Disqus - Latest Comments for howard

Re: Nonbreaking Space

howard — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 07:22:09 -0000

Thanks for the generous plug, Frank (and to Rich also, for kind words).

I'm always glad when someone finds my work worth reading. It makes the accompanying obsession so much easier to bear.

I hope you all have a great holiday season and excellent new year!

Re: Sir Edmund Hillary Dies

howard — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:15:58 -0000

What a shame that so many people don't know who people like Edmund Hillary were/are. Sadly, as I found today, it's not just the kids.

But on another note, I like the point about over-celebrating the insignificant. I'd much rather be seen as someone who undercelebrates greatness - though that assumes I aspire to such things. So maybe I'll rethink that.

;)

Re: if/then

howard — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 09:30:18 -0000

Thanks for stopping by and reading! That the praise is coming from an esteemed fellow poet/blogger really means a lot.

This site has really only been here (in this form) for a few days now. It's a conglomeration of my more creatively-focused writing from a couple different sites, including the wordpress.com version of this site and my four-year-old blog with the name nobody seems to get.

I'm hoping to keep this one focused on my more whimsical and melancholy sides.

Re: altruistic impotence (edit)

howard — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 14:18:58 -0000

Thanks, Frank. You might not believe it, but there are elements of the site inspired by frankroche.com

Re: two dollar bill

howard — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 02:43:04 -0000

Thanks, Pax! I have a special taste for this one too. I fished it out of the morgue of my pre-wordpress years.

I'd completely forgotten to list you on the links page until you commented, so thanks for the reminder on that as well.

Re: one that got away

howard — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 12:38:47 -0000

Thanks, both of you.

Heather, I tend to think just about everyone is that person to someone, though we tend to only recognize those who are that person to us. At least I think...

Re: if/then

howard — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 12:41:26 -0000

Thanks, Heather! And like I said already in this comment thread, coming from you...

Re: black book

howard — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:49:43 -0000

Thanks, Tracy.

It's just a poem about a slightly different kind of crush. It might be easy to miss the meaning of it, though.

That may be clever, or it may have just been an oversight.

;)

Re: creative impulse 2

howard — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 22:28:33 -0000

I have no problem w/dark, as you may be able to tell. I liked the idea of creative drive sometimes feeling like a pimp of sorts; sometimes, but not all the time.

Re: in control?

howard — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:19:18 -0000

Thanks, Andy.
I relate to this one quite personally.

Re: Venus on the river

howard — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 04:07:57 -0000

It wouldn't surprise me if she was. Women are usually a step or two ahead of me anyway.

Re: reversal of fortunes?

howard — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:37:58 -0000

the checks are made out to you and me,
but consumption for its own sake
is tonic only for the purveyors
of things we don't really need.

(thanks for playing along Mr. Q)

Re: howard (rev.)

howard — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:05:15 -0000

The "one who watches over" part resonated with me the most, as i wrote it while watching my 6 nieces and nephews the past couple days ;)

Re: scorpio 4

howard — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 01:47:41 -0000

I think most of us have seen that gaze. I've even seen it from a Scorpio (though, to be honest, I've probably seen it from several different signs ;)

Re: debating the course for 2008

howard — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 03:04:12 -0000

and what is the cost,
for a changing of the guard?
just money and blood.

Re: urban valentine

howard — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 05:09:20 -0000

tracy - I think your focus is on a different sort of love than the one I'm thinking of.

Adria - love is all around, and so are beauty and truth.

Heather - thank you. I agree wholeheartedly.

Re: fade away

howard — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 07:34:49 -0000

are epiphanies
simply water pushing through
stone of old belief?

Re: thoughts on a Quaker meeting

howard — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:57:01 -0000

I've been thinking along these lines a lot lately. I've been fascinated by the ways in which a person's belief system affects his (or her) way of seeing the world in general, and vice versa. I've noticed a lot of situations where there's stark contrast between the two.

That said, I agree that God almost always speaks to us in subtle tones. At least that's how He speaks to me.

Re: leo

howard — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 05:18:25 -0000

Amen. To both comments.

Re: advocate

howard — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 05:49:10 -0000

somehow, I expected that kind of response :)

Re: leo

howard — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:16:07 -0000

Thanks for stopping by Jess!

Your attention span may be longer than mine, so resorting to tactics like haiku writing may not be necessary for you ;)

Re: I still believe in a place called hope

howard — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 22:13:59 -0000

it is truly sad
the way ambition horns in;
such is politics.

Re: saving daylight

howard — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:08:54 -0000

I'm thinking it helps to have a touch of insomnia sometimes.

Re: added visuals

howard — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:41:19 -0000

H - Thanks. I think the poster idea is a great one, though it'll take a little doing.

Bill - I'm glad you checked in, and I agree about iFractal. Everyone I've come across from there is a class act.

Re: new arrivals

howard — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 10:17:53 -0000

like fleeting glimpses
or leftover dream remnants,

they, too, escape me.

Re: like they used to

howard — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:15:13 -0000

You're not trying to suggest my haiku are minor poetry, are you?
;)

Re: knocking wood

howard — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:51:49 -0000

Thanks. I liked the McCain one so much, I put it on my phone's main display.

