Ontological Kinesiology in Puebla

It was quite a melange of cultures in Puebla during the 14th Subud World Congress August 1-17, 2014. (See my previous posts here and here.) To give you some sense of how diverse the event was, these lines went into a postcard poem written while in Puebla: & this...

476. Logic of Ordnance

This poem continues from the last postcard poem and Levertov’s notion of the acts that serve as counterstrokes to the ills of the world. She would have been writing about WWII, a war in which she served as nurse so saw the atrocities first hand. She would also...

475. Counterstroke

As with all 2014 August Poetry Postcard Fest poems, this one uses Levertov again as the source of its epigraph and the poem continues the theme of that quote and it weaves through familiar territory, including the time spent in the community garden (p-patch), the...

474. Ghost Training

The fourth poem from the 2014 August Poetry Postcard Fest, this one continues in the theme of the notion of The Practice of Outside. That an ancestor of Levertov was said to be able to understand the language of birds would make her more likely to understand the...

473. More Listening Than Longing

Here is the 3rd postcard poem from this year’s fest and my 473rd overall since the postcard fest started in 2007. I love the Levertov quote to begin this poem. How many times do we hear poems that long for something? Put down the pen and DO IT you want to scream...

472. Dos Rodillas Artificiales

My second poem from the 2014 August Poetry Postcard Fest was inspired by a dream and by my ongoing investigation into how my body responds to certain negative thought patterns. The card is a photo of a Clyfford Still painting and Mer, Ella and I were fortunate enough...

471. Killing Gato

This is the first poem I wrote for the 2014 August Poetry Postcard Fest. It was inspired by a renewed plunge into Carla Bley’s landmark album Escalator Over The Hill. (Audio. Pdf.) If you listen to the record, you’ll have more context. Gato in this poem...

Final 2014 Postcard Call

Signup for the 2014 fest is over. Website Countdown Clock Countdown Widgets The original call is here and is required reading for anyone participating. To participate, send your name, mailing address & email to splabman@gmail.com. Use the word “postcard” in the...

How To Write a POstcard POem (10 Steps)

I’ve jumped the gun on the August 2013 Poetry Postcard Fest and I encourage you to do the same. Yes, there’s already a primer on how to write the postcard poem (see this) but I have taken this to be my process over the last couple of years and wanted to...

Poems for Peace 2014

I am planning the third Poems for Peace event on September 21 at 7PM at Spring Street Center.  Last year this was the post. This was how I connected the poetry postcard fest with the Poems for Peace event and with peace-making in general. Here is the audio from last...

August Poetry Postcard Fest Instructions

OK poets! At this point we are one over the record 302 poets we set last year, but I am sure we’ll get much past that. I have sent a list via email and am posting the instructions here as well for easy reference. North American states and provinces included in...

August Poetry Postcard Project, Year 8!

It is almost August once again and this means POSTCARDS!   The August Poetry Postcard Project is an exercise in responding to other poets. You write a poem a day for the month of August, write it directly onto a postcard and send it to the next name on your list. When...