http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/ Writings of S. Donovan Mullaney. Commentary, criticism, poetry, and other time-wasters. Powered by Joy. en Copyright 2007 Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:47:13 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss The journey of Kevin Bowen, poet, veteran, and director of UMB’s William Joiner Center. Shea Mullaney: How’d you get started writing poetry? Kevin Bowen: Well, I wrote a bit when I was younger, then I went into army and went to Vietnam. I didn’t write when I came back; I didn’t have to words to capture that experience and writing about anything else didn’t seem to have any meaning. Actually, both my parents were writers. My father wrote plays and wrote for the Catholic Worker and my mom directed for the Blackfriars, a local theatre company.]]> http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/02/from_vietnam_to.html http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/02/from_vietnam_to.html Poetry Kevin Bowen interview Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:47:13 -0500 Dunbar gets the credit, though. "Ballad of a Haunted Oak" by S. Donovan Mullaney CHORUS: So bare, so bare, is the old oak tree; so bare is the old oak tree. It's dried and dead; it's burned with dread where a guiltless man swung free. A guiltless man swung free. And when I go through the shade it throws, a shudder runs over me. ]]> http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/02/ballad_of_a_hau.html http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/02/ballad_of_a_hau.html Poetry Fri, 02 Feb 2007 01:12:29 -0500 Good Morning, America on every weekday morning first thing. It's the right balance of fluffiness to keep me from starting the day as a coach potato, but enough serious journalism, snippets of local news (plenty of time for that,) and weather to start my mind moving toward the upcoming day. This week, I caught a segment about an online test that predicts the solidity of your relationship. Oh god, I thought to myself, it's one of those stupid Cosmo quizzes a lot of women like. ]]> http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/02/the_equation_of.html http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/02/the_equation_of.html Journal Thu, 01 Feb 2007 10:03:05 -0500 Letters from the Jalopy is a self-produced studio album from Medford, MA guitar-teacher and folk-singer, Ksenia Mack. Mack's voice has at times the lilt of Joni Mitchell, the warm low tones of kd Lang, and the blues of old Bonnie Raitt, her style blends such disparate influences with old-fashioned songwriting and scorching guitar-work. She's more incredible in her live performances than on this album, but Jalopy's well worth a listen.]]> http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/02/letters_from_th.html http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/02/letters_from_th.html Reviews Thu, 01 Feb 2007 10:00:30 -0500 yes ma'am or yessir or any way you like it. I'm vitality squeezed, dark nectar of roasted beans; I'm supposed to sting and burn a bit as I go down. I'm your cup of coffee and I'm meant to be drunk black. ]]> http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/black_coffee.html http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/black_coffee.html Wed, 31 Jan 2007 21:56:03 -0500 No, you have me confused with another Tom in Quincy. No, I've never been on your show before. No, I didn't call last night. There's plenty of Toms in the book who like football. So, we both have a raspy voice. What kinda proof is that? Just let me on, would ya? Listen, I don't need this hassle. Are you gonna let me on or not? I certainly wouldn't call a sports talk show if I'd been drinking! I tell you, you're not the only game in town. Anyways, I don't need to call your stupid show to hear myself on TV. http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/next_caller.html http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/next_caller.html Poetry Fri, 26 Jan 2007 09:34:18 -0500 Lost Horse Press. Click on the picture for a larger, more readable version. ]]> http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/coffee_poem.html http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/coffee_poem.html Poetry Fri, 26 Jan 2007 03:51:04 -0500 The love of a friend is moonlight, the reflective heart of a silvered night, bright blanket that highlights shadows, knowing even they are worthy of light. The love of a friend is the first flicker of a streetlamp that turns on faithfully with each yellow dusk, a cone of brightness, a safe place to walk in the darkness. The love of a friend is a meteor, an unexpected fist of fiery light that says "Look up, the sky wants you to fight." The love of a friend is a candle, a keeper of nighttime secrets, a solitary light from which another is kindled. The love of a friend is "thank you" and "how are you?" sometimes "I'm sorry" also "I understand and forgive." The love of a friend is beyond belief, like the way you just know--in your last unbroken bone and only unbruised muscle--the way you just know that if you make it through the night, dawn is coming. http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/friend.html http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/friend.html Poetry Thu, 25 Jan 2007 23:39:21 -0500 Love, you have not arrived to discover what I've become. I prepare breakfast for myself; I serve coffee for one. When the day's chores are finished and all the tasks that had to be done are over, what opportunities will have gone by, love, while I turned about all wrong, staring at the shadow of love instead of hearing its song? Love, you still have no name, but I keep your side of our bed made. I see a pillow smooth and blank where I'd rather see your rumpled face, love. http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/crappy_love_poe.html http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/crappy_love_poe.html Poetry Thu, 25 Jan 2007 17:57:39 -0500 A Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day When I look into the mirror, I don't want to see white. I'm not talking about color-blindness. I don't mean to say that that white skin isn't beautiful, it is, because skin itself is beautiful, whatever shade it comes in. ]]> http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/embracing_the_o.html http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/embracing_the_o.html Spirituality Fri, 19 Jan 2007 02:48:19 -0500 She reads her homework assignment aloud in Spanish and cries as she does so. The homework exercise I assigned the class members last week was to imagine oneself as a non-human object and write a story, poem, or journal entry from the perspective of that object. I got this exercise from a writing teacher of mine. http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/bookfed_not_bre.html http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/bookfed_not_bre.html Journal Fri, 12 Jan 2007 05:42:36 -0500 a stellar online political magazine, have decided to publish my poem "Shopper's Prayer" in their Spring issue. You can view the poem here. Remember, you all read it first here on Soul Meets Blog. Thanks for your patronage. :) ]]> http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/poem_published.html http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/poem_published.html Poetry Thu, 11 Jan 2007 16:54:02 -0500 I'm the kid in the bathtub and with the box on his head. Enjoy. We sure did. ]]> http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/its_fiction_but.html http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/its_fiction_but.html Journal Mon, 08 Jan 2007 04:27:57 -0500 Today's song is from Snow Patrol, off their latest disc, "Eyes Open." Enjoy. "Set The Fire To The Third Bar" (feat. Martha Wainwright) I find the map and draw a straight line Over rivers, farms, and state lines The distance from here to where you'd be It's only finger-lengths that I see I touch the place where I'd find your face My finger in creases of distant dark places http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/snow_patrol_set.html http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/snow_patrol_set.html Sound of the Day Sun, 07 Jan 2007 07:18:30 -0500 Check it out... Eleven years ago, the Harvest Moon bestowed my first adult poem, "I've Never Been," upon me. I looked up to see a ring around the moon, and a door opened in the back of my head. Perhaps this is what they mean by "lunatic." I've been writing poetry ever since. One year ago my book, Follow the Wolf Moon, came out. Coincidentally, the release date happened to be right around the Wolf Moon, the first full moon of January. The cover image of my book happens to be a doctored photograph of the Wolf Moon over the lake where my family lives, taken by my mother. I owe it all to the moon. ]]> http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/happy_wolf_moon.html http://www.volumefreak.com/seagda/2007/01/happy_wolf_moon.html Journal Sun, 07 Jan 2007 02:01:09 -0500