Tag Archive: poetry


Nascent Era (a ghazal)

Filed under: Love, Science — 60 Comments
September 24, 2011

CERN Large Hadron Collider public domain

Tevatron at Fermilab, public domain

Despite all barriers, rules, and protestations, love arrives, an intriguing anomaly
Inner particle accelerator measures the velocity and impact, fusion’s intriguing anomaly

Faster than light neutrinos could recant a century of physics, intriguing anomaly
Scientists descry, calibrate, and recalculate this intriguing anomaly

Love, an edifying element, a shortcut along the 5th dimension, intriguing anomaly
A frontier, a revolution, ‘like a bullet passing through a bank of fog’, intriguing anomaly

Immutable laws show mercurial nature, a burgeoning possibility, an intriguing anomaly
Precursor inculcates, humanity’s flourishing: phenomenon or intriguing anomaly

Sagan Rule, 60 nanoseconds, we want proof to determine if this is an intriguing anomaly
Evidence of a chimera, is this an apogee or merely an intriguing anomaly

Oh halcyon days of laud and veneration now an intriguing anomaly
A nascent era birthing, surpassing this intriguing anomaly

Catalyst, you traverse me, a speed racer, love’s intriguing anomaly
Supernova manna, illuminates the overwhelming implications of this intriguing anomaly

Here’s the link to an LA Times article about the anomaly http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-0923-speed-of-light-20110923,0,497738.story

Tags:
Comment

Whistler (Bird Woman)

Filed under: Art, Philosophy, Tribute, Writing — 73 Comments
September 22, 2011

Linked to dVerse Sestina challenge http://dversepoets.com/2011/09/22/formforall-sestina-and-its-variations/

Torn, Anna Motngomery, Painting, Chromaphilia, Chromapoesy

Torn Anna Montgomery 2011 Oil on Board

(Dedicated to A.S. Byatt, all quotes are from her lips or her books, some of the poem comes from an Artist Statement I wrote for a solo show in 2005)

Whistler (click to hear the poem read)

Her ‘greatest terror which is simply domesticity’ with its denial of liberty
Struggling with feminism: ‘their language, like their bodies, was a dreadful hybrid’
Tyranny was a death sentence, via lethal injection, to her volition
For one who’s ‘passionately interested in language’, her display monumentally erudite
An engagement in the broader world, in an expansive psyche
Within her I recognize genius, incandescent purpose, need, here is my encomia

Prizes line up to offer formal encomia
Each reinforcing and elaborating her intellectual liberty
‘I like to write about people who think, to whom thinking is as important and exciting (and painful) as sex or eating’ in full embrace of psyche
Admitting ‘writing is always so dangerous. It’s very destructive.’ a paradoxical hybrid
A concatenation of zoology, myth, dystopia, psychology, art, politics, ethics truly erudite
Displaying all the passions of mind within her volition

‘She would give anything for a child and had duly given birth to a monster’, this volition
A half-hedgehog half-boy, an ugly creature, hardly her desired encomia
Whom she fed just the same, coddled, and loved for his mind, agile and erudite
Suckling on, then weaned, speaking the half-breed language of liberty
Embracing his role as an evolutionary hybrid
Evolving, Eros to Psyche

‘Structures of authority, of persecution, of hierarchy’ excised from the psyche
All these things ‘which led to oppression’ in a great caving of volition
Were cast aside, power a twisted, engineered hybrid
He’s ‘a naturally pessimistic animal’ leery of encomia
Who set out into the world to define his liberty
Circumnavigating, investigating, experiencing all distilled to become more erudite

Encountering Whistlers, bird women, their ‘feather words and skin words grown into each other’ his sight is erudite
Singing and whistling in a cacophony emitting from the dual psyche
They had been banished, pariah, for their desire and seizing of liberty
Each act of will now a strained volition
‘We wanted the speed and danger of the wind’ the Artic Tern sang our encomia
Twinning dualities longing to be whole or at least embrace multiplicity, no vile hybrid

I hear this echo in in my painting language, a hybrid
Where I spin ambiguity and chaos in a sphere of erudite
Possibilities, pluralism, and paradox not garnering encomia
But pain, confusion, a language unclear, but of the psyche
Birthed from my own volition
An unshackled liberty

Encomium is not a purpose for art, it is a bastard hybrid
Liberty oppressed to the sick purpose of an erudite
Psyche that panders to ambition’s deadly volition

Tags: ,
Comment

Morphing Electroacoustic Transducer

Filed under: Philosophy, Postmodern, Science — 53 Comments
September 20, 2011

Temple of Artemis at Roman ruin of Jerash, Jordan by Anna Montgomery

Morphing Electroacoustic Transducer – spoken word poem please listen by clicking

She’s a whirling shape-shifting actuator
knowing energy is neither created nor destroyed
only transformed, simply trans located through space

