Some Reserv(ations) On The Fed

Audit of the Federal Reserve Bank 2011

The dissolution of sixteen trillion secrets

that assisted financial institutions inimical

to humanity, were exposed by another

society, our Federal Government,

equally corruptible.

        The mouths of both demons suppurate

and we the squawking children are fed

the worm of an apple to quell our ephemeral hunger

for legitimacy. Who will bail the working man

from out this sinking ship? Resolution of our

degradation is the emergency but our vote

is of no interest to them, for by rote

we waive our humanity to appease

 that fickle beast, Individuality,

whose only reserve is for greed,

setting aside only a pittance, paid

in lip service, for the common community  

of mankind.

Why aren’t we motivated by our misfortune?

Why do we just sit watching the idiot tube,

stuffing our faces with revolting, microwaveable food,

and awake each day to stretch our necks

for worthless checks again and again so they

may have us as they like: fattened on ignorance,

indolent, and carrying the weight

of sixteen trillion secrets?

Nicholas V. Miele
Aug 2011
originally read at PoemAlley August 23, 2011

___
The list of institutions that received the most money from the Federal Reserve can be found on page 131 of the GAO Audit and are as follows...

Citigroup: $2.5 trillion ($2,500,000,000,000)
Morgan Stanley: $2.04 trillion ($2,040,000,000,000)
Merrill Lynch: $1.949 trillion ($1,949,000,000,000)
Bank of America: $1.344 trillion ($1,344,000,000,000)
Barclays PLC (United Kingdom): $868 billion ($868,000,000,000)
Bear Sterns: $853 billion ($853,000,000,000)
Goldman Sachs: $814 billion ($814,000,000,000)
Royal Bank of Scotland (UK): $541 billion ($541,000,000,000)
JP Morgan Chase: $391 billion ($391,000,000,000)
Deutsche Bank (Germany): $354 billion ($354,000,000,000)
UBS (Switzerland): $287 billion ($287,000,000,000)
Credit Suisse (Switzerland): $262 billion ($262,000,000,000)
Lehman Brothers: $183 billion ($183,000,000,000)
Bank of Scotland (United Kingdom): $181 billion ($181,000,000,000)
BNP Paribas (France): $175 billion ($175,000,000,000)
and many many more including banks in Belgium of all places

Source: http://www.unelected.org/audit-of-the-federal-reserve-reveals-16-trillion-in-secret-bailouts

View the 266-page GAO audit of the Federal Reserve(July 21st, 2011):
http://www.scribd.com/doc/60553686/GAO-Fed-Investigation

Gene Glickman & Nancy Hoch Featured Poets At Curley's This Tuesday

Gene Glickman and Nancy Hoch will be sharing their work and the experiences informing it at Curley's Diner in downtown Stamford on Tuesday, August 30, 2011, beginning at 7:30 pm.

Gene Glickman is a retired professor of music. He taught at Nassau Community College from 1963 to 1999. During the academic year 1969-70 he spent a sabbatical year in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, teaching at its Music Academy. He returned to Sarajevo for visits several times thereafter. His last trip there was for three weeks in 1997, after Yugoslavia had split into fragments and Sarajevo had undergone a prolonged siege conducted by Bosnian Serbs. During that three-week period he kept a journal; he will read from that journal.

Nancy Hoch teaches writing and literature at the City University of New York. Many of her students are teachers’ aids in the New York City public schools. She is completing a dissertation on the figure of the father in recent U.S. literature who positions himself on the periphery of the family. In particular, she is interested in the way economics shapes the father into an absent presence. She will read from her poetry, including some poems based on historical incidents and some of a more personal nature.

Life, Liberty, OR The Pursuit Of Happiness

III.

Crafted bliss in a mason jar


bubbles to the surface where its essence


dissolves into the sanguinity of the scene

 
before me at the pizza place:


The patrons are pole-axed


by Budweiser and trivia, by the amber menace


of the oven yawning as the timer ticks to zero


because nobody knows where lies Laos.


One girl shouts:


“Is that even a real place?”


Cheeriness fled me, replaced by the bitter of burnt garlic.


We fire our teachers and praise the wisdom of pizza


called “kicker”, and the Dream dies slowly.



Nicholas V. Miele, June 2011
originally read at PoemAlley August 2, 2011

The Beachead Wails


near a body of water where the beachhead wails

a casket empty save for the scales

an empty casket lies in state

where  lady liberty is no longer magistrate


Ever since a miscarriage of justice stalks the soul

and a stillborn blows in the winds

the magnolia, incarcerated in sidewalk pavement raised from a stitch

strains perplexed, and in the dire wake of fall rails against

the wires woven of the wrought iron fence.

The government doesn't speak for us,

separate yourself from the state,

their defaults are a heavy weight,

we're getting nowhere at this rate.

That's what the magnolia says.


