Christmas Card 2008

Merry Christmas! I created this audio Christmas card as a gift for my family, friends, coworkers, church family and loyal readers and listeners. Thank you so much for being part of my life this year!

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Father and Son

My father listened to Reading My Book Aloud 002 last week, and commented that while his poetry is self-explanatory, I tend to explain my poems. That was an intriguing observation, and I’ve been thinking about it all week. I’ve come up with a couple of, um, explanations.

1. I write to organize/categorize/energize/exorcise my emotions. I feel that my father already has his feelings organized when he sits down to write.
2. My father writes poems about things he already knows, values he believes in. My poems help me understand things that I didn’t understand before. As I explain my creative process to myself and to my readers/listeners, I learn more about myself and more about writing poetry.
3. My father writes poems to help people understand important things more clearly. My poems are not about explaining to brains; my poems are an attempt to transmit my feelings directly to the reader/listener. (You know those moments in songs when you recognize the emotion the musician is describing, because you had that exact feeling once? Or those moments in movies when you immediately recognize the situation or the conflict, from your own personal experience?) I try to transmit my feelings via the textures and interactions of the words I choose.

I’m speaking for my father here, and I hope I’m understanding his writing motivations correctly. Kind of pretentious of me, ain’t it? But I think our different ways of writing are fascinating!

Geek Relieved

Geek alone with his self after all
the pyrotechnics have ceased.

Geek greatly relieved
that the out-of-control wonderful
has faded away.

Geek’s fingers more comfortable
skimming across his keyboard
than lighting the fuses of fireworks.

Geek more comfortable surrounded
by his ‘nology
and by all his virtual.

This was a weird one . . . I had all the stanzas written, but it was difficult  to decide what order to put them into. Because this poem is about a single moment, I guess the order of the stanzas doesn’t really matter. Maybe all four stanzas happen at once. If I perform this poem in front of people, maybe I should change up the order every time.

Flower Girl

I knew you
when you
were still a dirt-drowned seed,
drinking puddles from underneath.

I knew you,
I was there
the day you split open,
vegetable growth rupturing out of you
like a slow-motion explosion of green.
You were this tendrily thing,
clinging to the walls like a dear life.

Then I blinked,
and you had flowered
into brightness and light,
like small sunshine
growing in the sky.
And all my friends wondered
who you had been all their lives.
Nobody remembered your days of
dirty rainwater and rain-soaked dirt.
But you remembered,
and you couldn’t believe
yourself.

So you wilted,
like falling down stairs
Part of you died,
and part of you didn’t.
The part that didn’t
is now
dirt-drowned seed,
drinking puddles from underneath.

• These lyrics from The Guess Who’s “Undone” seem to fit this poem:
  It’s too late
  She’s gone too far
  She’s lost the sun
  She’s come undone

This Is Just to Say

As I was doing a wash today, I thought of a way to parody William Carlos Williams’ poem, This Is Just to Say.

I am wearing
the socks
that were in
the dryer

and which
you were probably
going to wear
today

Forgive me
they are clean
so fuzzy
and so warm

Ancient Apple Tree on The Drabblecast!

This 100-word story of mine called “Ancient Apple Tree” is on a flash fiction podcast called The Drabblecast, alongside a story by sci fi author Mike Resnick! Yay!

Listen here.

When the old robot died, the people did not notice. It died suddenly, the middle of the orchard, its power cells shrieking for a few seconds before its spider-like legs collapsed. The people did not notice when the old robot died, but the robots did. They converged on the spot at dusk, all forty-seven of them, scurrying around on their eight limbs, examining the body, asking questions, remembering. The old robot, they knew, had been the last of the original robots from the colony ship. The old robot had planted the ancient apple tree now dripping blossoms over its body.

The Bottom of My Heart

I want to wish you a Merry Christmas
from the bottom of my heart,
I really do,
but it’s just not possible right now.
The doctors are still trying to figure out
what’s going on with the bottom of my heart.
They’re spouting medical gibberish, like
“it’s a black hole” and “it swallows light” and “there’s no end in sight.”
So, instead, I warmly wish you
a very Merry Christmas
from the top of my heart.

Fallback

I have failed, I have sinned,
and this is my fallback position.
I’ve got my back against a wall,
but it’s a solid wall,
my favourite wall in the whole wide world.
My wall is wallpapered with favourite photographs,
inspiring poems,
challenging Bible verses
and the occasional amusing doodle.
I think I’ll just sit here for a while, planning for the future.

Reading My Book Aloud 002

Here are the next five poems from my poetry book, desiring to touch sky. The themes of these particular poems seem to be friendship and vulnerability.

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6. The Troubadour’s Quarry Speaks
7. Uncommon Senses
8. How Can I Help?
9. Horizon
10. Difficult Letter

Yondercast 025 - Here We Go!

Listen here . . .

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On this episode . . .

• Guest Poet: Rob the Honourable Box Cutter wrote an amazing two-voice poem!
• Promo: Geek Cred
  (Host Steve Riekeberg just interviewed tech guru Leo Laporte on Geek Cred Episode #28!)
• Poem: Can of Worms
• Story: the true story of my first crush. *blushes*

The inspiring storytelling podcasts I mentioned . . .

• Story Salon
  
• The Moth Podcast

The music and the artists . . .

• The allegro from Bach’s “BWV 1001″ was played by Lara St. John. Provided by Magnatune.
• “Close Them Out” was performed by Brookhaven. Provided by the Podsafe Music Network.
• “Sunshine with the Shade” was performed by one of my favourite podsafe bands, The Reverse Engineers. Provided by the Podsafe Music Network.