Poetry Phrase O' Teh Day

Jane Kenyon's  "strong  

unforgettable attar of mouse."

Pale Blue Dot

Can't see it? Well, see that brownish band on the far right? It's about half way down, looks like a speck of dust, really.
Voyager I took that picture at Carl Sagan's request just before it left the solar system.
What he had to say about it was pretty good. Thanks, MetaFilter.

Helluva Poem Today

They don't come along all that often, so it's worth noting when one does.

Oh, body, be held now by whom you love. Whole years will be spent, underneath these impossible stars, when dirt's the only animal who will sleep with you & touch you with its mouth.

The Dowager

Someone has Photoshopped a wonderful picture of the Dowager Countess to accompany a pretty fun — and short — piece on how Battlestar Galactica is like Downton Abbey. And, by extension, all stories are the same stories, a concept I first acquired when I read Robert Graves' The White Goddess and a principle I hold to this day, one of the reasons I'm really sick of fiction.
Anyway, I'm sorry they locked up that picture so I can't steal it. You will have to click the link.


“First electricity. And then telephones. I feel as if I were living in an H G Wells novel.”
The Dowager Countess Violet Crawley

One Of Those Moods

A Facebook friend alerts me to this charming analysis of Barack Obama's youthful literary efforts. It seemed to set off some sort of red alert in my brain, no telling why, so here's my rantful reply:

First the girlfriend, but it wasn't juicy enough and didn't stick. Now, a couple of old grafs on T.S. Eliot. I used to be in the news business, and I've done some scraping of the barrel myself, but this is just hilarious. I couldn't help putting myself in the place of the poor hapless reporter having to fill some white space. Just a few quick calls, give me 15 inches, honey. Feeding the beast, it's called. Of course the winners in all this are the poetry profs, who probably haven't seen themselves quoted outside an obscure academic journal for, oh, like never. I bet they each saved a clip. And poor Bill Kristol, he wasn't fast enough on his feet there. A huge opportunity to bash Obama for signs of early socialism and what happens, some lit prof from Podunk U. scores the goal. Jeebus. You can't make this stuff up. Thanks, Jean. Six more months of this kind of thing. Bring 'er on! (I'm also thinking Wag the Dog and Primary Colors, the satire just writes itself.)