A Failing Marriage

Who ever knew shopping could be so much fun? Clearly, a trip to the mall is exactly what this couple needs.

-1991 Commercial for the Mall of Memphis

Swingin' Spathipyllums

- "Swingin' Spathipyllums," by Mort Garson from Mother Earth's Plantasia (1976)

Gradations of Blue

The sunshine today is so warm and insistent I can't help but feel like a coddled child. I just want to yell and run and jump and forego any and all schoolwork.

...In case it wasn't obvious, I'm becoming extremely sentimental as the semester progresses.

"Gradations of Blue"

The scent of pig is faint tonight
as the lime trees hang their heads against gradations of blue, 

looking at the lone suitcase in the middle of the farmyard
with a sense of solidarity. Also forgotten. 

Its owner never once looked up at them and exclaimed
I was still soft-fingered when I planted you. 

In the plane, her gaze rests on a flock of cloud-birds,
pinkish purple with elongated necks, rests 

on the plane’s wing-tip colored pink by the sun.
Her head is heavy with this childhood cargo,

like the hawk that usually flies between or above their branches,
found skimming the ground with its catch of mouse or mole,

or the barge that passes every day at four, its metal nose
just out of the water, while empty at eight, its sleek sides 

flash signals to those on shore. Later, on the highway
a row of trucks lit like orange squares in the setting sun— 

a colony of ants each with a piece of chrysanthemum
on their backs—begins to reassemble memories; 

the petals become lining, the shape of the flower is lost,
so that years later, looking at an old photograph, 

she will not remember the names of cousins and uncles
but the exact bend in the river behind them, the pattern of trees.

by Matthea Harvey, from Pity the Bathtub Its Forced Embrace of the Human Form (2000)

Know What I Want

- "Know What I Want," from Por Vida by Kali Uchis (2015)

Famous People and Democracy

Tonight I went to listen to Susan Sarandon talk about why Bernie Sanders is the ideal presidential candidate. I'm very happy to have gone, without a doubt. But I took some beef with the idea that Bernie represents "change" and "acceptance," considering that the whole point of this rally was—like every other rally—to persuade people to vote for him. For instance, his campaign used the social currency of celebrity to convince supposedly intelligent voters of his potential. I respect Susan Sarandon a lot, sure, but I don't know what makes her more of an expert on gun control than, say, any unknown legislative staffer. I would have been way more comfortable had she acknowledged that she was there to use her fame and influence to win votes. There was a lot of Hillary-bashing, too, which was disappointing considering how "positive" a campaign Sanders has been touting. In short, the whole event should have been more honest and transparent about how it functioned.

Maybe more than anything, this event made me realize that it's not necessarily the candidates who are screwed up, but our entire political system. I don't believe that Bernie Sanders can single-handedly fix that. None of the candidates can. People do seem to embrace the idea of a democratic overhaul, which is inspiring. Democracy is an incredible system; we just have to do it better. And that "better" will take a really long time, probably longer than any of us are alive. But consider how much time we dedicate to the (admittedly important) process of scrutinizing our candidates—I spent ten minutes alone just writing the above paragraph, so I'm just as guilty as everyone else. How much better could our country be if we instead spent even half that time looking at the flaws inherent to the democracy within which those candidates function?

Humble proof for the nonbelievers

Celebration

In the last 24 hours, my writing has been accepted by two different publications.

Yay! This is (mostly) exciting.

My only reluctance: one of the publications has asked to publish a single poem from a sequence, and that makes me feel all kinds of funny. I don't really want to isolate that poem from its context, but I'm also a twenty-two year old kid who should be grateful for any and all audience I receive. I have to tell them by tomorrow whether they can have it, but I'm 98% sure I'll say yes. My writing will only get better, I hope, so I might as well take every opportunity I can get. At least for now.

In other news, the job applications are still flying, and I'm somehow writing every day. Sometimes, there's even time to do watercolors and to update this blog. All in all, life is pretty alright.

Tamed

Taken from the website of Alessandro Sanna.

Babies on Parade

This is so wrong, in so many ways.

I wonder where these babies are today.

- Footage of the annual Ladera Park Baby Show, 1950

A Conversation

Taking breaks from this Romantic poetry homework.

"A Conversation"

iraq is the kindling we place
around our feet while mouthing a prayer:

dead aint never been more subtle
than when tucked into the back pages of the paper.

if only we could father our demise
and blend into history as action not feints and dips

instead of watching rumors
of torture and dead bodies grow into common knowledge,

and collateral damage become
what fills the space between death rates and our reaction. 

like dead aint never been more subtle
than when tucked into the back pages of the paper

and the stories of war heroes don’t still gather
like homeless men in the minds of my generation.

and the draft aint no more important
to us than kwame brown shooting his next jumper in italy

cause dead aint never been more subtle
than when tucked into the back pages of the paper

-Reginald Dwayne Betts, 2006