silence, only the click of a shutter

as planned, i went to st marx cemetery today. it's always beautiful, but particularly when the lilac is in bloom. of course, being me, i took tons of pictures. i might actually send some of them to magazines - i have been meaning to for a long time. it wasn't as glorious a day as the rest of the week, but warm and pleasant enough, with some wind, and about 3 minutes of rain. i was actually quite happy about the odd cloud, because the light was much more interesting for this reason. here are a few select pics, for the "rest", follow this link.




song of the day: hard drive by evan dando.

trim & slim

i was surprised to find TRIM, the mannequin envy anthology, in my mailbox yesterday; that was fast. i've read about one third of the poems, and i've got to say that jennifer van buren (editor) did an excellent job.

i went and bought myself a new mp3 player yesterday - my old one has been acting up, and i wanted more GB as well. this is my new toy:


slim & stylish, the samsung k3, isn't it? i spent ages uploading songs (and a few pictures), and the first song i listened to was regina spektor's fidelity. today, on shuffle, it was heather nova's let's not talk about love, followed by roy orbison & friends - dream baby. a few other songs it chose: heldenzeit by wir sind helden, i just don't know what to do with myself by the white stripes, bruce sringsteen's born to run, billy joel's if i only had the words and coldplay's acoustic version of yellow.

vienna's still hot. mannequin envy seem to have lost my latest submission. i wrote a poem called blue yesterday, and one tentatively called after the rift today. and you?

song of the day: dream baby by roy orbison & friends.

a birthday blog and a poem

happy birthday, here and now! allen itz is celebrating his blog's first birthday, and lots of his readers/contributors have brought presents. allen has kindly asked me for a contribution, and since i could not make up my mind whether to send a photo or a poem, i sent a haiga. if only all decisions were so easy ...

and here's a new poem of mine:

you've been flirting again
........-- bjørk

you've unbuttoned.....your mouth
your tongue.....has gone walkabout

and your teeth.....so white with
.....afterglow

temptation.....like rolling in heather
.....my tumbleweed love

in your glance.....the skeleton
.....of illicit dreams.....

.....all salt and thorns
the mad fever.....of a setting sun

in your hair.....the smell
.....of sugar rush

you stumble..... through sentences
with the slipshod language..... of desire

your jeans cling to.....secrets
on your thigh.....you must have left

a heart open..... wider than a fish
eye.....in sudden death


song of the day: you've been flirting again by bjork.

what's going on?

collin kelley is nominated for poet laureate of the blogosphere, ms ang has a severe identity crisis (again), amanda auchter is writing wonderful poetry, jenni russell shows some leg and needs someone to mow her lawn, kristy bowen's the birthday girl (have a good one!), nathan mcclain is not dead, rachel mallino has a new blog design, sarah sloat has booked a holiday and has a poem in barrelhouse magazine, and in way-too-warm-and-dry vienna i am confused, writing (Vows for a Cancelled Wedding; you've been flirting again), sleeping too little, teaching a lot, listening to regina spektor and nellie mckay, and trying to get rid of an annoying cold.

song of the day: musicbox by regina spektor.

I close my eyes and think that I have found me
but then I feel mortality surround me.

new x 2

as you can see, my blog has a brand-new look - to match my brand-new website. yes, i've finally had an idea for name & design, and there is no need to ask where i spent the last few days and nights ...

you can find my new place, in visible ink, at www.michaela-gabriel.com. do drop in, let me know what you think - via guestbook, blog, or mail.


i spent hours listening to ABBA (in english, german, spanish, swedish, and french) today, while working on the site, and have been wondering what the most underrated ABBA song might be. what do you think?

song of the day: put on your white sombrero by ABBA.

the past seven days

back at my old workplace - ah but i had missed *my* guys! this is only for six weeks, until 30 may. i have a group of 12 ladies, and i am teaching from 8.30 to 4. so far, time has gone by rather quickly. none of my students are real beginners, which is nice; less stressful, and there should not be any problems, time-wise, or with the tests.

i've spent the last few days working hard, and late, on a project i had been putting off for months and months. watch this space for the news, it won't be long. :)

i'm contemplating a 10:10, though not a 30:30 at the moment. i've scribbled a little, but haven't got an actual poem, though a few lines / ideas ("I admit to ugliness." * * * "if I were ginger, I'd creep into every dish" * * * "There isn't a dream that keeps falling out of your pocket.") today i was encouraged to sit down and write again soon, because "there are so many different women inside you, and they need to be heard". i hope that wasn't just a nice way of telling me i am schizophrenic. ;)

mannequin envy's first print anthology TRIM is now available; it's a best of 2003-2006, with work by - to name but a few - arlene ang (of course), liz gallagher, rachel mallino, corey mesler, maurice oliver, taylor graham, teresa white, lynn strongin, lisa zaran, john sweet, donald illich, stephen mead, eve anthony hanninen, c. l. bledsoe, and me.

