as I was told by the Skunk Lady (via email).
One night we heard little baby skunks having a squealing match under the floor. (Not good) Those little fuckers could spray as bad as their parents. (It was totally impossible to sleep with that smell.)
So I bought bobcat urine. Yes, there was a hardware store that sold it. (Don't ask how they harvest it. I have no clue.)
You dip toothpicks and cotton balls in that urine and put them around the yard and crawl space.
They told me a bigger predator would make the skunks rethink living under my 100+ year old cottage. Maybe it would scare off Woody, too.
No chance of that.

Groundhogs in the Garden

Woodchucks or Groundhogs

Here are tips for identifying and getting rid of groundhogs or woodchucks.

(I have a more of this story in the chapbook BECOMING as Laramie Harlow)

Every writer needs a hobby. When he isn’t writing bleak, bloody fiction or exploring the primal violence at the heart of the American experience, Cormac McCarthy likes to unwind with a little theoretical scientific research. Who doesn’t? His work at the Santa Fe Institute has led him to write a new treatise on the nature of the unconscious and the emergence of human language: “The sort of isolation that gave us tall and short and light and dark and other variations in our species was no protection against the advance of language. It crossed mountains and oceans as if they weren’t there. Did it meet some need? No. The other five thousand plus mammals among us do fine without it. But useful? Oh yes. We might further point out that when it arrived it had no place to go. The brain was not expecting it and had made no plans for its arrival. It simply invaded those areas of the brain that were the least dedicated. I suggested once in conversation at the Santa Fe Institute that language had acted very much like a parasitic invasion … The difference between the history of a virus and that of language is that the virus has arrived by way of Darwinian selection and language has not. The virus comes nicely machined. Offer it up. Turn it slightly. Push it in. Click. Nice fit.”

VIA

Appreciation Friday: YOU

sometimes you need to sit and do nothing... YES, I'm talking to YOU ---BOOM

and turn off your phone

I am

Art Appreciation: Nick Cave

VIA

For Cave’s MASS MoCA installation, Until — a double play on the phrase “innocent until proven guilty” or in this case “guilty until proven innocent” — Cave addresses issues of gun violence, gun control policy, race relations, and gender politics in America today. Can't wait for MASS MoCA's expansion to open #intheberkshires.

Current installation UNTIL by Nick Cave at Mass Moca (until Sept.)

Download the Nick Cave: Until press release

Courtesy of James Prinz Photography

ARTSY has more

are you missing pickle?

Pickle? We have posted about pickleball on this blog and we are thinking HARD about short stories on a new website (short stories about being in a pickle.) Coming Soon!

poetry rituals

OUT OF PRINT

I use a pen-name for poetry/prose/short story... (aka Laramie Harlow)

Writing Rituals

As for rituals, I recall writing a poem about my mixed-breed dog Bubbles when he died; I might have been 10 or 11 years old.
I was grieving very very hard, crying and so miserable, I had no choice but to write something down. Honestly, after that, I knew (for me) writing was therapeutic. It’s was about the same time I started a diary/journal.
Losing Bubbles was my first “serious” poem about death, losing my best friend, my dog. No one ever read that poem or any other lovesick poems that followed.
Actually I was a closet writer most of my life!

In the years that followed, I filled many cheap spiral notebooks with all kinds of poems, rants, quotes, other author’s poems, like Judy Garland and Lois Wyse (http://www.poemhunter.com/lois-wyse/). Both ladies: remarkable poets!

(This was before blogs.)

OUT OF PRINT

It might be therapeutic to go back now and reread those old notebooks? ~~Maybe,~~ not.

I'm always working on something, like a new chapbook Mental Midgets: Am I Supposed to Be Doing This?

Poetry book contributor:
TENDING THE FIRE 2017
IN THE VEINS 2017
POET'S SEAT 2017 FINALIST

“I didn’t choose poetry, poetry chose me.” —Philip Larkin https://t.co/RQ06CDaCHL
— The Paris Review (@parisreview) May 7, 2017

Ah, the places I have lived | Drugstore Cowboy

PORTLAND OREGON

Way back in 1988, at least I think it was, the William S. Burroughs - Gus Van Sant film Drugstore Cowboy was filming in Portland Oregon and a friend of mine, Ray Monge, was in it. He brought actor Matt Dillon to my gift store to meet me and GUESS WHAT? I wasn't there that afternoon.

WHAT THE___!!! I was really messed up when Ray told me. But Matt and Kelly Lynch signed a publicity photo for me. And my photo was stored by a supposed-friend in Tillamook and I never saw it again. So that's my bad story for the day.

