virginia quarterly review

1. Virginia Quarterly Review
2. Cage Call, Virginia Quarterly Review multimedia
3. 2020 Fall Association Conference HOC Quarterly Report
4. 2019 MFA Lectores Reading Series: Matthew Vollmer
5. Hermit Poetry E390 – “Aubade with Bread for the Sparrows” by Oliver de la Paz
6. Cary Holladay reads from “Merry-Go-Sorry”
7. Lunch Poems – Dan Bellm

Virginia Quarterly Review

quarterly review ive included a picture,of the first cover in 1925 and a picture,of the story of louis parsley that,influenced me to share this story,cold war hot mess,first issue was 1925. i chose a virginia,quarterly review because not only is an,important part of the history it has,several articles by famous influential,people,such as eleanor roosevelt and louise,parsley,the magazine was started in 1925. ive,included a picture of the first cover,and the cover,of the story in august 2015 by lewis,parsley this is an amazing piece of our,national history as well,written by this author,next it describes cold war hot mess our,government conducting an experiment to,store nuclear waste and all the decades,of toxic effects,this created,i was particularly drawn into the story,by lewis parsley,and photographed by sean mcdermott,i am very concerned about our,environment our environmental mistake,caused by man,this story is about abe gaza in 2015,going to eastern washington,it was supposed to be a routine,inspection,of the site that held millions of,gallons of nuclear waste created,over decades,lewis parsley in 2010 reported this,story that took three years to make its,a true and sickening,relevation of the top secret project,conducted by the u.s government to store,nuclear waste,this inspection went wrong,as soon as the crew arrived,nose bleeding headaches were immediately,happening to these crew members,something was not right,the reality of toxic chemicals seeping,out of this nuclear storage,plant affected,affects us to this day,there is nowhere to run or escape this,horrible failure to clean up and store,nuclear waste materials by the u.s,government,general guidelines for the general,quarterly review,we will consider unpublished work,please do not submit previous published,material,including work published,in sections,chat books or online we only accept,submission online via submittable we do,not accept submissions via email or post,you can contact us by,letters to the editor,letters at,virginia quarterly online dot org,please note by submitting this email you,agree to allow us to publish your,comments online,or print,and to allow us to edit comments for,contents and length,general inquiries,editors virginia quarterlyreview.org,we make every effort to respond within,six months but response time will vary,according to the number of submissions,please be patient with us we typically,receive more than 10 000,unsolicited work per year,responses will be provided by via,submittable please do not call or email,regarding the status of your submission

