The Accidental Novelist

WE'VE MOVED!!

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:42:00 +0000

Hi, yes, I've moved over to WordPress.

I'M HAVING A BLOG WARMING PARTY ON FEB 1, 2009 from 4 - 8 pm (Pacific Standard Time)

Feel free to poke around on this blog all you want. There's disapproving cats, sad monkeys, and a few useful writing exercises. I do receive and read all comments.

We've having a Moving Sale soon. Check back for details.

Monday Poetry Cha-ching (last one on this blog)

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 06:07:00 +0000

Getting ready for my permanent move to my new blog. I'll be having a moving sale and a blog-warming party. There will be poetry games and treats and music and frolicking, so stay tuned for that. Frolicking is so underrated.

The poem below combines lines from three separate 3:15 experiment poems written August 15, 2008 by Gwendolyn Alley, Tod McCoy and myself. The 3:15 Experiment itself is a work of collective consciousness. We used these poems as part of our process of creating a collaborative poem to submit to an on-line journal; this is a draft of the stanza I produced. We're still working on the final poem and will let you know when it appears.

Thunder and lightning
arriving back from the dead
thawing a bottle of wine
with a drum roll please
my dream angel solid and
drowned for safe
when the light flashes
fiercely beautiful down the hallway

Let’s not fool ourselves
inside a shoe that doesn’t fit
shed some clothes
roam the house
of my youth more human than
closing windows and
slowly warming coal

I ALSO have a Monday Poetry Post on my NEW BLOG this week.

the TRAIN leaves every Monday.

Monday Poetry Thang

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 07:01:00 +0000

daily grind

miracle birds fly on miracle wings under a miracle sky

someone loads a parking meter with time and the “oo”

in the school sign makes me think the world is looking

out for me. every brick in the library was fashioned in

its brickiness to perfection and laid brick upon

brick and somewhere along the way someone thought

up electricity, the discarding of light, the key to your

heart, like a blossom in the spring snow. clever despite

the cold. I crack open my own, a walnut with a teardrop

center, and fold my hands into the brunt of winter. all

day the miracles follow me around like housecats. all

day I thank them for their moody persistence.

Have a great week! Have two, they're fat-free!

(Join the Poetry Train)

Thursday (gettin my poem on)

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:15:00 +0000

The theme this week on Read Write Poem's "get your poem on" is "beginnings and endings." To me, they are always the same thing. This poem speaks to that idea.

(still working on accompanying video poem)

avoiding the woolly worms

I drive 10 miles an hour slower to avoid them crossing the road

it is the season for so many things

don't know what they will become if left to become

some moth or butterfly fluttering to light

but for now they simply creep across every path

subtle as skin, twice as vulnerable

and I know I must be insane, crying for black and orange

fuzz-piles on blacktop as commuters back up I

swerve into the opposing lane

my life an unconcern

as worms are enlightened

be free be free

in the next lifetime, perhaps they will live

in a great ocean

* * *

if you listen to sea turtles laying eggs

it sounds like a moan of human pleasure

exhale so familiar it makes one shiver

afterwards they leave their young

to predators and elements

return to ocean with straight necks

sun and salt stinging tears mistaken

for regret

At recess, village school children shield emerging

baby sea turtles from vultures

They would tear their heads off

if we let them…

they say in Spanish

So few, so few after egg gathering season

ever make it to the water.

* * *

Upstairs, I stand at the window

wondering if you are asleep in the hammock

one leg thrown over the side

It is as if I am looking down on the memory

of something

or a distant happy dream

It is green and dry through the trees

I'm at the window upstairs as the hammock swings

back and forth and back and forth

filling the space between us

You wave slowly and I wave back

far too calm and quiet

from Every Day Angels and Other Near Death Experiences

Monday Poetry Something or Other

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:33:00 +0000

Something from the vault.

phobia

after much food and drink
I take a walk in the night
while Baby does the dishes
I turn down a dark street
I am not
frightened by the dark street we are in
Platanes, Crete
and the most dangerous thing
I can think of
is the uncertain sidewalk

a motorcycle takes the corner
heads intentionally for me
at the last second veers
and speeds away
there isn’t any laughter

back at our hotel prepared
with my motorcycle story
I find my husband on the floor
keep your shoes on he says I dropped a wine bottle
there are shards in every corner
of the room this is his fear
right now he is frightened by bits of glass

when flying with my husband I figure
one of us should not be afraid as the plane dips
I take his damp hand and smile

