Showing posts with label foundation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label foundation. Show all posts

Thursday, June 19, 2025

What happened at the poetry reading?


Third Thursdays at SPARC
One of the sexy readers today just happened to be one of next month's features, Joseph Nicks, a man after the biological and whimsical, the terrestrial and environmental.*

He is currently working on a dictionary of Nickisms, his invented contributions to the English lexicon, like the term chronicide.**

Ron Koertge
Life is but a poem...or novel. (Ron Koertge)
(Poetry Foundation) South Pasadena Poet Laureate Ron Koertge, former PCC professor and current bestselling YA author, then schooled us all on how to present life in the Midwest roundabout the Fifties.

() Poet and young-adult novelist Ron Koertge grew up in rural Olney, Illinois, and received a BA from the University of Illinois and an MA from the University of Arizona.

Is no topic verboten in poetry?
Comfortable in both free verse and received form, Koertge writes poetry marked by irreverent yet compassionate humor and a range of personas and voices. He has published numerous collections of poetry. His novels and novels-in-verse for young readers include the popular Stoner & Spaz.

Koertge’s honors include a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, a California Arts Council grant, and inclusion in numerous anthologies such as Best American Poetry, Poetry 180, and Ted Kooser’s “American Life in Poetry” column.

Koertge’s young-adult fiction has won awards from the American Library Association and PEN America. For many years, Koertge taught in the MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults program at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. He lives with his wife in South Pasadena, California. More: Poetry Foundation

In the crowd
Other readers were in the house: GT Foster was reading from Warped by War his new collection of poems about being in Thailand during the US War on Vietnam (and Cambodia and Laos), derived from his novel The Boys Are Not Refined (Butt Naked Press). Helena and other Quakers, Toti O'Brien, Barbs Bagwell, and British poet Martin Jago.

She was the Poo
Kahnstallations by Mand Kahn ( Los Angeles) | The Poetry Foundation
.
Perhaps the highlight of the night was when Mandy Kahn hit below the belt and delivered an exquisite work of poetic art she dubbed "Poo." The audience thought they might have heard "Pooh." But no. It was poo. It was the most provocative of topics covered due not to its candor but its seriousness. To mimic it as to suggest what it was like would be difficult butt not impossible:
.
It was the Poo
Everyone does what? (Etsy)
with such intimacy have i known food
passing through without clinging i let go
what was once a part of me i part with
and so unstuck unplugged without
consternation do what is due with my dew
for all i have been of drink and stool
of toad and such delicacies sautéed
or stewed garlic umami and kosher salt
and for all i know all that fixes me to the
ground sending samples of soil
to the earth below

[Oh, Pooh and Eeyore, too, we all do; even
the dull Dodo and the Duke their dookie do
unblemished Dove and Duchess untouched
by soot do do their doo, too. Everyone Poo's.]

Mandy Kahn
(Poetry Foundation) ...in true LA form, enthusiastically live-tweeted by audience member Jenna Elfman, Mandy Kahn has been developing more ideas for poetry installations — an active syllable conservationist; she's now dubbed them "Kahnstallations." She says:

Mandy Kahn, live at the Getty Museum, LA
I’ve been thinking a lot about how to inject some energy into the poetry reading format. Slam poets have found a way to make their readings extremely appealing to wide audiences, as have the spoken word poets, and the avant poetry world seems to be doing lots of format experimentation, too. But I’d like to see mainstream poets find that same wider audience — that audience of fans who aren’t writers themselves. So I’m experimenting. Tonight I’ll be trying out four installations, and at the end of the night I’ll pass out comment cards so audience members can let me know which installations worked best for them. And I’ll keep writing new installations — keep honing — until I find a few that audiences seem to respond to. More

What is "slam" poetry?
SLAM: (Youth Speaks) "Somewhere in America" by Los Angeles Team
  • Poetry slam is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges.
"Do You Have Any Advice For Those of Us Just Starting Out?"
By Ron Koertge
Featured poet Ron Koertge, MFA
Give up sitting dutifully at your desk. Leave
your house or apartment. Go out into the world.

It's all right to carry a notebook but a cheap
one is best, with pages the color of weak tea
and on the front a kitten or a space ship.