Generating thought is a form of energy
within a microelectromechanical system
that uses wet etching nanotechnology
in a lexicology and semantics twinning

Scrolling legged immense lexicography
induce perfectly isotropic etches which produce round sidewalls,
slippery micro slopes of meaning
Smooth surfaces on aluminum discs
positing thought invents language

Backend processing removes pesky micro cracks in her theory
dramatically increasing its resistance to breaking
Tactile and cognitive flexibility
though any transformation leads to a loss in translation

Morphing electroacoustic transducer interrupts echolocation
disorienting signifier from its denotata
within patterns of semantic relationships well, anything could happen
Transmogrified thermoelectric conductor heating
as auditory hallucinations clarify the idea
that speech acts like a convoluted telekinesis

Platinum resistance thermometer in a four-wire Kelvin configuration
results in full cancellation of spurious effects, allaying the static

She’ll draw you a picture:
forces change her world she’s as sensitive as a chameleonic electrochemical detector

Hydrogen sensor, a palladium coated micro mirror
measuring the changes in the back reflected light
shining in a metaphysical quandary of interpersonal dynamics

Morphological, phonological, and contextual behavior all conspire
as thought changes language causing others to respond, philia, neikos, affinity

Internal energy obeys the first law of thermodynamics
conservation of energy denies the perpetual motion machine
Entwining within the physics of proximity, the psychology of proxemics
garnering cries of ethical impunity while meaning and intent magnetically attract
implying perhaps there’s imperative, initiation behind all this energetic interaction

10,000 year old Two Headed Goddess @ Jordan Archaelogical Museum in Amman by Anna Montgomery

Tags: ,
Comment

Apophenia and Creativity: A Kind of Self-Possession (the Train Wreck Rewrite)

Filed under: Postmodern — 51 Comments
September 17, 2011

Adrian Montgomery Engine 486

Durango to Silverton ============================ San Juan Mountains before
Red Mountain Pass ////////////////////////// Train wrecks as two parts of me collide
One an historic relic >>>>>>>>>>>>>>
<<<<<<<<< one high speed bullet train
Sense impressions intermingled ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~with a coruscant intellect.
coal fired steam pours narrow gauge rails into overhead electrification to create vivid imaginings, mangle new destinies #######################################

along the Animas River, engine hauling 286,600 pounds/////a thousand flashes of memory
steel, water, and cargo toward water tower stops, fragments of homes, the smell of mountains
………………………………………………………………………………………………

synchronicity stabs stating you arrive with all the subtlety of a freight train
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

we cede these visages as imagery sung by loquacious tongues, in the shadowed corners – all the fears, debts, atrocities are piled up

Conductor calls the shots **************************************** there’s no escape from responsibility
I am the Engineer, complicit, culpable (to stand with the Fireman) and I can barely calm the dragon that scries the future {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{my wellspring of shame}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
smashing into whatever ate my past- familial bonds and human failings

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
(Head and Rear Brakemen screech, pull, will the stop) while mythologies reveal the hidden dangers of archetypal activism as we lose ourselves in over-identification, righteousness, or doubt (the passengers begin to shout)

Each moment of conjunction:::::::::::::reciprocity::::::::when my embodied self ameliorated the suffering of another or my own is a gift ::::::::::::::::::::this rare moment of communion

1878 Nomad car that bore four Presidents through the West/ intertwining insights /this is that famous train from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Old train of creativity, deeply held convictions, passions of the mind, a journey of desire along all these sharp mountain curves^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^emotive effusions of art, papered meanings to the place Utes call heaven but they call the million dollar highway $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
engine 486 curves in its track as cars fly by on 550 @@@@@@@ Visual striving, resolution + melodic companions, finds me lacrymose, overwhelmed by beauty

[][][][][][][][][][][][][]][][][][][][]]]][][[[[[[][][][][][][]]]][][[[[][][][][][][][][][]]]]][[[[][][][][][[[][][][[][][][][][[[]]]][][[][][][][[[[[[]

Twisted metal chunks recalling The Wild Bunch! Will it all end guns ablaze dying in San Vicento? Sundance is a crack shot but we’re outnumbered kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These offerings, gifts, and sacrifices pointing toward divine grace and awe, genuflections and contrition all lead to promises of an immortal soul – that slow train to transcendence at 14,000 feet the thin cold air soothing the mind’s whirl ”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””’

