tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54186272012-02-07T10:45:27.038-05:00The JettyCassie Lewis dives into the water.Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.comBlogger5941100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-74666957164353659132007-08-24T03:25:00.000-04:002007-08-24T08:53:15.291-04:00A Note to New Readers ...I have maintained this site as an online archive of The Jetty, my first, enormously lengthy blog. There are over 500 posts from a roughly 2 year timespan. I'm proud of most of them - some, though, won't make much sense without the context of the online activities/daily events to which I was responding.I hope readers can find a few sparkling pieces here amid the slate and Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1112023723045013052005-03-28T10:25:00.001-05:002005-10-03T21:57:28.890-04:00You can follow my continuing adventures in writing, at the following address:http://www.thelittleworkshop.blogspot.comThis new blog will be less personal, less a writing project than an 'architecturalsurvey' of literary process and inspiration.See you there!Cassie LewisCassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1111076645898360062005-03-17T09:48:00.002-05:002005-03-17T11:29:27.346-05:00I am following silenceThere is no beginning, no end. I have been offline for a few months, and "A silence like snow" was, deliberately, the final post in 'The Jetty' sequence. That writing project has reached its natural conclusion, and since that time I have focused on its genesis in me.After looking out on Lake Ontario, I left the foreshore. I have been amid stars. This blog, pared back, ratherCassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1105477798321074722005-01-11T15:43:00.000-05:002005-01-11T16:21:06.990-05:00"A silence like snow"
I seem to remember Sheila Murphy quoting this phrase, but the name of the original
author eludes me just now.
*
I am going to stand silently on the jetty and look out on Lake Ontario as the snow falls
on my hat, my scarf, my gloves, my upturned face. It's a beautiful image, and that is the
image with which I am going to end this blog.
*
In yoga class today I finally Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1105465637099352092005-01-11T13:38:00.000-05:002005-01-11T12:56:35.970-05:00On Clarity, & A Clarification
My intention in using the phrases 'women's shelter' and 'domestic violence'
in the post I just erased wasn't to elicit sympathy. I was making the worst
mistake a writer can make: adopting recieved conceptual shorthand.
I have found myself deeply resenting the responses I have recieved to this
post, not because they have been ill-intended, but because they are Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1103533974805031542004-12-20T04:06:00.000-05:002004-12-20T04:13:22.066-05:00(Rereading this blog from start to finish tonight its repetitions seem to coil around eachother a maze that enfolds itself into itself endlessly and I think this is an accurate reflection of how I think as I am writing it.
When I write a POEM it is like a cinematic instant, a DNA segment removed from the whole. It says specific things about a finite field of variables but the interactions are Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1103524086634376482004-12-20T01:23:00.000-05:002004-12-20T04:20:22.033-05:00Burning Bright
If I could be friends with any animal I'd like to be a tiger's friend. He and
I would lie in the sun.
Then at night the tiger would pace around the campsite, guarding a wide
arc around the fire, beside which I slept.
My pillow - made from woven-together cloths from the clothes I took
with me from when I was a princess.
The pillow would be a crazy quilt of silks and saffrons, Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1103523506997925472004-12-20T01:16:00.000-05:002004-12-20T01:18:27.013-05:00But also I don't want to sleep because there are so many things
to dream awake.
Snow makes the town a new town.
Life puts on its magic cloak, and I am seven years old,
up late reading by torchlight.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1103523270768393892004-12-20T01:11:00.000-05:002004-12-20T01:15:20.360-05:00My sleep test came back normal.
I'm normal.
But I still can't sleep.
Can't sleep can't sleep can't sleep.
At least it is the world's problem, now,
and not mine.
Headline in tomorrow's paper:
NORMAL PEOPLE CAN'T LIVE IN THIS WORLD EITHER
(Philip Whalen's poem 'Further Notice' deals with this theme.)
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1103448993748636972004-12-19T04:36:00.000-05:002004-12-19T04:36:33.746-05:00I just woke from a nightmare about lawyers!
