The No Touching Party in My Head

Scott Woods was in my dream. We were talking about monster Australian Chardonnay. Someone, Joe The Poet, or Jory, was drinking one the week before. It was called Mer-Soo, an Aussie version of the French Meursault. Then Scott asked me how much the Mer-Soo cost. I said it should be about $20-25. The actual price was $39. When he told me, he sounded disappointed.

Then we went to Bonotogo Pizza and there was cartoon art on the wall. The Lockhorns were drawn up as the Righthorns, and Ziggy was using his non-dominant hand. The owner, Bill, was drawing up the strips in the opposite of how they are.

And, no, I do not know what this means.

Back in the real world, Bonotogo is back. We went last night. It's taking up part of a carry out on Northwest and Chambers and all is well. I wrote an acrostic about it.

Pieacrostic

Bill wears two hats, inside a cowboy
Outside, he dons a captain's hat
Now, the sound of a breaking plate
on the floor in the kitchen,
takes the breath out of the six
of us waiting for our pizza
Gasping, Bill yells
out he's doing the server a favor while she's on
parole
In jest, of course. Bill is
Zooming to and fro', finally our
zesty pies arrive
Always hot from the wood fired oven

Before the pizza we went to see An Education. A film that is getting a lot of attention due to its breakout star, actress Carey Mulligan.



The attention is well founded. Mulligan is outstanding in portraying an intelligent sixteen year old who wants more to life than being sheltered in Twickenham. The film is a well detailed period piece of pre-Beatles England. My wife was impressed by the attention to detail, and the car Peter Sarsgaard drives is bitching!



A Bristol 405, in maroon.

Back to the film. It's a very sensitive coming of age movie, as the two leads have a significant age difference. She's 16, he's about twice that. Emma Thompson has about five minutes of screen time and blows Mulligan out of the water. Olivia Williams has a poignant role as a schoolteacher. As always, there are secret lives, betrayals and the film moves to an ending that is worthy of the Nick Hornby screenplay, which is based on a memoir from Lynn Barber.

The Ghosts of Columbus Past

It has been about twenty years since I left Fredonia, New York, for the lights of the city of Columbus, Ohio. Three wives, ten jobs, seven cars, and three abodes later I'm still here - and should be for a very long time. In seven years, I will have lived in Ohio longer than New York State.

As part of the 30/30 project I put together a list poem.

Twenty Things I miss About Columbus After Twenty Years of Living in Columbus

1. The polkas and good old time music of accordion playing Esther Craw
and Glenn Wilson on stand up bass at Deibel's
2. Seeing the fireworks at Cooper Stadium while eating dessert
at Christopher's on top of the Riffe Center
3. Watching the flames shoot out of the Tiki Gods at the Kahiki. Having drinks out of skull mugs there. Not the food.
4. Big Bear grocery store, when it was a local chain run by people who lived here and before their farmland in Powell became a condo development
5. Nickelby's, Fireside, Little Professor, Readmor Books along with other independent bookstores and news stands
6. The little coffee shop at the corner of Hudson and Indianola. It's been so long I forget what it was called.
7. Billy Inmon camping out on the Statehouse lawn because Governor Voinovich would not debate him
8. City Center between 1990-1994, when downtown shopping was still available
9. Kenneth Branagh's Henry V at The Drexel North Theater and nearly turning around to watch it again
10. Seeing the Ohio State Hockey team play in the old ice rink. The Schottenstein Center is nice, but when 2,000 people watch a game in a rink that seats 17,000, it's a tomb
11. The Columbus Chill fighting their way to eighty three straight sellout crowds and mediocrity at the Fairgrounds Coliseum
12. The view of downtown from the seats on the first base line watching a Clippers game
13. Firdous restaurant on campus, cleanest place in town
14. The wire strung between telephone poles on High Street on weekends nights to keep the kids from staggering into traffic
15. Stache's/Little Brothers because the small rock and roll club has not been replaced
16. The Giant L tank on the roof of the downtown Lazarus lit up at Christmas
17. The months in 1990 when Buster Douglas was heavyweight champion
18. Watching the rise and fall of the Buffalo Bills at Michael Dominic's on Wilson Bridge Road
19. Katie Smith leading the Quest to two straight ABL championships
20. Nancy's Diner, but it's going to be off this list soon when it reopens!