Cage Call, Virginia Quarterly Review multimedia

my father was in the north working as a,quarry man and he told me about a gold,mine called the Mikasa mine it was one,of the deepest mines in the Western,Hemisphere and he said if youre gonna,do something in photography you should,do something that really means something,and has a history to it that people,should know about that they dont know,about and really this area had been sort,of lost in the history books when I,first went north I went to Kirkland Lake,its very flat green trees a lot of rock,I got there I just thought where the,hell how have I come to and it was,almost like these outposts no ones,really meant to go live up there,you,the cage is the elevator that takes the,men down when the door closes between,the top of the door the top of the cage,its open space and you see the rock,going by you know Ive been mines where,I get dropped off you know 69 hundred,foot level 7,000 foot level basically,theres one hoist cable its so,stretched by 7,000 feet that when you,stop the the cage has been bouncing up,and down and you got to wait for it to,get above the level and you jump out so,once they put the shaft in which is the,vertical access tunnel like an elevator,shaft that takes you to the depth of the,ore body another group of miners come in,and start blasting horizontal tunnels,from the access shaft into the ore body,its almost unbelievable to witness a,group of men come to a solid block of,rock and start drilling and start,blasting holes seven 8,000 feet,underground these guys tunnel and blast,through rock like armies,you know a miner usually is like the,ultimate mechanic they do plumbing they,got it advanced all the pipes for the,water and the air for the drills like,its like the most awesome construction,and deconstruction site now one miner,said I work really hard every day to,make my workplace safe so I can blow it,up every day so everything costs money,so the less waste rock you move out the,more money you make so what youll see,is a lot of smaller gold mines instead,of large mechanized mining youll have,miners following a vein of gold with,small hand drills called jack leg drills,this is a lot more dangerous as kind of,mining you can hear the ground cracking,its just like little releases of,pressure like crack and you know its,when you dont hear the sound that,theres a problem that means the,pressure is building up and theres,gonna be a big rock burst or a cave-in,when you get into a mining area the hole,becomes much much bigger,you can drive or trucks theyre machine,shops I mean its an underground city,basically all the rock you mine you,crush it and you send it to a mill to,extract the metals from the rock just to,give you an idea the clarabelle mill,which is uncles main mill its capacity,per day to process rock is 31,000 tons a,day they smelt it they refine it and,they sell it to people to make bikes,pots pans jewelery iPhones iPods,everything we do everything we have if,it doesnt have metal in it we use metal,to make it,these are very hard towns to live in as,much as theres a lot of beautiful,nature and youre sort of away from the,big city and thats a life that a lot of,people desire theres no forgetting that,youre at a mining town and the economy,of your town rises and falls with the,stock market,community and everybody sorted parties,together its not uncommon for a bar to,have every age group in every,demographic,work hard play hard you know,I went to this Italian dance and someone,there said yeah its a Widows table and,all of them had a story of how their,husband had worked in a miner smelter,and died of either in an accident or of,some disease cancer and it just seemed,normal like their husbands went to war,and they never came back when they,started smelting in Sudbury in the early,days they used to just pile a bunch of,logs and trees and then put the ore on,top of it and just light it on fire and,let it burn forever a cobalt theres a,lot of arsenic a lot of other chemical,poisons there were no controls like hey,just dump it over there who cares there,are some real nasty disasters back there,even if weve improved really were,going in circles you know we go into,recycling now when you recycle most of,the metal is processed in some of these,smelters computers cell phones theyll,end up in a smelter,you,treating people a certain way in their,workplace was being justified because of,the war effort,subsequent years have followed in the,50s and the 60s especially there were,Wars going on in the streets of these,mining communities with huge labor,unrest pitched battles between companies,the police and striking unions and,miners,these these miners may you may get paid,really well now but we need to,understand is that theres a huge,influence from the corporate sector and,from the political world think of the,billions of dollars involved in what,happens in that mind Ive been with a,lot of miners who are very skilled,workers theres a real skill to,understanding the rock you know theyre,almost like whalers and its almost,becoming a lost generation because,theyre mechanizing mining so much,this miner here is Lester Beattie you,know he was very strong hard-working,this back-breaking sort of job and he,just did it as soon as he got there he,started and he wouldnt stop to the end,and I started I spent a lot of time,lesser Lesters passed away I didnt,realize it at the time but Lester was,sort of symbolic of this crossover the,changeover you know he was he was a hard,man,these guys are real development miners,probably over 6 feet tall probably 250,260 and weight the raw power of these,guys is really remarkable but bone and,flesh always lose to steel and rock you,have things that crush things crush rock,you have explosives and the deaths are,always quite horrible crushed suffocated,blown up,Huey fell down a shaft in an accident,and was paralyzed for rest of his life,he has bed sores from how much hes in,bed and his wife pretty much just has,cared for him his entire life he was,quite jovial actually considering a,situation,the opening quote I have in my monograph,cage call is it is not buy gold or buy,silver but by labor that all wealth of,the world was originally purchased and,thats Adam Smiths Wealth of Nations,1776 and he says it pretty plain mining,isnt in place for only the good of the,world or the advancement of the world,but its also there for profit and its,not just profit for the mining companies,its profit for the entire economies that,all of us are a part of whether we like,it or not