Avoid any enclosed space where more than
three people are wearing turtlenecks. Beware
any snow-covered chalet with deer tracks
across the muffled tennis courts.

Not surprisingly, libraries are a good place to write.
And the perfect place in a library is near an aisle
where a child a year or two old is playing as his
mother browses the ranks of the dead.

Often he will pull books from the bottom shelf.
The title, the author's name, the brooding photo
on the flap mean nothing. Red book on black, gray
book on brown, he builds a tower. And the higher
it gets, the wider he grins.

You who asked for advice, listen: When the tower
falls, be like that child. Laugh so loud everybody
in the world frowns and says, "Shhhh."
Then start again.
*Joseph Nicks, The Horizontal Forest
The Horizontal Forest as seen and lamented from the ground (treejourney.com)
.
Terrestrial Anthr-apology
long after this unsustainable
infrastructure collapses
beneath the burden
of fecundity and affluence
and digital instability

the oozing oilfields,
damned-up rivers,
dried-out aquifers

the bird-and-bat-bashing windmills,
battery-burgeoning e-wasted landfills

the acres of solar panels
supplanting the plants,
impeding the photosynthetic necessity

the combusted troposphere,
de-ozonified stratosphere

the phosphorescent coastal dead zones,
deforested/defrosted Amazonia/Antartica

the vanished worldwide megafauna

all will stand as silent testaments
to the ephemeral hyper-potency
of runaway hominism
whose viral expansion
from Pleistocene to Plastocene
left the far and wide terrestrium
styrofoaming at the seas

we could've lived less largely
but that's not the way we roll
of course it's going to take some healing, but
it certainly won't be a first for the Earth
to have survived a mass extinction,
though never one of such intelligent design...

the eons will season
themselves again
and life will re-diversify
with no remembrance of those
naked, tailless, erectile monkeys
run amok for that horrible fortnight
so many ice ages ago

the grasses will
give it no glossing
and the worms won't
wonder who won

and in the understory
become the prologue
of stories yet to unfold,
a prideless proliferation
of unapologetic anthropods
will go on about their business
as they've been doing for
four hundred million years

Unclenched: a passive fist's manifesto 
By Joseph Nicks
Unclenched: a passive fist's
The hominid hand. Its prehensile qualities (due largely to that remarkable opposable thumb) are legendary. It is perhaps the only anatomically advantageous structure this animal possesses. That oft-touted capacious cerebrum seems as often as not to allow itself to swell with a meaningless steam that marginalizes whatever intellectual potential it had in the first place. And with that pushed-in rostrum tucked up under the cranium and bent into an L-shaped labiolingual-laryngeal mess that imparts to this animal the power of speech, well that ability seems rarely to be put to good use.

No, it is the manus hominis that has allowed this species to be so constructive. Of course, as with those other two aforementioned structures, it can be just as adept at wielding weapons as it can tools. And when it is clenched into a fist, it is pretty much useless for anything other than fucking things up.

Though some of them may be infused with a certain degree of anger, none of the poems in this book, for example, could have been written had these fists not managed to come occasionally unclenched. More

**Chronicide
The God Chronos: "Time Clipping Cupid's Wings" (1694) by Pierre Mignard (1610-1695)

Seven (art by Lorna Alkana)
I stepped before the judge, penitent
eyes downcast, shoulders slumped
He passed sentence as I mumble-prayed
in a dead language within the echo chamber
between the ears of years, lips aquiver.
"Have you anything to say for yourself?" he asked,
having so heavily handed down the court's
sentence. "Guilty as charged" was all I could
think to say. If one is going to be honest, this is
probably not the time to start. But my jury of peers
had me dead to rights. What was there to deny with
all the evidence stacked before me? I'll take the plea
had it been on offer, I could see in hindsight.
The Butterfly Papillon realized the same thing.
Of all crimes, this the inexcusable
Of all sentences, this the unretractable
"What did you call it?" I asked the judge in one last stand.
"Chronicide," he gurgled in disgust, "killing time."*

What's next?