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1103299830071175462004-12-17T11:06:00.000-05:002004-12-17T11:14:43.083-05:00About 25 millilitres of clarity
This has been a very intense ... life. For the benefit of confused
friends, let me say
* Yes, I am still in Rochester
* Yes, I am staying in Rochester, for the next several months, anyway
* Yes, I am single now
* Yes, I am getting my own tiny place in the new year some time
* Yes, it is snowing here but
* No, I'm not riding my bike anymore because my bike needs Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1103138528121151622004-12-15T14:19:00.000-05:002004-12-15T14:22:08.120-05:00Insomnia Postscript
The results from my sleep study are in, and it transpires
that I have had absolutely no underlying sleep disorders
at all.
Just plain old stress-induced tossing and turning.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1103052927143937292004-12-14T14:30:00.000-05:002004-12-14T14:36:55.596-05:00Cold Turkey
What a horrible image, the image of cold turkeys, because I don't think of live
turkeys standing outside in the snow, I think of frozen turkey from the supermarket,
with dimpled skin.
Where does that expression come from anyway?
I quit without patches not for heroism's sake but because I'm impatient and I like
the idea of getting the nicotine out of my system as soon as possible.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1103052641603236422004-12-14T14:29:00.000-05:002004-12-14T14:30:41.603-05:00I'm going to give myself a break and continue to
consider August 17th 2002 my official quit day.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1103052318768161672004-12-14T14:20:00.000-05:002004-12-14T14:26:59.006-05:00Momentary Lapses
As of about 10pm last night I am a non-smoker
once more.
It's interesting, there's no psychological hangover
from quitting this time. I'm well and truly "over"
smoking.
It's a habit that helps keep underdogs underdogs.
Also it's only been a month and already I have had:
one respiratory virus, one case of stomach flu, and
numerous headaches and sore throats.
My body says "I Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1102614007304312422004-12-09T13:39:00.000-05:002004-12-13T13:04:55.580-05:00Quote of the day
"Let us be true, then, true and sitting in an open field"
-Alex McDermott, from 'Flowers for Zoe'
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1102544424594131732004-12-08T17:15:00.000-05:002004-12-08T17:21:41.660-05:00"Red sky at morning "
I dip back into azure after a journey of a thousand miles.
You are something else.
History cannot be parsed.
When I stop smoking it will be for the first time.
When we next meet,
I will know you for the first time.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1102377942627552572004-12-06T19:03:00.000-05:002004-12-07T04:12:14.796-05:00I'm smoking again.
*
To enact the phrase 'fuck you'.
*
Smoke mingling with
its own steam ...
*
This world so shy and cold.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1102377776041847532004-12-06T19:00:00.000-05:002004-12-08T16:55:58.696-05:00Black
Impossible amounts of love.
Cities etched with it.
The day states its case thus:
truth outlined,
where a body has raised itself
from the snow.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1102377233722157252004-12-06T18:53:00.000-05:002004-12-06T18:53:53.723-05:00Riding my bike in the snow.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1101490598561338042004-11-26T13:26:00.000-05:002004-11-26T12:37:09.883-05:00Thanksgiving
I spent the day with the family of a friend. I was the only white person there, and instead of 'where is the trash can?' I kept saying 'where is the rubbish?' when we were cleaning up after dinner. My friend has dozens of immediate family members. They poured into the house, ate her delicious cooking, then poured out again.
It snowed last night.
*
So much to tell you ... a few Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1101332544866609552004-11-24T16:40:00.000-05:002004-11-24T16:42:24.866-05:00Quote of the day
"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
- T.S. Eliot
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1100233967048159182004-11-11T23:31:00.000-05:002004-11-11T23:32:47.050-05:00Ellipsis
I'm taking a short break from the starlit jetty. I need to
walk to town to get a few supplies.
