seven poems, two pictures, and my visual dna

two of my poems can now be read in tattoo highway: lester lewis takes inventory after the shipwreck, and poem with possibilities and uncertain outcome.

and five of my poems can now be read at gangway, an austr(al)ian magazine. they were the first e-zine to publish me, yeeeeaaars ago. this issue, myself and others, was guest edited by gabriele poetscher and walter hoelbling.

and here are a couple of pics taken yesterday - i need a haircut (my hairdresser was sick on saturday *sigh*), but at least it's newly dyed:

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song of the day: stop your fussin' by toni childs.

winter, work, and writing

winter made a quite impressive comeback for a week - but it's looking better today. vienna got the tiniest bit of snow, but lots of sleet, rain, wind, and very little sun; the west and south got tons of snow though. ugh. we changed to daylight savings time last night, so it'll be dark at 6.15 when i wake up, but pleasant in the evenings.

things are going okay here. some days are better than others, i am glad i am busy, and very grateful for my friends, those wonderful creatures.

work's been good, my students did well in their first two ECDL exams, and the feedback has been good, too. it's quite exhausting, because with the first group, there is the pressure of having to get everything done in so little time, and to prepare them for the tests; and the second group are almost all beginners and need a lot of attention and help, so there is barely a moment for me to relax, to sit down and not talk for five minutes. but i am happy to be working. things are suddenly looking really good for the rest of the year - who would have thought. it's 99% sure that i am going back to my former workplace for a full-day class from mid-april to end of may, and then from mid-june to mid-december i have been offered classes at the place where i am now. there will always be breaks in between, and that's good. so whoever had their fingers crossed for me - thank you, it worked. :)

i went to see julian barnes reading from his novel arthur & george. he said some rather witty and amusing things afterwards, in reply to questions from his audience. :)

"unlike sex, you never know when a novel is finished."

when asked whether/how he observed people and how he worked these observations into the novel, his characters, he replied by using the metaphor of a sponge soaking everything up, but then cut himself short, asking the audience to forget what he just said, because "it's not like a sponge at all, is it? it's more like ... like a compost heap. you let it sit and it rots down ..."

i am still not writing. chasing words around my head, but they always slip through the net. some day soon, i'm sure.

my poem Sonnenizio on a Line from Neruda can now be read at Autumn Sky Poetry - terrific issue btw.

and i just had an acceptance note from (the poetry)worm - they'll be publishing my poem how much ground would a groundhog hog, if a groundhog could hog ground. i have lost count how many times they've chosen my work ... *G*

i've been re-reading some giuseppe ungaretti - let me share one of the poems with you:

Vanity

Suddenly
the lucid
awesome
vastness
is high
above the rubble

And the man
bent
over the sun-
shocked
water
finds
he's a shadow

Rocked and
gently
broken

(translation: Andrew Frisardi)

* * * * *

Vanità

D'improvviso
è alto
sulle macerie
il limpido
stupore
dell'immensità

E l'uomo
curvato
sull'acqua
sorpresa
dal sole
si rinviene
un'ombra

Cullata e
piano
franta

song of the day: louis, louis by teitur.

15 years, 1 month and 2 weeks ...

... after our first date, sepp and i decided to separate, last sunday. things had not been "right" for too long. while it has not completely sunk in yet, i already know that the hardest part will be dealing with the loss of the closest friend i have had for the best part of 15 years.

We Grow Accustomed to the Dark

We grow accustomed to the Dark --
When light is put away --
As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp
To witness her Goodbye --

A Moment -- We uncertain step
For newness of the night --
Then -- fit our Vision to the Dark --
And meet the Road -- erect --

And so of larger -- Darkness --
Those Evenings of the Brain --
When not a Moon disclose a sign --
Or Star -- come out -- within --

The Bravest -- grope a little --
And sometimes hit a Tree
Directly in the Forehead --
But as they learn to see --

Either the Darkness alters --
Or something in the sight
Adjusts itself to Midnight --
And Life steps almost straight.

