Poetry Reading

Tomorrow evening I’ll be reading my poetry along with three other poets — it would be great if you could join us.
November 12, 2013
Poetry at The Good Shepherd Center
Belle Randall, Bethany Reid, Michael Spence, and Richard Wakefield
Tuesday, November 12, 7 p.m.
Room 202, The Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Avenue North, Seattle
Telephone: David, 206-633-2729
E-mail: David, rosealleypress@juno.com
David Horowitz and Rose Alley Press published the poetry of one of my professors, William Dunlop (1936-2005), at the University of Washington. Click on the link to go to a tribute site, and his poem, “Landscape as Werewolf.”

Change One Thing

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The best advice I’ve ever been given for getting unstuck is not specific. Whatever it is you have been doing, you have to change one thing. It truly doesn’t matter what you change. If you’re right-handed, try brushing your teeth with your left hand. Do it for a week. Just as an experiment. You’ll experience other shifts as well. There’s something psychological that goes on, something at the level of the synapses.

I’ve known this for some years. I learned it while parenting toddlers. (I remember someone defining insanity for me, back then, as “Doing the exact same thing and expecting different results.” That could also, of course, define parenting toddlers — insanity, I mean.) I learned this lesson again when I was team-teaching a psychology/ college composition class. But there’s a difference between knowing a thing and practicing it.

My friend Liz asked me this morning how the time off is going. “Good but not as good as I’d like,” I told her. “I keep over-scheduling myself and spending time doing everything but writing.”

Liz is my mom’s age, and she is very wise. She looked thoughtful for a moment, and then she told me that when she is trying to get something done, when it really matters that she get it done, she writes it on her calendar. “Actually write it down,” she advised. “Write ‘8-12 writing’ on your calendar. Then when someone asks you to do anything, say, ‘Let me check my calendar.'” She patted me on the shoulder. “Give it a try,” she said.

I think I’ve just found my one thing.

 

 

Poets and Writers for Peace

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If you happen to be in Bellingham today, don’t forget the Poets and Writers for Peace event at St. James Presbyterian Church. See my “Upcoming Events” page for more information.

Here’s a poem from my friend, Carla Shafer, who organized this event.

 

If Words Were Bones

If words were bones
we would be wisdom
walking through time
down plazas knowing
pathways up mountains.
In groups, we would be
cooperation–all bones
dancing the circle,
wisely. Insight and
understanding our meter
and rhythm. Knowing by being,
would lead to perfect action
in such quiet, that the twinkling
of the stars would rattle
in our ears. A handshake–
between these bones
would silence argument.

      -Carla Shafer

“If we all wanted peace as much as we want a new television, we would have peace.” -John Lennon

Whine, whine, whine…

image from fadingmarginsofdani.blogspot.com

I am in a whiny mood and having trouble concentrating on my work. Poor me! Then I remembered something from Jacob Glass.

“In Beverly Hills, right now” (he speaks with a curious emphasis, an urgency that falls on key words), “there are people bitterly complaining because they just got home from Paris, and now they have to pack for Hawaii!

Last year I complained because I was teaching full-time. This year I am having to root around in the attic of my brain and find new reasons to complain. But, really, Bethany? Just do your work.