Back soon.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1098512014036670522004-10-23T02:08:00.000-04:002004-10-23T02:13:34.036-04:00Most of the locals seem to think my plan to ride my bike throughout winter
is insane. But compared to the buses it will be heaven. I'm really enjoying
all the exertion. Cool wind on my face.
I'm starting to believe that winter is really going to happen.
*
I'm so excited about being in Manhattan this time next week.
*
Not a single thought of poetry this week, other than the nagging concern
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1097977850624153432004-10-16T21:40:00.000-04:002004-10-16T21:59:02.000-04:00Wheels
For visa reasons I won't be able to get my driver's license for another year. However, today I got myself a bike, my first new bike in fifteen years. Bikes have come a long way since then.
With the right gear, I will be able to ride my bike even during winter snowstorms.
*
'Visa' has become an umbrella term in my life covering all manner of hopes fraught with difficulty.
*
They Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1097868064521471012004-10-15T15:20:00.000-04:002004-10-15T15:21:04.520-04:00Thanks, Stephanie, for the spam fighting link I found
on your site.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1097838623888314502004-10-15T07:10:00.000-04:002004-10-15T07:10:23.886-04:00 Fight Spam! Click Here!
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1097770863858985162004-10-14T13:18:00.000-04:002004-10-14T23:03:11.070-04:00As the New York City trip approaches, I am gradually realising it is
really going to happen. After frantic phonecalls to a dozen hotels in
Manhattan, I finally found one that
* I can afford,
* the guidebooks recommend &
* has vacancies
So, We're gonna stay at this Y-M-C-A.
Hooray!
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1097417053463628212004-10-10T10:01:00.000-04:002004-10-10T15:14:09.976-04:00(Another correction: I think the sleeping pill recommended to me was called 'clozapam' not
'clonazepam'. I have replaced it with meditation.)
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1097413051706452382004-10-10T08:52:00.000-04:002004-10-10T08:59:33.906-04:00Australian Prime Minister John Howard was just re-elected for his fourth
term in office. This is not good news. It is eternally mysterious to me how
in the leadership lottery men like this keep winning, power and priviliege
notwithstanding.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1097123141819938622004-10-07T01:20:00.000-04:002004-10-07T06:15:07.120-04:00I am very excited about going to New York City. I was just on the phone
to my sister, who will be sharing my hotel for a few days, working out the
details. I wore her out with my effusiveness.
Tomorrow I'm buying a guidebook. I'm going to walk from dawn to dusk.
I'm going to inhale the city.
In such a short time, can I 'know' a place? Not deeply. But I'll see it refracted
through what I do knowCassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1097121529063390072004-10-06T23:54:00.000-04:002004-10-06T23:58:49.063-04:00Dear New York Poets,
In the next few days I will be booking flights and a hotel in Manhattan.
I will be there from Friday October 29th until November 5th, and will
be looking for poets and poems and readings. Friday October 29th and
Saturday October 30th will be completely free poetry days for me, and
the following Sunday and Monday are okay also.
Let me know if you would like to meet up, or Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1096903076800437702004-10-04T11:16:00.000-04:002004-10-04T11:18:26.303-04:00The past three nights I have actually slept. Ahhh. Thank you,
gentle readers, for your tips and encouragement.
Now, back to our regular programming ...
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1096669536602400282004-10-01T18:23:00.000-04:002004-10-01T18:29:09.630-04:00Shooting the Messenger
Now I know what that phrase means: the doctor the other
day wasn't so bad at all. She was just so well-rested looking
that I became annoyed.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1096669068578691452004-10-01T18:14:00.000-04:002004-10-01T18:17:48.576-04:00As anticipated, I've seen rapid improvements since my decision
not to have anything else wrong with me. So far I have
- started yoga classes
- quit drinking
- quit coffee
(my instincts about all three activities confirmed by the sleep
researchers online)
I have also bought three t-shirts in different colours each with
a small martini glass near the right sleeve. Pink, magenta and
blue-grey, Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1096494755665242062004-09-29T17:51:00.000-04:002004-09-29T17:52:35.666-04:00Sunny day.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1096381933056915962004-09-28T10:20:00.000-04:002004-09-28T10:36:01.746-04:00Saw another, less competent sleep doctor at the clinic yesterday. I was in a bad mood to start with. She kept showing me pictures of the ideal throat then pictures of what my own, deeply troubled throat looks like. She confirmed that I will need an overnight sleep study. She thinks I have Sleep Apnea as well as Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome.
