Read in the order you've provided them, your poems appear to be the choronological record of the mental collapse of a man (for who today can say that men don't have vaginas)?
You've provided some marvellous imagery (as always) - thank you for that.
I particularly like the darkness of your line “To buy a new shirt is to assume that I have at least two more years to live...” as it's the polar opposite of Maggie Smith's pithy "I don't even buy green bananas anymore" from Hotel Marigold, yet both lines respectively reflect the time they were uttered.
Things have indeed become very dark in the west and I'm very glad not to live there any longer.
The line about the new shirt echoed some of my own thoughts. Since retiring, I have occasionally found myself wondering how long something I am about to buy needs to last, since there is now the definite possibility that it will outlast me.
Color me not shocked you were rejected. Anything remotely mainstream has to be woke. If that kid had published you, it would have resulted in his being canceled. Kids and adults in the arts or corporations know that so are careful to be on the right side of all the issues: the Jewish side.
Thanks Linh, this is the kind of reading that needs to be done at least twice: once sober, once drunk. I just did the latter and it was excellent. Yet, beware the sober reader!
I can’t speak for others, but my own remembrances of my high-school self are anything but good. In fact, it’s quite likely I remember myself as worse than I actually was, and a few years of reflecting on it in my quiet retirement has not softened that self-portrait.
I wonder about your low opinion of racially-based anthologies. Don’t you think that if the selections are made with care, it might give readers a window into the worldview or mindset of a different culture?
Before I read the poems you included, my (charitable?) impulse was that grouping you with “small” artists was just Maheshwari’s indelicate way of referring to a group that is, shall we say, either overlooked or less well-known. Outstanding people in all walks of life can remain relatively obscure for many reasons, most of which are complementary in my opinion.
We can only guess at what might have led to Maheshwari’s decision (and as an aside, I wonder how he came up with his “list” in the first place?), but after reading the selections you posted and then seeing your postscript about his response, I am feeling a bit less generous in my interpretation.
Hi Linh and friends - "If I as a 59-year-old author can be racially mocked by illiterates..." I laughed but only to keep from crying. My fellow Whites will threaten bodily harm if it is pointed out that their college sports team's star player (we will make up a name, e.g. "Brandon Miller") is implicated in first-degree murder but allowed to play on. Of course he is still playing, Charles - he's the star of the team! Meanwhile, their own federal Constitution is used as toilet paper. The republic of 1783 became the ochlocracy of 2023.
In my time in college, which for me was '87-'91. there was a girl named Lacey Bean, and in conversation I found out she was from a town or locality called Bean Station. Being eighteen at the time, that fact completely intrigued me. If you are wondering what the point is, I'm afraid there isn't one except I am pleasantly reminded of Lacey from Bean Station.
Hi everyone, I just added a postscript.--Linh
Read in the order you've provided them, your poems appear to be the choronological record of the mental collapse of a man (for who today can say that men don't have vaginas)?
You've provided some marvellous imagery (as always) - thank you for that.
I particularly like the darkness of your line “To buy a new shirt is to assume that I have at least two more years to live...” as it's the polar opposite of Maggie Smith's pithy "I don't even buy green bananas anymore" from Hotel Marigold, yet both lines respectively reflect the time they were uttered.
Things have indeed become very dark in the west and I'm very glad not to live there any longer.
The line about the new shirt echoed some of my own thoughts. Since retiring, I have occasionally found myself wondering how long something I am about to buy needs to last, since there is now the definite possibility that it will outlast me.
Color me not shocked you were rejected. Anything remotely mainstream has to be woke. If that kid had published you, it would have resulted in his being canceled. Kids and adults in the arts or corporations know that so are careful to be on the right side of all the issues: the Jewish side.
Thanks Linh, this is the kind of reading that needs to be done at least twice: once sober, once drunk. I just did the latter and it was excellent. Yet, beware the sober reader!
I can’t speak for others, but my own remembrances of my high-school self are anything but good. In fact, it’s quite likely I remember myself as worse than I actually was, and a few years of reflecting on it in my quiet retirement has not softened that self-portrait.
I wonder about your low opinion of racially-based anthologies. Don’t you think that if the selections are made with care, it might give readers a window into the worldview or mindset of a different culture?
Before I read the poems you included, my (charitable?) impulse was that grouping you with “small” artists was just Maheshwari’s indelicate way of referring to a group that is, shall we say, either overlooked or less well-known. Outstanding people in all walks of life can remain relatively obscure for many reasons, most of which are complementary in my opinion.
We can only guess at what might have led to Maheshwari’s decision (and as an aside, I wonder how he came up with his “list” in the first place?), but after reading the selections you posted and then seeing your postscript about his response, I am feeling a bit less generous in my interpretation.
His loss is our gain! Thx!
Hi Linh and friends - "If I as a 59-year-old author can be racially mocked by illiterates..." I laughed but only to keep from crying. My fellow Whites will threaten bodily harm if it is pointed out that their college sports team's star player (we will make up a name, e.g. "Brandon Miller") is implicated in first-degree murder but allowed to play on. Of course he is still playing, Charles - he's the star of the team! Meanwhile, their own federal Constitution is used as toilet paper. The republic of 1783 became the ochlocracy of 2023.
Thanks, Linh, I don't usually read poetry but make an exception for you!
In my time in college, which for me was '87-'91. there was a girl named Lacey Bean, and in conversation I found out she was from a town or locality called Bean Station. Being eighteen at the time, that fact completely intrigued me. If you are wondering what the point is, I'm afraid there isn't one except I am pleasantly reminded of Lacey from Bean Station.