Talk about a collision.

I use "mash-ups" to teach synthesis to my composition students. Usually, I just bring in an audio clip mash-up that is one song combined with another. But, yesterday I found this interesting video. Someone mashed SIX fairly popular songs and videos together. I was thoroughly impressed. The combination of the first and second song is genius, in my opinion. Trust me, you want to watch this.



(by the way, visit Mashuptown.com

Thaw

The snow is melting and becoming crispy ice.

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The rental cruiser is gone. My PT is so alone.

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Yes, we are still looking for a videographer.

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Are your fingers still crossed? I hope so.

Itself, Ecstatic!

Good news from POOL today. They are taking one of my "Itself" poems, so I'm very happy! I've been sending them out with no good response, for some time now. It was a SASE acceptance and I've never received one of those before... I was expecting to open the envelope to a rejection, and I was pleasantly surprised to see the opposite.

Snowed in... (some pictures)

The river has been frozen for weeks now. And the snow has spread itself out all over it. The deck looks like a white waffle fry and the bird-feeder is empty empty empty. If only I could muster the courage to run across the river and write my name in footprints.

And inside my little home there is a flower in full bloom. A pretty winter lady's slipper that is making me think of spring, and the tulips and crocuses stewing underground in the littlest garden in front of my house.

And if you are wondering where my ivy plant has moved for the winter, it is roosting politely in the kitchen, above my cabinets. I'm pleased with how well it is doing. Before I moved into this house, it was starting to wilt. But after I repotted him and moved him here, with all the windows, he is happy and green. And every day there is a new leaf sprouting. I'm going to have to repot him again this spring!

The field across the street

looks like this today:


































I usually hate snow. I usually hate the slippery driving that comes with all the white. I usually hate the cold toes and fingers. But today, I do not hate the snow. Today I am in love. Because the college at which I teach closed the campus today -- and tomorrow. I do not have to worry about the slickery roads or the cold cold hands. And the cherry on top of my snow sundae is the black black PT cruiser sitting in the driveway close to my purple PT cruiser. Nick's rental, until he gets a new car, is a 2007, black as licorice PT cruiser. Allow me to mention, my dream PT is shiny black. So for the next week or two, I can pretend she is mine. And tomorrow, when I wake up, I can look out the front window and see the cutest PTs huddling in the snow.

What book shakes you up?

I am looking to buy some new books of poetry. But while searching, I realized... It's really difficult to find a book that really has the ability to shatter me. When I find a book like that, it seems like something in me quakes and I just want to write and write. But it's been a little while since I've found such a book. The last book that really wowed me was Lark Apprentice by Louise Mathias. Before that it was Purr by Mary Ann Samyn. But since these books, I haven't read a book (for the first time) that rocks me the way these have. I wish Jeffrey Bean had a book now, because he is a new poet that is really doing something amazing.

I'm curious to know -- What book really changed you? What book opens you up as a writer and reader every time you read it? What book should I buy?

My Secret: I cry while I exercise.

I am battling the exercise demon.

I have begun a routine of three-four power yoga sessions a week. Let me just say, for the record, that yoga is not as easy as it looks... and Denise Austin is driving me insane. I own several yoga DVDs, my most recent purchases being Denise Austin's yoga dvd and Chris Freytag's Yoga for Dummies. I would recommend the latter if you've never done yoga before. Chris Freytag, though extremely buff, almost to the point of scaring me away from the workout for fear of exploding into a muscular blob, is very detailed and careful with her explanations. She tells you when and how to breathe, how to position yourself so you don't hurt yourself and all sorts of other good stuff. My problem with this DVD is, afterwards, I didn't feel like I worked out very hard.

The Denise Austin DVD is really great for twisting you into submission. I seriously cried while working out to her full-body program the first two times I did it. And the day after my very first workout with Denise, I was so sore I could barely walk. To top it off, when she talks, she makes me want to dropkick the TV. If I have to hear about my smiling face one more time while I am standing on one foot with the other wrapped around my head, I will go insane. And if she talks about her slim abs and beautiful, balanced body again, while I am teetering upside down trying to catch myself before I break my coffee table by falling on top of it, I am going to scream.

But now, it's been a week and I can tell I'm more flexible, and I don't hurt when I workout anymore.

So, why, you might ask, am I writing this entry? Because Denise promised me results in three weeks time. It has now been a week and four days and I have had negative results... In fact, I've gained two pounds since I started the workout regime.

Someone point me in the direction of a good workout that will help me trim down about ten pounds before June. Please.

Silver lining.

I was having a such a bad day and then I found out that Cimarron Review is accepting one of my poems for a future issue. I'm quite excited about that.

Poetry Blues

I find myself being let down by contemporary poetry lately.

I don't consider myself an "experimental" poet or even a "language" poet... but lately, I am starting to feel as though I am way out in left field with my writing and it has made me slightly frustrated.

I find that most of my success is with the poems that I wrote long ago that have a more narrative bend. Granted, I would still say that they do not quite follow a firm narrative by any stretch of the imagination, but they are much more grounded in reason and logic than say, my "Itself" poems which explore language a little more while still maintaining a lyricism that satisfies me. It makes me question my choices lately.

It seems to me that journals are leaning too hard into traditionalist poetry -- some even seem to have gone backwards, including poems that are almost archaic. I believe that these poems belong in this world and should be written and read, but it is all I am seeing anymore. They seem to be founded so much on "conversation" and "readability."

Just something I've been thinking about lately.

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In non-poetry news, Nicholas was in a car accident the other day. Thankfully he is alright. No one was injured and he doesn't have a single bit of pain.