She then outlined all the terrible longterm effects, Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1096362079987765632004-09-28T04:53:00.000-04:002004-09-28T09:08:03.156-04:00Correction
Yesterday I wrote "I abhor the Christian right". I'd like to expand on this rather bald
statement, make it fit my world a little more closely. I don't abhor an entire group of
people en masse. That would be pretty presumptuous. I do tend to become frightened
by fundamentalism of any kind though.
Quite a few times I've been hanging out in a public place, feeling a little down in the
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1096284081858042182004-09-27T07:18:00.000-04:002004-09-27T07:21:21.856-04:00An 'enemy' is a container for all one dislikes. If the enemy possesses these
qualities they are cordoned off, and we cannot partake of them.
eg. If my enemy is violent
(I am by definition peaceful.)
How frightening to know that enemies are fragmentary things
(Terror is an emotion. You cannot destroy an emotion. No person, race
or organisation totally embodies an emotion.)
How frightening to Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1096276918733412442004-09-27T05:19:00.000-04:002004-09-27T05:21:58.733-04:00I am awake to linear processes
A, B, C
But now and then there's a lateral jump that forms whole sentences
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1096275324823855412004-09-27T04:47:00.000-04:002004-09-28T05:23:56.023-04:00Little things that might bring us to a round table
*
I can appreciate a psalm // though "I abhor the Christian right" // I used to smoke heavily // though "I abhor Big Tobacco"// Disease is a great equaliser // I cannot walk past the panhandlers and not see victims of war// The sky is blue // I walk outside to touch your face // you are standing in a quiet field dreaming of flight // above Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1096274728117074662004-09-27T04:42:00.000-04:002004-09-27T05:40:09.656-04:00I have been considering an alternative, round table political system, to replace the oppositional models that dominate in so much of the world.
Imagine that: no winners or losers, just balanced, workable compromise.
Imagine that.
The only way this model would work is if we all had enough to eat, adequate health care irrespective of income, decent housing and a fair chance at life.
(Do not callCassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1095987117849022132004-09-23T20:50:00.000-04:002004-09-23T20:53:36.700-04:00There's a rising tide of Australian poets who blog and I'm excited
to be part of that.
Have a look at Andrew Burke's Hi Spirits.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1095986891518957292004-09-23T20:46:00.000-04:002004-09-23T20:52:54.060-04:00Enough's enough - Tim Yu, roving academic, blogger, poet and all
around nice guy, hasn't posted since July 30. I'm calling a town
meeting.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1095739443072134382004-09-21T01:02:00.000-04:002004-09-21T00:04:03.073-04:00Quote of the day
"I depend on the stars
and the places of night
That is what it is
intent space, and
the speed which is light, growing
past any shape
the half-door or the door
slightly open"
- Larry Eigner, from 'For Sleep'
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1095737420461185632004-09-20T23:24:00.000-04:002004-09-20T23:36:26.090-04:00Now that my insomnia is a confirmed 'disorder', it's just no fun anymore.
It was vaguely gallant, in my mind - which admittedly was fuzzy with sleep deprivation - prior to this. Like I was guarding the world while innocents slept.
Now I'm just overtired. But science can co-exist with flights of imagination, even as it sweeps away illusions. For example, what are circadian rhythms anyhow? Are Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1095690296935272982004-09-20T10:22:00.000-04:002004-09-20T10:24:56.936-04:00Quote of the day
"The meaning of certainty is getting burned. Though truth will still
escape us, we must put our hands on our bodies. Staying safe is a
different death, the instruments of defense eating inward without
evening the score ."
