Loose Leaf Notes

1. I don’t know how it took me this long to discover antipoetry.

2. “Antipoetry mirrors poetry, not as its adversary but as its perfect compliment … it is as opposite, complete and interdependent as the shape left behind in the fabric where the garment has been cut out,” says Chilean antipoet Nicancor Parra’s anti-translator Liz Werner in the introduction to his book Antipoems:  How to Look Better and Feel Great. 

3. I love that THIS woman, who died at the age of 38 from cancer, wrote her own obituary and said: “Some folks told me that writing my own obituary was morbid, but I think it is great because I get a chance to say thank you to all the people who helped me along the way. Those who loved me, assisted me, cared for me, laughed with me and taught me things so that I could have a wonderful, happy life. I was blessed beyond measure by knowing all of you. That is what made my life worthwhile.”

4. Windrunk Sidewalk: Shipwrecked in Trumpland, an online site that publishes daily poetry, fiction, art, photographs and anything related to what is going on in the country since Trump took office, just published my poem, Grave Times, for Day 133 HERE.

5.  Meanwhile, my son Josh, one of the organizers and event hosts for an international woodfire conference in Asheville, was written about in the Citizen Times.  Here’s an excerpt:   “My true passion, the thing that actually that matters to me most, is human relationships,” he said between sips of coffee. “The ceramics is actually, honestly, kind of a job. But it is also a conduit for all my other ideas.” A native of Floyd, Virginia, a small town about an hour southwest of Roanoke, Copus knew he wanted to make Madison County his home base when he first visited with Warren Wilson College classmates from this area in 1998. He now lives with his fiancé in his “fairy dream house” within Marshall’s town limits. “Floyd is essentially the same as Marshall,” he said. “The town that I grew up in is a one-stoplight, two-street town. So, I have effectively lost a street, but I feel like I’ve gained a stoplight…”

6. And, a story about the publication of my poetry book, Packing a Suitcase for the Afterlife, just came out in the newspaper from my hometown in Hull. Here’s an excerpt: …Perhaps a person can take nothing, but Redman concedes that none of us knows for sure about God and the afterlife.  From “The Suitcase,” a poem from her new book, Redman writes, “I fear the waiting room/where people cough and no one talks/and there is no proof of heaven.”  With that line in mind, Redman, in high spirits, adds, “Some people have accused me of being dark … and I’m like, yeah! I love the moon! The moon reflects the sun. I like the sun too, but the sun can burn you out. You can only take so much of it. I welcome the dark … that’s how I get to the humor and light…”

7.  Words I liked this week: Whirligig and Lovelorn.

8. Shakespeare is one of the many poets who used Anti-Poetry in his writings.  The first modern work of antipoetry is “The Art of Antipoetry: All the Emotions Your Soul Can’t Express” by Brady the Antipoet. In modern anti-poetry, punctuation is minimal and only used as necessary. Formatting and capitalization are simple and friendly to the eye. –from wikipedia

9. Punctuated poetry / with arbitrary line breaks / is like prose poured into / a little black dress / Every period that stops / where a line already has / is a button waiting to pop

10. Every comma that dangles/ at the edge of empty space / is a thread that could lead / to unraveling / Every new line capitalized / in the middle of a sentence / is a zipper that won’t go up  – Read the conclusion to Half-Starved Poems HERE.

11. Hello to Everyone. I stole that from a line in poem by Nicancor Parra’s

12. Joe’s answer to Parra’s  “Works by the Author” which I was reading at the pool Sunday:  First of all, I’m glad I got you this book. Second, I’m glad I rescued it from t he rain. Third, I’m glad I’m sitting here now listening to you laugh out loud while reading it.

13. The woman who wrote her own obituary closed it like this: “If you think of me, and would like to do something in honor of my memory do this: Volunteer at a school, church or library.  Write a letter to someone and tell them how they have had a positive effect on your life.  If you smoke – quit.  If you drink and drive – stop.  Turn off the electronics and take a kid out for ice cream and talk to them about their hopes and dreams.  Forgive someone who doesn’t deserve it.  Stop at all lemonade-stands run by kids and brag about their product.  Make someone smile today if it is in your power to do so.” _________Thirteen Thursday