Shuffle the inventory

Each life is an encyclopedia, a library, an inventory of objects . . .
and everything can be constantly shuffled and reordered
in every way conceivable.

— Italo Calvino

As quoted in Write Free: Attracting the Creative Life
by Rebecca Lawton and Jordan Rosenfeld

Scrap metal

I'm a hit and run, and I'm happy about it.

Paul Toth, editor of the quirky online Hit and Run Magazine, collects the scrap metal of emerging art. He publishes index cards, napkin notes, and other scree and scrawl of art not fully formed.

He posted mine today --- and he wants yours, too.

Of heart and hurt

When writer Holly Hughes started talking about her mother’s Alzheimer’s — what she calls “a slow process of subtraction” — she quickly realized she was not alone. At readings of her poems, a crowd would gather afterward “to tell the story of their mother, father, husband, sister, wife, sister, brother.”

Alzheimer’s is estimated to affect one in two persons over the age of 80 and is being diagnosed in people as young as 50.

Seeking comfort in the solace of words, Hughes put out a call for poems and short prose about Alzheimer’s. Over 500 people responded — doctors, nurses, social workers, hospice workers, daughters, sons, wives, and husbands whose lives have been touched by the disease. From this, she chose work from 100 writers to create Beyond Forgetting: Poetry & Prose about Alzheimer’s Disease, a moving account of a dreadful disease.

Oregon-based writers Kake Huck, Drew Myron and Mark Thalman will share their work as part of Off the Page, a reading event on Saturday, April 25 at 7pm at the Green Salmon Coffeehouse in Yachats, Oregon. The event is free.

“In our culture, we often talk about dementia only in the abstract, as a label, not in all its bittersweet concreteness,” notes Hughes, who teaches at Edmonds Community College in Lynnwood, Washington.

Through the transformative power of poetry, the book seeks to move "beyond forgetting," beyond the stereotypical portrayal of Alzheimer's disease to honor and affirm the dignity of those afflicted. With a moving foreword by poet Tess Gallagher, the anthology forms a richly textured, literary portrait encompassing the full range of the experience of caring for someone with Alzheimer’s.

“For the many people now trying to cope with a loved one suffering from this tragic disease,” says Hughes “I hope this collection will provide solace."

Beyond Forgetting is published by Kent State University Press, and is available at www.beyondforgettingbook.com.

Love this line

There is no
single word for the charity of your smile.

— from Cadaver Dog by Seth Abramson

Hear the full poem at Linebreak.

Writing with crayons

Blackout poems. Altered books. Found poems. I love them all.

Lately, inspired by Karen Hatzigeorgiou, Austin Kleon and other word-artists, I've been scratching away words to find new thoughts within established text.

Last month, I led the Writing Club (a group of eager and willing middle schoolers at the Waldport Community Learning Center) in 'finding' poems within old book pages. We used crayons to find fresh words and phrases, and created poems along the way.

I know, I know, it doesn't seem right to defile a hallowed text but this book was headed for the bin. In a way, we saved it from its dumpster doom. There's something a bit naughty, and therefore alluring, in doing what you've been told is wrong. And that feeling provides us permission to break rules and make art.

Something of myself

stands well
without malice

I fail, trip over detail
Roving might be useful

From my hands, I found fever
There was not a cloud

I understood it was the old matter
wasted, mourned

Immense, intimate details
demanded drama

— Drew Myron
an altered book/ blackout poem in crayon