More: vital reds review

2020 Fall Association Conference HOC Quarterly Report

hi everybody im gordy daly,coordinator of activities in heart of,the community for moose international,i thank you for letting me in your,annual convention this year,whether it be virtual or in person i,hope that youre having fun,during these weird times today were,going to look at the heart of the,community quarterly report,and lets eliminate common mistakes,our objectives look at the most common,entry that is not a qualified,entry how to make those entries,correctly and make them qualified,maybe entries to never put on the report,when to fill out the report,and each unit to score superior which we,would all love to do,looking at our heart of the community,logo,our innermost circle that the different,colors,is mooseheart moosehaven youth awareness,tommy moose safe surfing,and veterans programs thats our core,initiatives,a qualified entry into each one for in,any one of those categories,is worth five points each,under mooseheart moosehaven most common,thing that we all have,is endowment or we should have and its,for the total for the quarter,you may have 10 entries uh,some of you at this point in time have,10 entries,that total a thousand dollars for the,quarter,however only youre only going to get,five points for that,those 10 entries so the better thing to,do,is to make one entry and say lodge 999,had a total endowment of a thousand,dollars for the second quarter,or for this quarter,never put moose legion endowment,district,endowment or association endowment the,reason being the moose legion endowment,will go to your most legion jurisdiction,and itll go under them its not the,lodge,district endowment and association,endowment will be combined together and,go,under the association,uh other items to put in there the,cradle fun rocker fun,mac project or all the projects that we,do,that you donate to,donations to moosehaven uh could include,wish list,same with mooseheart if youre if youre,completing a wishlist item,please by all means,youth awareness youth awareness is youth,of drug awareness,it is not and or which is excuse me it,is,like other items such as anti-bullying,scholarship and more,this is not youth sports band,dances scouts and etcetera,tommy moose this is our most easiest,accessible item for you to make an,impact on your community,it can be the donation of each tommy,plus daw,or a case or dozens of tommy moose,packets of coloring books packets of,bookmarks whatever the case may be,places to donate hospitals law,enforcement,fire department childrens hospital or a,childrens wing in the hospital,just buying a tommy item does not,qualify by that i mean,in the first quarter you might have,bought six dozen,tommy moses but you didnt do anything,with them,and then in the next quarter you decided,that you were going to donate all six of,those cases,thats the quarter that you you put in,that you donated either all six cases or,individually or any number of up to the,six,or more if you have more on supply,to whatever it was that you donated to,giving to kids in the lodge this is a,very common entry,uh its not necessarily a bad thing to,do,however im not real sure how that,impacts your community,heres a biggie and we get this a,handful of times every quarter,you cannot donate to tommy if you send a,check in saying youre donating to tommy,moose charities is going to get a hold,of you and theyre also going to get a,hold of your territory manager,the reason being they want to find out,what other,how you want to reclass that money that,you tried to donate to tommy moose,and where else to classify it,safe surfing can be a donation item,child or elderly id event a donation of,a ballistic vest to local law,enforcement donate a cop in a box to law,enforcement,all those are excellent ideas and,excellent entries,veterans programs,this is where the most,uh misunderstood i guess i should say,and items that dont qualify so lets go,over those,when entering an item on the report,remember it,has to be for all veterans in your,community,not just your lodge veterans,entries that will never qualify,veterans dinners without dispensations,filed with the general governors office,and approved,veterans wall in the lodge valued,veteran certificates or on the wall or,money off drinks remember it has to be,for all veterans in your community not,just your lodge members,that are veterans or valued veteran,members,plus im pretty sure that the public,cannot buy,items or purchase items in our lodge,when to fill out the report start,entering items on in the report,as they happen or when they occur this,way you wont forget anything,and then when its the first of the,month on that when the quarterly report,is due,all you have to do is enter an item or a,couple items that happened that last,week,of the quarter hit save and submit and,then you can wash your hands of it and,be done and for it until the next,quarter,our companion initiatives senior centers,childrens hospital or wings in the,hospital,dare program or red ribbon program both,of those are drug prevention programs,emergency services scouting,youth sports salvation army,and special olympics at the local effort,a qualified entry in this initiative,will,be worth three points each,under senior citizens senior senate,centers,and childrens hospital or went,childrens wing in a hospital,this is our your opportunity to donate,books comic books,sudokus find a word crossword puzzle,books,blankets etc all good entries,heres a biggie two members call bingo,at a local senior center,would the above entry qualify,no is this a lodge sponsored event,the way it appears or the way it is,written it appears that bob and joe are,doing this,in the name of the lodge now if lodge,999 has an agreement with shady acres,senior center,that theyll supply bingo callers piano,players,group leaders volunteer leaders,door greeters then then you would put,lodge 999,has an agreement with shady acres,senior center to supply volunteers for,non-medical,events bob and joe dont get mad,glad that you went to the lodge and and,called bingo,ask yourself this question is this a,lodge item or an individual member item,if it is an individual item dont enter,it,the dara red ribbon program now this is,just the name of the two,drug prevention programs,this item can be a donation only item,however if neither of these programs are,in your area,im sure that there is similar programs,in your area,your local law enforcement or treatment,centers can direct you in the right,direction,you have to ask to find out where and,how to get in touch with them,emergency services donation,meals of appreciation safe place during,emergencies or natural disasters all,excellent,items,scouting now it doesnt matter if the,scouts user haul for their meeting each,month,or several times each month it only,counts one time,just like endowment,youth sports sponsorship meeting,location,meals banquets those are all great,entries,coaching umpiring refereeing concession,stand volunteers,do these qualify for credit,well it depends does the lodge supply,all the above for everyone in other,words,lodge 999 has a agreement with,riceville little league that theyll,supply all those those things mentioned,above,if not it does not qualify in other,words this is another bob and joe,situation where,bob and joe coach little league they,just happen to be coaches of the little,league,and saying its in the name of the lodge,thats an individual item,salvation army donation box clothing,drive or money donated,excellent entries,special olympics this is at the local,level,level whether it be state or in your,community,sponsorship donation coaching,et cetera those are great items,again its not an individual member,volunteering so,gordy cant say im doing this in the,name of the moose,being a coach of a special olympic,athlete or a special olympics team,local volunteer service each qualified,entry is worth,two points,do not enter individual volunteer items,i think weve covered that a little bit,do enter items that the lodge as a w

