DAILY PHOTO: Turtle on the Forest Floor
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Macbeth Limerick
Théodore Chasséria (1855)
There was a great General named Macbeth. All that kept him from kingship was a death, but - as with a Pringle - he couldn't do a single. So, he showed seven more their last breaths.
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No Christmas in April Blues [Blues Poem]
The dust is risin' down that dirt road; someone is comin' my way fast. The dust is risin' down that dirt road; someone is comin' my way fast. Hope it's not the f#@kin' tax man. Maybe it's Santa Claus, at last.
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Slack Flags [Haiku]
prayer flags hang still. i hear them go silent as i sit - eyes closed
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DAILY PHOTO: Sunlight Floods the Valley, Dzongri Overlook
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BOOK REVIEW: American Poetry: A Very Short Introduction by David Caplan
American Poetry: A Very Short Introduction by David CaplanMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
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This book does a great job of helping the reader understand what distinguishes the American strain of poetry from other poetic traditions, particularly the one from which it sprang and to which it’s most closely related, linguistically speaking: i.e. English poetry. Among the unique aspects of American poetry are a shift toward more idiosyncratic poetry, a shift that flows from America’s individual-centric orientation, the employment of American idiom – especially informal language, the connection to other American artforms (e.g. Blues music,) the diversity of form and style that resulted from being a diverse population, and the loud and clear expression of dissenting voices.
The page limitations of a concise guide keep this book from drifting wide in its discussion. The reader will note that it’s focused on mainstream poetry, and there’s little to no mention of counter-cultural movements, e.g. the Beats (e.g. Ginsberg and Synder) are not discussed. However, even within the restriction to mainstream poets, there’re only a few poets that are discussed in depth. Of course, these include the two poets largely considered the pillars of the American form: Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. It also includes two poets who were challenging cases for a discussion of national poetic movements: W.H. Auden, a Brit by birth who spent most of his poetry writing years in America; and T.S. Eliot, who was an American by birth but moved to Britain. Both poets produced poetry of importance while on both sides of the Atlantic, and, so, the question is whether anything of note can be said about their poetry vis-a-vis its location of origin (and, if not, have we exited the era in which nationality of poetry is worth discussing?)
I learned a great deal from this book. Again, if you’re looking for a broad accounting of American poetry, this isn’t necessarily the book for you, but if you want to gain a glimpse of the interesting and unique elements of American poetry through a few of its most crucial poets, this is an excellent choice.
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BOOK REVIEW: Myth: A Very Short Introduction by Robert A. Segal
Myth: A Very Short Introduction by Robert A. SegalMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
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This book situates myth amid the broader body of scholarship by examining what role myth plays within – or in opposition to – various academic disciplines, including: science, philosophy, religion, the study of ritual, literature, psychology, structuralism, and social studies. The book is organized so as to compare competing ideas of various major scholars in each of the aforementioned domains. So, as the blurb is upfront about, the book doesn’t spend much time talking about what myths are, and the discussion of how myths are structured is only made as relevant to distinguishing various hypotheses.
One does obtain some food-for-thought about what myths are as one learns how different scholars have approached myth. Questions of how narrowly myth should be defined (e.g. only creation stories v. all god and supernatural tales,) and how myths compare to folktales, national literatures, and the like are touched upon. One also learns that some scholars took myths literally (and, therefore, saw them as obsolete in the face of science and modern scholarship,) but other scholars viewed myths more symbolically.
If you’re looking for an introductory book to position myth in the larger scholarly domain and to examine competing hypotheses about myths, this is a great book for you. However, those who want a book that elucidates what myths are (and aren’t) and how they are structured and to what ends, may find this book inadequate for those objectives. Just be aware of the book you’re getting.
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Kapok Tree [Haiku]
sinuous roots of the silk-cotton tree; are they moving?
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Bad Anthropologist [Free Verse]
Today, I read about an anthropologist who was living among an isolated tribe, [as anthropologists tend to do] a tribe who believed that twins weren't really people, and that twin babies should be left to die of neglect. This anthropologist, like all good anthropologists, was trained to respect indigenous beliefs and to not go mucking around and breaking the "Prime Directive" [well, that term is from Star Trek, but good anthropologists have similar directives -- or, at least, proclivities -- i.e. to be objective, and - to the degree one can't be - to recognize one's biases and try to note the role they might play.] This anthropologist was doing a grand job of being an anthropologist, until a woman in the tribe had twins...
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DAILY PHOTO: Scenes from Budapest, circa 1999
Tiger Riding for Beginners 