I am frightened sometimes by herds of animals
because of the way they all move at once
one thought becomes all thought
all thought becomes sudden

I am not frightened by cherry blossoms
although they are just as sudden
and of one mind

but I’ve never
had to jump out of their way
and when they drop on stone floors
it is merely fragrant snow

Best / Most / Favourite of 2008

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 20:01:00 +0000

The Best Happy Surprises from the Youth of Today that make me hopeful for the future.

I write/direct (basically showrun) a TV show called VJIAM tv. Even though the job has been extremely overwhelming at times, one of the positive aspects of the show is that it's given me the warm fuzzies for the youth of today. Let's face it, they get a bad rap in the media, and we've left them with a mess. Oops, guys, sorry about that!

The show features the work of emerging video journalists sharing stories about their communities. They cover arts, sports, music, dance, environmentalism, and more. But the really cool thing is that their work is uplifting. They create stories about saving the planet, building community, teaching each other, and being strong in mind, body, and spirit. Some of it has been mighty inspirational.

Here are just a few of my favourites:

At 22 years old, Emily Jubenville was voted Greenest Canadian.

Teens in San Francisco organize a solar powered hip hop festival.

Reel Grrls helps young women get a head start in filmmaking.

Five teenagers are given free music lessons and then put in a band together.

Circus Smirkus... a circus made up entirely of teenage performers.

There are a few that haven't aired yet; I'll link them to the segments when they are online. In the meantime, I've linked them to some information about them, which you'd want to know anyway.

Girls Helping Girls was founded two years ago by 15-year-old Sejal Hathi. It's an international nonprofit organization that partners girls in the U.S. with girls in developing countries to jointly identify problems in their communities and develop social change through micro lending projects.

(Uhhh... what was I doing at 15... hmmm, yeah, working at Winchell's Donut Shop and writing bad poetry.)

Matt Harding travels the world, connecting people, through one simple dance.

And here's a story they haven't covered yet, but I'm hoping they do:

18 year old kid invents a silent, electrically powered motorcycle. I saw this kid on Dragon's Den, a show where entrepreneurs pitch ideas to a panel of investors. When one of the dragon's pointed out that it was the same concept as the segwey, and the segwey had failed, he replied, "yeah, that's because the segwey wasn't cool."

He received a $2.5 million development grant.

The Word on Wednesday - Best / Most / Favourite of 2008

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 07:12:00 +0000

(because what year would be complete without a best / most / favourite list?)

2008'S BEST CRIES

Most tender cry
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
(whose website has been under construction for quite some time)

Years ago my friend Barbara recommended this book and the title stuck in my mind. I finally bought it last Jan with a bookstore gift certificate someone had given me, and even then it sat on my shelf for months. Just before summer, curled up on the couch for a weekend, I cried my way through Henry and Clare's romance. I love how the story's sadness and foreboding is peppered with the humour that comes when two people are so comfortably one, destined and resigned to that destiny of constant heartache. A heartache as beautiful as is is tragic.

Most stunning cry (sudden and unforseen)
Fierce Light - Where Spirit Meets Action
a documentary by Velcrow Ripper

Last October I attended my friend Sue's wedding. This friend had a chronic kidney condition and during the ceremony I could tell she was exhausted. Part way through the reception dinner, my husband and I realized that the entire wedding party was gone. Word came around that Sue had fallen ill and had to be taken to the hospital. She went into a coma and died that evening.

I was in shock, it was unreal that one could attend a friend's wedding and then the friend could vanish from this earth. Sue was all light and heart and spirit, but she also had a flair for the dramatic. We all agreed that her exit was beautiful... how many other people get a reception line of all their friends and family at the end of their lives?

A friend at Sue's wedding recommended a movie to me. She had specifically thought of me after watching it. She said Fierce Light was an inspiring documentary about people coming together for good, for peace, for action. That sounded about right. In the midst of a crazy work week, just a few days after Sue's death, I ducked out for a few hours to see the film at Vancouver Film Festival. It was sold out. I sat in the front row, swallowed by the screen.

