Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!

The title of this post says it all... the world breathed a collective sigh of relief as Obama was elected the next president of the U.S.

Being an ex-pat living in Canada, I felt a renewed sense of hope and pride in my home country.

Vancouver celebrated last night, and it wasn't just the Americans living here, either. I was out to dinner with two friends last night. I apologized for being distracted by the election, which was being broadcast on a large screen TV at the restaurant. They laughed and said they were distracted by it, too.

When Obama was announced as the next president, I let out such a loud cheer that everyone in the restaurant laughed. As Obama gave his speech, the owner turned up the television and everyone turned to listen. The wait staff, the kitchen staff, the owners all pulled up chairs and everyone sat, happily stunned. There were even some tears of joy, and they weren't all coming from me. My friend Ami and I held hands tightly, witnessing what everyone knew was an amazing historical moment. I high-fived my waiter on the way out.

I came home to some congratulatory e-mails from friends in other parts of the world. U.S. policy and economics affects the world, that has become very clear in the last eight years. The world was indeed watching last night...

Monday Poetry Train - yes, on the track...

I've been typing up some of my 3:15 Experiment poems, which are pretty dark this year. If you don't know what the 3:15 Experiment is, it's an annual collective of poets who all wake up every night at 3:15 AM during the month of August. Many brave poets attempt it, few survive... well, okay, they all survive, but they do get pretty cranky.

The poems are posted UNEDITED, because the point of the experiment is to see what your 3:15 mind comes up with in its hypnogogic / hypnopompic state.

(the event at the end of this poem is tragically true, not a nightmare I had)

August 2, 2008
Vancouver, BC

As a way of falling asleep
broken thoughts turn into
automatic images playing
fingerpaints
Don’t want to force the images let
them come coaxed like eels
underwater, yes, where preference is usually
blind, but no there is a shock
in life that is unreal
how unreal the story of our lives
when we tell it back gripping I
have become a gripper holding
onto that which made the road here
boyfriends, jobs, speeches, crashes
all jambalaya

my heart rips open w/ today’s news
a man beheaded on a bus on his way back
home on a bus across Canada
nobody got up to stop the knife
and would I have been any more
confrontational? faced w/a mad man
would I run?

decapitated, the victim 3 minutes dead
what I imagine is the breath
one minute easing out w/a thought
of someone I love or used
to love 10th grade prom the
sloppy gropings and smiles
breathe one-two the knife descends
like that when did the lights go?
did he know his head was coming off?
did he have a chance a moment to
realize and love his life for
what it was?

First Attempt at a Video Poem

This is the audio/visual to go with my previous post's poem.

Ironically, being a writer/producer/director, I have never actually edited anything before. All I have on my computer is this extremely limited Windows Movie Maker, but what'cha gonna do... perhaps I'll get inspired and invest in something a little more snazzy.

All wedding pictures taken by Tod McCoy, all other pictures taken by me.

monday poetry train - present beau for 2 friends

A present beau is a poem you write for someone using only the letters available in their name/s. For instance, in the poem below, I could only use the letters a, b, c, d, e, i, j, l, m, n, o, r, s, u, v, w - which gave the poem a softer tone because it lacked hard letters like t, k, and g.

Present Beau for Dawn Samuelson and Neven Jambresic

on the occasion of their marriage

aug 31, 2008 - ashford, wa

once in a blue moon

a wondrous love evolves

raw and massive

riddles are balanced

a diorama dances

love’s drums drive rise above

all noise all scars subside

leaves us noble and alive

a sudden call across a room

in seconds loved bloomed

cried dove roamed soared

love drove our

man and woman on

as nervous summer smiles simmered

and wild amour burned

sun and moon and world

embraced lion and lioness

and since love’s sudden wow

our dawn and neven now

vow arrive at wedded bliss

will ever woven become

one sacred river

one sacred road

joined in dream and soul

love’s rare invaluable ode

~danika dinsmore

I'm going to figure out how to post an audio of me reading this poem to this blog. Anyone know how?

I bet it's easy in wordpress, I'm just too lazy to switch from blogger to wordpress. I'll get around to it someday.

You Know You Want To...

The Annual 3:15 Experiment commences in TWO nights... and I think you all are just insane enough to do it...

You can register on line at: www.315experiment.com



If you've never even HEARD of The 3:15 Experiment... where have you BEEN for the last 15 years?

ON VACATION - RERUNS!

Hello everyone. I am on "vacation" from my blog right now. Not sure when I'll be back. Sometime at the end of July.

In the summertime, there are reruns on television. In that spirit, here are a few of my favourite posts over the last year or so:

From my Thursday Thirteen File

A crazy idea that took me most of the day to post:
13 Pages from 13 Journals

If you like monkeys, you must check out:
Thirteen Sad Monkeys (from Thursday Thirteen)


A Few of my Favourite Writing Exercises:

The "literary definition"

The use of small incidences

Poetry fun you can have with Friends


A Few Favourite Poems:

Misfitting

No Matter

ID Matters

Something from my Polly Papers


Miranda July Rocks


And lastly... my cats' favourite post

Hope your summer is going well!

dd

Monday Poetry Train

I just got back from a weekend reunion with several of my best friends from college. We all turned 40 recently. We've known each other for 22 years, and even when we don't see each other for a long time, it's like no time has passed at all.

The job of a writer is to capture these moments in words and I feel humbled by the task. Words really aren't enough. I want to return to this later and do it justice. For now, this is the fresh version.

Reunion

once together we
hummingbirds and flamingos
dance on the
dessert buffet
twenty-two times around the sun
pressing the rough parts free
the wrinkles and scars
musical notes on the agenda
of repeating the memories
that made us

artistry in life is play my
playmates my moulin rouge
my circle unbroken my song
my mother my poet my
once
together in the california sun
tears in our bloody marias
pull my finger jesus smiles
pull my finger and
shut the door

together
at once we children
hold hands at the zoo
in line for the night train
making home where we land
together once there
is no going back we
return to our dream
what is real what
is real our once together
lifetime