My first store was l'quix fix, when I was 30. My last store was ZOOLOOZ in Old Town (located in the New Market Theatre) (1986-1990). I worked seven days a week back then.

That makes me tired now.

Movie Clip: google DRUGSTORE COWBOY

art.roadtrip: the womb

If you want a roadtrip to Oklahoma City (of course you do.. go here first... THE WOMB + Flaming Lips )
The Womb is at 25 NW Ninth Street in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
LISTEN

the early genius Mary Ellen Bute

***“We submerged tiny mirrors in tubes of oil, connected [them] to an oscillator, and drew where these points of light were flying. The effect was thrilling for us—it was so pure. But it wasn’t enough. Finally we got a Bolex camera and started… to make my first film, Rhythm in Light.” –Mary Ellen Bute

Bernie Krause | work sleep relax #soundscape

The sounds of nature help us work, sleep, and relax — and now it's all just a click away. https://t.co/Sk421zTnvm via @onsraco #soundscape
— Katherine Krause (@KatKrause) April 25, 2017

CLICK THIS for a rain app

"someone was here"

Go get more ideas

Treasures in the Trash Museum

THIS will be a very inspirational roadtrip, obviously.
Tucked away on the second floor of an East Harlem garage, the Treasures in the Trash Museum features items saved from the landfill over three decades by Nelson Molina (the ultimate dumpman).

Upcoming programs for Open House New York’s Getting to Zero: New York + Waste 2017 are listed online.

you are not the content

In 2013, I spoke to a class in New Hampshire about writing and learning and ended with this:

You are not the content.

I wanted them to understand that they are not the books they read. They are not the grades they earn or the jobs they get. They (and YOU) are more, much more and somehow that thought is being lost in today's world.
We are more than a grade. We are more than a wardrobe or haircut. We are more important than any technology that exists. We are indeed a soul in progress. And each of us has to be more.

Old lady pulled by a dog

I can't stop laughing

Ah, the places that I lived" : Las Vegas 51s

VEGAS
When you live on Gipsy Avenue, you and your roomies have crazy parties and dress up. This party we were celebrating Mexico. I'm on the floor and Emily is right behind me. That girl was a party all by herself.
I remember MTV was brand new. I was mesmerized. I couldn't stop watching. Yes, that was in 1983, a very long time ago.
In Vegas, I got a temp job doing demo's for liquor candy - yup, fancy chocolate candy that had liquor in each piece. (This was not my first demo job) (Paid well)
Marty, back row left, and Jeff, center, were minor league semi-pro baseball players, recruited from Minneapolis to Vegas. (On Sundays, Marty and Jeff had "pro-fun tours" in Minneapolis/St. Paul sports bars. I met Marty and Jeff when I sang in Tropic Zone.) Emily was from New Orleans.
Those were fun times.
The group of us went up to Mount Charleston Lodge often - a very hip hangout with live music.

[The Las Vegas 51s, formerly known as the Las Vegas Stars, are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets. They are located in Las Vegas, and are named for Area 51 which is located near Rachel, Nevada, about 80 miles north of Las Vegas. The team logo jokingly depicts one of the grey aliens thought by UFO believers to inhabit that base. They play at Cashman Field which has a capacity of 9,334 people. The 51s won the PCL championship as the Stars in 1986 and 1988.]

Spooky AREA 51

READ ABOUT BASEBALL THERE

.collage.bayou fever.

Bayou Fever

Romare Bearden’s collages, made as blueprints for a ballet, tell the story of a mysterious war in the bayou.

“Bayou Fever and Related Works,” an exhibition of twenty-one vibrant collages by the late artist Romare Bearden, is on view at DC Moore Gallery through April 29. Made in 1979, the works were originally conceived of as blueprints for a ballet, the titular Bayou Fever—a performance Bearden hoped would be choreographed by Alvin Ailey but was never produced. The ballet’s storyline involves a confrontation between the “Conjur Woman” and the “Swamp Witch,” who twist in a dramatic struggle for the soul of a sick child deep in the bayou. The collages are exhibited alongside artworks from other years, an effect that accents Bearden’s motifs: powerful women, elders, musicians, rural landscapes, domestic interiors, and religion.

Mail Art

I have an idea - make mail art then mail me something you made:
LT Hentz, PO Box 1061, Greenfield, MA 01302
I will mail you something handmade in the mail back.
The post office will love us.

and the blog dog won't slobber on the envelope

you might be able to frame me, I mean it

“lovebombing”

What's inside your wallet? (I can't stop hearing that on damn TV!)

love bombs

I meant to say... What's inside your head!
We don't need any lovebombing* when we love someone.
Gaslighting? Oh yeah, that is serious stuff, too.

