:-)
hi henry (in that yellow yellow house),
journalism is interesting, i'm used but i also use, in the sense that it
brings me in contact with the latest shows, be them poetry, movies and
whatever moves on this scene which is becoming more and more international,
but even if restricted to the local, it still gives a myriad of hints.
besides that you have to be quick, you can't forcibly send an article of
what happened tonight in 15 days, you must trust your knowledge (something
poetry keeps on shaking) intuition capacity of observation and Words. a good
school, maybe the best i've ever had, now two articles for tomorrow and it
is already night here...
> Oh, me! I live in a yellow house in Providence Rhode Island, with my wife
> & son, walking distance from my job at the library, which I have been
doing
> now for 18 years. I turned 50 last May, am on my 2nd marriage, have 2
> college-age kids (1 in college, one struggling to be in school), am 5 ft
> 10" on a good day.
>
> Rhode Island is the smallest, most parochial, oddest, most introverted
> state in the Union. If Rhode Island seceded from the Union, no one would
> notice, especially not Rhode Islanders. They travel not far from their
> extended families and the village where they were born. I fit in well
> here, being odd & introverted. Besides, my birthday is May 29th, RI
> Statehood Day.
>
> However, I think people as well as the universe are mostly Dark
> Matter. That part of me is out west, being nobody, staring off into a
> nondescript field or rail yard, dissolving into the landscape. My family
> on both sides were pioneers, farmers, builders, moving from Massachusetts
&
> New Hampshire out to the midwest. My grandfather built many of the grain
> elevators in Minnesota & Saskatchewan. It's about the exaltation of
space,
> freedom of movement, disappearing into the earth.
>
> I started writing at about age 9, after a walk in the woods with my friend
> Jamie & his older sister.
>
> In high school I wrote satires about school. I think e.e. cummings
> inspired me to try writing poetry. "in just- spring. . ." & some
teachers
> encouraged me, very important!
>
> In college I had something of a nervous breakdown & psychic/religious
> experiences, which changed my thinking life irrevocably. One of the main
> motives of my poetry now is to try to articulate a sense of reality which
> accounts for these experiences. I actually believe those notions about
God
> is Love and God is Incarnation and Nature is Creation and the presence of
> the divine Person in the human person. If you pursue such intellectual
> aims consistently, you are confronted with a somewhat daunting task, but
> it's also a joy.
>
> I haven't always been a dull librarian (only 18 years). In my yout' I
> traveled around, worked on farms, ranches, restaurants, factories, took
> drugs, played guitar & harmonica & piano in bands here & in Denver & in
> London, started food coops & community gardens, worked as an organizer &
> political researcher, tried to be a snazzy person, kept writing in
> notebooks (I have scores of notebooks full of barely-legible script).
>
> For many years I have been addicted to a sort of free quatrain, "abba",
> which has become 2nd nature, I like to think sort of like Whitman's long
> line was for him. I am still working out some very extended epical
> projects along that line. But I feel it drawing to a close, even though I
> have a way to go.
>
> Meanwhile have become discouraged/bored/disillusioned about the tiny world
> of (semi)professional poetry biz, so sadly feel little positive energy to
> bring to that arena. Am thinking seriously about doing something very
> different, like journalism - after I finish these old-time poetry
projects.
>
> That's me, gang!
>
> Henry
>
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