Colin
's poetry (my
poetry) and other miscellaneous ramblings reside
here in near solitude. Occasionally, someone
will read one of them, but usually they just sit
around, drink tea, and talk amongst themselves.
I suspect that they party when I'm not paying
attention.
Comments
(good, bad, ugly) are
welcome
and relatively good
colin@whysanity.net.
But not anywhere else. Don't send comments about
my poetry to people that aren't me. Just imagine
the confusion.
In case you're not interested, I thought of the title of this site while brainstorming ideas for a new name...while watching "Dumbo" on the Disney Channel in a student lounge. (It's what's printed on Mrs.Jumbo's cage, for all you who still don't get it.) And I found this groovy picture on a fantastic Dumbo website (it's really perfect). When I told my good friend Steve about the new title, he said a more appropriate title (for MY poetry site) should be "Danger! Stick Insect!" I set him straight; the elephant is not to reflect me. As you were. You may notice that I haven't updated this site in many moons. This does NOT mean I've stopped writing. I write a lot. I just haven't updated this site in many moons. You dig? You dig. Thank you.
Other Poetry/Prose Items of Interest (But To
Whom? You?)
"School
Days: don't ever tell anyone
anything
--
from my
highly-productive Advanced Fiction & Poetry
class at LC, my friend Liam created a series of
stories on theme of his school days (past and
present). I decided to assimiliate his original
idea (of the theme) and this was my product. The
subtitle is a quote from "A Catcher in the
Rye."
"Daily
Puzzle" --
alternatively
titled, "I Felt Like Giving My English Degree
Back"....a true story. The names have been
removed to protect the ridiculous.
"You'll
Miss Me"
-- a very short one-act
play written for a contest organized by the
Theater dept. of my former college (not selected
among the ones subsequently produced). It was
required to be on the theme of "Survival of the
Fittest OR For the Love of Darwin" and about 10
minutes. I don't think mine is even 10 minutes.
But it was a lot of fun to write.
"The
Happiest Place on
Earth" -- a comedic
short story about a cynic let loose in
Disneyland. Based loosely (very loosely) on some
real life experiences. Not serious nor should be
taken as such. Influenced by a non-fiction
book about Disney/Disneyland "Inside the Mouse". This story was later expanded into a much longer version -- available to read upon request.
"An
Essay on the Problems of Trying To Recover One's
Youth" --
alternatively titled, "Why Are You Writing About
Disneyland Again? Do you Have Issues?"... this
true-life essay was written using everything
that was going to be incorporated into the
original "Happiest Place On Earth" story but
didn't really fit in anywhere.
"If
I Had A
Hammer"
-- this story was
originally born from the scribbled lines: "sea
monkeys dead. no food." after a phone
conversation. The main character of Albert is an
amalgamation of several people I know/knew. I
think it qualifies as seriocomic or "not serious
although it deals with serious subjects." Might
be offensive if you're really really sensitive.
In which case, what are you doing on the
Internet?
"Unforgettable"
-- an earlier draft of a
short story written in the Spring 1998 Fiction
Writing class here at Lewis & Clark College.
Published in the 1998-1999 Lewis & Clark Lit
Review with minor changes. It's a romance, so
you'll have to forgive me that.
The
"Kara" Poems -- the
section of my poetry page dedicated to a single
person. Who? What? Where? How? Well, I explain,
don't worry...I haven't gone insane. Not any
more than I am already. Read the bloody
introduction (for this page); it explains
all.
Success
with an Open
Mic--
for lack of a better title a kingdom was
gained. This is the story of a very successful
open mic performance I did here on campus on a
Sunday, April 6 a few years ago. I scrawled this originally for
my friends and family and now put it here for the
masses to read. A pat on my own back,
admittedly.
And These Are Not
Mine...
"Genesis" by Jonathan GoldsteinA brilliant and hilarious story, from Public Radio International's This American Life from an episode entitled "Starting From Scratch." This is really about the first people who ever had to start from scratch.
"The
Unknown Soldier" by Luc
Sante A
beautiful short story I heard on "This
American Life" and transcribed so I could read
it again and again whenever I wanted to and also
share it with any friends who got too close to
my computer.
A Story
By Brady Udall -
This story was written and read for an episode
of "This American Life" by Brady Udall.
The name of the episode was "Invisible
Worlds." "One of the most powerful forces in a
room can be the thing that is unspoken between
people."...this is one of five stories "where
they felt the presence of something unspoken."
It was read without a title and thus, this
beautiful story is reproduced here without a
title.
"Of Course I Remember Your Name" by Heather O'Neil - Another short piece from "This American Life" (the radio show 's a bit of a muse for me, as you may be able to tell) from an episode entitled "Before It Had a Name."