- Rosemarie Waldrop, from 'Lawn of Excluded Middle'
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1095640442639159312004-09-19T20:32:00.000-04:002004-09-19T20:34:02.640-04:00Quote of the day
"The sky suddenly comes up real close and your body is on
its own in the middle of the whole world."
-John Godfrey, from 'In Front of a Large Number of People"
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1095638523926028822004-09-19T20:01:00.000-04:002004-09-19T20:35:07.320-04:00God I hope Kerry wins. It'll be hard to know what to do next,
if he doesn't.
And he might not.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1095554411038188592004-09-18T20:37:00.000-04:002004-09-18T20:44:55.286-04:00Oops
As payment from the universe for the poem I posted earlier today, a comment
might've been accidentally deleted from my comment box! I clicked the wrong
icon.
My apologies and thank you for stopping by.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1095534333115729812004-09-18T15:02:00.000-04:002004-09-18T15:06:40.936-04:00Seinfeld Poem
Just think: you could write a comment in my comment box.
Wouldn't that be great?
Then I would feel loved.
And I'll comment back.
And possibly keep the comment boxes long term.
You can say anything you want.
It's not good to be so needy.
I'm working on it.
Don't worry about the comment thing,
I mean, the boxes are there but
no pressure.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1095533849456696892004-09-18T14:54:00.000-04:002004-09-18T14:57:29.456-04:00Quote of the day
"all these journeys
all these bodies of water, air,
between this world
& some other
named or unnamed"
-BPNICHOL, from 'Ferry Me Across'
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1095523305427413092004-09-18T13:00:00.000-04:002004-09-18T12:03:25.150-04:00I'm ambivalent about comment boxes, but I'll put them out again
for a bit.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1095507897389411192004-09-18T07:43:00.000-04:002004-09-18T07:45:58.826-04:00I can't vote out Bush because I'm not a US citizen. But please, please,
all you citizens passing through this blog, vote him out.
Vote him out.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1095438117654349792004-09-17T13:17:00.000-04:002004-09-17T12:21:57.653-04:00I have this great anthology on my desk. It's called 'From the Other
Side of the Century: A New American Poetry 1960-1990' and is edited
by Douglas Messerli. In it I found today's
Quote of the day
"The gold
hides in the ground
the way tomorrow's weather
hides in the air,
the way what I will finally know
hides in me now."
-Robert Kelly, from 'INJUNE"
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1095208270119294282004-09-14T20:26:00.000-04:002004-09-14T20:37:55.883-04:00Sleep
The ongoing theme of sleeplessness on this blog comes
full circle ....
Science has solved the mystery of why I can never seem
to sleep. Apparently I have 'delayed sleep phase syndrome'
which means that I was born with an inbuilt need to stay
up until 3am each night.
That's kind of a cool disorder. I must have been a party
toddler.
But I'll need to get it sorted out.
Also I need to go Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1095179893493402372004-09-14T13:37:00.000-04:002004-09-14T12:38:13.493-04:00I keep dreaming about exams I've forgotten to attend.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1095117651467805362004-09-13T19:14:00.000-04:002004-09-13T19:20:51.466-04:00How to keep going in Rochester
(after Bernadette Mayer)
-Mocha shakes
-Young's Chocolate Stout
-Highland Park Diner
-Friends' blogs
-Half online, half off
-Look at very small things with your eyes, and keep warm
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1094957537371454302004-09-11T22:48:00.000-04:002004-09-11T23:10:48.660-04:00It's the 11th September. Our neighbour across the street, a volunteer fireman,
has loud music coming from his house. It fills the dark night
with the miracle of
excruciating sorrows somehow
survived.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1094945274246030212004-09-11T19:25:00.000-04:002004-09-11T19:41:31.266-04:00The reason the true fresco link list makes me dizzy is that I think there's somethin' missing in the code: depending on which page I click on to the Jetty from, the list of referrers is different.