More: rabbit review

2019 MFA Lectores Reading Series: Matthew Vollmer

good evening everyone welcome to the,quite temperate conference room here Im,on the ninth floor of the Von Hoff von,center this is the sunny side of the,street I guess I believe I see people,well for those who may not know who I am,Im Don moral faculty member in the MFA,thank you here this evening standing in,for Erica who Dawson the director who is,on the mend as all the students know,from seeing her today and shell be more,visible even tomorrow so welcome enjoy a,great reading,I give you my fellow colleague here and,the faculty Kevin Moffat to introduce,tonights guest,Matthew foamer,hi everybody thanks for coming its my,great pleasure to introduce tonights,reader Matthew Ballmer lately Ive been,thinking about how often the impulses,that we try to curb in our interactions,with the people we love are the very,ones that serve us best on the page,in our writing fiction writers are,constantly looking for ways to,manufacture conflict inventing,characters giving them things to want,things to hope for and just to see those,hopes and wants dashed Faubert saw an,inverse relationship between a writers,life and a writers work live a regular,and orderly life he said so that you can,make volatile and original art in the,world Matthew is a patient friend of,mine and many other people a patient,husband and father and teacher in his,writing hes blessed with a virtue of,impatience you can see this in patients,with predictable forms and its fiction,and in his nonfiction as well as in,patients with standard genre,distinctions like fiction and nonfiction,you can also see it on the sentence,level a writer pushing against the,limitations and confines of the simple,declarative sentence this is a sentence,or actually technically two sentences,from town trip a story about boys at a,private Seventh day Adventist school,craving meat which for seventh-day,Adventists is forbidden most of all we,wanted a reason not to visit the,cafeteria a place that had the power,even when we were starving to arouse,nausea we wanted relief from lentil loaf,and mixed vegetables from the peanut,butter and jelly sandwiches we made when,we couldnt stomach the main courses,each of which was prepared for us by our,peers who were directed by our schools,cook whose name no kidding was mrs. cook,a round cheeked woman who had taken over,the role of head chef from a couple,whose name no,had been kitchen as if these people were,destined by their very names to enter,the occupation of food preparation,though this fact failed sadly to enable,them to devise appealing meals every,sentence has a truth waiting at the end,of it this is one of Don DeLillos,characters who sounds a lot like Don,DeLillo and and the writer learns how to,know it when he or she finally gets,there on one level this truth is a swing,of the sentence the beat and poise but,down deeper its the integrity of the,writer as he or she matches with the,language Ive always seen myself in,sentences the Vollmer we see in his,sentences is playful and restless and,impatient with conventional form and,conventional thought hes a connoisseur,of formal challenges theres a story,masquerading as a last will and,testament theres a story that takes,place in the form of a prayer or an,advice column of a fictional 19th,century physician the fictional 19th,century physician I didnt read this,before I brought this here stories as,breathless sentence long epitaphs,volmers most recent book is the,collection permanent exhibit which began,as a series of status updates on a,popular social media platform he coyly,says on his website,Im assuming its Grindr actually Kirkus,Reviews said his musings on nature,recalled the sensibility of poet Mary,Oliver his reflections on family David,Sedaris unexpected juxtapositions yield,pleasurable surprises Matthews also,written a pair of story collections the,previously mentioned collection of,fictional epitaphs and hes the,co-editor of fakes an anthology of,pseudo interviews faux letters quasi,letters found texts and other fraudulent,artifacts which includes stories as,Amazon reviews stories as email,exchanges stories as police reports,other things you should know about,Matthew he teaches writing at Virginia,Tech hes the son of a dentist hes the,recipient of an NEA grant and hes,published widely include,stories and essays in the Paris Review,Tin House Oxford American epic the son,the best American Essays and on and on,and on the final epitaph in his book,inscriptions for headstones begins at,your feet rests a man who would where he,present like to know why you are here,why you have come how it is that of all,the words you might read youve chosen,these rereading Matthew over the past,few days Im struck by how over the,years his writing has become more direct,as the forms have become more oblique,but no matter how unusual the story or,essay form hes working in he manages to,join the heavy with the buoyant often,within the same sentence without,compromising either gravity or humor he,manages to make it look easy – which is,the hardest thing of all one more note,on gravity a late footnote if you will,about 500 yards from here I can kind of,see it from where Im standing is a,headstone dedicated to something called,the gravity Research Foundation some of,you might know what Im talking about,have seen it engraved on this headstone,its its a its exactly like something,youd see in a graveyard is a somewhat,ominous note that says this is here to,remind students of the blessings,forthcoming when science determines what,gravity is how it works and how it may,be controlled its right over there if,you want to see it I always I always go,look at it when Im at the residency,just to make sure its still there and,its real its not something I dreamed,so what gravity is how it works and how,it may be controlled so tonight you have,in front of you somebody who does just,that,Matthew Homer,[Applause],thank you Kevin,thanks everybody for coming thanks,University Tampa for having me Im gonna,read two things tonight one is the,longest essay in this book but its also,maybe the most relevant to this audience,most of the essays in this book are one,to three pages and this is a little a,little bit longer and then Im gonna Im,going to end with a pretty short one so,thats water before I get started and,Im a mean nickname that glasses its,very distracting,this beautiful skyline so its called we,all go into the dark when I met the,professor who would change my life he,was younger than I am now,and did not look like a professor I saw,him in the halls of the English,department at the University I was,attending Id noted his polo shirt,slacks and backpack and assumed that he,was a non-traditional student the sort,of guy who having given up a career in,managing chain restaurants had returned,to college to finish a long abandoned,degree the professor did not wear a,blazer or tie his head over large,egg-shaped,was thick with ashen hair his eyes,bulged behind rimless glasses his lips,were as pale as the flesh of his face in,other words the professor did not look,like a man with whom anybody could,become obsessed but what did I know Id,only been on earth for 23 years Id,recently moved to a generic southern,city from the middle of nowhere to,pursue a masters degree in English and,my spare time I picked up shifts at a,local record exchange pricing used CDs,by artists such as limp Biskit and corn,and TLC and Wynn Houston and Goo Goo,Dolls and Destinys Child and Sugar Ray,and Smash Mouth I worked with a morbidly,obese girl who couldnt,shut up about local bands and a,ponytailed redhead who loves ska and a,short blonde woman who loves Scottish,chamber pop and a gay kid who loves,shoegaze when I wasnt working I was,recording reverb drenched songs and a,four-track cassettes and reading books,assigned to me by my Brit lit professor,who answered every question we asked by,saying well thats what you got to tell,me I worked on stories for my creative,writing class which was led by a se