Maybe this time the super train of imagination never left the station, or I’m still riding on creativity laughing at apophenia as she zooms by, ghost train mirage, there never was a wreck, it was only in my mind ==========================================================================

River of Lost Souls Anna Montgomery

The original poem can be found here: http://chromapoesy.com/2011/07/09/apophenia-and-creativity-a-kind-of-self-possession-2/

Tags: ,
Comment

Witnesses

Filed under: Mythology, Personal, Tribute — 125 Comments
September 13, 2011


Mnemosyne, grandmother,
whose many names
are older than memory itself
enfolds herself within a Magpie spirit cloak
and spins forth a world where her
Muses bear daughters

She flies from her home
where I am forbidden to travel
Blue Lake upon Taos Mountain
through the Pueblo at the mouth
of Red Willow Canyon

Calling her two eldest granddaughters to her side,
a pilgrimage to Conifer Mountain
three Horarctic Magpies
hudsonia here in the Rockies
forage in the blue-eyed grass
walking along the grey fox-trod path
pat down by elk hooves

Good morning Grandmother, I am singing today

Juniper bush patches
quilted with kinnikinnick
orange paintbrushes dotted with
columbines rise above
toadstools and ferns
black bear stalks the wood pile

She begins to mend what is
broken but her own
we are broken but her own

They’ve never come this far
this high upon the mountain
alpine yarrow beneath the
ever changing light, a forest of aspens,
blue spruce, and bristlecone pines
she nurtures and connects
intimating a heroic form to life

Magpies are inventors via
expansive executive function
insightful passerines
‘catch me if you can’ tricksters
who create their own tools
to dig up the truth

Black beak burrows damp earth
Grandmother is making cache holes
while aspen eyes keep watch
she buries a writing tablet,
aulos, veil, dual faced masks
scrolls, cithara, globe, and compass
flashes her eye grounding memory
leaves her true gifts and looks me in the eye

Grandmother your granddaughters are waiting for the time of unearthing

The three begin to
sing one another’s songs
preparing to fly home for
Magpies, like their sisters Ravens,
recognize themselves in the mirror

Tags:
Comment

Two little poems for free

Filed under: Personal, Philosophy — 16 Comments
September 12, 2011

A moralizing speech

We are too far removed
from the initial awe
crusted information
over processed
analyzed, interpreted,
evaluated

D E C O N S T R U C T E D

The initial brilliance
of the encounter,
engagement is lost…

The trick is
don’t allow
previous interpretation,

WISDOM

To cloud your own
intense, primal,
visceral, and unique
encounter with the world.

Because I didn’t know any better

Silly things I believed
when I was a very young child:
the world was black and white
until they invented color film;
the earth rotated but clouds
were fixed in the sky;
that if you experienced pain in dreams
it was because you were hurt in real life;
in mythic furniture called chesterdrawers
(because my parents had Oklahoma accents
and never said chest-of-drawers);
when I died my spirit would be able to travel
into every space on Earth,
down to the Mariana trench,
over the Himalayas,
through Victoria Falls,
within the molecular structure of atoms –
wherever I wanted to go*;
and finally,
eventually with education and attention
everything would become clear.

*As a child I imagined that when I died I’d get to go everywhere in the world, see the hidden places. In my dream world it was all beautiful, breathtakingly freeing, a monumental liberation from the constraints of embodiment. It was always without people and I never imagined anything terrifying or disgusting. It was part IMAX helicopter shot mixed with invulnerability. Spiritual bliss attained through natural beauty.

Tags:
Comment

Stochastic Intimacy

Filed under: Mathematics, Philosophy, Postmodern — 54 Comments
September 8, 2011

Stochastic Intimacy (this is a spoken word piece so click to hear it read)
for Hypatia “Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.”

Blind caches of probability theory
hide in undercrofts
seducing non-deterministic variables
counteracting an unfairly weighted die
chance involves the randomness of specificity
slot machine spins
love is a weak convergence theory
requiring proof.

She’s dancing round helical truths.

Dependence will tend to be distributed
according to one of a small number of
attractor elements
diverging within the limits
approaching infinity
caressing asymptotic density convolutions
sexual creativity plays with game theory.

She chooses.

Variable ratio schedule of reinforcement
insures she keeps pulling the handle
appetite for stimulus drives the euphoria
highest rate of response
scientifically guaranteed
heightens the anticipation
of winning the whole show.

Figuring the chances of hitting the jackpot.

Ars Conjectandi! a bold conjecture
gene expressions in the roulette
of ubiquitous computing
predictable actions rouse random elements
probability theory spirals stochastic intimacies
astounds glistening ambient intelligence.

Equations inscribed by electric flickering tongues arouse.

