Tropical Storm Irene

This weekend tropical storm Irene hit New York City; in preparation, the mayor issued an evacuation order for low-lying areas and shut down the subways. For a recap of how the hurricane affected us here in the Bronx, check out my dad's continual iReport video coverage: 

When We Were Mountain Slopes

Yesterday I introduced you to Anne Waldman. Today, I've tried my hand at a similar style, relying on language to move the poem along and take it to its conclusion:

When We Were Mountain Slopes

I am

I amuse

I assume

I amass vast

            Collections of stuff

            Stuffed animals (blue bear, polar bear, puppet dragon, dragon that belonged to brother, TAC which is not a cat, Wollip which is a pillow…pet. Penguin, 10stitchesandthelistgoeson)

I go on

I go on to bigger things

I go on to smaller things

I go on top of you

Some of the time

We go on top of each other

            Through each other between each other inside each other

On the subways or

Times Square or rubble heap of World Trade Center

It will go on, on and up

We hold each other up

We prop each other up

We whisper each other up

In the waning night

I wean

I war

Whittle words

            Down to bare bones meanings

            Mean is average (if I am the mean then you are the mode, and our happiness is the median our lives are an exponential line rise, the sudden influx in shoppers at Christmas)

I live for Christmas

I live for Christ

I am Christina and I contain Christ

We contain Christ together

We bleed and ache together

I ache alone

Some of the time

We breathe on each other

            Through each other between each other inside each other

In Starbucks or through pixel

webcam screens or blackness or whiteness or multi-color

I multi-color

I color code

We color each other

Each other’s lives just by existing

I am we are I am we are I am we are

I am we are going up and up and on and on and up and on but what about

What about falling?

Song of the Day

Instead of posting an actual song today, I'm going to post a link to the poetic chant "Fast Speaking Woman" by Anne Waldman. This is only an excerpt. When I read the long-form of the poem, I enjoyed the way she took a concept and continually built on it by deviating from it and then returning to it in a cyclical path. I also really admired how she went from one sentence to another by building on word sounds, using language as a means of progression and discovery. 



There are two other poems by Anne Waldman that I really like, but I can't find them on Youtube so I'm just going to type up the text here. The first is actually part two of a three-piece poem, "A Book of Events": 
 
In Her Lament 
spin
spin
the saint is a woman scorned
wash your hair
your skirts
scent your hands with myrrh 
say you will never die of love
spin
spin


-----

The second is a little bit longer, but has such a great rhythm:

GYPSY NUN
after Lorca

She wants to be weaving
imaginary flores: 
magnolia
sunflower
saffron
moonflower
all these for
the end of time
In a nearby kitchen
5 yellow grapefruit 
ripen
5 wounds of Christ
She doesn't cackle
she gives up her pain
- something outside -
distant - ho -
where did her youth
her sex go?
What reminds her of what?
A white dress loosens
Her heart of herbs, sugar,
of spice
isn't broken
Longitudinal pain recedes
further back
20 suns above blink on, off
on, off


She reverts tension to 
flowers, horizontal
light playing 
a game over her window
blind


magnolia
sunflower
saffron
moonflower
on, off
on
on
 

On Making Choices

balancing on the cusp of a revelation

a fly hovering just above a Venus trap

scared and too cautious, i will never know

about life after death

First Day Jitters

Over the summer, I've been working part-time as a Publishing Assistant for The CPA Journal, a technical journal with in-depth articles aimed at certified public accountants (CPA). The journal is run by the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA). Today I begin working full-time for NYSSCPA: part-time for the journal and part time as an Associate Editor of the NYSSCPA newspaper, The Trusted Professional, and e-newsletter, The Tax Stringer. Technical terms aside, it's my first real day today, and time to actually start a real job. I've put this off as long as I possibly can, but now I can't hide from it any more. Wish me luck!

When Comics and Music Collide

Check out my article out in amNewYork today about some musicians, such as singer/songwriter Will Knox, who are branching out into comics:

up close, the magnitude of action becomes realized

hanging between doorframe

and curtain rod, spider snaps

at looming hands and weaves

silk threads into snowflake

God Is An Astronaut Article

Here's an article I wrote for amNewYork newspaper!

Commu(nica)ting

Twenty minutes. Still no train.
Brother walks into the station.
Begins a book he's read five times.

Finally a whoosh and a whir. 
Train pulls up. We step in.
He lets me go first to grab a seat. 

Express and we skip stops. 
He doesn't acknowledge me.
But lets me lean on his shoulder.

And I guess that's more than enough.