Most Wednesdays, Matthew over at Lonestarters posts an interview with a different Austin blogger. He recently asked me to respond to some questions and today, you can read my responses. The questions were really interesting and got me thinking about this whole blogging thing I’ve been doing these past few years as well as the history of Coyote Mercury—how I started and how it’s changed—as well as about writing in general. Go read it and while you’re there have a look around. Matthew is new to Austin and Lonestarters is the ongoing tale of his adventures of discovery within this wonderful town and it’s good stuff all around. Go say hi (or howdy).
Three o’clock in the afternoon,
central Texas summer day,
over a hundred degrees out.
I know there will be no birds,
nothing but grackles and vultures.
I still go out, and I’m not surprised.
Only grackles seem to like this heat.
The other birds hold still like
knots in the trees, silent waiting for dusk,
trying to keep their colors from melting
into the brown grass and faded leaves.
Overhead a few vultures soar on
steady outstretched wings,
folding sky and letting it move
around and over them as they ride
thermals up to more temperate
atmospheric zones. Meanwhile,
the grackles and I enjoy the heat
until the other birds begin to stir
and it’s time for me to go home.
These photos were taken last week at Muir Woods National Monument in Marin County, California, a short drive north of San Francisco. Muir Woods is part of the Golden Gate National Recreational Area. You can click on the images to enlarge and view at a higher resolution.
Muir Woods is an old growth redwood forest. It feels like a church or a library or a little bit of both. At least until the tour buses arrive.
The coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) is the tallest and among the oldest of living things.
The tallest trees at Muir come to around 250 feet, and the oldest ones are around 1200 years old.
The tallest and oldest trees at Muir Woods are relatively short and young for coastal redwoods which used to cover two million acres of coastal California and Oregon.
AlcatrazWelcome to AlcatrazWestern GullWestern Gull ChickAlcatraz Officers' ClubA CellA Window in the Dining HallFrom the Exercise YardGuardhouse and Sally PortThe Cell BlockWestern Gull
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(click any image to enlarge for higher resolution)
Yesterday what with celebrating Joey’s birthday and all, I forgot to link to a handful of stones. My poem “Highway 73 to Port Arthur” is up over there, though I submitted it untitled and that’s how it appears. It’s an attempt to describe the scene along highway 73 in southeast Texas after the devastation of Hurricane Ike, which came only 3 years after Hurricane Rita did a number on the region.
In other cool news, two of my poems are included in Austin-based Virgogray Press’s latest chapbook anthology: America Remembered. The poems, which first appeared here at Coyote Mercury, are “Trickle Down Hope” and “Deeper into Texas.” The former was a response to a Read Write Poem prompt. In fact, I think it’s the first prompt I did over at RWP. The latter was also a response to an RWP prompt, though parts of it where taken from a draft of an older poem. I originally called it “It’s Like a Whole Other Country.” You can order copies of America Rememberedhere.
Joey’s birthday was last week. He’s 8. We got him in August 2006 and we almost lost him in 2007 when his dog food turned out to be poisonous. But he’s doing great these days. In fact, he’s pretty sure he’s the boss of Phoebe and maybe Simon, though Simon is sharp and best left alone.
We learn a lot from our dogs and Joey is a constant reminder to stay optimistic. He is the most optimistic dog I’ve ever known. There is not a single dark thought in his head. No matter what, he knows with absolute certainty that his food bowl will be filled twice a day, and that makes him very happy, especially a half hour before mealtimes when he likes to demonstrate what he’s capable of by battling the biggest toy he can find.
It usually ends in defeat for the toy and sometimes, he likes to pose with his prey just like hunters in the woods like to pose with their kills.
Back in August 2006, we almost didn’t get him. At the time, we already had 2 dogs and didn’t know if we could handle a third. Turns out we could. So happy birthday, big guy, may your couch always be comfy, your bowl always full, and the squirrels plentiful, fat and slow.
Phoebe hopes so too, though the camera might be more interesting.
This is my first attempt at a video poem. I haven’t made a video for fun in 16 years. Perhaps it was the time spent working on film sets in the early ’90s, but I lost interest somewhere along the way. The inspiration for this came from Christine Swint’s “Anybody’s Child” and Dave Bonta’s post on poets and technology over at Very Like a Whale. In the comments I mentioned that I have a film degree and probably should take a crack at doing a video poem sometime.
Then, this evening, I was about to post this poem along with audio of me reading. The poem started with some pictures I had taken of my guitar with the iphone Hipstamatic ap, and I thought it would be cool to put one of the pictures up. Next thing I knew, I was building this video.
The “music” is something I recorded a few years back by overdubbing several tracks of me playing my guitar (well, really I was mostly playing the amplifier) and my wife’s bass. I’m not sure if it’s too loud, but I was trying to submerge the voice a little bit without losing too much clarity.
Here’s the text of the poem. The title is from a bumper sticker I saw twice last weekend while driving through the hill country outside Austin:
God Bless Johnny Cash
I drove to the river;
it followed me home.
Sweated the night surrounded
by lesser freshwater demons.
Sang pelagic chantys
heard second hand
from deep-gulleted
birds plucking a thunder bass.
The earth ate the moon,
broke the fall of morning.
Twisted roads passed tallgrass hills
that can’t remember trees.
In the morning, I prayed
the dusty pick-up truck petition,
Finally, the internet is working again, so I can direct your attention elsewhere…
Another of my haiku is up over at tinywords. Check it out and while you’re there, have a look around at the rest of Issue 10.1. It’s well-worth the time.
