the INLAID EAR

North American Time by Adrienne Rich Recorded for Oaktown Indie Mayhem event (which I could not attend in person).

It's Beezo, the Categories Game Rabbit! Congratulations to Pamela (PCS) and Patricia who both took prizes in round one. The prize, a signed copy of "Monster Poems" by Daniel Ari, illustrated by Lauren Ari. Now, let's start round 2!If you don't know how to play, here are the simple directions . The categories are: 1. Fictional places 2. Two names of cities 3. Synonyms of "sound" 4. Obscure words The 4-letter word: HORN Points will be awarded as capriciously and arbitrarily as before according to (or in spite of) these rules: 1 point per cell filled + 1 point for each pair of cities in category 2 that are connected by roads (i.e., you can drive from one to the other). + 5 points for the single pair of cities among all entries that have the greatest driving distance between them. + 1 point for each obscure word in category 4 that includes a definition + 1-3 bonus points for LOLs + 10 bonus points if you also submit a poem or flash fic...

 Had trouble finding the right title. Something about how experience is so concentrated here, or in any city. Maybe you have an idea of a different title that could work for this poem? Texture & Discovery A man shares my bench, lowers his shades, flirts with me; but having lunch is why I’m here. I must keep this custard off my shirt. In the city, look and it appears: toothy skyline, transit or dessert. I’ve been a tourist nearly twenty years, still looking up at the tops of towers— still amazed at all the sounds to hear— conversing, saxophones, ambulance howls— not commonplace, the cities of earth. I could wander or I could sit for hours lost in this chaotic summer dream. A woman in a sunflower cowl turns my head right around and then steam billows up from a grate—smells of beer, moving bodies, iron and chlorine— Gotta get back to work. It’s 1:15

"Categories” or “The Grid Game” is something my family played on car trips or at home. As an adult, I have found it to be a lot of laughs at parties or writing jams. It’s also a good way to stir up creative energy. At the last writing jam at my place, Jud, Maria, Janice, Rachel, Lauren, Jason, Ajua and I played. Sharing our results inspired belly laughs as well as a-ha moments. Then we used the answers we came up with as a wordlist for free writing. So here’s the game and how you can participate now in this blog-based tourney. Three sections follow: HOW TO PLAY SCORING PLAY NOW! HOW TO PLAY Create a 4x4 grid on a piece of paper. You could do this by folding a paper into 16ths, or just draw lines. Here’s mine. You’ll notice I left a little space above and to the left, which is not a bad idea. Above each column, we'll write our categories. When I was a kid, we used categories like animals, foods, girl’s names, and colors.  As an adult, I have foun...

Me wrote the limerick of the week at Mad Kane's humor and limerick blog :) A man had a notable knack For catching fly balls in his crack. Though poor with his hands, He made many fans In center field, facing the back. Also submitted: A man had a notable knack for observing and narrating back. Perambulatory, he typed up his story and wound up as Jack Kerouac.  

With Gretchen Wegner at InterPlay. My shirt says "Writer" :) Go see!  It's me! Cara Holman's Prose Posies is one of the many great sites linked from here.