Friction exerts its force
upon blooming lacunary trigonometric series
stimulating the total variation distance
pairwise independence won’t correlate
these atoms gotta smash up
to go supernova baby.

Each move she makes changes the board.

Multivariate Gaussian polytopes
nest in orthogonal matrices
central limit theorem initiates chain reactions
hydrogen bomb’s gonna blow
overcoming electrostatic repulsion
in a nuclear fusion transmutation.

Mathematics sighs and roars, she’s never been seduced by a poet before.

Tags: ,
Comment

Road Kill

Filed under: Personal — 65 Comments
September 4, 2011

every imprecation falls
lips spit cacology
Lamia’s grief devours
fin de siècle kerfs
with rusty halberds

sharp crack of violent intent
rustling crash
the forest felled
thick rubber crushes
the squirrel’s spine

No! here it plays out
clamp my ears
pantomime an oh
too late I realize
pour concrete in my eyes

there my brother skids
across the pavement
vehicle a weapon
extension of her vacuous mind
culpability resides with the lusus naturae

triggered memories
image is trapped
burning into me
elaborative encoding dance
accomplices have run

serologic atonement
Matthew said speak and if they listen
deeper yet, understand in Greek
you regain them
But why must I be the one?

if they don’t give a fuck
about the preventable destruction
how could they hear my lament?
no use bucking to prevent binds
empathy turns a blind eye

zoonosis, variola major virus
can’t kill what isn’t alive
maculopapular rash
fluid filled pustules
they promise it’s eradicated

hyaloplasm fights desiccation
ground substance inclusions athwart
I assault my eyes with chainsaws
embedded with diamond grit
this is the power it takes to clear sight

Notes/definitions:

imprecation: curse
cacology: bad diction
Lamia: in ancient Greek mythology she was the Queen of Libya that had an affair with Zeus and bore his children. Hera, Zeus’ wife was so jealous she had the children murdered (or in one telling forced Lamia to consume them). Either way Lamia was driven mad with suffering and was transformed into a horror that ate children.
fin de siècle: has several association one is the end of the century (it’s meaning in French) a time of great upheaval, mourning, and fear; a particularly sophisticated kind of suffering; an art movement in France especially the Symbolists and expressionist paintings like Munch’s The Scream.
kerf: slit or notch made by a cutting tool
rusty halberd: two-handed pole weapon used in the medieval times – it was often allowed to rust so that even if the initial wound inflicted wasn’t fatal the resulting infection (usually gangrene) might be.
vacuous: having or showing a lack of intelligence; empty
culpability: Culpability descends from the Latin concept of fault (culpa). The concept of culpability is intimately tied up with notions of agency, freedom and free will. All are commonly held to be necessary, but not sufficient, conditions for culpability. In explanations and predictions of human action and inaction, culpability is a measure of the degree to which an agent, such as a person, can be held morally or legally responsible. Culpability marks the dividing line between moral evil, like murder, for which someone may be held responsible and natural evil, like earthquakes, for which no one can be held responsible. – from Wikipedia
lusus naturae: a monstrosity; person or animal hideously deformed
elaborative encoding: psychological term pertaining to memory. In order to remember something well, whether an autobiographical or semantic detail elaborative rehearsal occurs when you associate new information with something you already know; you encode (store) memories by repeating this information. Strongly reinforced encoded memories are more available for retrieval (or recall).
serology: is the study of blood serum and other bodily fluids
atonement: reparation for wrongs committed
Matthew 18:15-20 New Standard Revised Version of the Bible: 15“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.16But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.17If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.18Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.19Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.20For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
bucking: process of chainsaw cutting the felled tree into logs; if you buck correctly gravity helps prevent binds
bind: when the chainsaw is at risk of getting stuck or is stuck in the log compression – an unsafe situation
zoonosis: is an infectious disease that can be passed between non-human animals and humans and vice versa
variola major virus: Smallpox in its most deadly form with a mortality rate of 30-35%. The disease was declared eradicated in 1979 by the World Health Organization.
hyaloplasm: medical term: the clear, fluid portion of cytoplasm as distinguished from the granular and netlike components. Also called ground substance.
desiccate: to dry out completely
diamond grit embedded blade: chainsaw blade required to cut concrete

Tags:
Comment

Interhemispheric Synaptic Transmissions

Filed under: Art, Personal, Postmodern, Science — 49 Comments
September 3, 2011

This is in response to the Poetics prompt on silent film @ dVerse.

Note: Spoken and written language, numerical skills, reasoning, and control of the right side of the body occur in the left hemisphere. The right hemisphere is responsible for control of the left side of the body, music processing, emotional thinking, and perceiving visual-spatial relations. The two hemispheres are connected by the corpus callosum.