READ THIS NOW

*Be wary of: constant texting, shallow flattery and wanting to be around you at all times. This is a technique known as “lovebombing” and it is how most victims get sucked in: they are tired of the “games” people play with each other in communication and are flattered by the constant attention they get from the narcissist.

ice sound

Iceberg Sounds

Scientists are learning to distinguish the eerie, haunting sounds of iceberg life and measure how those sounds contribute to the noise of the ocean.

Calving: Spectrogram of an iceberg calving (large section of iceberg breaking off) while adrift. The calving signal is short duration, broad band from 1-440 Hz generated by ice cracking and crack propagation. Audio sped up 3X normal.

	4.3MB wav file
Iceberg Harmonic Tremor: Generated by iceberg in contact with the seafloor or other iceberg. This spectrogram has a fundamental frequency of 40 Hz, with a 40 Hz overtone spacing. Multiple overtones are visible in the spectrogram. Audio sped up 3X normal.	271K wav file

throw theory out the window again

Ancient village discovered in Canada is 10,000 years older than the pyramids https://t.co/VqmWg6CkBv
— A Chaos Fairy (@AChaosFairy) April 21, 2017

So the history books are wrong again...REALLY! (this keeps happening) -- we think those "plant the flag" conqueror people should have done more research before stating/writing/declaring their early discoveries were fact -- then giving them a date as fact that they are the oldest of anything ... please stop, OK?! Those Egyptian pyramids are just a drop in the ol' bucket. Wait until they dig up the Amazon. We just have a tiny bit of the truth--- teeny tiny.

Related: World’s oldest fossils discovered in Canada – and they’re 4 billion years old

Popping Leaves and Sparkely Lyrids

It happened yesterday - the leaves finally popped open - it's really really spring!

and a LYRIDS meteor shower tonite!

who is this organized?

Spring Clean is upon me... and time to dump loads of stuff I don't use (or organize what I do USE)
...photos are my inspiration (reduce-reuse-recycle-repair-donate)

Saturday Slow

and it's EARTH DAY

Every day is Earth Day

this blog dog can tell you many things... so stop and pay attention... BOOM!

Years of Living Dangerously

Former “Daily Show” correspondent Aasif Mandvi sets off on a quest to understand just how much of a threat climate change poses to endangered species.

Why I'm Involved

Caring about animals and their survival ensures our survival, if we want to not go extinct ourselves.

Aasif Mandvi

WATCH: The Sixth Extinction - Years Of Living Dangerously

Use the search bar but we have another story on this blog about this series...

Rock Balls

Can you tell I was watching Ancient Aliens again? Sure I was... check this out
Stone Spheres sounded too serious - rock balls sounds a little more fun! BOOM!
Ancient Aliens

do do

LINDA ARREOLA : ARCHITECT OF THE ABSTRACT

LOVE LOVE LOVE

These Nigerian women are upcycling plastic trash into colorfully-crocheted mats, bags and accessories. pic.twitter.com/xvrzBVsx9u
— AJ+ (@ajplus) April 20, 2017

Dick Clark Interviews Scandal - American Bandstand 1982 and 1984

I don't know about you but I never missed Dick Clark's BANDSTAND. In the 80s, I was kinda busy so I missed these shows about SCANDAL and PATTY SMYTHE, who I thought was the best rock singer female in that era... BOOOM

my favorite movie

it's possible this movie might stay #1 on my list: WONDER BOYS (I just watched it again for umpteeth time)

and Dylan wrote the music track THINGS HAVE CHANGED which won an Oscar [In 2000, Bob Dylan released 'Things Have Changed' for the Wonder Boys official soundtrack - watch the official music video of 'Things Have Changed,' which was directed by Academy Award winner Curtis Hanson and won the Academy Award for Best Song from a Motion Picture in 2001.]

Things Have Changed Lyrics - Bob Dylan - Soundtrack Lyrics

Asta

Asta's breakthrough piece was 2011’s “The Printing Dress,” co-created with user experience designer Sheridan Martin Small. The dress explored wearable text and its potential impact on the future of fashion. Built almost entirely of paper, the dress enables the wearer to tweet “thoughts” into the dress and showcase them as public art. It combines the hand-set typography that Roseway studied at Parsons with the contemporary world of social media.
She recently founded Microsoft’s first ever artist-in-residence program, called studio99. This grassroots effort, driven by employees, invites unconventional thinkers and artists to collaborate with researchers on the next wave of technologies.
read more

I don't think my thoughts ought to be on a dress, or tweeted out in the public... (swearing included) BOOM !
Electricfoxy talks with Asta Roseway at Microsoft Research from Electricfoxy on Vimeo.