Or maybe it's just my computer.
Anyway, the list of referrers is back, despite its potential for 'statistical error'.Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1094943592227464452004-09-11T18:58:00.000-04:002004-09-11T19:00:43.783-04:00Quote of the day
"We worship our driving loves"
- Del Ray Cross, from 'Simple Life 6' Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1094641876173372442004-09-08T07:10:00.000-04:002004-09-08T07:11:16.173-04:00Quote of the day
"It was cold in the novel
I climbed off the sofa in old difference"
-Lyn Hejinian, from 'Oxota'
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1094605035082680052004-09-07T20:56:00.000-04:002004-09-07T20:57:38.576-04:00I've removed the List Referrers list from this site for the
moment.
It was making me dizzy!
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1094602982068800662004-09-07T20:21:00.000-04:002004-09-07T20:24:16.426-04:00Do you live in Adelaide, Australia? If so, here is a list of poetry readings you will want to attend.
The readings are organised by the poet Ken Bolton. He writes:
"Lee Marvin Readings
The Lee Marvin Readings
Monday nite 7.30 PM * at IRIS Cinema, behind Mercury Cinema, Lion Arts
Centre starts promptly at 7.45 * $5 at the door * limited seating * bar
service
#1 September 6th at IRIS Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1094589782775977192004-09-07T16:40:00.000-04:002004-09-07T16:43:02.776-04:00My theory has a little bit of merit.
(My theory that poetry blogs will one day rule the earth with benevolent whimsy.)
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1094581483704118042004-09-07T14:15:00.000-04:002004-09-07T18:32:53.816-04:00Culture vs Culture
At least six neighbours from our street have noticed and expressed concern that I walk the local streets, rather than driving. There are no sidewalks, so walking does feel somewhat rebellious.
I carry a backpack. Maybe that makes me look unreliable or inadequately housed. One neighbour asked if I was a student from the local college dorms. Why would a fully fledged adult Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1094578380383869502004-09-07T13:32:00.000-04:002004-09-07T13:33:00.383-04:00Quote of the day
"Steps on the floor.
He is absorbed in
his activity, apparently
typing something.
Imagine travelling
to different parts
of the world.
Jumps off boat.
Light blue map water.
Would money be available
on trees. Imagine work
or criminal exploit."
-Kit Robinson, from 'On the Corner'
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1094574758502539582004-09-07T13:31:00.000-04:002004-09-07T12:33:48.406-04:00Ardent and beautiful poetry web logs are breeding and may one day
gently take over the earth.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1094249241638671612004-09-03T18:06:00.000-04:002004-09-03T18:07:21.640-04:00The first autumn leaves have fallen. Beautiful crinkly
orange-brown.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1094248944074558492004-09-03T17:58:00.000-04:002004-09-07T13:32:35.660-04:00Time
Since I stopped running a discussion list earlier this year,
my perception of online time has changed. Turnover time
for an email for me would usually be 10 hours tops.
Now the emails slowly accumulate in my inbox, and I get
to them in a leisurely fashion.
But I still love reading your letters and replying to them, so
thanks for your patience.
(I'm the internet retiree clipping the Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1093887250797466812004-08-30T13:29:00.000-04:002004-08-30T13:34:10.796-04:00Quote of the day
"All roads lead, but how does a sentence do it?"
-Rosemarie Waldrop, from 'Lawn of Excluded Middle'
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1093716062376789432004-08-28T13:59:00.000-04:002004-08-28T14:01:02.376-04:00Have you read Mark Young's blog, Pelican Dreaming?
'Pelican': what a great word.
So delicate and exact.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1093629149387682232004-08-27T13:50:00.000-04:002004-08-27T13:58:20.346-04:00Thank you to Shanna Compton for reviewing my 2002
postcard collaboration with Stephanie Young, published
by my tiny press, Poetry Espresso.
The press is currently sleeping, but it is dreaming of fine
poems.
*
When it wakes up it will be roses on a trellis.
