Those Lizard People

from the book God Laughs and Plays, by David James Duncan:
One sip of the fire in the water and he began telling of a friend of his, new to visionary experience, who'd recently sought council from a Brazilian shaman. The friend had been traumatized, during a lengthy initiation rite, when he had a vision of a bunch of fearsome, remorseless Reptile Beings, The Reptile Men surrounded John's terrified friend, informed him that they controlled the entire world, and prophesied that they were going to devour the whole thing.
In response to this revelation, the old shaman waved his hand dismissively and chuckled, "Those Lizard People! They think they run everything!"

James Lenfestey reading at Gulf of Maine

Poet James Lenfestey will leave his hermit cave to come read to us on Friday, May 30, at 7 PM from his new book A Cartload of Scrolls - 100 Poems in the Manner of T'ang Dynasty Poet Han Shan.

Here are two poems from the book:

#44 Plumes of paper mill steam

On a piece of lined paper the size of a Chinese poem
I write a Chinese-sized poem.
The words sound like English because I stand where I was born,
on the shore of a Great Lake. Her forests and rivers
unroll around me in plumes of paper mill steam.
I hope to get to China before I die,
where paper was invented, poetry before that.
There my verses will turn into faces.
The people will nod with gentility and respect.


#14 The Poet Joke

So three poets enter a bar.
The first gets drunk and raves.
The second seethes jealously in the corner booth.
The third? Ahhh, the third
rises up off the barstool
in smoke and flames,
ash floating in the air like dark feathers.

literary blogs

I have been reading some literary blogs, but I am sure that there are many others I have not yet discovered. Please send along your recommendations for literary, poetry and bookstore blogs, and I will add them to the list here, or you can add them as a comment .
Here are a few of mine:
Favorite literary blog: Pierre Joris http://pjoris.blogspot.com
Favorite bookstore blog: Karl Pohrt Shaman Drum Books www.thereisnogap.com
My own poetry blog: http://mygrations.blogspot.com
My blog featuring poetry from countries embargoed by the US: http://embargopoets.blogspot.com



Novelist Elizabeth Hand recommends:
http://community.livejournal.com/theinferior4/
Poet and editor Karla Merrifield suggests her "Vagabond Poet" blog
http://karlalinn.blogspot.com
Poet/editor/networker Tom Fallon recommends:
http://pjnights.blog-city.com/
or: www.geocities.com/pj_nights
Therese Broderick recommends a blog on Ekphrasis (poetry inspired by art)
http://poetryaboutart.wordpress.com
Brunswick author Charlotte Agell has a website:
www.charlotteagell.com
as does Phippsburg novelist Ellen Cooney:
http://ellencooney.com

Calef Brown Booksigning