Each day, you can look at my blog and see the latest post on 17 other blogs I follow. That page is a handy place for me to look over the headline and a snippet of each of the blogs I am interested in. I try to be a little conservative and a little cautious about adding another one to follow. But, as with books, movies and music, there is way too much to be sure I have those that are actually the best for my needs and interests.
Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac has given me something good more often than any of the others. He always has one poem and biographical information on people born on or otherwise connected to the day.
On Feb, 15, he had a poem by Nick Lantz. The poem is called "Postmanterrorism" and is a marvel. I had never heard of Nick Lantz before reading the poem but I have taken note of him now. His web site says he is a poet and writer who lives in Madison, WI. I added his blog to the list of those I am following.
His poem strikes me as the sort of wordsmanship that poetry is all about. I have often felt a little fright as I approach my mailbox and wonder what bills, what notices of missed deadlines, what jury duty I am going to find there. Lantz creates wonderful words throughout the poem. Two stuck in mind. One is "glocal" as in "glocal village". It is easy to see that the so-called global village is quite vocal today. We hear about things from all points of the globe almost as quickly as they happen. The other memorable word for me was "infornography". I have seen the word "infomercial" for a tv program that is a 30 minute advertisement. Sometimes, I am glad to learn about a new product and to see it used. But, often, what is telecast is "infornography", an attempt to seduce viewers into believing the product is too wonderful not to have, so important for living a good life that only desolation and darkness await the poor suckers too stubborn to shell out the cash for it. His poem has many other excellent inventions in it that might get your poetic juices flowing. Take a look
http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2010/02/15
http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2010/02/15