Emily Dickinson

song of the day: ain't no cure for love by leonard cohen.

life, poetry, and movies

i know it's been a while since i last blogged, but i've been busy. the week before last was, to put it mildly, not one of my best, and i felt like troubles were hitting me left, right, and centre. if it weren't for some wonderful friends, i would have gone mad. on the plus side: i had a job interview on wednesday, and something may come of that in the future, who knows. on friday, however, i got a phone call from another place where i'd recently sent my CV, and they asked me if i was available, like, *now*. so, some good news at last.

i started teaching at that place, venetia, on tuesday - one ECDL class from 8-12 and one, for beginners, from 1-5. it's quite a lot, teaching 8 hours every day, especially since many of my students are either real beginners or haven't used computers much and there are 15 of them in each group, but most of the people are nice, and i have already had lovely feedback. :) and i really did miss teaching. this is for four weeks, then we'll see. there is a slight chance i might be able to go back to where i worked before, but i have also been offered another 4-week class by venetia.

my old computer had been giving me a hard time for a while, and i had to go and buy a new computer, even though i soooo can't afford it. it's got windows vista - and if you can, stay away from it. i already dread teaching it some day. poor beginners - it's going to be really, really tough for them. but it's still good to be working on a computer that doesn't crash every 20 minutes.

congratulations are in order for my "little" brother martin, who passed his final exams (masters degree in history) with distinction - which was to be expected, but it's still very cool news! he's going for his ph.d. now ...

yesterday was the first day in nearly half a year that i did not write a poem. i reached day 180 of a-poem-a-day on thursday - unbelievable. i never ever thought i could keep going so long. here are poem titles 170 - 180:

day 170 - Unrequited (Sonnenizio on a Line from Barber)
day 171 - bride, unveiled
day 172 - proposal on the phone (fib)
day 173 - Night Blindness
day 174 - Matte
day 175 - now part III of the poem "rosary"
day 176 - now part II of the poem "rosary"
day 177 - now part I of the poem "rosary"
day 178 - report with weight loss
day 179 - between the lines (fib)
day 180 - report with a little selfishness

i am very grateful for steve's assignment #3 at his workshop - browsing poetry collections for words and using them to write a new poem. apart from the poem i wrote for that assignment (bride, unveiled), that list also inspired Night Blindness, Matte, and rosary.

two of my poems were accepted by bent pin quarterly for their inaugural issue: the art of letting go and Xenon (Xe) - The day I fell in love with a Geissler tube - one of my recent prose poems.

i had a couple of rejections, sent out some more submissions, and am still waiting to hear back from quite a few places.

my fib to forget him, which won second place in the flashquake contest, can now be read in flashquake's latest issue.


spring seems to have arrived early this year, after an unusually mild winter - it's lovely outside, trees are beginning to blossom, flowers are coming out, and the sun is shining.

i've been tagged quite a while ago, to list my ten favourite films - which is impossible for me to do. i love so many movies, i cannot pick only ten. so i made this list and tried to consider different genres, but it is by no means a complete list, and it is in no particular order:

The Piano
Amélie
The Apartment
Dancer in the Dark
Trois Couleurs: Bleu (Three Colours: Blue)
Down By Law
La Vita E Bella (Life Is Beautiful)
The Shawshank Redemption
Notting Hill
Pulp Fiction

some that should be on the list, too: Four Weddings and A Funeral, Love ... Actually, Dogville, Breaking the Waves, The Postman, Lost in Translation, Moulin Rouge, Shrek, Ice Age, Muriel's Wedding, Casablanca, Boys Don't Cry, C'era Una Volta Il West (Once Upon A Time in the West), Life of Brian, ...

i tag whoever has not made a list yet, and wants to play.

song of the day: theme from Once Upon A Time in the West by ennio morricone.