Tags: ,
Comment

Mesa Verde

Filed under: Art, History, Writing — 65 Comments
August 30, 2011

Mesa Verde National Park Anna Montgomery

‘What’s she doing?’
‘She’s sketching, she’s an artist.’
old men fondly remember
proper women
telling tales of the War
sons who don’t listen
bemoan generations without values in America

‘Was machst du?’
‘Excuse me, when will
the 10:30 Long House tour return?’
I’m not wearing a park ranger uniform
this happens all the time at Target
I have a customer service face in America

crowds of eager eyes and restless voices
little myth making for me here today
paucity of material
meets 100 degree heat
melting the initiators
global warming’s a gift from America

no room for thought
society’s lost its silence
can’t read Black Zodiac in peace
The Appalachian Book of the Dead
‘Go in fear of abstractions’
Charles Wright was born
in Pickwick Dam, Tennessee
here in America

returning to sketching
I try to make marks
meaningful in my privacy
so awkward with an audience
trespassing at the Ancestral Puebloan site
Utes got a corner, whites got a park
(archaeologists named them Anasazi,
Navajo word for ancient people
or ancient enemy)
method of loci, utterly American

retreat to the car
inner dialogue
(chattering monkeys)
we are having a very disparate
experience of this America

I worry I am a creature made
only for the hearth
open to the vast landscapes
of the mind and nature
so little at home
in this narrow, confounding ‘America’

the breeze soothes
nested in the tail gate
interrupted only by traffic, bird calls
my solace is won, art lives,
making the world real again
escaping America

the mark must be made
it must be fixed
time to draw the line
an infinitely nuanced touch
like the potent power of naming
this line must be drawn
with curves and crooks
from a fleshy hand
New Amsterdam descendent, all American
since 1640 before she had a name
I’m awaiting the alternative reality of America

Notes: Mesa Verde (‘green table’ in Spanish) National Park was the first park founded under the Americans Antiquities Act of 1906 is located in the SW corner of Colorado near the Four Corners area. This is where the state lines of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado join. It is on a high stone cliff (7000-8000+ feet in elevation). Long House is on top of Weatherill Mesa and is one of the many sites where the Ancestral Puebloans or Ancient Pueblo Peoples lived between 600AD and 1300AD. The Utes, whose reservation is in the area of Mesa Verde, are not descendants of the Ancient Pueblo Peoples. Anasazi is a Navajo word meaning ‘ancient ones’ or ‘ancient enemies’ an odd choice for archeologists to make, the modern Pueblo Peoples, who claim them as ancestors, prefer the name Ancestral Puebloans.

‘Was machst du?’ is ‘What are you doing?’ in German.

Target is a US corporation: ‘Our mission is to make Target the preferred shopping destination for our guests by delivering outstanding value, continuous innovation and an exceptional guest experience by consistently fulfilling our Expect More. Pay Less.® brand promise. To support our mission, we are guided by our commitments to great value, the community, diversity and the environment.’

The Ute Indian Tribe consists of more than 13 historic groups that included the Capote, Cumumba, Moache, Moanumts, Pah Vant, Parianuche, San Pitch, Sheberetch, Taviwach, Timanogots, Tumpanawach, Uintah, Uncompahgre, White River, Weeminuche, and Yamperika. They were forced out of many areas of the West after the Ute War and now hold the Uintah & Ouray, Southern Ute, and Ute Mountain reservations. Today they are self-governed, ‘domestic dependent nations’, with many sovereign powers retained from the pre-contact period. There are currently 500 tribal governments recognized in America.

Charles Wright is an American poet who won the Pulitzer Prize for Black Zodiac in 1998. ‘Go in fear of abstractions’ is from his The Appalachian Book of the Dead. Pickwick Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River in Hardin County.

New Amsterdam, from 1614-1644 part of the New Netherland Territory, was the settlement that became New York City. It grew up to provide security to the Dutch East India Company’s fur trade (a megacorporation). The land was purchased from the Lenape, Algonquin Native Americans, for 60 guilders. The Lenape tribe mostly ended up forced into the Oklahoma Territory, within the Cherokee Nation, in the 1860s. My ancestors, 11 generations back, Michael Paulus Van Der Voort (later Vanderford) and Marritie Joris Rapalje came to New Amsterdam in 1640. He was from Dermonde, Flanders, Netherlands. I’ve traced most of my ancestors back 10-11 generations to the first immigrants arriving in the 1600s from Scotland, Ireland, England, Wales, Germany, Netherlands, and France.

Tags:
Comment