Hermit Poetry E390 – “Aubade with Bread for the Sparrows” by Oliver de la Paz

welcome back to another episode of The,Hermit poetry series Im Neil Aiken and,on this channel I read poetry mostly,work by contemporary poets occasionally,poems of my own and once while poems,from the past todays poem comes to us,from Oliver De La Paz and appears in,Furious lullaby published by Southern,Illinois University press in 2007. the,poem is entitled obod with bread for the,sparrows,the snow voids the distance of the road,and the first breath comes from the,early morning ghosts The Sparrows with,their hard eyes glisten in the difficult,light they Preen their feathers and,Chirp its as though they were one voice,talking to God mornings are sustained,him without the Precision of Faith,youve turned the bag filled with,molding bread inside out and watch the,old crust fall to the ice whats left,but to watch the daylight have by the,glistening ground whats left but an,empty bag in the dust of bread ravaged,by songsters,there are ruins we witness within the,moment of the worlds first Awakening,and the birds love you within that,moment they want to eat the air and the,Stars theyve hungered for little razors,little,urgent Bells the birds steal from each,others mouths which makes you hurt,dont ask for more bread the world is in,haste awaken dont ask for a name you,can surrender for there are more ghosts,to placate dont hurt for The Sparrows,for they love you like a road,uh and that was obad with bread for The,Sparrows by Oliver De La Paz from,Furious lullaby published by Southern,Illinois University press in 2007. if,you enjoyed this reading and this poem,please do check out the description of,the video for more information about,Oliver Oliver De La Paz and more,information about this series,um and of course Ill link back to the,publisher site where you can purchase a,copy of the book for yourself,um if you want to support us you can,just hit the like button subscribe to,the channel or just share these videos,on social media all these things help,draw more peoples attention to these,wonderful poets and these terrific poems,in some small way I hope that this this,continued project of mine is uh allowing,more people to discover contemporary,poetry oftentimes we have a very narrow,Vision or understanding of what poetry,might be based pretty much on what we,encountered in school if that at all all,and I hope in some way that this,broadens our our appreciation of what is,out there whos speaking and what is,possible within language and within our,imagination so if these poems inspire,you to write or to create thats great,if they inspire you to read and to,pursue other poets and come to a better,appreciation of what else theyve,written thats wonderful as well,um and so I I hope in some small way,that this helps you in your creative,journey and expands the world a little,bit one verse one one poem one,experience at a time,so until next time which is every,Tuesday Thursday and Sunday I wish you,all the very best on your creative,journey and hope that you continue to,come back and celebrate poetry with us,uh Ill be back again soon uh until then,stay safe and well keep reading keep,writing keep being engaged in the good,work of poetry and art and being part of,that great conversation and dialogue,thats happening even as we speak so,well see you again soon and thanks,again,goodbye

