A Bubbly Beautiful Great Soul
From series, “Visions of Mev.” A scant 4 weeks after her debulking surgery for a glioblastoma (“grade 4”) brain tumor. Mid-May 1994. Mev is sitting enblanketed on couch in our Oakland apartment at…
Writing Topics
Mary told me she spent a Sunday rereading the notebook she kept in Social Justice class 4.5 years ago. She was rejuvenated to start writing more, so I sent her these topics, after consulting Natalie Goldberg’s…
I Can Relate
What I seem to have to do is to have someone to address in order to begin, then lose that, mix it up, get mixed up myself, let the language take over, work out some…
Another One of Cal’s Rants to Carla and Me, This Time Going off on Apocalypse Now
“FF Coppola may have thought he was being rad And that’s bullshit Being rad would tell the truth about U.S. atrocities As SOP Not some vicious Viet Cong anti-inoculation bullshit But we don’t wanna think…
Learning from Mev by Thomas McKanna
The following correspondence is from Thomas McKanna, who is taking my Social Justice seminar at Maryville University. He wrote a reflection on The Book of Mev to his friend Matthew. Hi Matthew, As I told you…
Drop the MIC!
Dear Friends, Join me in supporting the Drop the MIC project of Iraq Veterans against the War. Every little bit helps to reach the goal by Veteran’s Day.
On Ginsberg’s HOWL
It was a cri de coeur, an alarm, a vision. Its structure matched its energy which seemed the voices of many, not one. It was a rhizomic collage, just like life, a pastiche of the…
The Ageless Continuum
There is a notion of “passing it on,” that simple. One to one. Elder to younger perhaps. That “poetry is news,” that the inspiration for any work you do and the work you do as…
Before Spiritual Exercises Class
Out back waiting for Claire; Gelateria on South Grand
Take a Look
In 1969 or 1970, I began to re-evaluate my whole concept of what I wanted my music to say…. I was very much affected by letters my brother was sending me from Vietnam, as well…