  • OPEN MIC NIGHT (free) at the Altadena Library, Monday, July 7, 6:00-7:30 pm Altadena — Altadena Library District
  • *Killing a Homo (as in a Homo sapiens or "Man thinking") is homicide so, naturally, killing time is Chronicide (a Nickism by Joseph Nicks).
  • Ron Koertge, Mandy Kahn, Joseph Nicks, Steve McQueen (Papillion, 1973); all uncredited poetry by Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Saturday, February 24, 2024

Eight Precept Lunar Observance (Sabbath)

Ven. Kantasilo (trans.), Uposatha Sila, written by Somdet Phra Buddhaghosacariya (Ñanavara Thera) (accesstoinsight.org); Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
.
Lunar Observance Discourse (Uposatha Sutta)
Let's read the words of the Buddha.
Thus have I heard: At one time the Blessed One [the Buddha] was residing in Jetavana, the monastery of Anathapindika, near Savatthi. At that time the Blessed One, having called all the bhikkhus [meditators, monastics, monks] together, addressed them thus: "Meditators!" The monks answered in assent: "Venerable sir!" (The meditators then prepared themselves for the following teaching.) The Blessed One then gave the following teaching on Uposatha [the Sabbath Day observed each week according to the phases of the moon].


"Meditators, the Lunar Observance (Uposatha) is comprised of eight factors, which the noble (Ariyan) disciple observes, the observance of which brings glorious and radiant fruit and benefit.

"Meditators, what is the Lunar Observance which, observed by the noble disciples, brings glorious and radiant fruit and benefit?"

1. "Meditators, noble disciples in this Doctrine [Dhamma, Teaching, Doctrine-and-Discipline] reflect thus:

Killing is cool in Zionist-Judaism. Just ask Gal.
"'All enlightened ones (arahants), for as long as life lasts, have given up the intentional taking of life (panatipata). The club and sword have been laid down. They have shame (of doing wrong, doing harm) and are compassionate towards all beings.'

"All of you have given up the intentional taking of life, have put down all weapons, are possessed of shame (of doing wrong) and are compassionate towards all beings.

"For all of this day and night, in this manner, you will be known as having followed the fully enlightened, and the Lunar Observance will have been observed by you. This is the first factor of the Lunar Observance."

2. "Meditators, noble disciples in this Doctrine reflect thus:

Amazon's not stealing, Leo. - No, Jeff, yer girl
"'All enlightened ones, for as long as life lasts, have given up taking what has not been given (adinnadana). They take only what is given, are intent on taking only what is given. They are not thieves. Their behavior is spotless.'

"All of you have given up the taking of what has not been given, are ones who do not take what is not given, are intent on taking only what is given, are not thieves. Your behavior is spotless. For all of this day and night, in this manner, you will be known as having followed the enlightened one, and the Lunar Observance will have been observed by you. This is the second factor of the Lunar Observance."

3. "Meditators, noble disciples in this Doctrine reflect thus:

But sex and war turn the world we live in.
"'All enlightened ones, for as long as life lasts, have given up [sexual intercourse or] that which is an obstacle to the supreme-faring (abrahma-cariya). Their practice is like that of a divinity (brahma). They are far from sexual intercourse, which is a practice of lay people.'

"All of you have given up that which is an obstacle to the supreme-faring and behave like a divinity. Your behavior is far from sexual intercourse. For all of this day and night, in this manner, you will be known as having followed the enlightened ones, and the Lunar Observance will have been observed by you. This is the third factor of the Lunar Observance."

New breathtaking CGI from the Moon
4. "Meditators, noble disciples in this Doctrine reflect thus:

"'All enlightened ones, for as long as life lasts, have given up the telling of lies (musavada = false speech).
  • [It is not lies alone but "false speech," which elsewhere is more fully defined as 1) bearing false witness, 2) harsh speech, 3) divisive speech, and 4) idle or frivolous speech, all of which seems to earn it the shorthand label "lying." Full definition at the "Ten Courses of Unwholesome Karma"].
"'They utter only the truth and are intent on the truth [honesty, accuracy, factuality]. Their speech is firm and is composed of reason. Their speech does not waver from that which is a mainstay for the world.'

