December Dreaming

For some, December is a time to throw themselves into a shopping frenzy, into a whirlwind of material excess and into consumerist greed and superficiality. Others, however, prefer to savor the long and quiet nights for more inward-directed pursuits.

Many stories and poems celebrate the season around the Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanza with insight and imagination.

Reading by electric- or maybe even candlelight can nourish the soul and uplift the spirit in ways that nothing else can.

In the true spirit of the season we present two poems, one by Rainer Maria Rilke (4 December 1875-29 December 1926), one of the greatest and beloved 20th century poets writing in the German language. The other one is by contemporary poet Ana Elsner.

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Advent

Es treibt der Wind im Winterwalde
Die Flockenherde wie ein Hirt,
Und manche Tanne ahnt, wie balde
Sie fromm und lichterheilig wird,
Und lauscht hinaus. Den weißen Wegen
Streckt sie die Zweige hin - bereit,
Und wehrt dem Wind und wächst entgegen
Der einen Nacht der Herrlichkeit.

-Rainer Maria Rilke


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SNOWFLAKE


a single stray snowflake

gets tangled up in a song

and hitches a ride on the melody

for five beats, maybe six

until it gives itself up to the rainbow

that bridges the gap

of what we feel


© Ana Elsner, 2007
from 'Ciphers Of Uncommon Origin - Poems By Ana Elsner'
used by permission

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Add Me

Spotlight on

C h u m b a w a m b a




Chumbawamba is an English band, formed in 1982, that started out in Yorkshire playing punk rock and went on to play music in a wide range of styles. Over their 25-year career they have gained world-wide notoriety. Their varied repertoire includes songs influenced by dance music and world music, but mainly populist, topical agitprop.
Through the years and through their many transformations they always maintained their signature undercurrent of rebellion and anarchism, comming from the 'Devil's Advocate' point of view.

Chumbawamba's watchword is still: change. Keep moving, keep growing. It's how the band carry on enjoying themselves, and it's how the band carry on asking questions of their audience, themselves and the world at large.

Nowadays their output is "an amalgam of pop, folk, acapella, politics, humour, four-part harmony and five-part anger."

Add Me

I'm a loner alone with neurosis and hate
Anger is a permanent character trait
My letter bombs are primed and they're ready to send
Would you like to add me as a friend?

I'm a wound-up whiner with a fetish for guns
I'm almost fifty and I live with my mom
I hope my nude picture doesn't offend
Would you like to add me as a friend?

Chorus:
Add me, add me,
Me mother says she wish she never had me
Add me, add me,
Would you like to add me as a friend?
Would you like to add me as a friend?

I'm a recovering alcoholic; I rarely leave my room,
Peeping through the curtains in my dark costume,
The voices in my head gonna get me in the end
Would you like to add me as a friend?

I really like to mail you the picture that I drew,
It's Kylie's body, but the head is you
I've asked you fifty times before I'm asking you again
Would you like to add me as a friend?

Chorus

Here's a picture of me in my Nazi uniform
Doing a trick with an egg that I like to perform
At a monster truck rally that my mom and me attend
Would you like to add me as a friend?

I've added Britney, and Paris, and you and Tom,
I'm gonna find your address so I can visit you at home,
I don't like people, but I like to pretend
Would you like to add me as a friend?

Chorus

© 2007 Chumbawamba

ADD ME is their most recently completed song.



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Lawrence Ferlinghetti at 88

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By The Commentator

Lawrence Ferlinghetti (born 1919 in Yonkers, New York), is a prominent and internationally renowned American poet, artist, publisher and recipient of various honors and awards.

After earing a master's degree from Columbia University and studying in Paris at the Sorbonne, Ferlinghetti followed the urging of fellow American poet Kenneth Rexroth (1905-1982) to go to San Francisco, one of the strongholds of the burgeoning counter-culture dubbed 'The Beat Generation'. Shortly after his arrival, Ferlinghetti started a bookstore and publishing house in 1953, named after the Charlie Chaplin film, City Lights, and specializing in poetry. Its most famous publication was 'Howl', the controversial and legendary book by Allen Ginsberg.




The "Beats" were a loosely defined group of young and struggling American writers, students, anti-conformists, bohemians, hustlers, and drug addicts who emerged in the late 1950 - early 1960s and spawned such groundbreaking novels as Jack Kerouac's 'On the Road' (1957) and William S. Burroughs's 'Naked Lunch' (1959).
Ironically, these works, formerly labelled as 'progressive and provocative', have now become pseudo-classics, time-stamped, stereotyped and pidgeonholed.

While most of his notorious compatriots have come and gone, Ferlinghetti has weathered the changing times and tides with remarkable resilience. Over the years he smoothly transitioned from pacifist, to anarchist, to teacher, to businessman, to Poet Laureate, to feted celebrity - all in a life's work.

Ferlinghetti is the author of more than thirty books of poetry and eight plays as well as fiction, art criticism, and essays. His poems are simple and speak plainly.




Settled down in the tranquil and beautiful surroundings of the Marin County seashore and somewhat reclusive, Ferlinghetti, now 88, still continues to paint, exhibit and sell his artwork. He can be spotted at his art show openings as well as at the occasional literary event here and abroad.


"It seemed to me
all you have to do
is conceive of the whole world
and all humanity
as a kind of artwork,"

Lawrence Ferlinghetti,
'Instructions to Painters and Poets'

Watch a 7 minute film clip of the KQED documentary interview of Ferlinghetti in his studio

See also: Lawrence Ferlinghetti about the poet Ana Elsner

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Ana Elsner pays tribute to the Oboe

OBOE

The unhurried echo

of an oboe,

attuned femaleness

of sound,

contains me.


