20.4.10

Poem 51

When they talk their voices
Sound like those attending
To flights about to embark
Rise with all its bulk
Its faulty hull high above the 
Chaos below.

We find comfort in the newscaster’s voice
Steady as she breaks it to all of us
that planes are trying to stay afloat &
Out of plumes of volcanic ash a
cumulus thunderhead from angry Vikings
That will freeze jet engines 
From fire to ice in a split second
Iceland has frozen Europe’s arteries &
Will continue to push forth around the Earth’s
Circumference with its Dragon’s mouth wide open.
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Recommendations

  • GO to: Paris. New York. Montreal. London. Tokyo. Amsterdam. Berlin. A blue collar bar. A cafe. Martini Bar. A Rainforest. A Desert. The Prairies. The Metro. A neglected cemetary. A casino. A used bookstore. A whaling town. Art Galleries. Readings. Walk for the sake of it. Go with a dog.
  • Try anything once but don't jump on a bandwagon. Smoke if you want to. Exercise. Sleep with your window slightly opened. Mingle with strangers, spend as much times as possible with dogs. Be tender and tread lightly. Look around as if it is your first day on earth. Or your last.
  • Read Moby Dick to learn to look below the surface. Read Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man because once you find out who you are, you will be free. Read Nabokov's Lolita to feel uncomfortable. Read Kafka to experience, Chekov to witness(& for a lesson in short story writing) Cormac McCarthy and Joyce to ditch the annoying quotations, Pico Iyer to taste places. Try Chuck Palhaniuk to laugh while squirming, Aimee Bender to dance by her notes of imagination, pick up poetry by Atwood, Billy Collins, Anne Sexton, ee cummings, pablo neruda. Pick up a poet each day, they need a ride in your mind.
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  • View the artist Takashi Murakami because he will blow your mind and start your engines. He is electric.
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