To deceive the world is a terrible thing.
"All of you have given up the telling of lies. You speak only the truth and are intent only on that which is true. Your speech is firm and with reason. Your speech does not waver from that which is a mainstay for the world. For all of this day and night, in this manner, you will be known as having followed the enlightened ones, and the Lunar Observance will have been observed by you. This is the fourth factor of the Lunar Observance."

5. "Meditators, noble disciples in this Doctrine reflect thus:

Nah, it's alright, Man, it's legal and I ani't drunk.
"'All enlightened ones, for as long as life lasts, have given up the taking of liquor and intoxicants (sura-meraya-majja-pamadatthana), of that which intoxicates, causing carelessness [negligence, heedlessness, leading to regrettable deeds]. They are far from intoxicants.'

"All of you have given up the taking of liquors and intoxicants. You abstain from drink which causes carelessness. For all of this day and night, in this manner, you will be known as having followed the enlightened ones, and the Lunar Observance will have been observed by you. This is the fifth factor of the Lunar Observance."

6. "Meditators, noble disciples in this Doctrine reflect thus:

What? But it's morning. Dawn has broken.
"'All enlightened ones, for as long as life lasts, eat at one time only and given up partaking of food in the evening [eat only during one period of the day, now set between daybreak and noon], but it was not always this way, and Buddhist monastics used to be allowed to eat in the evening until that was deemed too troublesome for donors and alms seekers]. They abstain from food at the 'wrong time' (vikala bhojana).'

"All of you eat at one time only [delimiting the span of time during which to eat not the number of meals, which usually includes breakfast and lunch] and do not partake of food in the evening. You abstain from food at the 'wrong time.' For all of this day and night, in this manner, you will be known as having followed the enlightened ones, and the Lunar Observance will have been observed by you. This is the sixth factor of the Lunar Observance."

7. "Meditators, noble disciples in this Doctrine reflect thus:

What's wrong with lettin' loose?
"'All enlightened one, for as long as life lasts, have given up singing and dancing, the playing of musical instruments and the watching of [base] entertainments, which are stumbling blocks to that which is wholesome. Nor do they bedeck themselves with ornaments, flowers, or cosmetics.'

"All of you have given up singing and dancing, the playing of musical instruments and the watching of [base] entertainments, which are stumbling blocks to that which is wholesome. You do not bedeck yourselves with ornaments, flowers, or cosmetics. For all of this day and night, in this manner, you will be known as having followed the enlightened ones, and the Lunar Observance will have been observed by you. This is the seventh factor of the Lunar Observance."

8. "Meditators, noble disciples in this Doctrine reflect thus:

"Large" means with space for more than one.
"'All enlightened ones, for as long as life lasts, have given up lying on large or high beds. They are content with low beds or bedding made of grass.'

"All of you have given up lying on large or high beds. You are content with low beds or beds made of grass. For all of this day and night, in this manner, you will be known as having followed the enlightened ones, and the Lunar Observance will have been observed by you. This is the eighth factor of the Lunar Observance."

What is enough to sleep on and be healthy?
"Meditators, the Lunar Observance is comprised of these eight factors, which the noble disciple observes, and it is [karma] of great and glorious fruit and benefit."

Thus the Blessed One spoke on the Lunar Observance. The meditators were delighted and rejoiced at his words. CONTINUED (EXPLANATION OF SUTRA WITH Q&A)

Thursday, November 9, 2023

DisclosureFest 2023, Las Vegas

DisclosureFest; Ananda (Disclosure Project: DBM), Dhr. Seven, Jen (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

It's happening again, Disclosure Fest 2023, made possible by visionary Adrian and the volunteers (e.g., at Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal and Dharma Buddhist Meditation Meetup:
When shall we ALL be One again?
This year, rather than Los Angeles, it's in Las Vegas, Nevada, home of Area 51, Groom Lake, Dream Land, hidden skunk works, the Electric Daisy Carnival, and the secret subway system with a station beneath the glass pyramid, where black budget scientists daily commute to work at labs across the country (on highspeed underground bullet trains built and maintained in secret with advanced boring technology we're not told about on the surface), believe it or not.

In previous years DisclosureFest™ was in Los Angeles for mass meditation initiative.

