I Could Almost Love You Again

From The Poetry Foundation: "I Went into the Maverick Bar" Gary Snyder

    

Mr. Snyder ca. 2007, from Dan Chung at The Guardian

  

     File under "Saunderaugural Blues Remedies" along with Ms. Monae.

Back to work,
--CQ

   

Music Tuesdays

After a heavy Monday spent brooding over:

1. George Saunders,
2. "Remaining Awake," the subject of yesterday's post,
3. my reading/watching, then rereading/rewatching, of the President's inaugural address, and finally
4. how disturbing the combination of those things were, the subject of an as-of-yet unfinished post,

I find myself in need of some dancing, prompted by Ms. Monae:

     
     Because sometimes you just need to do let it go and dance, Saunderaugural blues aside. 

Go on, get funky with me.
--CQ

You Don't Have to be Asleep to Have a Dream

     In honor of both MLK Day and the presidential inauguration, some things to think about: Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution. 

     "All I'm saying is simply this: that all mankind is tied together; all life is interrelated, and we are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be - this is the interrelated structure of reality. John Donne caught it years ago and placed it in graphic terms: No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main... And then he goes on toward the end to say: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. And by believing this, by living out this fact, we will be able to remain awake through a great revolution."

Wake up and dream, sisters and brothers. There's still work to do.
--CQ

George Saunders and the Dude Abide. And, You Should Really Think About Buying a Brand New Book.

From The New York Times Magazine: George Saunders Has Written the Best Book You'll Read This Year
  
     Man, what a great interview--both mind and heart clearly at work with this guy.

      I bought my very own, brand-spankin'-new hardcover copy yesterday. I very seldom buy hardcover books at full price; I have shelves full of browning and delightfully musty used books. Any pretty hardcovers were almost certainly gifts. 

     I also picked up a copy of Jeff Bridges's and Bernie Glassman's collaboration, The Dude and the Zen Master. (Okay, fine, Brent--you picked it up, but whatevs. I'm still gonna read it when you're finished.) Also glossy and new. And full price.

     All by way of saying: this is a big deal for me. We cracked open our knee-high Natty Light change bottle and went to Subterranean Books. (Side note: I tried earlier in the week to get my Saunders fix from Pudd'nhead Books in Webster Groves. What a bummer that was, walking up to their now vacant space on Big Bend . . .) We paid for the $58 tab almost entirely in one dollar bills. Thanks again to the gracious guy who waited patiently as we counted it out twice before forking it over. And yes, Brent's male stripping is going quite well, thank you very much for asking. Well enough to support our bibliophilia, anyway, which has to offset any moral qualms you may have. 

     So let that be a lesson to all of you, dear readers: take off your clothes, let people stick one dollar bills in whatever crack, crevice, or orifice available, and then use that money to go buy a brand new, glossy book that will help ease the pain of the humiliation of life. Or some uplifting shit like that.

The Dude: It's like what Lenin said... you look for the person who will benefit, and, uh, uh...
Donny: I am the walrus.  

     Words we can all live by.

--CQ 

The Evolution of the NRA

     From Alternet: The Surprising Unknown History of the NRA

     One simple thing I want to highlight from this--the complete text of Amendment II reads "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed" (archives.gov). 

     Does keeping the "right to bear arms" battle cry in context (both historical and textual) present a clear and easy solution to our current question of gun violence and what to do about it? Of course not. However, maybe it will remind us that these sorts of debates and the positions they produce occur on a continuum. 

     For those of us born long after the advent of the NRA, and especially we who only know it in its arming-school-teachers-is-the-best-answer form, it behooves us to learn about the organization itself and its history, especially since it has and will continue to have a heavy hand in the drafting and enacting of legislation.

So as not to be "We the Sheeple,"
--CQ 

     

     

Music Tuesdays

Lord Huron's Lonesome Dreams

     I stumbled across Lord Huron through this article from NPR: 
10 Artists You Should Have Known in 2012.  

     (Side note--I promise not everything I use will be from NPR.)  

     Like the write-up suggests, this album did indeed have me scrambling for my backpack. It's sonic wanderlust, through and through.

     The band's website has all of the tracks posted on the homepage. Check it out. Let me know what ya think. And meet me out west.

"Please don't say I'm going alone,"
--CQ  

Reading In the New Year

From NPR: Guns, God, and A Reggae Beat: A 2013 Poetry Preview

 

(in regards to the zinger at the article's opening)

     NPR--Part Time Poetry Peddlers. NPR's website is a daily stop for me in cyberspace. I'm sure you'll see more from them on this blog in the future. (13.7 Cosmos and Culture Blog, anyone? That Marcelo Gleiser gets my cerebral juices going every time.)

     Gleiser-inspired lubrication aside, I was excited to see this little round-up of new poetry. I'm particularly intrigued by Red Doc>, Metaphysical Dog: Poems, Senegal Taxi, Duppy Conqueror, and Ron Padget's Collected Poems. 

     I'll admit right here, right now--Ron Padget is the only author on that list with whom I am familiar. And I read more poetry than your average twenty-something Jane. Only serves to remind me how little I have read in the grand scheme of things . . . and how much reading I'm fixin' to do this year to (futilely) try to remedy that fact. 

     No one will ever read it all, right? C'est impossible.

     What's on your literary hit list for the New Year?


Happy Reading!

--CQ

Introductions and Whatnot

Hello All,

     Welcome to Keep This Car Running, a personal blog, the main purpose of which will be to share articles, poetry, prose, photos, music, nonsense, questions, quips, quibbles, and beyond.

     At its best, this blog will manage to be about us, the community of crew members and passengers on Spaceship Earth, so feel free to join in the conversation via the comments section.

    I hope you will enjoy this little collection of cyber-stuffs, curated by yours truly. Perhaps, you'll even find something you can use.

All the Best,
--CQ

    

"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."  -Roald Dahl