Cary Holladay reads from “Merry-Go-Sorry”

[Music],this story,merry-go-sorry was in alaska quarterly,review,in 1998 and the aqr has been important,to me for a very long time,just a very brief intro to the story the,characters names and situations are all,made up,but it does have roots in real life,tragedy,and many of you will be familiar with,a case that occurred in 1993,three little boys were murdered in west,memphis,arkansas rumors went flying about,satanic activity,it was just gossip but it took hold,three teenage boys were wrongfully,accused arrested tried and convicted,and imprisoned and despite,no evidence no real evidence,and they were in prison for 18 years and,then they were finally freed,uh on the basis of new evidence,uh the tragic murders of the children,remain,unsolved my story takes place in the,immediate aftermath,of the murders and the trials so its a,story of the mid-1990s,when i wrote it i just moved to memphis,and i had just read fever,john edgar weidmans novella about a,yellow fever epidemic in philadelphia,in 1793 and i saw,parallels with the west memphis case,the fear the speculation that had been,unleashed in the community by those,murders,like a fever and thats what this story,is really about,the title marigo sorry is an ancient,word that means,a tale that contains both joy and sorrow,the subject matter does not sound like,valentines day,but there is love in the story,its much too long to read in just 15,minutes so ill just read a few,parts and the sections in the story do,stand alone mary go sorry,it begins in an arkansas courtroom the,trial of a young man,for the deaths of three boys it begins,in late may,a year after the murders on a day so hot,that the air conditioning cant keep,up with the sweat on the 17 year old,defendants face,he has confessed though his lawyer,protests that the confession,signed and sits childlike scrawl means,nothing,sid treadway is mentally he,says and the police coerced him,sid treadways long scarred dumbfounded,face,follows his lawyers striding figure to,the bench in back,and then his mild green eyes are,distracted by a cicada thrumming on a,courtroom windowsill,he recalls the last such insect he saw,at his sisters house,which died loudly clatteringly in a dish,of lemons,she had planned to use the lemons in a,pie,she has not come to the courtroom only,sids father is there,big sid who when his son was arrested it,burst into sobs like a child,there will be another trial for sids,alleged conspirators one of them widely,regarded as the ringleader,sids trial is separate because he,confessed implicating the other two sid,treadway helped slay three young boys,and left them hog tied and drowning in a,ditch says the prosecutor,thats what the jury believes swiftly,convicting him but that is just the,prelude,the beginning it begins again in the,trial of benedict james,the devil worshiping girlfriend biting,dropout,who tutored his disciples sid treadway,and robert act in evil,so the prosecutor says six weeks later,in the same courtroom,who had targeted his three victims their,eight-year-old faces,one smiling mugging another somber,a third the most lovable expansively,smiling,have decorated newspaper for,months now if the trial of sid treadway,was easy the trial of benedict james and,robert apt,is as simple as calling satan by his,name,in benedicts closet theres nothing but,black t-shirts and black pants a police,officer testifies,and his diary has points he wrote to the,devil,benedicts pregnant girlfriend victorine,stark,sits every day in the back row 16 red,haired beautiful,she has pointed to teeth marked scars on,her white neck for the benefit of,photographers,shes carrying the child of the man she,loves this is her fate,she says her mother 32 but looking 60,sits beside her embroidering the face of,jesus on a pillowcase,nobody loves her she tells reporters and,shell be grandmother to the devil,but she has a sweet lovely daughter i,want the best for my girl,benedict of the shaggy black hair the,fish belly