*
More postcards.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1093551589863702602004-08-26T16:17:00.000-04:002004-08-26T16:20:23.086-04:00Mark Young has solved the curious mystery about the referring pages
that don't. He writes:
"It's the new blogger search thing at the top of the blog. If you click on
to the next blog button blogger randomly selects a blog to go to. So, like
a room full of monkeys, all over the world people are going next blog, &
some of them arrive at The Jetty....."
Thanks Mark!
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1093522019555413662004-08-26T08:03:00.000-04:002004-08-26T08:08:42.536-04:00After you've read Will's blog, you should go directly to
Theatre Notes, a theatre review blog written by Alison
Croggon.
Alison is an an Australian writer who has explored many
genres. She has a homepage, too.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1093521479616200322004-08-26T07:56:00.000-04:002004-08-26T07:59:53.833-04:00Australian poet Will Fox has started a film review blog,
called filmism.
Go there right now!
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1093423828465021762004-08-25T04:47:00.000-04:002004-08-25T04:51:07.223-04:00Curious
At the bottom of this page is a list of referrers to this site.
I added it recently.
Lately all sorts of random sites have been showing up there,
and when I go to see where they have linked to me,
they haven't at all! Curious.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1093422971995962782004-08-25T04:34:00.000-04:002004-08-25T04:41:10.846-04:00Accidental and wonderful discovery of the late night ...
Nada Gordon's thesis on Bernadette Mayer's poetry,
circa 1986.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1093415325839489592004-08-25T02:12:00.000-04:002004-08-25T02:38:08.796-04:00Mayer on the illusory nature of war ...
Quote of the day
"The flowers of illusions are the seeds which
Controlling lightning from below, still
The first desire for an assault which forms,
Informing turbulence with a sudden ancient grace.
The canons are unearthed, but this is not the earth."
- Bernadette Mayer, from 'The Aeschyleans'
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1093321135025191112004-08-24T00:17:00.000-04:002004-08-24T00:18:55.026-04:00Quote of the day
"To turn off the machinery
And quietly move among the rustic landscape"
-John Ashbery, 'Rivers and Mountains'
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1093153277949668902004-08-22T01:34:00.000-04:002004-08-22T17:00:01.593-04:00The return of insomnia means a return to this site.
(Art is my night light.)
(Awful line.)
*
Orlando Bloom's beautiful face looking searchingly at me from a magazine ad about climate change, jolted me once and for all today
(at the hairdresser's)
into a brave new world where ice storms are the prospect
I wonder if the world will become a movie
and we will be the actors,
fighting
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1093026695473049662004-08-20T14:29:00.000-04:002004-08-22T22:49:30.690-04:00In the mailbox this week:
"A Thousand Devils", by K.Silem Mohammad
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1092783016311520082004-08-17T18:48:00.000-04:002004-08-17T18:53:20.510-04:00Today's the day: my two year quit smoking anniversary.
I note this less in the spirit of self-congratulation than in
the hope that reinforcing my will
will keep it strong.
(A ring of steel to hold up one barnacled old pilon of the
jetty).
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1092328291537342432004-08-12T12:25:00.000-04:002004-08-12T12:31:31.536-04:00Quote of the day
"The imperfect is our paradise"
- Wallace Stevens, from 'The Poems of Our Climate'
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1092236899290942512004-08-11T11:06:00.000-04:002004-08-11T11:37:50.526-04:00Tobacco companies target the most vulnerable populations.
*
This is one reason I quit smoking.
This is another.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1092224424046183902004-08-11T07:34:00.000-04:002004-08-11T07:40:24.046-04:00Quote of the day
"Word over all, beautiful as the sky,
Beautiful that war and all its deeds of carnage must in time be utterly
lost"
-Walt Whitman, from 'Reconciliation'
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1092222936069460222004-08-11T07:14:00.000-04:002004-08-11T07:18:05.336-04:00Following a link from Ivy is Here, I took the
"What Classic Movie Are You" test.
