Focused Frontally
by Job Conger
written 10:58 am, November 19, 2009
The coffee shop is not a playing field;
it is a stadium for ones and twos,
and our table of six,
watching the unfolding of
the explicit rationale
of those who have decided
to be where they are.
Everyone’s focused on books except
the chatty 22-year-old at the next table
on a cell phone,
tempering his voice
like [...]
Archive for the ‘arts’ Category
Focused Frontally
Posted in arts, poetry, writing on November 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
So I Attended Poetry Parnassus
Posted in arts, poetry, writing on November 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
It was all thanks to happy coincidence. I had scheduled a 9:30 interview on Greenbriar for an article slated for the December business monthly. For the first time, Poetry Parnassus moved their monthly meeting from the fourth Thursday of the month to the third. Thursday four this month is Thanksgiving. When I exited a fine [...]
The Poet “Spoke” at Vachel House November 7
Posted in arts, poetry, writing on November 7, 2009 | 1 Comment »
My annual presentation at Vachel Lindsay Home State Historic Site (Vachel House) every year since the first year the event was hosted has been special to me. Only Christmas (another birthday, wouldn’t you know) is more important to me, and Vachel’s birthday has repaid my focus with far more personal satisfaction. During the early years [...]
Vachel’s Birthday, TWO Gallery Receptions and Classical Music Saturday, November 7
Posted in arts, poetry, writing on November 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
On Saturday, I will see and interact with more good people than most folks engage in a decade of Thanksgivings and Christmases. Here is my clarion call for Honey & Quinine readers 60 miles or closer to Springfield, Illinois to engage some or all of what follows . . .
Starting at 10:30 at Vachel Lindsay [...]
To Know One
Posted in arts, poetry, writing on November 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
To Know One
By Job Conger
I will never understand how your friend’s baby shower
Went to pieces over coconut cake.
I will never understand how my nephew got sick
After digging up clams at the lake.
But I do understand your arm linked to mine
And a future that I teasure so.
With your hand holding mine, I share something divine.
That’s all [...]
Poetry Open Mic Thursday, Springfield
Posted in arts, poetry, writing on November 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
It’s been close to three years since the group formerly known as Poets & Writers Literary Forum of Springfield welcomed all comers to an evening of poetry at a local restaurant. On Thursday, many members of the formerly-known-as group reborn as Springfield Poets and Writers aaaaaaaaand members of Women Writers Group invite all so inclined to [...]
Celebrate Vachel Lindsay’s 130th Birthday Saturday November 7
Posted in arts, poetry, writing on November 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Here’s the official news release from the Illinois Historic Prservation agency:
SPRINGFIELD – The 130th birthday of poet, author and artist Vachel Lindsay will be celebrated Saturday, November 7 with a special event at his Springfield home that is free and open to the public.
The Vachel Lindsay Birthday observance will be held [...]
Now Appearing in Illinois Times
Posted in arts, writing on October 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
When I picked up a copy of Illinois Times as I entered the Route 66 Diner across from The Granite Guy for breakfast Saturday morning, I was saddened to realize no one had taken a copy from the entryway display rack since Friday about 2 pm. HOW, you may asq, did I know this? I [...]
Emcee’s Welcome to Poets
Posted in arts, poetry, writing on October 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Emcee’s Welcome to Poets
by Job Conger
Who are these distracted, bar-bound aliens
who peer into brown glass
as though eternal life awaits them
at the bottom of their bottles
if they time their drinking right?
Who are the wizened gnomes
who stare past your left ear
as you share your soul
in iambic pentameters
behind the microphone?
Whose lips kiss the pious peckers
at philosophy, whose intellectual [...]
Sangamon County Watercolor Annual Display at Watts Copy Systems, Springfield
Posted in arts on October 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A friend reminded me that some mighty good people don’t do the Facebook thing where I’ve posted many photos this year, so I’m sharing pictures from the Sangamon Watercolor Society’s annual gallery reception. The organization displays paintings in a meeting room on the third floor of Hoogland Center for the Arts downtown, and hosts receptions [...]
