WORK
from “For the Player”
You can’t write music right
unless you know how the man
who will play it plays poker
—Duke Ellington
Every day is a first day, you need
to believe, if you wish to astonish.
There it is, the world—try to look at it
coldly, see behind its glamour
and gloom, hear it, read it
the way good poker players do—
this bravado, that tic, a movement
of hand to ear—seeing the whole table,
over time, reveal itself.
—Stephen Dunn
—from Lines of Defense
[read the entire poem on the clippings blog]
WORD
mallemaroking /mal-uh-muh-ROW-king/. noun. The carousing of drunken sailors in extreme northern waters; the boisterous behavior and meetings between sailors on icebound whaling ships, specifically from Greenland.
“She had just crossed the Arctic Circle, the captain reported, and indeed he had to cut short the communication ‘due to an outbreak of mallemaroking among the crew.’” (The Guardian)
WEB
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Motion Silhouette pop-up books: “As the reader opens each page, pop-up images create shadows that move with every page turn.”
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You might have seen this interactive chart of the daily routines of famous creative people. You might not have noticed the fine print and discovered the Daily Routines blog or the resulting book, Daily Rituals. You have been informed.
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Anatol Knotek creates clever, yet “accessible,” visual/concrete poetry and “objects” that I keep thinking about long after seeing them.
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“He warned us that we would be going to [the eastern Ukrainian city of] Slovyansk, that we were heading to certain death…” — “I Was a Separatist Fighter in Ukraine”.
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Today in 1959, Billie Holiday died at just 44. She didn’t have the strongest or most “accurate” voice…but she had the phrasing, using her voice as an instrument like no one else. Watch a vintage performance of “Strange Fruit” or the contrasting “The Very Thought of You”.
REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES
- Reader M noticed I didn’t share anything Nadine Gordimer’s death a few days ago (July 13). I admit to not knowing much about Gordimer’s work beyond a few stories I’ve come across here and there. Based on my brief reading, I’m going to start with her Paris Review interview and her short story collection Life Times. If you have recommendations for other, or better, starting points, let me know.
I welcome comments, suggestions, thoughts, feedback and all manner of what-have-you. Just press ‘Reply’ or email to: clippings@katexic.com.
And please feel free to share anything here as far and wide as you want! If you want to give a shout-out, please link to: http://katexic.com/clippings/.
