Jaxwords WED 16 JUN 10

Hooliganiacal (hoo-le-guh-nie-i-cal) adj. 1.  Suggestive of or afflicted with insane lawlessness. 2.  Characterized by excessive enthusiasm for aggression. 3.  Obsessed with riding Aprilia motorcycles.

Two-Minute Drill

Last fall, I was privileged to teach a writing seminar to wounded warriors of Task Force Phoenix at Fort Lewis, Washington.  Part of the classroom curriculum was a two-minute writing exercise requiring use of an image to convey a feeling.  No particular venue, theme or genre was prescribed; nevertheless, all but one participant wrote a … [more]

Bending the Bard

Poor old Bill.  He zags from genius to fraudulence. Everyone wants a piece of Shakespeare (yeah — I recognize the irony of criticizing the impulse in the very act of typing out his name…).  Quasi-avant garde lit geeks want to rediscover him as Chris Marlowe.  In a perhaps even lower cut, menstruating-edge feminists insist on … [more]

Coat of Many Colors

I had this garment, see: a coat of many colors. A Levis jacket, Chinese-made with American fade, it had almost every unit patch I’ve ever worn sewn onto the back. Peacetime insignia were in full color:  Second Infantry Division, my first assignment in Korea; III Corps where I worked personnel security for the corps artillery, … [more]

No justice, no poets. Know one here but just us…

Nobody expects to make a pile of money on poetry. Poets — with their beady-eyed look at the dusty, abandoned corners of society’s soul — are largely ignored in our Costco conehead (“consume mass quantities!”) world.

What I do for fun (and profit?)

So here’s the deal: I write for Motorcyclist magazine, and I’d like you to subscribe. I like working for Motorcyclist.  They’re good people and my editor is great, but nobody gets rich writing for magazines so again, I’d like you to subscribe (am I making it clear that I’d like you to subscribe? I subscribed … [more]