What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1092112719371317792004-08-10T00:33:00.000-04:002004-08-10T22:16:37.780-04:00My poems
My poems are this gap between my feet
My poems are the space between my arm and my side
My poems are a big space in a wheat belt, amber fields, blue sky
My poems are the gap between me and San Francisco
My poems are outer space, immense and dark and quiet
My poems are the gap between present and future, called knowing
My poems are prescient when it comes to themselves
My poems stay Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1091831059246275522004-08-06T18:23:00.000-04:002004-08-06T18:25:41.486-04:00My two year anniversary of when I quit smoking is coming
up ... August 17th is the big day.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1091717040152094752004-08-05T10:37:00.000-04:002004-08-05T11:06:51.720-04:00New musical discovery: Dar Williams.
*
Random thought
The border between what was and will be is marked by the body. The body is the vessel of thought. As the body moves thought moves and ideally they should move as one. It's when they part company that the trouble starts.
*
Quote of the day
"I don't know where I am
Plus I don't know when I am
Because you insist on using fucked up Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1091674749906762152004-08-04T22:58:00.000-04:002004-08-04T22:59:09.906-04:00A Brain Made of Jello
I love my new, short hair.
The cat caught two mice this week.
Beer's great.
I'm sleepy.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1091586877114716052004-08-03T22:31:00.000-04:002004-08-03T22:36:53.026-04:00Did I tell you? The other week Colin and I flew over Niagra Falls in a light plane. Colin was the pilot. The Niagra River is magnificently wide and powerful like a dream of abundance. Canadian Falls is huge even from the air, American Falls is smaller but more 'energetic'.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1091586491567285212004-08-03T22:24:00.000-04:002004-08-03T22:39:38.306-04:00I'm fascinated, lately, by weather. More so than usual. Over the months we've been in Rochester
I've gradually molded myself to fit the moody climate. If it rains, I rain. If it's sunny, I'm sunny.
The snow is like a prize, that I will soon win.
(when winter comes)
Life shifting on its foundations as my mind
moves into the new town
(always a lag ... the body arrives before thought catches Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1091051125963219682004-07-28T17:44:00.000-04:002004-07-28T17:46:06.226-04:00My hairdresser told me she went to Manhattan for her training. I was impressed!
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1091050983345922982004-07-28T17:40:00.000-04:002004-07-28T17:45:43.243-04:00It's raining again.
*
I spent 3 hours at the hairdresser today, getting my hair stripped, dyed and cut. It's the same colour as before only more shinily and evenly so.
I told the hairdresser I wasn't psychologically equipped to follow a complex styling regime so now I have short hair.
It's chocolate coloured.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1090517352718355472004-07-22T13:28:00.000-04:002004-07-22T13:29:12.716-04:00Now playing on my walkman:
PJ Harvey
Lou Reed
Lucinda Williams
Kristin Hersch (clever
gloom &
joy)
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1090491748385241332004-07-22T06:15:00.000-04:002004-07-22T06:22:28.386-04:00Part Two
Western New York is beautiful geographically. And the weather
is so moody, the drama of a thunderstorm never far away. It is
very humid here at the moment.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1089608123587195762004-07-12T00:53:00.000-04:002004-07-12T00:55:23.586-04:00 *** Intermission ***
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1089305660553931402004-07-08T12:51:00.000-04:002004-07-08T13:05:17.446-04:00After a blackout lights flicker then glow all over the city grid.
Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5418627.post-1089304289949394452004-07-08T12:31:00.000-04:002004-07-08T22:02:12.736-04:00Rochester, New York
A muddy field, heavy boots and the breathtaking quality of air. Light curls upwards. Silently, art blows out the storm windows. I clean the kitchen early this a.m. Habit unspools into endlessness. Such happiness, to notice tiny things, like paw prints in the mud. America the terror of your pure heart sings the core of the world as you destroy it. Here, the earth ponders the Cassie Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17220186193139279722noreply@blogger.com0