i so much want to make glory for good
in a dream i read
i so much want to make glory for good
a student had written it, a student from last semester. i was reading his paper; he was sitting across from me, so earnest. he wants to be a writer, use his words for good.
i so much want
to make glory
for good
btw, my brother the philosopher professor swears people don’t read in their dreams; if you have read in your dreams, let me know–what was the message? do you remember it still?
on the prowl, even at night, even in my dreams…the art predator
tidings of comfort and joy
let nothing you dismay
if you’re still on the prowl for holiday greeting cards, might i recommend you check out the esty stores for lettre sauvage and for my cat lulu?
you should at least go see lulu’s red nosed giraffe, dog, and seahorse…
myself, i’m looking for words that come with whiskey in them on this gray wet day with the scattered sycamore leaves on the tree glistening and dripping with saturated gold…
art city saved my life
and now i’ve got to save art city’s life before the city of ventucky strangles the life out of its art
meeting today at bell arts factory with ventucky movers shakers & moolah.
Train Poem: 3:15 experiment 8/8/06
i’m on a roll posting train poems for the monday poetry train …this one is also from the 315 experiment
Tuesday August 8, 2006 315am
The train cars crash
into each other on the tracks
It’s unnerving tonight
like it is on my head
sweeping past my cheek
through my ears
out my mouth
across my eyes
until the
house & I
stop shaking
faint rumble of
engines now
try horn of train
now horn now whistle
what do they call
this electronic noise
the engineer makes
any more?
Now steady beep beep beep
something somewhere
warns as it
backs up
breath alternates
first the child’s drawing in then
the father’s blowing out
I was dreaming of James and Jeanne Houston
of their writing of her writing
I was hearing it read in my dream
It was so beautiful elegiac
I wanted to possess these words
I was going to
there was snow
words held fire
they were solid like rocks
I was going to be able
to hold them the words like
stones in my hand
I can feel the weight
of them in my palms
soft grey stones not
unlike dove a soap
a chocolate the words
from one mouth into
anothers you can
suck on a stone
when you need to
for sustenance
for comfort
moth walks up the wall
Its wings flutter a tutu
the baby’s breath
the ocean
this night at 315
the ocean
the ocean
art predator elfed
rash
actually it looks like chicken pox. the little monkey woke up yesterday with a rash of pox and was sent home from preschool. my sister wouldn’t take him either but my mom would…and let him watch TV all day! (no, mom, that’s NOT ok, he could have stayed home and watched videos). and of course his daycare provider won’t take him either so here i am, trying to read research papers and prepare a final exam and conferences with students; i have 9 papers more to read today and 7 hours of conferences from 3-10pm tonight, and almost 3 hours of conferences tomorrow and as many papers…
a pox on all of us really even though we don’t have a rash; i was up most of the night with him. i have a strong painful memories of the horrors of chicken pox, and then getting teased by the kids about the pox marks; i have a scar on my face by my eye to this day.
because i remember how horrible it was, and remember thrashing around, and feeling desperate and alone, i made up a special bed for us to snuggle and sleep on last night so at least the big monkey could get some shut-eye with out being kicked by an anguished child.
i also remember how aveeno baths help with my bouts of poison oak and these are helping him too. the worst of the rash is in his genital area, poor guy, probably because he still needs diapers at night…
this too we will get through but if you have any suggestions, bring em on! we’re all ears over here in art predator land…
batting 1000
yep i’m almost there–1000 hits in just over 1 month…
thanks for checking out the art predator!
next time, leave some of your tracks–i’d love to know more about who YOU are!
as always, i’m your art predator
ps lucky 1000, let me know who you are!!
Temptation Train: 315 Experiment Poem 8/3/07
thought this might be a good one for today’s Polar Express Poetry Train… it’s from the 2007 
315 Experiment…while you’re here, hope you will scroll down and read Kathleen Lynch’s phenomenol poem, Impetus, and I posted a brand new poem earlier this week also that I hope you’ll check out!
August 3
Temptation the train whistles
loud long lonely
journeys south to north
jumps out of the way of
fast north south train
moon glides over
bounces off metal, window
once in awhile
Two short whistles
another train sounds
when 3 whistles
all clear? all done? all gone?
