Two poems at Hobble Creek Review

I have two poems up at the Hobble Creek Review: "Eagle (Letter from My Aunt)" and "Rain from Cloudless Skies." Thanks to Justin Evans for publishing my poems!

Count Me In as a Socialist

Justin Evans's post "Kall Me Karl Marx" vigorously addresses the idea that Barack Obama is a "Socialist."

Understanding the election

Justin Evans posted a funny, somewhat scary list of points that will help anyone understand the American election.

Here's the first, to give you a taste of it:

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.'

* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.

14 Poets for Thursday

Okay, so Justin and Steven added a rule to Jeff's idea: Say someone asked me, "I kind of like poetry, but I don't know anything about contemporary poetry. Who should I read?"

My previous list is here. But now I have to take out "personal friends, mentors, or blogroll buddies". And I have to take out the German and French poets, because they are all folks I have translated. And, following Justin's lead, I'm going to include not one (like him) but two songwriters (the people I quote the most!). So I end up with this:

Armitage, Simon
Brown, Greg
Carson, Ann
Duffy, Carol Ann
Dylan, Bob
Heaney, Seamus
Levine, Philip
Longley, Michael
Maxwell, Glyn
Murray, Les
Padel, Ruth
Paterson, Don
Wilbur, Richard
Young, C. Dale

Yes, I admit it: C. Dale is on my blog roll. But CDY was on my shortlist of favorite contemporary poets long before I began my blog, let alone discovered that he was a blogger himself. So I reserve the right to keep him there! :-)