In the opening sequence, the director Velcrow Ripper shows the story of Brad Will, an anarchist and video journalist, through his final film footage. Brad was shot and killed (by police) in 2006 during the teacher's strike in Oaxaca, Mexico, which he had traveled down to document. He basically filmed his own murder. The footage was gut-wrenching.

My heart burst open... it was too much. I had known Brad. I knew he had been killed, but I hadn't expected to see the footage on full screen in colour.

I had met Brad at Naropa University. My two fondest memories of him were when he and I spent an afternoon trying to create the perfect intoxicating tea and attending his mock gay wedding held outside the Promise Keeper's convention. Brad was one of a kind. A generous coyote trickster with a heart for justice.

I'm pretty sure I cried through the entire film, and not just for Sue and Brad, for all the wonderful, beautiful people out there with fierce light and spirit. Brad died doing what he had to do. Sue died in the arms of love. I don't know if there is any more appropriate way for them to leave us.

LINK to story about Brad that appeared in Rolling Stone

Bradwill.org

Monday Poetry Purge*

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 07:53:00 +0000

*purge
a: to clear of guilt
b: to free from moral or ceremonial defilement
c: to cause evacuation from (as the bowels)

I've been typing up my 2008 3:15 Experiment poems. I'm hoping to get them finished before spring. If you have never heard of the 3:15 Experiment... well I just don't know if I can talk to you any more. (it's a collaborative writing experiment, it's annual, it's insane)

I came across this one and really liked how it merged my waking life / job, dreams, odd lists, and a bit of advice (both practical and unprovoked). It is here, unedited, in pure 3:15 form, as the experiment is about writing from / exploring the hypnogogic state.

August 9, 2008
Vancouver, BC

Let’s all give ourselves a raise
all under promoted underplayed
artists report to the promenade deck
time for lawn bowling, sushi
and photos with loved ones

Celebration is a necessary component
to breathing
festivities, fireworks, fondue
should not be kept on a shelf
in the back drawer, coated
with dust. Admire your success
open the windows let it be known

It’s 3 months until winter
keep the hula skirt dry martinis
in china glasses mini umbrellas in our soup
ice sculptures shaped like ducks
cats w/impossibly soft pillows
rites of passage shuffleboard
sun setting over the hills horizons like
white elephants name your poison
name your game—name your baby
take away the name and what’s left?
the essence of what is
breath, celebration, light of our
lives we trust each other
only because we love
to give in, give away
we love to not be in charge
take us away people of the moon
people of the asteroids people
giant-like and forgiving.

The Word on Christmas

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 23:46:00 +0000

We've been the landlords to a Chinese family for the past year. They've been renting the bottom half of our house while their new home is being built. There are two kids, Mom and Dad, Grandma, and for two months a few cousins. I only understand about 1/10 of what Mom or Dad tells me, and Grandma speaks straight Cantonese with a lot of hand gestures. I always smile because her eyes laugh and shine whenever she speaks to me.

The laundry room is shared and I have to walk through their hallway, past their bathroom, Grandma’s room, and the kitchen to get there. I would have been horrified if any of my landlords had to walk down my hallway to do their laundry. I get shivers just thinking about a few of my landlords. We had a peeping tom for one when I lived in Prague...

In any case, whenever I venture down there, first knocking politely, then jiggling the doorknob so they know I’m about to enter, Grandma always greets me enthusiastically, with a hand on my arm, and the ladies wave from down the hall in the garage, pausing over their sewing machines... oh, yes, they do piece work in the garage. Mom, Grandma, Sister, and “Cousins.” They are chatty and keep the radio on a Chinese version of an easy listening station. The laundry room is just off the garage.

Over the last several months, Mom has hemmed two pairs of pants for me, our curtains, and she made me a green cammie for my birthday. I’ve photocopied papers for her, faxed documents to China, and I gave her kids most of my Halloween candy. They are moving out at the end of the month; their new
house is finished.

