MORE CONSERVATIVE WRITERS

T.S. Eliot
Robert Frost
D.H. Lawrence
Wallace Stevens
Rudyard Kipling
Kia Heavey
M. Elaine Moore
Michelle Buckman
H.P Lovecraft

URSULA LE GUIN

While I haven't any of her books, I have heard of  Mrs. Le Guin for several years. I'm not a scy-fy buff but was very impressed with how she created her characters. It's been said that writers can craft characters any way they want. Ursula Le Guin REALLY crafted characters which are other worldly. 

It's a passion of mine to craft a character unlike any that has been created. I have crafted one character in recent months and am now working on another. I will need to read a novel of Le Guin's and one of her poetry books. When I heard of her passing I was struck with the thought that Ursula Le Guin may not have necessarily been a household name, but was a very effective and other worldly author.

Rest In Peace, Ursula Le Guin (1929-2018)

THEATER AS A VEHICLE FOR CHANGE

The theater group at church started this past Friday. I have been with Fellowship Theater Project since its inception three years ago. The vast majority of us are not professional actors or playwrights. Many of us do write and have been writing for years. We have created 6-8 plays which have been performed at the church, a bookstore, a community meeting and other places. 

I have personally seen people blossom when performing or creating. It's like a baby bird taking to flight for the first time. Theater is powerful because it transcends race, gender, sexuality, education, and socioeconomic status. William Shakespeare did this so eloquently. There wasn't a topic he didn't touch on. Those who dislike the arts know this very well.  It's not surprising that when budget cuts are made the arts are one of the first things that is on the chopping block. 

With all that's going on in the world, the arts are needed more than ever. It challenges, prods, thrills, and pushes boundaries. Creativity cannot be stifled or muzzled.  There are many artsy people in my neighborhood. Some of them teach children in the arts from writing to ballet to acting to singing. Just imagine children impacting the world for change.

CONSERVATIVE WRITERS

Tonight while researching about Virginia Woolf, I discovered that she was a friend of Ezra Pound. Pound was conservative who had some fascist views. I decided to look up conservative writers. The list is quite interesting. Here is a partial list.

Jack Kerouac                                                                 
William Faulkner
Marianne Moore
Kinsley Amis
Martin Amis
Ted Hughes
William F. Buckley, Jr.
Jorge Luis Borges
Agatha Christie
Tom Clancy
Noel Coward
Dean Koontz
Ayn Rand
Gertrude Stein
Wallace Stevens
Hunter S. Thompson
W B Yeats
Fyodor Doestoevsky

I have read a number of these writers and enjoy their work. Though I don't share some of their views, they are great writers nevertheless. I believe that I can learn from anyone, regardless of their political beliefs.

WORDS OF WISDOM

I don't think poetry is something that can be taught. We can encourage young writers, but what we can't teach them is the very essence of poetry.


~Robert Morgan, Poet

SOUTH AFRICAN JAZZ ICON PASSES

Hugh Masekela, a South African jazz musician who influenced many artists throughout his long career, passed away this morning in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was seventy-eight. Cause of death was prostate cancer.

I first heard Mr. Masekela in 1968 with his number one hit"Grazing In The Grass". He met and friended musicians from Louis Armstrong to Harry Belafonte to Paul Simon. As a jazz enthusiast, Mr. Masekela had his own style which brought a unique sound influenced by his own experience growing up in apartheid South Africa. One could say he was an ambassador which brought about the end of apartheid and the freeing of Nelson Mandela from prison in the 1990s.

Rest in peach, Mr Masekela.   

CURRENT READS

Reading all four of these. Two are chapbooks, one is a journal. Walt Whitman's Selected Poems is a small book. 

LITERARY INFLUENCES

Here is a partial list of writers who have influenced me in my writing.

1. Edgar Allan Poe
2. Paul Laurence Dunbar
3. Langston Hughes
4. Herman Melville
5. Sylvia Plath
6. Jack Kerouac
7. Rumi
8. Mary Oliver
9. Maya Angelou

FUTURE IN DOCUMENTARIES?

One dream that I have is to make a documentary. One stringent requirement I would have is that the piece will be as accurate as can be. I have watched some documentaries that do not delve deeply enough in their subject. Some take liberties to add things that are hearsay or are downright false. Documentaries should be informative and creative, They should also inspire those who watch to act on resolving a particular issue.

FLU BUG

The flu bug has kept me in bed for the past three days. Can go out to the women's march tomorrow.

WORDS OF WISDOM

Under adversity, under oppression, the words begin to fail. In order to convey things accurately, the human being is almost forced to find the most precise words possible, which is a precondition for literature.


~Rita Dove

DARK BEFORE DAWN

All writing takes imagination. I am enamored by the work of horror writers. Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, and J.P. Lovecraft come to mind. I remember around 2003-4 I wrote some poems which were dark and mysterious. The themes centered around darkness, abyss, and never ending despair. Looking back, it part and parcel to times I felt alone and in despair. I never voiced it to others but it was there.

I've had relatively few dark periods in my life but the one I just mentioned had an effect on me. It perhaps fueled my love of horror. It's as if this was the darkest hours of my life before the dawn of a new life.

ANGELINA WELD GRIMKE

I'm doing research on obscure poets and authors. I'm particularly interested in the women of the Harlem Renaissance. Angelina Weld Grimke (1880-1958) preceded the Harlem Renaissance but is acknowledged as one of the early influences.  She was born in Boston, Massachusetts into a biracial family. Ms. Grimke started writing when she was young and had some of her poems published in black journals. Topics ranged from love and nature to racial injustice and black pride.  She also wrote plays, short stories and essays. After her father's death in 1930, Ms. Grimke never published any other work.



www.dclibrary.org/bikren/

WORDS OF WISDOM

The powers that be fear artists because it speaks truth to all people, not just to the elites. The arts educate, stimulate, and create.

GOALS

Besides having a chapbook published, I will write at least two essays. I loved writing them in college and there are a myriad of topics to write about. Poetry is taking up my time currently.

NINETEEN HUNDRED POSTS

My nineteen hundredth post! How many of you wrote a story or a poem about the snowstorm today?

WORDS OF WISDOM

All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.


~J.R.R. Tolkien, Novelist (1892-1973)

READING MARATHON A SUCCESS

The poetry reading marathon at St. Marks's Church was very good. I arrived after 7 PM and the place was standing room only. There were performers I heard for the very first time and were quite good. Ones that I've previously heard were even better this year. 

I went into the back where books and food were being sold. I saw a lot of books i was interested in but didn't purchase. I have over a half dozen poetry books on my night stand I intend to read already. The Poetry Project will be getting a new executive direct in the fall. I'm curious as to what direction the reading marathon will go next year.