Enzo Malagisi, August 13, 2011
original to the blog

Schedule and Tour Addendums to Festival! Stratford

(See end of post for new information as of 8/16)
Festival! Stratford begins its sixth year at, and on the grounds of, Stratford, Connecticut's American Shakespeare Festival Theatre, beginning this Thursday, August 11 and running through August 21.

Among some of the participating performing companies, workshops and activities contributing to the program are Shakespearience Productions (presenting “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”), Dr. Joe Utterback and the Sister Cities Choir, the SquareWrights ("Quickies in the Park"), Hudson Shakespeare Company ("Tymon of Athens"), morning yoga instruction, as well as a week-long theatre camp.

Picturesquely situated along the Housatonic River, the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre is located at 1850 Elm Street. Website: http://festivalstratford.org/. 

Theatre Tour Opportunities:
Tours of the restored American Shakespeare Festival Theatre (loosely inspired by the design of the original Globe Theatre) begin 6:30 through 7:45 on August 18 through 21. Each tour closes 15 minutes before performances.

2011 Festival! Stratford Schedule (check here for the complete program for the summer):

August 16th, Tuesday
9:00 AM     Theatre Camp with Shakesperience (9 am – 3 pm)

August 17th, Wednesday
9:00 AM     Theatre Camp with Shakesperience (9 am – 3 pm)

August 18th, Thursday
9:00 AM     Theatre Camp with Shakesperience (9 am – 3 pm)
6:30 PM     Stratford Arts Guild – Arts Exhibit (6:30 pm – 11:00 pm, inside theater)
8:00 PM     Hosted by Mark Goldstein; Featuring: Broadway’s Jerold Goldstein, Annie Edgerton & more! -                    Broadway Meets The Bard, A Night of Music, Magic, and More!

August 19th, Friday
8:30 AM     AM Yoga
9:00 AM     Theatre Camp with Shakesperience (9 am – 3 pm)
6:30 PM     Stratford Arts Guild – Arts Exhibit (6:30 pm – 11:00 pm, inside theater)
8:00 PM     Jazz for the Spirit – Music
                  Temple Players – Learning Experience at Elderhostel & Soldiers of the Lord
                  Eastbound Theatre – Maybe in Another Universe
                  Bridgeport Theatre Company – Highlights from 2011 & 2012 Seasons
                  The Players at Putney Gardens – Shakespeare in the Garden

August 20th, Saturday
8:30 AM     AM Yoga
12:30 PM     Stratford Arts Guild – Arts Exhibit (12:30 pm – 1:45 pm, inside theater)
2:00 PM     SquareWrights – Quickies in the Park
8:00 PM     Shakesperience – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

August 21st, Sunday
8:30 AM     AM Yoga
12:30 PM   Stratford Arts Guild – Arts Exhibit (12:30 pm – 1:45 pm, inside theater)
2:00 PM     Festival! Theatre Camp performance, etc. – Shakesperience
2:30 PM     Jeff Butler & Sean Morrissey – Uno Duo
4:00 PM     Shakesperience – The Jungle book

Barnes & Noble Hosts Monday Night Open Mic Poetry Featuring PA's Ralph Nazareth

A long-standing facilitator at Tuesdays at Curley's, Ralph Nazareth will present a selection of his work as guest reader of the Open Mic Poetry program, which meets monthly adjacent to the cafe on the main floor of the Barnes & Noble bookstore (located in the Stamford Town Center), beginning at 7 p.m., August 8. Ralph is a professor of English at Nassau Community College, where he leads PeaceWork, a group committed to peace/social justice issues; for the past five years he has also instructed inmates in creative writing at Green Haven Correctional Facility.

For more information, contact:
Barnes & Noble
Stamford Town Center
100 Greyrock Place Suite H009, Stamford, CT 06901
Phone: 203-323-1248

A Bow To Bukowski

Sitting by the Fire
after Bukowski

Beer in hand I sit by the fire.

Blinding shades of green
Lightning bugs fill the yard.

My flashlight’s beam catches shadows moving, hiding from the day.

There, secrets make me weep.

Breeze.
More wood.
Fire fed.
Red flame and heat.

Rejoice.

Grace is called for,
hoped for,
proffered
and rejected.

The price too high.

Lightning bug violence guide deer across my yard
their dead eyes inspect the stains on my shirt.
Laughing they continue their journey.
Through my yard.
Through my life.
Through the yard next door.

Their contempt makes me smile--
laughter soothes the savage,
the breast
and the beast*.

Six times 6 times 6** hides in those shadows
John of Patmos*** lurks there too

So does The Christ.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

The wretched are blessed as they reach for another beer.