white skin,the deeply scalloped under lip gets sent,to hell,right there in the courtroom as daily,the trial ends with a curse,the father of one of the victims who,will himself be on trial within the year,for stealing furniture from a neighbors,moving van,rush has benedict and a ritual that the,guards and the jury have come to enjoy,burn in hell murderer you killed my,little boy,the guards let him get within arms,length before gently tugging him out the,door,benedict sits unmoved only his stomach,moving fast with his breath,his t-shirt lifting up and down,the other defendant robert apt is vocal,whereas benedict says nothing and does,not take the stand,robert apt denies it all but he gets,confused,to the prosecuting attorney he explodes,damn you man youre trying to mess me up,his lawyer tells the judge that he has,advised him against taking the stand,but robert apt age 16 insisted,im innocent he cries,benedict james is 18 but looks 24,5 when the judge sentences him to death,and asks if he has anything to say,he replies no sir,within six months hes on television,talking to a reporter,yes he says he did bite his girlfriend,during sex,just a lick and he demonstrates with his,tongue,while the reporter shudders i dont,worship satan,im a white witch a wiccan he says,i never said no wise else,he will not talk about the three,murdered boys,whose face is flashed on the tv screen,as he is lit,handcuffed back to death row facing the,camera,the reporter assures victims that he,will be under lock and key until his,execution,victorine stark in the trailer she,shares with her mother,cuddles her newborn and names him,malachi,that means my messenger she tells a,reporter,on the day before the babys birth she,saw a crow with a long piece of,videotape at its beak,it gave me hope she says her red hair,spread out on the pillowcase with the,jesus face on it,while her mother spoons macaroni and,cheese onto paper plates,inviting the reporter to stay for supper,what do you think was on the videotape,the reporter,asks indulgently the one that the crow,was carrying,victorine laughs a sad gurgle that has,caught on lately among the girls at her,school,who copy the laugh and the way she wears,her plentiful hair,loose with the tiny braid encircling the,crown of her,head the videotape would be something,pretty,it dont have nothing to do really with,the crow,it would show the future my baby will,have,rising from her narrow bed she announces,ive memorized some something from the,bible,the book of malachi bring you,all the tithes into the storehouse saith,the lord of hosts,if i will not open to you the windows of,heaven,the reporter a young man whose instincts,keep him at bay from her,but who has loved her violently since he,stepped into her room and heard the,arkansas home,honey in her voice says,thats beautiful victorine holds her,holds his gaze with her green eyes,undoes her flouncy white blouse,and nurses the baby its getting dark,outside her mother hovers nearby to,light candles that smell of patchouli,oil,victorine says i still love benedict,no matter what,she nudges the baby from her breast to,draw something from her pocket,a newsprint photo of benedict bare,chested his arms flung out in the shape,of a cross,that was took just a few days before he,was arrested,she says sid treadway took it,you can have it its in my heart forever,the reporter turns it over and discovers,a coupon for a casino in tunica,seafood buffet half price victorine says,i cant wait till im old enough to go,play those slots,i hope things turn out just fine for you,the reporter says,and you too man to her mother,you got me thinking victorine says,he drives back to memphis over the,bridge,with the center patchouli in his hair,for years afterwards while he entertains,eligible young women in restaurants he,grows moody over his wine,imagines rescuing victorine,taking her to the casinos that she,dreams of,he tells himself shell be old and fat,by 19,but its because of her that he does not,marry until hes 40,and the

