THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY

THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY
April 12, 2016
Showing posts with label star trek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label star trek. Show all posts

Friday, March 1, 2013

Poetry Friday: Alligator Wrestling, An Invitation


Happy Poetry Friday!

The Poetry Postcard Project is nearly done. Look for the grand finale next Friday.

I’ve been wrestling with the next Author Amok blog project. How will we celebrate National Poetry Month, 2013?

You can still order your NPM poster at Poets.Org.

First, enjoy a wrestling poem. Then, I am sending you a National Poetry Month invitation (no toothy reptiles involved).


The super-saturated colors on this postcard inspired me. Not to wrestle with an alligator, but to write some light verse.

Alligator Wrestling

Tourist spots
would have
cold-weather
dwellers think
an alligator’s mouth
pulled wide is green
and juicy pink.
A row of teeth,
thin and white,
to separate thick skin
from what’s inside.
It looks so much
like watermelon rind,
who would not
lean in to take
a little bite?

Laura Shovan

Postcard Information:

Front:
Alligator Wrestling, Tropical Hobbyland, Miami, Fla.

Back:
ALLIGATOR WRESTLING K 9267
Henry Nelson, world’s champion alligator wrestler, gives daily exhibitions of this ancient Seminole sport, at Tropical Hobbyland Indian Village, N.W. 27th Avenue at 15th Street, Miami. The pit at Tropical Hobbyland contains fifty alligators, and a dozen crocodiles, yet Henry will go in the water with them entirely unarmed.

APPROVED AAA ATTRACTION
Novelti-Craft Products Co., Olympia Bldg., Miami, Fla.
A “COLOURPICTURE” PUCLICATION, BOSTON 15, MASS., U. S. A.

Now that we've gotten Mr. Toothy out of the way...

Announcing Author Amok’s Fourth Annual
National Poetry Month Project:

WELCOME TO THE TECHNOVERSE

Call me a nerd, a geek, a SF buff. I won’t argue with you.

Author Amok, is it just coincidence that a
classic Star Trek episode is titled "Amok Time?"

Author Amok is boldly going where only the most high tech poets have gone before…to the TechnoVerse and beyond.

I'm looking for 20 intrepid explorers to guest blog in April. 

Do you have a favorite poetry app, writing support program, or website you use for poetic inspiration or interesting vocab? What about a savvy poetry list-serv, or a poetry blog that’s always up on the latest trends? Send me a message at mrspoems@gmail.com.

Uncle Amok wants YOU! to seek out new sites and new rhymifications.

Speaking of tech-savvy poetry, I hope you’ll follow me and many other Poetry Friday regulars during the March Madness Poetry Tournament. Ed DeCaria knows how to work the ‘net – his site Think Kid, Think! is both high-tech and user-friendly.

Poetry Friday is brought to you today by Julie Larios at the Drift Record. Hmm... Julie, your blog's name would make a great title for a Star Trek episode.

Be seeing you… in the TechnoVerse.


Thursday, June 2, 2011

Make Believe As Metaphor

Most of my posts are about poetry, so you may not know that I am a huge SF/F buff.

It started early, with my family watching Star Trek re-runs in the 1970s.


My father -- who saw himself in Captain James T. Kirk -- took us kids to see Star Wars on Mother's Day, 1977, hoping for shorter lines and some quiet time for my mom and new baby brother.


Dozens of classic (and "new classic") SF/F novels later, I can tell you what I love about the genre. It's all about the metaphor.

Ursula K. LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness -- on my re-reading list -- used alien/human relationships to explore xenophobia, and homophobia.

A new dystopian YA novel, Matched by Ally Condie, looks at a society where statistics have become the basis for everything from your job to your life-partner. (Read a review here.) "The Society" even tracks the games teenagers play, gleaning information that will help match them with the optimal job and person. These are the same techniques that businesses use today to track our buying habits and target advertisements at potential customers.


Little Patuxent Review's Make Believe issue, which comes out this month, features an essay on make believe and why fantasy films and literature are both popular and important. The essay is by Vonnie Winslow Crist, whom I've blogged about before.

Stop by LPR to check out my preview of Vonnie's essay, find out why the CDC wants us to be prepared for zombies, and read a review of Vonnie's new book, The Greener Forest.


You can find LPR on Facebook (please "like" us!) or subscribe to the journal through our website, www.littlepatuxentreview.org.