Ramblings of an EdMan

You are here: Home / Archives for Weekly Blog Themes / Port Veritas Poetry Tuesday

Triumph of Achilles

by Leave a Comment

Email, RSS Follow

Flew through Louise Gluck’s 4th book of poetry: “The Triumph of Achilles” tonight.

Great stuff. Also loved her book “Ararat” earlier this year that touched my heart in a time of grieving.

Checked out her book/compendium: “The First Four Books of Poetry” and loved her 4th book. Amazing to see the changes in 17 years of a great poet from 1968 to 1985.

One paragraph of her poem “Legend” explains why I like Gluck so much:

“Though the great soul is said to be
a star, a beacon,
what it resembles better is a diamond:
in the whole world there is nothing
hard enough to change it.”

We are all our best selves. We just have to find the hard diamond within that drives us. And not worry so much about the other places where we could be better. As my friend and poet Wil Gibson says: “We are all unanswered prayers.”

Math Skills

by 2 Comments

Email, RSS Follow

Tonight was the Portland, Maine Indy Slam Finals to qualify for the International Individual Poetry Slam champion. Ryan McLellan won.

When I got that Sarah Olney who is usually the mistress of math said we wanted a week off which I can respect. So today I did the math dance.

It’s funny you wouldn’t think adding up 9.5, 9.6 and 9.7 is hard, but when it matters to someone and it’s a competition you get a lot more nervous. By the way that’s 28.8.

I have always had mad math skills. Was great at artimatic. Even did ECLC when I was in Ohio which was self paced so already did the 2nd grade book before I transferred to Montgomery, NJ/Burnt Hill Road school. I think I may have done the book again which I think was awkward and insanely easy. In 3rd grade I was awesome at the multiplication tables and always got a reputation of being good at math. Which of course my parents encouraged.

Was fun to do the math dance, I was accurate (there is a 2nd person double checking scores), but when it’s something harder then 9, 9.1 and 9.2 (ie 27.3), I still like to double check with a calculator these days.

I don’t think my math skills are any weaker. I am just more humble these days.

And the poetry tonight was amazing. Zanne Langlois deserved the only 30 for the night, and Lulu Hawkes is showing great promise developing at finishing tied for 3rd with Zanne. Wil Gibson was 2nd and Ryan McLellan was 1st. I love Port Veritas, love slam poetry and do love Local Sprouts too.

And of course Kayla Wheeler, Tina Smith, Sarah Lynn Herklots and Heidi Therrien who also competed in the slam tonight.

Embracing the Geek

by 4 Comments

Email, RSS Follow

Poem I started for the Nerd Slam I was too tired for on Sunday

——————————

I am a geek
a nerd
Eddie Einstein
Mad Scientist at 3
Freezing random things.
Random stuff in the kitchen, like Windex.

Huge glasses.
Patch on the right eye to make the left ambloypic eye work.
Feeling the outsider
Feeling weird.
Feeling different.

Shy, afraid
Fearing rejection

Didn’t believe when girls liked me in HS.
Plenty flirted with me.
Follow them on Facebook, they are amazing.

20 years later.
I embrace the nerd.
I love the geek.
I have learned to love my friends
and ignore my enemies.

To love who I am
not who I am supposed to be

I still fear rejection
I still worry about not being in control.

But, I have a partner
A fellow geek
Who can I lay next to and just read together.

I have friends
who embrace my geekiness.
I have Twitter followers, who choose to stay with me.

I have a blog ed2d2.com to post my ramblings.

That lets me be a fan.
Of music, food, and most especially books.

Life is good.
It gets better.
It’s not just true for gays,
it also true for geeks,
And of course gay geeks.

Embrace the geek
Love the self
Become the dork you are meant to be.
Open up and let us love you.

The poet

by Leave a Comment

Email, RSS Follow

The poet
watches, sees, listens, observes.

As people
Eat, mingle, talk, look down, drive.

Takes information in differently.
Sees the beauty in an old car, seagulls, pigeons, trees, rain.

Sees the sadness.
Takes it in.

Listens to the self.
Takes it in.

Knows there is always more out there.
But sometimes what it really takes to see it is the silence.

Not all conversations come from talking.
A lot of the deepest thoughts come from listening.
To your heart, nature, the world, your mind, your madness.

Sees the madness.
Comments on the madness.
Is sometimes part of the madness.

And also knows to observe, to read, to watch
To pick up cadences, to steal them.
To pick up styles, to use them.
To pick up his/her own way of seeing and develop of voice.

My poetry voyage is still young.
I am curious where it takes me.

I love slam.
Love the Portland, Maine community.
Love the support.
Love buying chatbooks.
And still discovering, always discovering.

So far this year discoveries include Philip Levine’s “What Work Is”
Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s “A Coney Island of the Mind,”
Carl Sandburg’s “Chicago Poems.” All entirely different.

Being both awed by and sometimes find repetitive Bukowski.
And listening, always listening.

For listening helps you bring the words.
And the words bring performance.

So listen, it’s harder than it sounds sometimes.
Do it anyway.
Or just find a silent place and write.

For me the woods bring good haiku.