TiredLast week I returned to working at ICANN as a web consultant. Anytime after starting a new job (this happened at IAIA) or returning to an older job, I end up feeling like this picture here by the end of the week.

So I didn't blog last week. But I have lots of goodies in the que. My friend Mary Anne has sent some new Reading Poetry to Animals and Things That Don't Care photos and I've been reading some interesting books. More on that next week. For now I thought I would post a new Top 10 list for your enjoyment:

 10 Lessons for Poets as Found in Modern Times

  1. Don’t
    hate forms just because they seem airbrushed like supermodels. Airbrushing
    is an art too.
  2. To own
    your voice, you have to make peace with yourself.
  3. Pop
    songs that get under your skin infiltrate us with meter and provide us with
    examples of pleasant off-rhymes, same as good forms.
  4. Advertisements,
    aphorisms (and Scrabble) can teach us about wordplay ruthlessness.
  5. Learn
    to make an argument.
  6. Learn
    to lose an argument.
  7. Don’t
    let the thesaurus push you around.
  8. Poets have
    gained a reputation at parties for being socially annoying, obtuse and
    self-absorbed. (See Top 10 Reasons Why Poets are Bad Party Guests.) Practice generosity over cocktails. If generosity tastes
    like a rice cake to you, try self-deprecation. It’s not just what you say;
    it’s how you say it.
  9. The best
    stand-up comedy is poetry. Listen to Chris Rock’s album Roll with the New.
  10. Admit
    you love milk chocolate and Toy
    Story 3    . Find your muse in both opera and haunted houses, in the high
    arts and in diner restaurant menus, in both documentaries and sassy cartoons. Highbrow
    cares too much how it is perceived. (See #2)