Today is Christmas and I need to do laundry. I had heard the whir of sewing machines earlier, so I know someone’s around. I’m not sure if they celebrate Christmas, with kids growing up North American and living in such a fusion of cultures. My own traditions have morphed since moving to Canada.

I grab a little present so I won’t go down empty handed. It’s a honey gift set that my friend made. Her parents run an apiary. They make the honey and she makes the beeswax candles. I venture downstairs and find Mom, Grandma, Sister, Cousin and a Girlfriend sharing a meal in the kitchen. Merry Christmas, Mom says. I hand her the honey gift set and she tells me in very broken English that she wants to invite me to a party at her new house. She then says to come over and she’ll hem my pants. Okay, I say.

Grandma opens all the cupboards, pointing and chatting the whole time. I smile and shake my head. She opens the refrigerator and gestures inside. I still don’t understand. She goes to a calendar and flips the pages to Dec 28. She points to everything around her and then gestures away. Ah, they are moving on the 28th. Everything in the kitchen will be gone by the 28^th is what she means. That’s a lucky day. The Mom had once said that numbers ending in “8” are lucky.

Grandma goes to the stove and grabs something wrapped in aluminum foil. She offers it to me. She points to herself, then the item, then to me. I'm pretty confident she's giving it to me, so I take it. It’s heavy and warm. Thanks, I say, Merry Christmas.

I go back upstairs and into our kitchen. Baby is in the middle of making a traditional Christmas chili. We've been camped out for a few days due to weather and illness. We didn't get a chance to buy any of the usual holiday fare, so chili and pancakes it is.

I set the steaming package on the counter.

What’s that, Baby asks. I believe, I say, it’s a Christmas Yam.

Today I am grateful for the beauty of small gestures.

Happy Holidays to all! Be well and safe! May you all be delivered your own Christmas Yams.

Our front yard, yesterday :-)

And a farewell from this planet to poet Nanao Sakaki who died on Dec 21 at age 86.

The Word on Wednesday - Gross National Happiness and Pronoia

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 07:48:00 +0000

This weeks' word goes out to the happy feet of Matt Harding. I couldn't stop smiling as I watched this video. I also got a little teary-eyed a few times, because it's just so damn beautiful. Watch it in its entirety, cuz just when you think you've seen it all, he changes it up a bit. Well done!

(Since YouTube is now WIDESCREEN, it doesn't fit in my blogspace any more. Doh!)

If you just love him, his website is Where the Hell is Matt?

And if you want to see an interview with him, check out young VJ Alexandra Liss' Video on SanFranciscoIAM

In particular, what he says at 5:38 about the country of Bhutan is lovely. I had never heard this. Basically the king of Bhutan (they just moved to a democracy recently) decided to measure the prosperity of the country's citizens NOT on economic terms, but by their level of happiness. They have a Gross National Happiness and a Ministry of Happiness.

That is just about the coolest thing I've heard of since I discovered Rob Brezny's book PRONOIA a few months ago. It actually deserves its very own WORD Entry. Perhaps I'll do more on that later. I'd definitely recommend it as a great holiday gift.

Friday Five on Tuesday

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 05:21:00 +0000

Better late then never, right? I'm working my way back to blogging more. I have to shape up because I was invited to participate in the upcoming Poetry Bloggers Conference (more info as it comes!).

The poem below was inspired by my recent trip to Hawaii, where I swam with sea turtles, and missed my husband back home.

gypsotheque

untidying the line between breath
and spirit
our nightly sculptures mock
dark matter
enter the
light of eternal sunshine
transformed via
our bliss
bedroom sighs
we rise
again and again
flying over pele’s mountain
woozy with love
plain and simple

words only jumble the treasure of it
all so godish
a connection of sea turtles
bidding aloha to brackish waters
our tears and kindnesses
mixing gesso on which
we overlay
their sun-kissed skins

FRIDAY FIVE words last week:

sculpture
gesso
plain
woozy
jumble

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:14:00 +0000

The title of this post says it all... the world breathed a collective sigh of relief as Obama was elected the next president of the U.S.

Being an ex-pat living in Canada, I felt a renewed sense of hope and pride in my home country.

Vancouver celebrated last night, and it wasn't just the Americans living here, either. I was out to dinner with two friends last night. I apologized for being distracted by the election, which was being broadcast on a large screen TV at the restaurant. They laughed and said they were distracted by it, too.

