Poetry Sunday

... and some self promotion

Thank you again to all who stop by and visit The Declining Academic. Subscriptions are free, so…

Time for some self promotion. This Tuesday, October 10th, I will be participating in UW-Green Bay’s long-standing 6:30 Music Series (which, as the title suggests, starts at 6:30 Central Time, in Fort Howard Hall in UWGB’s Weidner Center for the Performing Arts).

The theme of this event is “Words & Music,” and it’s always an interesting one, as it combines spoken/vocal performances with music. My piece, which I wrote the text for, is called “MRI for a Bullet Yet to Arrive,” and I’m peforming it with composer Michelle McQuade Dewhirst (who curates the 6:30 Series) and trumpeter Adam Gaines.

There are also 4 other performances, and the whole thing will be grand, plus there will be a bar! So if you are in town or nearby, please consider this an invitation to you and anyone else who might want to attend.

And for you out-of-town folks, The Weidner will also be streaming the event, and the recording should be up for awhile. You can watch at The Weidner’s YouTube channel.

I confess to being quite nervous about this, as this is definitely new territory for me. The piece works on tight timing—musicians are used to that; poets… not so much! So, if I lose my place even once, well, at least you got to see the wheels fly off the wagon.

All are welcome, the performers are going to be incredible, and it will definitely be something different, as the series’ intention has always been to be experimental.

So if you are free, please join! Watch the stream and post in the chat. Or, catch the recorded version later.

And finally, a poem for Sunday…

Deep Chess
     by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

 Life itself like championship chess
                                   dark players jousting
                 on a checkered field
                             where you have only
                 so much time
                            to complete your moves
     And your clock running
                           all the time
           and if you take
                          too much time
                                       for one move
              you have that much less
                                      for the rest
                         of your life
     And your opponent
                      dark or fair
             (which may or may not be
                                     life itself)
     bugging you with his deep eyes
       or obscenely wiggling his crazy eyebrows
         or blowing smoke in your face
           or crossing and recrossing his legs
                                       or her legs
     or otherwise screwing around
       and acting like some insolent invulnerable
                                 unbeatable god
          who can read your mind & heart
     And one hasty move
                       may ruin you
        for you must play
                         deep chess
           (like the one deep game Spassky won from Fischer)
     And if your unstudied opening
                                  was not too brilliant
           you must play to win not draw
              and suddenly come up with 
                               a new Nabokov variation
     And then lay Him out at last
                 with some super end-game
                           no one has ever even dreamed of

     And there's still time-
                             Your move