Bill Buschel
8/2/11

*A play on: Music has charms to soothe the savage breast.
**666, the number of the beast; The Antichrist
***John of Patmos, the reputed author of The Book of Revelation

____

Against the day-to-day experiences of the poor and blue collar workforce of Los Angeles, Charles Bukowski (1920-1994), described by Time magazine as the "laureate of American lowlife", wrote with sparse, but intimate grit about romance, drinking and his own creative process during his many years as a postal clerk.

If you want to check out his L.A. stomping rounds, search among his many poems, fiction, art (or read his FBI record), look no further for all your Bukowskification needs than http://bukowski.nethttp://bukowski.net. Details about a 2005 film version of his semi-autobiographical novel, Factotum, starring Matt Dillon, can be found here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417658/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417658/.

A Changing Of the Guard: Minutes of Bill Buschel's Introduction As New Head of PoemAlley Advisory Committee, Delivered July 26 At Curly's Diner

"Ralph Nazareth introduced me as the new head of the PoemAlley Advisory Committee.

As I handed out business cards and circulated pads for names and addresses I thanked Ralph Nazareth for allowing me the time to talk to those gathered at Curley’s that night and for his many years as head of the PoemAlley Advisory Committee. He’s been extremely generous with his time and more importantly his spirit.The business cards had my e-mail address on it and how to contact Rolf Maurer about the PoemAlley blog.

I opened with a brief description of the origins of PoemAlley. How it was formed by Ann Yarmal, Catherine Ednie and a few others under the guidance of the Stamford Unitarian Church. Their idea was to reach out to the community with hands, hearts and heads filled with poetry. They shared those gifts while offering the people of the community a chance, and a place, to respond in kind. They were pioneering souls and deserve to be recognized and thanked for their initiative.

Then I went on to explain how I thought long and hard about accepting the challenge of being head of the Advisory Committee. I’d taken my time. TIME. That’s the real challenge. Already there’s not enough time for me to do all that I have, want or need to do; so would it be wise to accept? I realized that if I did I’d need to have resources to accomplish anything and the BEST resource I could ever want or ask for can be found every Tuesday night at Curley’s Diner: The poets of PoemAlley.

During the next year, or however long I am head of the committee, I will be leaning heavily on them for ideas, resources, time and energy.

First, we’re revitalizing the blog. Rolf Maurer is going to make it a showplace for our poets and all those interested in poetry and the arts. I ask all the poets to have at least one poem a month posted there. I know that’s asking a lot of you but let’s try. We’ll also be asking our British connection if it would okay to post their offerings. I would like to see the blog become a clearing house for all information taking place in the arts community of Fairfield and Westchester counties. Workshops, readings, events should all be posted there. At present we get much of this information through Ralph Nazareth’s multiple e-mails each week. I want the people of our community and the wider community to KNOW what’s happening. That’s first on the agenda and though time consuming it’s a relatively “easy fix”.

I went on to say that for at least the first six months I don’t want to reach too high but there are some other things I have in mind to do during that initial period of time.

In the past PoemAlley sponsored the publication of a number of collections of poetry written by the Poets of PoemAlley including: Eating Our Hearts Out (Yuganta Press, 2004), Wednesdays at Curley’s. The books are wonderful. I cherish the fact that my earliest poems were published in them but, alas, books are very expensive to produce hence they must be priced rather high to generate any positive income for PoemAlley. When I did my talk on how to read a poem last May I brought a number of CDs with some of my poems and one or two of my radio shows on them. They sold for $3.00 each and the dozen or so copies I brought sold out immediately with all proceeds going to PoemAlley. The success of that night planted the seed for an idea of what I later called: The CD Initiative. On July 10th I was able to put the plan into action when the Poets of PoemAlley were invited to read their work at the Stamford Unitarian Church. The theme was The Labyrinthine Ways. After recording the poets’s offerings and with some editing I was able to produce a CD of approximately 55 minutes. PoemAlley will be selling them for $3.50 each. I see us doing this for all our future events. This isn’t to say we are abandoning the printed word altogether, but it may be some time before we mount another anthology and until then we’ll have the CDs of our readings. An added bonus is that the poets will have a chance to hear themselves. In some cases this may prove to be a helpful learning tool.

By the way, the ten or so CDs that I brought Tuesday night sold out immediately. Remember they make great gifts and if you buy five or more the price drops to $3.00 each.

Next week, through the heroic efforts of Eva-Maria Palevich, another member of the Advisory Committee, we will be meeting with the Bonnie Krois, the administrator at Edgehill Community for Seniors. We’ll be discussing the possibility of doing some outreach programs there. We might start with a reading or two then we might see about doing some workshops there also. I imagine these might be similar to the one Richard Duffee did at Westhill High School this year. It was an extremely successful venture and it brought Carley Pierre into our midst. For that alone it is a great success.

Finally I’m working on trying to get a special event planned for the Fall. I won’t go into any detail until I have some more of the pieces in place but I hope it will be on the scale of last year’s highly successful “Green Fuse” event."