Lunch Poems – Dan Bellm

good afternoon everyone Im Giovanni,singleton coordinator for lunch poems,series its my great pleasure to welcome,you here this afternoon I invite you all,to sign up on our mailing list and pick,up one of our event flyers which are,available at the librarians desk next,month march forth we have Natasha,Trethewey April first you see alum Lisa,Chen will be here and we wrap up our,season on may six with our student,reading I also want you to know that on,our website you can view this reading as,well as all of our past readings as,webcasts and also on YouTube we also are,now on iTunes so log on and download us,and take us you know wherever you are,the readings are typically posted within,a week of the event were also on,Facebook so do log on and become our,friend wed like that and now i give you,robert hass who will introduce this,afternoons distinguished poet dan bell,thank you thanks jawaani next months,reading with the with Natasha Trethewey,is part of a larger event to celebrate,the publication of Camille done geez,anthology of african-american,environmental poetry called Black nature,its in some way an epical event,gathering together this work and so,natasha is going to be reading on,thursday there are going to be readings,discussions panels on friday and,saturday and a final gathering and,reading out at tobys feed barn and,point raised on sunday so itll be a,weekend of celebrating African American,nature poetry and this wonderful book,that Camille has done its a special,pleasure for me to introduce Dan Velma,we were just talking in reminding each,other that we met 20 years ago,first saw some of his poems and thought,wow hes also it will be interesting for,some of you who are working at your,writing to know something of Dans work,when I saw his work at that time I,thought wow this is so good and over a,period of time he kept writing producing,more and more interesting poems and,started sending out I guess I dont know,if you did and with not much luck and,then at the age of 46 having worked at,poetry for 20 years already he suddenly,had two books taken both of which one,significant literary prizes and were,published within one year so weve been,expecting him to publish two books a,year ever since but when those books,were published our June Jordan of,Berkeley California said of UC,Berkeleys called him an American artist,of enormous gifts and discipline,Adrienne Rich called the early work,courageous and humane after those two,books has come a third practice which is,Midrash as he describes it its a book,of retellings and rethinking primarily,in the spirit of the of the Jewish,tradition of reinterpreting the Torah,the first five books of the Old,Testament and rethinking them so it,takes another mode and Illya Kaminski,the Russian American poet who read here,recently said quite accurately of that,book something happened to Dan belm in,this third book that I believe will,propel him most deserving Lee is one of,the foremost poets of his generation,here speaking the language of the,prophets revising it in a way that is,both humble and heartbreaking memory,Yates it is myself that I remake belma,cheves a quiet grandeur that cannot,spell so not bad after slow started on,not on their poetry writing side but on,the world paying attention side,these wonderful things happen to him if,you pick up one of these books youll,see as I did rereading practice last,night what happens in him the poems he,his first book is about a young gay man,struggling with the legacy of his,fathers disapproval its its a book of,a Midwestern ER with Midwestern values,struggling with the question of paternal,blessing and paternal curse the second,book is is the book of his experience of,being alive in his adult life mark doty,said of one of the poems in that book,that it was the most important city poem,the one great city poem written in a,while its a book of San Francisco and,of urban life this book is a book of our,inner lives in all kinds of ways and he,goes as a poet out and gets you poem,called the weight which must be thinking,about the whole history of the carrying,of the Ark of the Covenant you must,prepare to carry nothing where you walk,a God who cannot be seen a name you,cannot speak therefore gather the most,precious of what you have and build me,something heavy you can carry begins,that poem another begins that I just I,just turned myself to the same one again,another begins caught between the prayer,for healing and the prayer for the dead,most unappeasable and unconsolable,ceasing ly right away were inside a,real voice in a real world struggling,the deepest spiritual issues at the end,of the book theres a poem called prose,poem called blessing thats a meditation,on the idea of blessing and you turned,the page and the next one is a prose,poem called curse meditating on curse,and then then you get to walk around all,day saying oh yeah right,no curse no blessing no blessing no,curse he thinks richly about what it is,to be a human being and hes been making,this fierce art among us for a while now,and Im thrilled that hes here please,welcome Danville thank you so much Bob,and iTunes wow I really arrived now,maybe my teenage son will listen to me,Im glad to be here thank you for being,here too Im gonna read Ill read a,bunch of things from practice and then,Ill read some new work too so this is,the this is the first poem in the book,its its kind of its a Sabbath poem,its also a creation of the world poem,in a way because thats what the Sabbath,marks and Im also thinking of that,really most frightening a plague of the,book of Exodus the plague of darkness,where it was a darkness that it was a,tangible darkness well it was the,killing of the firstborn that was,frightening to ok but this lab was a bad,one parable I lit the candles of the,Sabbath and covered my eyes terrified in,the mind as I was and waiting for rest,and the evening passed and as they,reached there and the one became,turbulent sputtering loud the left one,on the table the one facing my heart the,heart of it burning out impure and rough,a red with tari shadows spitting death,at me the other placidus prayer clear,light and patient in the copper our,glass bowl steadfast as the soul of the,one I love soothing me being also alive,and this one I knew would last and burn,long tonight the,flail down like madness and hard living,of every sort the darkness that is,touched and felt and I side for the love,and side the poor candle out then I,could rest having yielded half the light,this is a Noahs Ark poem and really,kind of the strangest building speck God,gave Noah was make an opening for,daylight in the ark so I thought about,that a lot oh good and here comes the,flood skylight there was a torn place in,my sky a hole in the roof of my house,and opening in a crown of my head real,light comes in and rain and darkness,descends to cover me but not for so very,long not for all time not so far forever,I close my eyes to hide my disbelief to,show no disrespect and when the open,spot becomes a pain I wear a kippah like,the hand of God in my head then I can,look and then I can ask is the world my,shelter is the world a home has creation,come to an end I pray standing up Im,not ashamed to shout a little I dont,mind if I tremble you set me down in one,place and said talk and talk go ahead,name the animals if you want but dont,talk too much you said multiply and,start in and with dividing you said go,ad up and then began to subtract you,spread your tally across the heavens you,set your bow in the clouds and said,never again you left a tour in place in,the sky you left a hole in the roof of,my house you left an opening in the,crown of my head,well one of the greatest moments in the,story for me is that dream that Jacob,has of angels going up and down a ladder,he has found the place where earth meets,heaven so I had a kind of experience,like that is an early coming out story,set between Fire Island and Boston the,summer of nineteen seventy