An evening of drama

Light on the wall and our imaginations flood with color.  Just like memory.  Suddenly, I wish to cook red beets.  Embrace red.  Embrace shadows.  

Perhaps not quite

extraterrestrial.  But at least surreal.  Some spaces are more conducive.  Who would disagree that the kitchen is home to transformations on many levels.  Including, of course,  rudimentary vegetables.  Especially those brightly-hued.  Of course, I'm thinking of beets and radishes  and carrots and Dino kale.  Get out the blender!

Twisted metal

Perhaps, from a fender of a red truck.  Twisted with intent.  Intentional & spontaneous as sculpture. Or a line of poetry that pops into your head as you lace up those stridently red shoes.  Then again, perhaps you were dreaming of beets.  

Untitled -- at least for the moment

 aha!

yes, beets involved 

A growing love of pink

and all its shades.  Also a growing love of root vegetables, especially beets. Carmelized. Makes me think of the beat of poetry.

Anticipation is a state of tomorrow

because tomorrow our local farmers market opens for the season.  And I mean local -- as in walkable unless seasonal purchases too heavy with bounty.  Life can be sweet, can be healthy, can be non-toxic.  And life unfolds as roots dictate.  Soil -- believe in it.  Believe in the roots of words.  Love your Latin.

How does editing soup and poetry differ?

It's a matter of math.
Soup improves with addition. Say carrots, or onions, or garlic, or potatoes, or more water, or cooked beets. Yes, I mean cooked beets -- golden or red.

Poetry improves with subtraction. Others call it editing.

Soup and poetry both connect on the level of beets. Surround yourself with the nutritious. With the colorful. Nothing more that necessary. Nothing less.

Beat. What did the Beats do to beat?

Beat it, of course. Expanded it to conversation and condensed and made it howl raggedly so.


Beets, how I love them. Roasted and drizzled with olive oil. Adding blue cheese, walnuts, tarragon or basil. Twist of pepper. All manner of beets, too. Once in a New Orleans Restaurant (Bayona?) I feasted on a trio of beets. A beet rose w/blue cheese. Memory is a taste bud.

Falling Action. How can one recognize falling action in a minimal poem?

blank
space
as if
if were
a quilt
to
silence

among



Among beets there is a discernible falling (& rising) rhythm. Now, can you hear? The same can be said of cheese. However, it is more difficult to discern.

Where do words go when writing stops?

Reconfigure?
Dissipate?
Please, explain the physics of an echo.

I reckon 83% of my poems are written in the kitchen. Garlic and curry: smells are the equivalent of a word’s echo.

Try curry almonds: melt 1-2 T butter, add to 1-1 -1/2 cups almonds and 1-2 T curry. Roast at 425 degree oven for 10 minutes. Turn a few times. Eat out of hand, add to salads or to an appetizer plate with roasted onions. Enjoys the company of roasted beets, too. What music have you been listening to?

What are the dimensions of a short poem?

Is the short poem defined by:

number of lines
length of line/number of words
ratio of silence to sound
subject matter
the number of seconds it takes to read at an open mic (26 seconds)?

Can a poem be one word? Probably

Footnote to 1/2/10 on beets.
Best served at room temperature. Roast more than you need – they keep well, and your friends will love you.

Beets have no concept of boundaries, no concept of what a line is. Pomegranates, too.

What exactly is a line?

Happy New Year!

Let me introduce you to 2 of the finest contemporary poets
I know working in the Bay Area. Actually, graphic artists.

Susan Black www.susanblackonline.com

Liz Hack www.elizabethhack.com

Each in her unique voice blends the sparse and the spiritual to create a lush silence. Hear for yourself.

While you ponder “what exactly is a line,” be good to yourself. Roast a couple of beets in foil (450 degrees for 30-45 minutes). Peel, slice, add feta cheese (I prefer Bulgarian style), a twist of pepper, drizzle with olive oil, top with a fresh herb of your choice. Get fancy: roast a handful of almonds or walnuts and add a few segments of a seedless orange.