Tom Hendricks's Blog (439)

Piccola

(Musea version of a poem by Celia Thaxter. Note it was the custom for St. Nick to leave a present in the child's shoe. Piccola = pick-o-la)

Poor Mother, poor Father, house maid and share cropper

and both pockets empty, except for due bills.

What can they get their little girl for Christmas.

"Piccola! Piccola! Love of my life!"

Father wrings hands and mother cries.

The bells ring carols as the family walks to church.

A snowflake falls on Piccola's…

The answer to, and winner (if any) for, our last contest question of:

Look up starving artist in a dictionary, and you'll likely see a picture of Vincent Van Gogh. During his painting decade - he only painted for about 10 years tops (1880's) - he had little money, and all that came from his brother Theo (though for the life of me, I don't get it - Theo worked in a GALLERY and never got his Brother's work SHOWN IN THE GALLERY!) Well I divulge. Let's continue. There was one thing that…

Here’s the fourth group of Quatros

Thick ice

thaws slowly

Great doubts,

deep wisdom.

Muddy water,

hidden stones.

Heaven doesn’t

fear evil.

Dark evil?

Wear white.

My life,

dew drop.

Revenge sip,

compassion gulp.

Poor

even in dreams.

Foolish butterfly

fears snow.

Before principles

comes courage.

Pray alone,

true stories.

Tossed

over the wall.

Be…

Poems written in late November 2012

Comments welcome. [poem notes in brackets like this]

POEMS

1. [(Quatro]

I've upset

the dust!

2. [Kafka-esque with hope]

Step by step

these woods get darker ...

the Moon is somewhere ...

3. [Surreal Plus]

My clock ticks

but doesn't dream.

4. [That's where they go]

So many balloons

litter the Moon!

5. [Closer]

If the window

gets morning sun

then in…

Dear Readers,

The new issue of Musea is at the usual suspected places, in the mail, and now on my Musea website at  http://www.musea.us/xmas2012.html

This year our annual Xmas story is about detective, Leo Mars:

Here is the first paragraphs

-----------------------------------------

Happy Holidays Readers! ! Here is our annual Musea Christmas Story. Take a rest from your busy schedule and find out about the latest…

The answer to, and winner (if any) for, our last contest question of:

History question this week. Where was the Battle of Hastings fought? Clue "I gave you two clues"

IS

Battle. Yes the battle was fought near the town of Battle. But instead of calling it the Battle of Battle, they called it the Battle of Hastings a town a little further down the road. Now look at the clue, "I gave you two clues" 1. Hastings, and 2. Battle. This was one of my favorite questions. But....

I…

Poem as History – Passionate Love Poem from French Writer Flaubert

HISTORY POEMS. Here’s a type of poem we don’t often consider – history poems.

***

This is my poem that is a’Love Letter from the Novelist, Flaubert to Louise – August 15, 1849′. An actual letter, translated and turned into a poem. The words in parenthesis are added and not original to the letter.

***

I will cover you with love when next I see you.

(I will cover you) with caresses, with…

Why Bands are Boring and Rock is Over

This is a response I gave to a newsgroup discussion on rock:

Musicians that choose bands, are choosing safe music – music that doesn’t make waves, music bleached of all originality, traditional music, fill in the blanks. They are cowards, conservatives, and are striving to fit in, not stand out. Time to either drop rock and roll or go back to its roots and play it right. When we say no to bands we force musicians to be creative again, and…

The answer to, and winner (if any) for, our last contest question of:

This is the oldest continuously used sacred site in North America. Name it. Clue, if you are there you are probably shivering!

IS

Majorville Medicine Wheel in Alberta, Canada. (pretty desolate place not too far from Calgary!)

I had no correct eligible answers - seemed you were out in the cold on this one.

I don't dumb down/so please wise up.

Now on to a new Q.: Win a copy of my NEW cd CALLED…

My War with NPR

I have complained before about NPR censoring most every post I was making on their website. Well seems it was a problem that was not limited to me, but pretty widespread.

NPR has gotten the message and changed it’s entire process of accepting comments. Now Disqus, ” a global comment system that improves discussion on websites and connects conversations across the web” has taken over. They, unlike NPR have yet to censor any comment I’ve made. For example today I…

Readers,

Paul Adair is a local expert on all things connected to film. I asked him about my theater and he told me that, When The Inwood, opened, it was owned by Interstate, a partner of Paramount. So I did a net search and made a blog post on some background to the Inwood. That post is at:

http://musea.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/inwood-theater/

You'll get three things, a short short history of the Inwood,…

Poems written in October 2012

Comments welcome. Sort of a theme in these 3.

[poem notes in brackets like this]

POEMS

1. (Based on a Nick Virgilio Haiku)

Late in the evening

the church is empty

except for a firefly

a little night light.

2.

"How heavy my wings are

when they're weighed down with tears!"

said the Angel,

by the sea.

3. (for my Blue Mountain Collection of Poems)

X: I want to go

to sacred…

The answer to, and winner (if any) for, our last contest question of:

October ends up at Halloween. So let's go there. Pretend I am in a bookstore and there on a bust of Pallas, is not one but many copies of the Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. Looks like I've got a big group of Ravens. So what is the term that is used for a group of Ravens. Here are 2 clues - a group of rhinos is called a crash, and a group of ferrets is called a business.

IS

A group of ravens is called an UNKINDNESS…

See this blog link for news about the Zine Hall of Fame started by Musea, in 1996

http://musea.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/zine-hall-of-fame-revisited/

Here's an excerpt from the post

Zines were exploding in the early nineties. Desk top publishing and copy stores allowed anyone to make and publish their writings on anything. Zinesters popped out of every city and began to share their…