Crystals and Sage – DisclosureFest Foundation
Join us this year as the DisclosureFest Foundation activates the Las Vegas Strip with "Stairway to the Stars" on November 10, 11, and 12, 2023.

In the meantime, reserve a room at the Luxor Hotel and Casino now at special discounted rates (limited quantity). Or pick a campsite on the sand outside town, maybe near Pahrump and the vast Death Valley dunes. Day Passes are now available.
Speakers/Workshops
  • Jimmy Church, Fade to Black Radio
  • Bashar, channeled by Darryl Anka
  • Jason Shurka, reverend of UNIFYD WORLD TLS, Intergalactic Unity & Disclosure
  • Elizabeth April, cosmic intuitive channel anchoring the New Earth
  • David Hatcher Childress, the real-life Indiana Jones of Megaliths and Ancient Aliens
  • William Henry, investigative mythologist
  • Nick Pope, UK Ministry of Defense, retired after contact
  • Merkabah 13, 5D Quantum Healing
  • Jason Martell, leading researcher on Ancient Civilization Technologies
  • James Fox, director/producer Moment of Contact
  • Caroline Cory director/producer Learn to Communicate Telepathically
  • Robert Clotworthy, Ancient Aliens panel
  • Winds of the South, Indigenous Women's Drum Circle
  • Chief Phil Lane Jr.
  • Mayan Yok’ha with Itzpapalotl, yoga and meditation instructor
  • Drs. J.J. and Desiree Hurtak, Workshop Exploring Cosmic Frontiers Exploring Intelligent Life in the Cosmos with its Multidimensions
  • Randall Carlson, Cosmic Cycles and the Sacred Geometry of Time The Great Year of the World: Cosmic Cycles and the Sacred Geometry of Time
  • Sarah Breskman Cosme ADVICE FROM EXTRA-TERRESTRIALS ON HOW TO BE A SUPERHUMAN
  • Stephen Bassett, executive director of Paradigm Research Group Disclosure Q&A
  • Richard Dolan, world renowned UFOlogist UAP among a World in Revolution
  • Alexis Brooks, journalist, author, media personality, Unconscious Contact Encounters
  • Jason Quitt, author, teacher, and lecturer on mysticism Astral Genesis | Hidden Keys to the Stars
  • Jonny Enoch, author, researcher of prehistoric civilizations, futurist, and host of Gaia's Mystery Teachings
  • Scott Wolter, forensic geologist, Book of the Wars of the Lord: Cryptograms and Esoterica
  • Julia Cannon, QHHT past life regression
  • Barry Littleton, paranormal investigator and UFOlogist
  • Laura Eisenhower, global alchemist, cosmic mythologist, and intuitive astrologist restoring divine template
  • Timothy Hogan, The Science of the Ancients Ancient Alchemical Secrets Rediscovered by the Knights Templar
  • Tracey Garbutt Dolan, professionally-trained remote viewer
  • Adam Apollo, The Unified Harmonic Matrix: Quantum Geometry & The Physics of Consciousness, The Ancient Mystery of Our Human Origins
  • Hayley Ramsey, author of The Bringer of Life: A Cosmic History of Divine Feminine.
  • Michael Cremo
     (The Forbidden Archeologist), investigative journalist of the ancient sciences and expert whistleblower on extreme human antiquity with knowledge of vimanas (ancient starships) the Vedas ("Knowledge Books" of Gandhara, proto-India, Great Bharat, and the Indus Valley Civilization)
  • TwinRay, Beyond Disclosure - What comes next in the superhuman story
  • Ronny LeBlanc, star of Discovery Channel's Expedition Bigfoot - What is Bigfoot? Is there a UFO connection?
  • Debra Apsara, spiritual teacher awakening
  • Adam M. Curry, consciousness researcher Building a Psychic Machine
  • Geraldine Orozco, epigenetic psychotherapist, MBSR, CHT, NLPP DNA: 24 dimensions of life force and the creator blue print
  • Ismael
  • Cosmic and Galactic History
  • The Leo King Fear Above/Fear Below, How Humanity Has to clear the fear too
  • Suzanne Ross, ascension humanitarian
  • Brian Besco
  • The New Light Light Anchors
  • Sue Whittaker
  • Beyond Med-Beds: Tesla's Non-Consumable Supplements
  • Arcturus Ra, starseed ambassador Galactic Wellness protocol bio resonance
  • Debra Giusti, your opportunity during the Planetary Ascension tips
  • Alan Steinfeld, explorer of consciousness making contact with ET realities
  • Kim Carlsberg UFO/paranormal researcher and author of The Art of Close Encounters
  • Jerry Sargeant, founder of Star Magic Healing DNA & Planetary Grid Activation
  • Joan of Angels, spiritual advisor Starseed Mission Activation: Your Purpose Revealed ~ Soul Mission Activation
  • JK Ultra researcher The New Earth & The Silver Thread of Dolores Cannon
  • Apolla Asteria, host of Apolla's Odyssey Solutions for Humanity
  • Elle Eminense, erotic activist & artist Blue Lotus Rising: Clear, Connect, Create
  • Alexandra Hanly and Pamela Chen, Awakened Mystery School with Alexandra Hanly and Pamela Chen Illumination: Rise of Terran Consciousness For Intergalactic Peace
  • Erica Middlemiss QHHT Panel
  • Jeroen de Wit QHHT Panel
  • Holly Duckworth QHHT Panel
  • Tracie Mahan QHHT Panel
  • Alexandra McColm, channeler of Golden Arrow
  • Dr. Q Moayad Indian Naadi Palm Leaf Reading
  • Dylan Louis Monroe, creator of Deep State Mapping Project Luxor Transmission from Ashtar
  • Jason Stiles, founder of iPyramids.com
  • Justin Frandson, athleticism performance coach and author of How to live in a world surrounded by EMF!
  • Samuel Kiwasz, Sacred Geometry: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Living
  • Sylvie Sterling, cat whisperer, Lyran ambassador and ascension guide Cats are starseeds & ascension guides
  • Philipp and Cru von Holtzendorff-Fehling Energy Healing Session: Awaken Your Inner Power
  • Rion De'Rouen, galactic ambassador and founder of Team Light Actualize Your Highest Timeline and Potential
  • Dr. Kathleen Ball Ph.D., business owner, researcher, author, filmmaker The Brazilian Templars, The Back Story Unveiled
  • Joshua Sisler, Anthony Mickel, Mark Russell, cosmic custodians artifacts of ancient extraterrestrial contact
  • Matthew John, spiritual teacher and starseed guide Discover Your Star Origins + Channeled Messages from the Sirians
  • Mary Edwards Art and Design, founder How My Experiences with ETs Designing Their Interior Spaces in Remote Habitats with Art and Design Have Inspired Me To Create Books to Prepare Children for ET Contact and Leadership