Re: making change

howard — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 09:26:31 -0000

absolutely.

but then what would life be without periodic bouts pitting your head against a brick wall?

Re: anti-gravity

howard — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:49:41 -0000

It was definitely my life over the past week

Re: funhouse mirrors

howard — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:25:40 -0000

You're my dream girl, but you're no help at all ;)

But seriously, most of my reason for posting this is that I wish I had a better insight too - or at least some insight.

Re: spring irony

howard — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 09:56:45 -0000

Thanks, it was a good trigger - I had a half dozen ideas based on it, but eventually settled on a nature-based theme.

Re: who we are, 3

howard — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:19:36 -0000

I appreciate the incisive response, Heather. The meaning you drew from it makes it more of a breakthrough for me than it was when I wrote.

Re: who we are, 3

howard — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:54:36 -0000

yet, still, so many
separate stated desires
from the paths they take.

Re: evening drive

howard — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:41:11 -0000

Thanks Heather.
I love that first drive through the evening air when sound and scent converge to assure me summer is en route.

One semantic struggle with this haiku was not being able to decide between "roll the windows down" and "roll down the windows." And I'm still not sure, which is just like me.

Re: who we are, 3

howard — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:48:09 -0000

Thanks Eric. I always mean to use more visuals, but I get sidetracked. I'm going to make it a point, at least once in a while, to raid my Flickr contacts a little more often ;)

Re: fledgling song

howard — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 23:29:34 -0000

thanks, I think...

I took to regurgitating older haiku entries especially because so many of them were originally posted somewhere other than here. While I hope my best haiku days are still ahead, I have an affinity for some of the older ones, too.

Besides, bringing back the occasional oldie may just spare you the unfair choice between a stale page and a haiku that may not be fit for human consumption just yet ;)

Re: fledgling song

howard — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:41:34 -0000

I've always loved the image, Heather. I think I relate to it because of some of the difficulties I've had with dyslexia, especially in my early years when I was struggling to learn to read.

I guess it's just another recitation of the Little Engine that Could, but this is the image that works best for me :)

Re: evening drive

howard — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:28:49 -0000

what - no chirping crickets? no honeysuckles? I can't imagine life without that sensory combination dating back to my early years.

Re: weak apology

howard — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:23:11 -0000

Agreed. And maybe the absence of mercy is from a lack of awareness, of both ourselves and others.

Re: chameleon

howard — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:38:11 -0000

I don't think I'm smart or stupid in fixed ways, but people are almost always over or underestimating me. The ways in which they do so seem to vary by person. In short, I think it's more a matter of perspective.

Some people think I'm much smarter than I probably am, while others dismiss me (or think I overestimate myself). And if I have to be honest, the over/underestimation seeps into almost every way in which other people might evaluate me. I don't really understand how it works though.

Re: unrequited 2.5

howard — Sat, 03 May 2008 07:01:20 -0000

And sometimes we're just wired to want what everyone else seems to know is the wrong thing for us ;)

Incidentally, this is merely a reworking of a haiku I originally wrote back in the fall of 06. Funny how thoughts about the one that got away never seem to stay away for good.

Re: homecomings

howard — Sun, 11 May 2008 05:35:00 -0000

I thought it was a nice scene, but I almost didn't stop to take the picture. Now I'm glad I did.

Re: necessary use

howard — Sun, 11 May 2008 05:36:41 -0000

I should've used that in my title! And yes, I agree with your analysis for the most part.

Re: welcome Agnes Lucia

howard — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:34:15 -0000

PJ - well, I am an uncle eight times over now - it's sort of prolific.

Linda - thanks. My sister now has seven children, and I'm sure she counts it as a blessing, despite the work involved ;)

Heather - I can hardly wait to check in on them myself. I'm anxious to have an accompanying photo for this one.

Re: welcome Agnes Lucia

howard — Sat, 17 May 2008 18:37:27 -0000

Yes, Heather, you read that right.

I watched the first six for a couple days while their parents went away this past February, and it was one of the most simultaneously tiring and gratifying things I've ever done. My sister and brother-in-law have my undying respect after that experience.

Re: blind spots

howard — Sat, 17 May 2008 18:38:38 -0000

Thanks for commenting, Joe. I like the way you put it, that we adjust our view to make certain things part of the background - kind of like white noise, I suppose.

Re: strange economics

howard — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 02:49:20 -0000

This is just a vague reference to the changes in unemployment calculation that were instituted by the BLS a few years back.

Basically, they counted anyone who exhausted their unemployment benefits without finding a new job as being out of the workforce. For a more realistic view of unemployment, you'd probably be better off going by the Fed's Augmented Unemployment Rate, which doesn't kick people off the unemployment rolls simply because they aren't collecting benefits anymore.

Re: Flannery O’Connor rolls over in her grave

howard — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:52:42 -0000

Thanks Melissa. If you do pick one up, please let me know what you thought of it.

The cover photo came out really well, especially considering it was kind of a throwaway picture when I first took it last fall. (I took it the morning of the Philly marathon, while I was walking back to Eakins Oval to greet my brother-in-law at the finish line - I can't remember now, but I think it's from Arch just east of the Parkway.)

Re: invisibly bound

howard — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 23:19:52 -0000

Really? Thanks!