apart from that --

i did something foolish ~ i did something smart ~ i had ice-cream ~ i have finally revived my myspace pages ~ i had a sore throat on sunday, monday, and today ~ i cried ~ i laughed ~ i received the new poetry collection gardenias for a beast by my dear friend and mentor teresa white ~ we had a little bit of rain, but not enough ~ i bought the bilingual edition of neruda's 100 love sonnets (and now i only need someone to read them to) ~ nobody made dinner for me, but i made dinner for someone ~ ordered steve mueske's a mnemonic for desire and the digerati anthology ~ bought the four weddings and a funeral dvd on ebay ~ bought the hours on dvd from amazon (had been meaning to for ages, so thanks to ms nic for kind of reminding me) ~ i dreamed a lot, mostly weird things ~ i watched the tennis fed cup (austria vs australia) ~ i listened to regina spektor a lot ~ i spent way too much time in front of the computer ~ i've been missing more than one person ~ sarah sloat has a wonderful poem up at blood oranges ~ i had a rejection from knock ~ i caught up on blogreading ~ i taught english ~ i sneezed a lot, but less than the previous week ~ i read poetry on my way to and from work ~ i still feel as if i were in the middle of some soap opera, but i'm afraid it's my life

i have also been cursing windows vista, but thank goodness for firefox and the "resume session" button, without which i assume this post would have been lost, because the bloody system crashed before i could save the draft.

song of the day: fidelity by regina spektor.

sunshine

it's summer - or so it seems. it has been waaaay too warm for about a week now - up to 27°C (that's about 80F for you americans *G*), picture-book blue sky, barely any wind ... gorgeous. the only down side is that my allergy is worse than last year when it was a lot wetter, and we'd actually had a proper winter. so, since birch trees and hazelnuts don't like me, it's red eyes and sneezing at the moment ...

life has been
crazysadtoughsunnylonelyblackhappydarkscarywhitechallenging and more, lately.

i've been reading john siddique's poems from a northern soul, the latest issue of poetry salzburg review (john siddique has a few poems in it), and marie howe's what the living do. here is one of her poems:

Separation

Driving out of town, I see him crossing
the Brooks Pharmacy parking lot, and remember

how he would drop to his knees in the kitchen
and press his face to my dress, his cheek flat against

my belly as if he were listening for something.
Somebody might be waiting for coffee in the living room,

someone might be setting the dining room table, he'd
place his face under my dress and press his cheek

against my belly and kneel there, without saying anything.
How is it possible that I am allowed to see him

like this - walking quickly by the glass windows?

- what he wears in the world without me,
his hands swinging by his side, his cock quiet

in his jeans, his shirt covering
his shoulders, his own tongue in his mouth.

Marie Howe

i am not writing, but i will try to get back into the swing of things soon. i need new material to submit, and i miss writing.

song of the day: where did my baby go? by john legend.

my poems, and someone else's poem

juked has accepted two of my poems - what is the sound of one hand clapping? and you nude girl folding your arms, inspired by a schiele painting. i'll post links when they are published.

and here's a wonderful poem i was introduced to yesterday:

Since You Will Not Send Me Word

Since you will not send me word
I will try to imagine
what you might have said.

I will believe there is a world
where you love me again,
I will talk sweetly.

Since you will not take my hand,
(my hand that was just your
size), I will wave

Good-bye again and again.
I will weep bitter tears, and
you shall know you are missed.

Since you will not love me love,
oh secret darling of my heart,
I will fall away

And rock myself to sleep.
I will sing a song
and rock myself to sleep.

Joyce Sutphen

i sat in the sunny park across the road this afternoon, reading (salman rushdie's the moor's last sigh) and watching people (the comings and goings of members of the balkan community, mainly) - it was a pretty perfect two and a half hours. and tichy's chocolate ice-cream is still the bestest. :)

song of the day: hotel song by regina spektor.

poems and party

two of my poems can now be read in bent pin quarterly's inaugural issue: xenon (xe), and the art of letting go.

also, there's one poem in (the poetry) worm #39: how much ground would a groundhog hog, if a groundhog could hog ground. it will be archived some time soon.

last day with my two classes today - the feedback was fantastic, and the afternoon class gave me a lovely pot plant, and they seemed a bit sad that the class was over. i have two weeks off now. i hope the weather doesn't change - it was such a beautiful day!

it was sepp's and birgit's birthday on friday (30 march), and sepp had a biiiig 40th bd party on saturday: it was fun, i loooooved the dancing. here are a few pics - i am sure there will be more.


me & my "little" brother martin


girrrl power! babs, me, birgit :)


air guitarists of the world unite: tom & martin

song of the day: what you're proposing by status quo.