Chromosomes of Woman,

bestowed on me

in my wombed beginning,

make me

a sounding reed,

like the oboe.


Chromosomes of Woman,

my manifest prerogative,

make me

subject to no restrictions

of scale.


Like the oboe

I am the unhurried echo

of female sovereignty

trailing

the wind.


© Ana Elsner

From 'CIPHERS OF UNCOMMON ORIGIN -Poems by Ana Elsner'.

Reprinted by permission

Read other poems by Ana Elsner

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Ana Elsner speaks about The Arts

In a recent interview about the arts,
poet Ana Elsner said,



"It seems to be part of human nature to be single-minded. Art lovers go to exhibitions, music lovers go to concerts and poetry lovers go to readings. There is not enough cross-traffic.

I wanted to change that, if only for one night. So I choreographed a dialogue between a musical instrument and my poetry. I chose the oboe as my preferred partner and was most grateful when principal oboist Laura Griffiths of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra agreed to participate.

It was very exciting to design a program where my poems alternate with the oboe, in order to demonstrate the connection between the two. I called this project "The Sounding Reed", with a double meaning of (a) the actual reed of the instrument and (b) the 'reeds' of the human vocal chords. My concept was very well received by Robert Carlson of the San Francisco Public Library. He hosted it on June 12, 2007.

Having set the stage, I read in front of a combined audience of both music and poetry lovers and thereby made this cross-traffic happen. The evening was a big success and garnered excellent reviews."

Click to see Ana Elsner's event listing at The Academy of American Poets

--- See also: Ana Elsner's German Language Poems

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"Without poets, without artists, men would soon weary of nature's monotony. The sublime idea men have of the universe would collapse with dizzying speed... There would be no seasons, no civilization, no thought, no humanity...,"

Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) was a poet, writer, and art critic. The foremost French poet of the early 20th century, he is credited with coining the word surrealism and writing one of the earliest works described as surrealist, the play Les Mamelles de Tirsias (1917).

Related topic: Why Poetry?

Applause for the Oboe

When asked about her favorite musical instrument, poet and classical music aficionado Ana Elsner said,



"Without a doubt, the instrument that speaks to me most is the oboe. Although sometimes overshadowed by other woodwinds, not to mention the testosterone-laden brass, I perceive the oboe as being a full-bodied female voice. Perhaps this is due to its mezzo-soprano to soprano range. In fact, I have written a poem titled 'Oboe' which defines how I feel about it."



Later on in the conversation, Ana Elsner added,

"My favorite oboist, these days, is Ms. Laura Griffiths of the San Francisco Opera and Ballet Orchestra. Her lyrical tone quality and masterful vibrato distinguish her among the woodwinds, indeed, among the entire orchestra. Her soli simply shine. It is a treat to hear her play."

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When? On June 6, 2007

Author and wordsmith Ana Elsner

is the Featured Poet

on Wednesday, June 6, 2007 at 7p.m.

at Sacred Grounds, 2095 Hayes Street, San Francisco.

(If you need more information please call the host

at 415-346-0347)

Ana Elsner will read from her most recent work in this convivial coffeehouse setting.

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[See also The power of poetry]


[Ana Elsner speaks Words that are Poems]

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HAIKU versus MOKU

'Moku' is a brand-new term in the world of poetry. This term was first coined by poet and writer Ana Elsner.

'Moku' is short for 'Modified haiku'. It was originally used to describe Elsner's own characteristic 3 liners which are based on haiku but do not conform to the traditional 17 syllable format.

Contemporary poet Ana Elsner further breaks with haiku tradition in that her imagery is not necessarily based on nature. Instead, her Moku often treat with urban situations, or shine the spotlight on a specific character or state-of-mind.

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MOKU NUMBER TEN


this baleful time of keening

ghostly alchemy of our deferred grief

glaciers weep


© Ana Elsner

(reprinted by permission)

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Read another Moku

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The Power of Poetry

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"Let us remember ... that in the end we go to poetry for one reason, so that we might more fully inhabit our lives and the world in which we live them, and that if we more fully inhabit these things, we might be less apt to destroy both."

- Christian Wiman, poet, essayist and editor

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[See also: The Power of Art]

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Autumn descends

: : Lyn Lifshin captures the Season in Words : :

Mid November

When the black ducks come,
Winter opens, a kick pleat
in darkness

Eyelash fringe of ferns on shore.
Late fall thunder
after a long
Indian summer.

Branches creak. A muskrat slithers into
the pond, a stone the tide covers
in the glow of a stranger's
flashlight.

[Another poet: George Tsongas]

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Hola a todos, bienvenidos a: 'AMALGAMATED PERSPECTIVES Espacio de la Poesía'

NO ES MÁS
por selva oscura...

de Eliseo Julio de Jesús de Diego Fernández (1920-1994)

Un poema no es más
que una conversación en la penumbra
del horno viejo, cuando ya
todos se han ido, y cruje
afuera el hondo bosque; un poema

no es más que unas palabras
que uno ha querido, y cambian
de sitio con el tiempo, y ya
no son más que una mancha, una esperanza indecible;

un poema no es más
que la felicidad, que una conversación
en la penumbra, que todo
cuanto se ha ido, y ya
es silencio.

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[See also: Poet George Tsongas]
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