HOSTS
  • Jimmy Church Fade To Black Radio
  • Michelle Anderson Awakening Code Radio
  • Debra Giusti Your Opportunity during the Planetary Ascension
  • Apolla Asteria host of Apolla's Odyssey
  • Maura Hoffman Music
  • Goldcap
  • Marques Wyatt
  • Ruby Chase
  • Pretty Weird Blonde
  • Merkabah 13
  • Admiral Apollo Awakening the Heart of the Pyramid
  • The Leo King
PANELS
  • UFO/UAP Phenomenon History Panel
  • Ancient Civilizations Panel
  • Ascension Panel
  • Responsible AI Use Panel
  • Astrology Panel
  • QHHT Panel
  • Ancient Aliens Panel
  • Starseed/New Earth Panel
  • The Condor and Eagle Prophecy Panel
SOUND HEALING
  • Avatara Alchemy Meditation & Yogic Arts Teacher/Sensory Alchemist/Event Producer
  • Vox Angelus Omnidimensional Vocal Alchemist
  • Brenda Zyburt SoundBath Concert
In the meantime, reserve a room at the Luxor Hotel and Casino now with special DisclosureFest discounted rates (limited quantity).
  • HEY, speakers and artists, would YOU like to be part of Stairways to the Stars (DisclosureFest 2023)? Fill out this form.
TICKETS, HALL PASSES, WORKSHOPS: Stairway to the Stars – DisclosureFest 2023
.