Taha Muhammad Ali has died

Palestinian poet Taha Muhammad Ali has died. He was 80 years old. I saw him read a couple of years ago at UofM and it was one of the best and most moving readings I have ever been to. I can't help but think that if more people read his poetry then the Palestinians would have a much better chance at getting a state, at living in peace, at being seen as human, even. May he rest in a peace that did not exist during his life.

Blair is gone

Detroit poet David Blair has passed away. I don't have any details as of yet, but I do know that there's a big hole in the world now. He was a friend to many people and a vibrant part of Detroit's poetry community. He will be dearly missed.

"Aunt Madelyn At The White Sale" by Alice Fulton

Again on the hunt for poems for my class and I re-read Alice Fulton's "Aunt Madelyn At The White Sale." Feels like a very fitting poem today since it was the funeral for my grandmother. I've never attended a funeral in the winter before. I've always wondered how they manage. How do they dig out the ground? With machines, I know. Still. Winter resists burial. But then, in the spring it's too wet. In the summer, too hot. There's no good time to die, I guess.

Smoking will kill you.

Eventually.

R.I.P. Charlie, the cigarette smoking chimp (1958-2010).

"Sparrow’s, Poet’s Deaths" by Christine Rhein

"Sparrow’s, Poet’s Deaths" is a truly beautiful poem by Christine Rhein about the death of poet Nadia Anjuman and a sparrow killed to save some dominoes. Guess which one got more news coverage?

Please, no gifts this year

So today is Edgar Allan Poe's birthday. Or it would be if he wasn't dead. And apparently his secret necro-admirer feels their relationship has lost its spark. Nevermore, I guess. Alas.

"Poet and Punk Rocker" Jim Carroll

is dead.

Is now the wrong time to say The Basketball Diaries was one of the worst books I've ever read and that the movie managed to be even worse?

Yes, yes it is. But I was a teenager when I read it. Surely I'd have more patience for it now (I would not have more patience for it now), and in this time of sadness I don't want to begrudge the work of Leonardo DiCaprio.

Seriously, though, I am sure he was an important and respected poet because the New York Times said as much or at least they put that he was a "Poet and Punk Rocker" in his obit headline. And they do not do that for everybody.

In any case, he is dead. So have some respect, people.