When Obama was announced as the next president, I let out such a loud cheer that everyone in the restaurant laughed. As Obama gave his speech, the owner turned up the television and everyone turned to listen. The wait staff, the kitchen staff, the owners all pulled up chairs and everyone sat, happily stunned. There were even some tears of joy, and they weren't all coming from me. My friend Ami and I held hands tightly, witnessing what everyone knew was an amazing historical moment. I high-fived my waiter on the way out.

I came home to some congratulatory e-mails from friends in other parts of the world. U.S. policy and economics affects the world, that has become very clear in the last eight years. The world was indeed watching last night...

Monday Poetry Train - yes, on the track...

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 06:40:00 +0000

I've been typing up some of my 3:15 Experiment poems, which are pretty dark this year. If you don't know what the 3:15 Experiment is, it's an annual collective of poets who all wake up every night at 3:15 AM during the month of August. Many brave poets attempt it, few survive... well, okay, they all survive, but they do get pretty cranky.

The poems are posted UNEDITED, because the point of the experiment is to see what your 3:15 mind comes up with in its hypnogogic / hypnopompic state.

(the event at the end of this poem is tragically true, not a nightmare I had)

August 2, 2008
Vancouver, BC

As a way of falling asleep
broken thoughts turn into
automatic images playing
fingerpaints
Don’t want to force the images let
them come coaxed like eels
underwater, yes, where preference is usually
blind, but no there is a shock
in life that is unreal
how unreal the story of our lives
when we tell it back gripping I
have become a gripper holding
onto that which made the road here
boyfriends, jobs, speeches, crashes
all jambalaya

my heart rips open w/ today’s news
a man beheaded on a bus on his way back
home on a bus across Canada
nobody got up to stop the knife
and would I have been any more
confrontational? faced w/a mad man
would I run?

decapitated, the victim 3 minutes dead
what I imagine is the breath
one minute easing out w/a thought
of someone I love or used
to love 10th grade prom the
sloppy gropings and smiles
breathe one-two the knife descends
like that when did the lights go?
did he know his head was coming off?
did he have a chance a moment to
realize and love his life for
what it was?

First Attempt at a Video Poem

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:05:00 +0000

This is the audio/visual to go with my previous post's poem.

Ironically, being a writer/producer/director, I have never actually edited anything before. All I have on my computer is this extremely limited Windows Movie Maker, but what'cha gonna do... perhaps I'll get inspired and invest in something a little more snazzy.

All wedding pictures taken by Tod McCoy, all other pictures taken by me.

monday poetry train - present beau for 2 friends

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:24:00 +0000

A present beau is a poem you write for someone using only the letters available in their name/s. For instance, in the poem below, I could only use the letters a, b, c, d, e, i, j, l, m, n, o, r, s, u, v, w - which gave the poem a softer tone because it lacked hard letters like t, k, and g.

Present Beau for Dawn Samuelson and Neven Jambresic

on the occasion of their marriage

aug 31, 2008 - ashford, wa

once in a blue moon

a wondrous love evolves

raw and massive

riddles are balanced

a diorama dances

love’s drums drive rise above

all noise all scars subside

leaves us noble and alive

a sudden call across a room

in seconds loved bloomed

cried dove roamed soared

love drove our

man and woman on

as nervous summer smiles simmered

and wild amour burned

sun and moon and world

embraced lion and lioness

and since love’s sudden wow

our dawn and neven now

vow arrive at wedded bliss

will ever woven become

one sacred river

one sacred road

joined in dream and soul

love’s rare invaluable ode

~danika dinsmore

I'm going to figure out how to post an audio of me reading this poem to this blog. Anyone know how?

I bet it's easy in wordpress, I'm just too lazy to switch from blogger to wordpress. I'll get around to it someday.

You Know You Want To...

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 05:07:00 +0000

The Annual 3:15 Experiment commences in TWO nights... and I think you all are just insane enough to do it...

You can register on line at: www.315experiment.com

If you've never even HEARD of The 3:15 Experiment... where have you BEEN for the last 15 years?

ON VACATION - RERUNS!

