I consider poetry 'work'—reading it, representing it, writing it. Whereas my actual 9-5 means little of nothing to me. A solid exchange of my time for my rent. Thank you! I don't always enjoy showing up for work. Some days productive, others a slog, others: eh. So I endured the day in office, even the …
Re: Writing (Or Which Notes Do You Think I Should Cut?)
Earlier this week I was fortunate enough to revisit the 1984 film, Amadeus. I'd been anxious to rewatch it for a while and was relieved when it became available for streaming. The award-winning story (both on Broadway and in Hollywood) was about Mozart as experienced by his resentful contemporary composer-rival, Salieri. There is a sequence …
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The Blonde & The Bad Luck Monkey (A Poem As Time Machine)
I'm bored. I wrote a poem the other day! but dislike posting brand new poems since I'm supposed to submit them to journals and stuff... If I can ever get it together and follow through. So instead, here is a older poem that I have long loved, but will never read again publicly or publish …
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A Prayer
https://thedirtyrat.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/img_1187-1.jpg It is often necessary for me to write a prayer. I've done it a few times over the years while I was drowning in life. This one was composed after visiting a website with hundreds of positive affirmations. I scanned over them and assembled one. Its never occurred to share any nor have I …
Listening To Marian Anderson Sing Go Down Moses For The First Time on Vinyl
Hear it yourself on Archive The vinyl noise floor of a 78 sound of an enflamed red curtain opening to an audience of ghosts filling the black air A piano primes the ether in an imagined drawing room All these years this song was launched in bass throat cannons To hear it aloft, living through …
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Found Poetry: Uncombable Hair Syndrome
Uncombable Hair Syndrome (UHS) is a rare structural anomaly of the hair shaft and usually appears in childhood It is characterized by dry, frizzy, silvery-blond or straw colored hair that's disorderly It stands out from the scalp and cannot be combed flat, according to the National Institutes of Health. the stiffness of Uncombable Hair has …
What’s In A Name? Journey Of The Title
The title occurred to me years ago and for a long time I could do nothing with it. Its not the title of a poem, its a poem itself. The title sounds like something mis-remembered, a verbal mistake. It's a mix / mash of things as I am a combination of multiple families, identities, routes. …
Are Poets Ever Booed?
Sometime around 2000 while between jobs, I joined a performance series named Four Brothers. It was the luckiest of gigs for me. The original Fourth brother couldn’t do that weekend of performances, and I had rent due. The show would cover it. I auditioned and got in. Our Friday show in Berkeley was quite successful. …
The Twelve Days Of Clinics
*WHEREIN THE AUTHOR WORKS OUT HIS TRUE FEELINGS ON CHRISTMAS **WITH THANX TO THE OTHER JIM ***SET TO THE TUNE OF ... OH, YOU KNOW On the First Day of Clinics My True Love Gave To Me Chronic Hepatitis C On the Second Day of Clinics My True Love Gave To Me Genital Warts And …
New Poems Up at Eleven-Eleven Journal
The continuously awesome journal Eleven Eleven has published three familiar poems which are up and available for your critique. Its a consistently gorgeous journal and website I've admired for long time. Its an honor to get in with so many other strong artists. I went to an open mic last week, and an old friend …
The Dirty Rat 