That would make a cool photo blog, if I had the pictures to match up with each item. Some I may, somewhere. It would involve a but of hunting and scanning.

It took a long time, but I've become accustomed to this place. I'm still not sure if I was dragged here kicking and screaming. Can't even remember when exactly I moved in here. Was it before or after Thanksgiving? That's been blocked out, and the only person who might be able to answer that is no longer speaking to me. There's certainly been a lot of loss, which has been countered by gains. Has it smoothed out? Not quite, I think I'm in a better place now though.

Football sestina, not the best idea

I know there were some harsh words about the Bob Dylan Christmas record said here. There is a video out now. It has to be seen to be believed. Bob's wearing a wig that makes him look like Iggy Pop, or Tom Petty. There's a hellacious party going on. I think the guy swinging from the chandelier is the Jack of Hearts.

The boy went to bed at 10PM, woke up at 2AM and is still awake. At least it gave me the opportunity to see that what I started writing last night was total nonsense. It's been a tough month on the page, especially with the 30/30 project happening. I'm not getting much out of it, nor am I putting anything in. Writing the pantoum, getting only one response then seeing another poet write this short throwaway piece (that had a Springsteen song as a title) get scads of attention completely turned me off. Sure I'm being petty and unnecessarily jealous but this was not a clique I was a part of from day one.

The new Margaret Atwood book is rather bleak and fierce. It picks up around the time of Oryx and Crake and runs with bioengineering, pandemics and massive changes in the way humans live. Atwood has some wicked humor going on, and her satire is top notch.

I also liked I'm Dying up Here, a well told story about stand up comedy in Los Angeles in the 1970's. It's a quick read about the founding of the Comedy Store and the early careers of Letterman, Leno, Boosler, George Miller, Richard Lewis and many other comedians. It also has the story of a boycott of the Comedy Store and its operator, Mitzi Shore, that is rather detailed. I wonder how fair the book is toward everyone involved but it seemed a rather balanced reporting of events to me.

Alright, I think the kid's back to sleep. Maybe I can get another hour or two of shuteye.

Still writing

If I get one decent poem out of the thirty I'd consider it a successful month. The way I'm going though, I'm not sure if that's going to happen. The group feels like high school with the cliques that already knew each other sticking together. I feel like I'm typing in a vacuum some days, not unlike here.

Seriously though. I'm a bit out of my depth. My critiques are limited to yes I like this, or oohs, and that's not very constructive either. So you get what you give.

My son is currently in a cycle of going to bed around 10, waking up four hours later, staying up for about three hours more and going to sleep again between 4:30-%AM. Today I woke him just after seven, dressed and fed him. Now he's asleep on my left side as I write this. Yeah, I've been really perky the past couple of days.

November 30 in 30, Day 6

Dear Bob

I’ve been listening to your new record.
You know, the one that was inspired by Mitch Miller,
Frankie Yankovic polkas and men dancing in fezzes
Can I ask you a question?
Why do you hate Christmas?
Saying it’s for charity does not diminish the fact
That your voice is completely shot
Not in the Tom Waits tone of polished gravel
But in a Wayne Newton should have given it up years ago way
I’m not suggesting you retire from recording, or give up touring
But to, find your niche
O’ Little Town of Bethle-phelgm is beneath you Bob
Put a bit more thought in the next one
Bag the lily white backup singers
Give the guy from Los Lobos better material to play
Take a few Fisherman’s Friend lozenges before hitting the mic
Because I think you got one more in you
If McCartney can do it, you can too!
But this holiday season, if you’re going to bring that thing you recorded as a gift,
you’re not invited over

On time changes and Hallmark holidays

Glad Halloween is over. Never really enjoyed participating. There was never any trauma surrounding it, just a lack of wanting to take part. Could never wear a mask because of the glasses. Being creative and coming up with a costume was never a good time.

It's done with, for another year.

Got the upstairs clocks changed. Now onto the ones in the kitchen, back room and the car. For some reason the one on the stove befuddles me, so I'll let my wife handle that one. I'll get the microwave.



I'm taking part in a November challenge to write thirty poems in thirty days. First one has been submitted. Might as well be first today. Could help out with the post IWPS writers block I've been having.

Headed up to Dublin later to watch the Bills game. First time I've seen a game with the Bills Backers this season. They're playing Houston at home. I'd like Buffalo to win but if Schaub and Slayton can score big for Houston my fantasy team does well. Oh to be torn!