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:22:00 +0000

Hello everyone. I am on "vacation" from my blog right now. Not sure when I'll be back. Sometime at the end of July.

In the summertime, there are reruns on television. In that spirit, here are a few of my favourite posts over the last year or so:

From my Thursday Thirteen File

A crazy idea that took me most of the day to post:
13 Pages from 13 Journals

If you like monkeys, you must check out:
Thirteen Sad Monkeys (from Thursday Thirteen)

A Few of my Favourite Writing Exercises:

The "literary definition"

The use of small incidences

Poetry fun you can have with Friends

A Few Favourite Poems:

Misfitting

No Matter

ID Matters

Something from my Polly Papers

Miranda July Rocks

And lastly... my cats' favourite post

Hope your summer is going well!

dd

Monday Poetry Train

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:20:00 +0000

I just got back from a weekend reunion with several of my best friends from college. We all turned 40 recently. We've known each other for 22 years, and even when we don't see each other for a long time, it's like no time has passed at all.

The job of a writer is to capture these moments in words and I feel humbled by the task. Words really aren't enough. I want to return to this later and do it justice. For now, this is the fresh version.

Reunion

once together we
hummingbirds and flamingos
dance on the
dessert buffet
twenty-two times around the sun
pressing the rough parts free
the wrinkles and scars
musical notes on the agenda
of repeating the memories
that made us

artistry in life is play my
playmates my moulin rouge
my circle unbroken my song
my mother my poet my
once
together in the california sun
tears in our bloody marias
pull my finger jesus smiles
pull my finger and
shut the door

together
at once we children
hold hands at the zoo
in line for the night train
making home where we land
together once there
is no going back we
return to our dream
what is real what
is real our once together
lifetime

Monday Poetry Train (in Motion)

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:15:00 +0000

I haven't written any poetry this week... however I DID attend a screenwriting summit this weekend with Michael Hauge, Linda Seger, John Truby, and Sid Field. I was very unimpressed with Sid Field. Not that I ever refer to any of his books... although I did like his Four Screenplays.

As for the others, I definitely took something away from each. Truby is an excellent lecturer on structure and genre, although a little rigid in his analysis.

For today... you'll have to settle for Poetry in Motion. I really dig this video from VancouverIAM.com. It was created by a student at Vancouver Film School. I've been obsessed with So You Think You Can Dance lately, and the unbelievable control people have over their bodies.

The Word on Wednesday - Word to Director Katrin Bowen

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 01:51:00 +0000

Since I missed the Monday Poetry Train, I figured I would give this week's word to Vancouver Director Katrin Bowen and her beautiful video poem Almost Forgot My Bones based on Tanya Evanson's poem of the same name.

Monday Poetry Train - for Joe Stummer

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Tue, 27 May 2008 06:47:00 +0000

I just watched an incredible documentary last night about the life of Joe Stummer, lead singer of The Clash. Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten. There was so much I didn't know about him, especially the amazing journey of his life. And even though he had some tortured years and pushed away a lot of his friends, he was authentic, and he was a very generous human being. I found the film inspiring in many ways.

When he died at 50 (of a congenital heart defect he knew nothing about), he had come full circle and found peace and happiness in his community.

(The title is in reference to Joseph Campbell's Monomyth, the Hero's Journey)

Separation – Initiation - Return

Joe Strummer lived
the perfect Hero’s Journey
status quo ransacked
when sent to boarding
school the inciting brotherly
suicide the threshold of the
free world trials and allies and
enemies lovers and fans
until finally the belly
of the beast
without a backup band
and the only redemption
to make amends with
all the hippies

he burned fires in circles
after he learned
it’s not places you return to
it’s peace of mind the
final okay I’m here this is it
this is me
and I’d rather be happy
than right
that rock laughing at me
in the shade
without form
we could live that long
and have compassion too

Monday Poetry Train - Found Poem from talk by Jill Bolte Taylor

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Tue, 20 May 2008 05:12:00 +0000

Assignment: write a found poem. Use the words of a piece of non-fiction or a speech to write a poem. Put someone else`s words into the style/form of your own poetry.