The roar of temptation
a buzz at first
grows louder closer
drowns out everything else
Temptation rolled through
I will take its wind now
can stand the rocks
I don’t listen to its siren song
I step out of temptation’s way
roll down the embankment
make it home for dinner
ignore its shrieking brakes
Literalley: Kathleen Lynch poem & visit
Impetus
You must change your life.
– Rilke
Begin anywhere: sleep
on the other side of the bed tonight.
Tomorrow walk as though your head
is filled with helium & your spine
the string that holds it to the earth.
Fill a gallery with something
you have not yet made.
Name your show I Promise.
Buy a large piece of blue
paper. The shade should be vast
and deep and remind you
of nothing. Roll it carefully
and carry it home on the bus
cradled in your arm.
Try not to pretend
it is your child.
Don’t cry, but if you must
don’t stop. Tears
are only water and salt.
You felt this way once before
when you first moved
from fluid into air.
It is no one’s fault
you are more than halfway there.
Surely you know that and are grateful
to have come so far. Just go.
Just keep going.
Kathleen Lynch, Hinge (2006)
Kathleen Lynch reads in Ventucky 730pm Tuesday Dec. 11 at the Artists Union Gallery, where “C” street meets the sea (330 S. CA St, near the Crowne Plaza and the Aloha Steakhouse) . Students from two Ventucky College writing classes will also be reading Tuesday 12/11 as well as Tuesday 12/18. Readings are held every Tuesday, and often have a feature. These events are free and open to the public; an open mic follows the featured reading.
Kathleen Lynch’s collection Hinge (2006) won the Black Zinnias Press National Poetry Book Competition (California Institute of Arts and Letters). Her chapbooks include How to Build an Owl (Select Poet Series Award, Small Poetry Press, 1995), No Spring Chicken (White Eagle Coffee Store Press Award, 2001), Alterations of Rising (Small Poetry Press Select Poet Series, 2001) and Kathleen Lynch – Greatest Hits (Pudding House Publications, 2002). Her work (fiction and poetry) appears in several anthologies. She received the Spoon River Poetry Review Editor’s Choice Award, the Salt Hill Poetry Award, Two Rivers Review Prize, Peregrine and Sow’s Ear prizes, and ten Pushcart nominations. She lives in California.
OTHER POETRY READINGS In the past year, the Ventura Thursday night reading “Train of Thought” moved from the Bell Arts Factory on the avenue to the Selah Cafe by the college to the Coffee Roasting Co downtown to the ArtBarn. The current incarnation is laid back and friendly; I was over there for the Dia de Los Muertos reading and again a week or so ago. On these two occasions, everyone gathered outside around the fire to read their own work or the work of others in a very informal but respectful way. If the weather dictates, the reading can always move inside the ArtBarn (856 Thompson near Kalorama, behind Kids & Families together). VC students may also be sharing working at this venue Th. 12/13.
yours always on the prowl for that which engages the whole soul (and yep, Kathleen’s poems pull it off!) i’m your art predator
l live next door to a rapist– do you?
Turns out the church of the asshole neighbors (located less than 20 feet from my front door) hired a registered sexual offender for a maintenance person–and provided him with a place to stay (an illegal unit actually). Wouldn’t you do a thorough background check on someone before you had him over all the keys to the units in YOUR building? But that’s not the way of the Church of the Asshole Neighbor (isn’t there a law or something?) This 6’2, 220 guy has, under the direction of the church of the asshole neighbor, destroyed one of my gates, cut through two of my fences, broken my water line, and stolen a gate (which was returned magically when the police showed up).
According to the Atty Gen Megan’s Law website, he was convicted of assault and rape. We were shocked to see the number of other people required by law to be listed.
I don’t want to jump to any conclusions, certainly about people I don’t know based on a bad photo and a rap sheet. I believe in giving everyone a fair chance.
But in this case, the evidence mounts. I have already caught this guy peering through a hedge into our bedroom while I was lying in bed one morning.
the art predator DOES NOT appreciate feeling like prey…this does not engage the soul…leaving me in search for a solution–but i’m still yours, on the prowl, the art predator
art predator 