Kerouac on my Kindle

     No. it's not On the Road, his second novel. I'm reading his first, The Town and the City. right now I'm 4% through it, and I am enjoying the lushness of his writing. Dispel all notions of the Beat Generation vagabond who writes sub-standard and who is known for his persona. Kerouac knows how to construct a plot and create characters. He also is able to help you "see" Galloway in the way that Updike lets you "see" Brewer.

     This was available from Easybub. If you have some time, reading this is a good way to spend it.

http://www.amazon.com/Town-City-Jack-Kerouac/dp/0156907909

Almost A Year Later

    I cannot believe that a year ago this Saturday is the first anniversary of the launch of Places and Times. eLectio Publishing released it a few weeks earlier, but the actual event was planned to make sure books were available.

https://www.facebook.com/events/831691206868146/

     So much has happened since then. Seven public readings throughout the state, as many signing.fairs, meeting many new people, and becoming friends with some of them even!

     There are many people to thank, but I will mention my wife Pam, son Drew and his wife Amy, Carol Worthington-Levy for the cover art, eLectio's Christopher Dixon and Jesse Greever, felllow poets/writers Joanna Kurowska, Alice Sea, Al Black, Ed Madden, and Ray McManus. Also to Jean Bell for hosting at the now-moved Blythewood Arts Center, to my readers and wider audience.

 

   

Can an Insurance Executive be a Major 20th Century American Poet?

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/04/the-patron-saint-of-inner-lives/471468/


Yes indeed! Reading, PA native Wallace Stevens did that nicely.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=Wallace+stevens+poem+a+day

Have You Seen my Google Collections?

   If not, why not check them out now?

https://plus.google.com/u/1/105028533284452620555/collections

I add to them every so often, so be sure to scroll through them. You will find something you like!

Thanks!

Easter Rising A Century Later

     I pause to commemorate the events without taking sides. Anytime that a disagreement leads to violence is bad, and I believe this was a case of things happened too quickly at in the midst of a war, there was not much time to reflect before action was taken.

     The Poem-a-Day was from William Butler Yeats, and I post a link to it below. Not often remember is that Yeats served as a Senator in the Irish Republic, and that he was a Protestant, belonging to the Church of Ireland. Actually that was Anglican, bur that was not  good choice of a name given everything else.

    https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem-day

   
    In the year since the release of Places and Times, I have been at some wonderful signing/author showcases. Today's Wine and Sign in Aiken, South Carolina, was the best in many ways. First of all, it is for a charity: Essential Tremor. Aiken is a lovely town in the scenic horse and peach country in South Carolina. I saw some friends, and made some new ones! I also sold more book right there and had more people tell me they will go online.  I also networked and made some tentative future plans.

    I have some more pictures, and i will post them in the coming days.

400th Anniversary of Shakespeare's Death

     In high school we read Julius Caesar, Hamlet, and assorted sonnets. But I really came to appreciate him in a roundabout way. In a German drama class as an undergraduate we read Johann Wolfgang Goethe's youth praise ( I was about his age then), Zum Shakespeares Tag/Speech on Shakespeare's Day. Slowly, I came to appreciate the Bard not because people told me I had to, but because he was so excellent. An independent study class I took while obtaining English certification sealed my admiration.

    See, if you will, what the Guardian had to say:
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/theatreblog/2010/oct/06/german-william-shakespeare

Ach! I recall learning that Gotthold Eprhaim

Lessing's translations were so good that many Germans thought Shakespeare was one of them.