Archive for February, 2010

February 24, 2010

It seems

by jhon baker

Normally I write a new poem and I submit it around and hold it. Most poetry here is a few years old. This one is not – this one is right now. Also this one has some precedent in my work as I am rarely moved enough to write about something political that can also become so charged. But, here it is…

It seems (prisoners of consciousness)
    for Orlando Zapata and Fidel Castro

F. Castro is 
doing well
it seems
Cuban dissidents are
still dying
in prisons
it seems
R. Castro blames others
for the blood but not
his blood
it seems
all the while we
mostly remain silent
it seems

– I wrote this

I wanted this out now, right now. I don’t even know how finished it is. I wanted it out now.

February 24, 2010

As a reminder

by jhon baker

Yesterdays poem or entry, what have you was this link – Click here now –  and I hope that everyone has had a chance to read it. I’ll repost it here once it is no longer new on the Rejection Digest page, But anyway, here is one aptly titled ‘poem’.
so, there you are.

poem

There’s a sense of length
that comes with every job;
          (they tell me I’m crazy, that
          I have no ethnicity;
          I long to be Jewish or Black
          knowing the absurdity of it,
          like when you pretend I can hear
          you when you stand that far away.
          I’m all right with that.
          I’m all right with my overwhelming
          Caucasian complexion from the
          Welsh/French heredity.
          I’m all right with being crazy
          and having no ethnicity if that’s
          where it is)
the job pays enough and has no sense of
balance. The other parts of life suffer.
but,
Lunch is still an important meal
and I have no qualms with it.

– I wrote this

I’d type more but cannot use my index finger so typing is off a bit and more difficult than longhand for me, which, while not being legible will have to do for now.

by the way, comments are welcome. Just click the word comments below for a pop-up.

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February 23, 2010

Rejection Digest

by jhon baker

Rejection digest, my new favorite web site as it has published the stunningly brilliant poem “I sketch umbrellas to remind or Juan Grande Pecador”

Click the title NOW!! I am going to lay out on my couch and recover from a table saw incident and a strange visit to my doctor.

– Me

February 22, 2010

death in the afternoon

by jhon baker

There has been a death. Our second hamster gave up the wheel and parades now in hamster wherever.

This has nothing to do with that like so many things in life.
If I locate it I will put out my translation of “Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejias” which, as you may know, was Written by Federico Garcia Lorca and where the title of this post comes from. Great poem with a lot of poor translations out there. You need to be a poet to create a good translation of a poem. It is more than trying to stay true to the meter and words – you need to stay true to the lyricism as well – even more importantly you need to convey the emotion of such a poem which most out there do not.
I love to translate poetry like the first stanza of a poem that is to be published this week – link forthcoming. Translation is harder for me as I only speak my own language well and just dabble in others all while Spanish speaking poets tend to be my favorites.



the whole of earth

the whole of earth is
beautiful and I carry
a broken watch,
waiting for it to move.

the whole of earth is
beautiful though
we still drop bombs
on weddings and taxi drivers.

the whole of earth is
beautiful;
I am holy in it.

I keep impoverished in
my pockets.

the whole of earth is
beautiful and
I remember when I first
got laid.

               the whole of
earth is beautiful, we
watch home movies to remind.

the whole of earth is
beautiful regardless
of telephone poles,
regardless of
pornographic billboards.

the whole of earth is
beautiful, hearing
children play in the streets.

the whole of earth is
beautiful,
never to spite that which
vainly tries to
take its beauty.

– I wrote this