8 thoughts on “Wednesday, October 27, 2021

  1. Hi, Horses at Midnight. I enjoyed your piece about Anne Sexton and typewriters. I’m also a great fan of that picture, which is on the cover of the “Mercies, Selected Poems” Penguin book, which I own. In fact, I posted a poem about it on OTP: 5-Minute Poem #17.

    1. LEO, do tell on what otp date 5-minute #17 resides. i’ve clicked back but lost the trail in mid july with 5-minute #20-something. LUCAS, nice to see mention of n.k. jemison amidst these pages. they wrote a reposte/response to ursula le guin’s the ones who walk away from omelas (which i referenced a few days back) titled, the ones who stay and fight. CATALINA, love the mills college labyrinth, wilded, umtamed, and undomesticated. have loved and learned from every single retronym post you’ve offered. LINDA, i have a multi-page typed reflection on insomnia that i’ll send to you in hard copy when i get your vintage paper. BILL, enjoyed your reflection on quitting the poison that is facebook & insta. MICHAELRPDX, thanks for the hemingway quote. words to live by. MIKE, thank you for the microhistory of centralia, makes me want to write an otp on toxic waste and (un)place. ABQ-JVC, thinking about fighter jets landing on your head while you try to sleep–and warmed by the reappropriation of the us navy’s typewriters for….poetry. XICANO, miss your voice today, mi hermano. send sos flare or a long loud howl if the Man got you in their trap, and we will come. or at least i will. horses@midnight.

  2. Linda – I have Top of my Lungs coming by way of the library. Thank you for the reference.

    Lilly – Pho in Texas, no added to the list.

    forgot to mention, The Way We Were features a bunch of hard to identify typewriters. Except for a Royal KMM (or a close relative) on a desk.

    1. No not trapped yet, Horses At Midnight, thank the gods. I am hiding out at work.
      I made the mistake(for me) to read over what I had typed yesterday and like other times I’ve played at editor I decided to not send. I plan on getting back on my trusty typer tonight though.
      Many thanks for your words. They do much good and remind me that someone out there might be reading what I shout out to what otherwise sometimes seems the cold quiet of a dark world. Gracias.

  3. Hi, horses at midnight. Turns out I can’t find it myself. I have the hard copy but I might not have sent it off. I don’t send off all my 5MPs, and this was a slight thing. It went like this:

    Such an appealing picture
    of Anne Sexton
    on the cover of the Penguin ‘Selected’
    with typewriter
    a Royal, I think
    a hot drink
    and a cigarette
    Books on the shelves
    a curtained window in the background
    some late afternoon
    or early evening
    Some sheets
    so orderly
    to the right of the Royal
    her head resting on the heel of her hand
    gracefully holding the cigarette
    staring straight at the camera
    smiling
    sadly, if you look twice

    A diffused light coming from the window
    ******

    1. Yes, Leo: very much so sadly, if you look twice. Her daughter edited a collection of her letters, most of which Sexton also typed. It’s heavily curated, though, and deliberately omits letters to lovers, including to the poet James Wright. Sexton lived a full life, a life of exuberance, and a life that she chose to end, leaving much pain in the empty spaces. Good to read your poem, and to know of your appreciation for Anne Sexton, and for this photo in particular.

    1. Yep, WNEP. Indeed I was one of the photogs covering the Tower City disaster. 1977 sounds about right. We shot that one on film. I still have a double-fist sized chunk of anthracite that I picked off the ground there. A real media circus!

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