Your Cheery Homeric Thought for the Day

Off and on all week, I've been going to school on the Iliad in hopes of improving my battle scenes. Having immersed myself in battle scenes I especially enjoyed from George R.R. Martin, Kate Elliott, Patrick O'Brian, and Tolkien, I still felt I hadn't found anything that pointed me in the right direction for the particular sequences I'm trying to fix in my own manuscript right now. So, stylishly incorrect or not, I've gone back to the deep source. (You want epic? I got yer epic right here.)

It'll be a while before I know whether Homer is the medicine my draft needs, but meanwhile I'm feeling buoyed up by this sentiment:

Never to be cast away are the gifts of the gods, magnificent,
Which they give of their own will, no man could have them for wanting them.
(Bk III, lines 65-66, Lattimore trans.)

Well, all right, I guess this wouldn't be such a cheery thought if I were pining after some gift the gods hadn't given me, but since they've given me a damn fine book to write, I find it pretty heartening.

Event Announcement

It only just occurred to me that I might announce readings in my poetry series here. The readings are free. The series is a labor of love.

Joel Allegretti is the featured reader on Friday, January 14th. I put a nice long bio blurb on the flier, but the gist of it is, he kicks ass. He's a fine craftsman with a sense of humor, a narrative bent, a good musical ear, and a powerful performance style. Rattapallax just nominated him for the Pushcart Prize. If you're in New Jersey and you like live poetry, he's worth the chunk of your Friday night that the reading will take up. Moreover, our hosts at Cleo's Cafe make pretty good cannoli. If you have no taste for open mics, nobody will blame you for fleeing after the featured reader, but it'll be your loss. You know how typical poetry open mics are, with a crowd of exhibitionists who come to perform and forget to listen? (Maybe you've never seen it, but it's easy enough to imagine.) I'm delighted to say that the open mic at my series isn't like that--though I have no idea why. Somehow, over the past two years, I've lucked into, or cultivated, or something, a thoughtful, talented crowd of regulars who come primarily to listen. Rare and unaccountable good fortune.

Forgive me if I boast about some of the other poets who've come to perform at Cleo's. We've had Joshua Corey, Sherry Fairchok, Sina Queyras, Joe Weil, and Alicia Ostriker. Google them. Read them. Buy their books. There have been plenty of other readers, too, all delightful, but it's after 4 a.m., and even owls sleep sometime.

Cleo's Cafe hosts the poetry reading series on the second Friday of every month at 8pm, with a featured reader followed by an open mic.

Cleo's Cafe
68 Raritan Avenue (Route 27)
Highland Park, NJ
732-828-3474
www.cleoscafe.com