This is a found poem made up of words and phrases from Jill Bolte Taylor's moving talk on T.E.D. called A Stroke of Insight. Click the link and pull up a box of Kleenex.

a stroke of insight

I can no longer identify
the boundaries of
my body

my body

enormous and expansive
disconnected from all chatter

no longer the choreographer
of my life
I surrender
liberated
a sea of silent euphoria

and no way to squeeze
the enormousness of myself
back inside

I am the lifeforce power of the universe
with manual dexterity
and two cognitive minds

I am the lifeforce power of the universe
at one
with all that is

Weekend Workout - bonus poetry and a shout out to Eckhart Tolle

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Sun, 11 May 2008 07:23:00 +0000

I haven't given you all a weekend writing workout in a while, so I stopped in with a bonus poem for the Wishes, Lies, and Dreams class at Puget Sound Community School.

My assignment this time is to go someplace where there are lots of people and just wander around, being quiet, and listening to them all. I think buses are great for this. So are malls. Listen to everyone's pain, fears, worries, suffering, silliness... Your job is to empathize with them all.

I've been having a great time observing others after reading Eckhart Tolle's book A New Earth, which I think is a useful tool for writers. Forget books about writing for a moment and read a book about being a human suffering inside of an ego. Should give you insights for great character development.

During or after you do this listening exercise, write a poem that begins with the lines "I listen..." and see where it takes you.

misfitting

I listen to angels
on the bus wearing
narrative eyes - I've lost
my fearlessness the charm
of youth once wombed in an
immortality of ideas
I am now offered seats
sweets - and less hours in a day
The bus driver tells me
about how his sister smothered
the dashboard of her car
with stuffed animals

I had a car like that I say
Allen Ginsberg rode shotgun
when I gave him a ride home
from a party
elixired on poetry
an incident my keeper of
memory adores

A bodhisattva sits next to me
remembering his dinner
Chinese ladies with bags of aluminum cans
chat loudly and the bus lurches
tumbling us madly forward laughing
as we touch - we know
each other now
a bird of souls
a playground of misfits

Poetry Train... not so much...

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Sun, 04 May 2008 19:58:00 +0000

I'm not feeling so poetic at the moment, but I am pretty excited.

Now you can finally see why I have been so insanely busy lately (making for inconsistent blogging).

The first of 25 internet TV sites I am helping to create has launched!

It's less than a week old, so there are still bugs and glitches and funky things going on, as well as changes we just couldn't make in time for our launch. So, we'll be tweaking over the next few months to get everything right.

vancouveriam.com

Each site is locally-based and locally focused. Toronto and Seattle are next.

For some reason, the sound adjuster isn't working on the viewing pages, so you'll have to adjust the sound from your computer.

A few short films that I wrote are posted on the TV IAM portion of the site:

StickUp

What the Cat Said

And I wrote, produced, and directed the "How To TV AM" video, which is about creating video citizen journalism (Click on the pink How To TV IAM graphic)

Word is getting out, people are excited about participating and love the look. I can`t wait to start on the next city!

So, no poem today... but at least I`m getting sleep again. :-)

Monday Poetry Train - from the singed mouth of poetry

info@danikadinsmore.com (OpenChannel) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 04:55:00 +0000

I just got back from Burning Word, the "festival of poetic fire," over on Whidbey Island in Washington State. My husband was a good sport and came with me, sitting in on an impressive number of poetry readings for a non-poet. We were pretty full by the end of the day.

This festival has a special place in my heart simply due to the number of people from my past who haunt it. It's always a reunion. This year I marveled over how many of them I've known for 10 or more years. Anne Waldman, Judith Roche, Paul Hunter, Paul Nelson, Clarice Keegan, Heather Haley, Charles Potts, Amalio Madueno... und so weiter... so many more I can't even list. Cheers to you all for being a part of the who I am now.

I had the pleasure of MCing the Vancouver stage & open mic and one of the workshops. I wrote the following poem in that workshop, although it's already been through a few incarnations.

losing the hammer-will

we have no will
to hammer the hills
tell each other as
drakes chase ducks
around the pond
and into the parking lot

angels in loose clothing
hum fatly the drums
of breath
groping half-baked
in the day - -
industryless

Hop on the Poetry Train and have a super week.