Monday, September 06, 2010

I wish I could sing
like Ronnie Drew
instead of sounding
just like you.

With a nickel
& a nail
the Thursday freight
he could derail--

foghorn from Goldfinch
to Joanna
from Elisabeth St.
to Valhalla

something a circling bird
discerns
in meaty terms,

what was said & not said,
a hammering on
an empty head.

Empress Citation Shasta
disturbeth not
the quails at their suppers;

though the lookout
shoots through
the sweet-pea undercoil

then squawks left six feet
for everyone else
it's just another brindle head

patrolling loose & low
for the grasses & chicory
of the trackside pharmacopia.

interesting documentary about polymath/filmmaker Humphrey Jennings--YouTube - The Man Who Listened to Britain 1

Listen to Britain (1942) (ignore the long introduction)

Sunday, September 05, 2010

After 40 Years, Dock Ellis Inspires Acid Test

If it seems almost routine to throw a no-hitter now, then consider one that was not.

Forty years ago, Dock Ellis of the Pittsburgh Pirates raised the degree of difficulty to new, well, heights. He threw a no-hitter with Richard M. Nixon calling balls and strikes and Jimi Hendrix, wielding a Fender Stratocaster instead of a Louisville Slugger, digging in at home plate.

Or at least that is what he thought while pitching under the influence of LSD...