Susan Browne's Blog
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Oct.10.2008
Blustery today, with that cold snap to the air. I'm feeling autumn.
This blog is blogless. It has no direction. It's blowing whichever way the wind blows.
Outside, my Emperor Gong is gonging. The chimes are chiming.
I have a hangover from drinking too much wine and then topping it off with...
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4 comments
Oct.08.2008
The debate last night was stunning. Obama is stunning. Obama is honest, kind, down-to-earth, unpretentious, authentic and smart. A real intelligence, rather than the reptilian brain-power that has been running this country. He took on all the difficult issues and had something specific to offer...
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3 comments
Oct.07.2008
Some good news after all the bad news:
Ted Kooser selected one of my poems to publish on his website, http://www.americanlifeinpoetry.org/
I found out the other day, right after I had positioned the Bay Alarm signs around my yard to ward off the robbers.
I don't know when the poem will be on the...
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2 comments
Oct.06.2008
You turn the key in the lock, but it isn't locked,
And that seems odd, or was it locked? who knows,
You're tired after work, so push onward loaded down
With briefcase, groceries, spear-headed for a glass
Of wine, pet the cat, sit on the couch, watch TV,
Anything besides the news, you've had...
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Oct.04.2008
I wonder what the thieves were thinking
As they crowbarred our front door open
As they kicked and kicked and kicked it in,
Splintering the wood, leaving sticks hanging
Off the hinges, as they walked into the house and took
The TV, the computers, the backpacks, the camera,
As they rifled through...
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2 comments
Oct.02.2008
It bothers me deeply that Sarah Palin is taken seriously, and that she will be debating tonight as a Vice Presidential candidate. She believes that the "Alaskan pipeline is God's will."
She has no idea what God's will is and no one on this earth knows God's will.
To have this woman...
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Oct.01.2008
Yesterday, thieves visited our home and busted down the front door and stole the flat screen TV. Then they went through our drawers and took whatever they wanted and left the clothes on the floor. Then they went down to the in-law unit which is my husband's office and broke through that door and...
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10 comments
Sep.30.2008
What if we were to tell the truth? Exactly what we really think. This would not work in many situations. For example, yesterday, I wanted to tell an online student:
You are a rude little twerp, as well as a pain in the ass. Get your shit together or drop the class.
The student had emailed me...
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14 comments
Sep.24.2008
My father turned 84 yesterday. Kenneth cooked a great dinner for him and his girlfriend Charlotte, who is also 84. My father said the average life expectancy in the United States is 77, so he felt fine, he was living on seven years borrowed time. We sat out on the deck and had a rousing...
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2 comments
Sep.15.2008
Last weekend, I taught two poetry workshops and did a reading at the North Coast Redwoods Writers' Conference. It was a long trip north, (seven hours), and worth every minute.
After arriving in the nick of time, I spruced myself up at the Curly Redwood Lodge, (very rustic motel decorated a la...
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2 comments
Sep.11.2008
Two Poems by William Blake
A Divine Image
--A Song of Experience
Cruelty has a Human Heart And Jealousy a Human Face, Terror, the Human Form Divine, And Secrecy, the Human Dress.
The Human Dress is forgéd Iron, The Human Form, a fiery Forge, The Human Face, a Furnace seal'd, The Human Heart, its...
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2 comments
Sep.10.2008
It's difficult to be positive and compassionate all the time. I guess everyone knows this, so why bother saying it? I need to say it so I can remember it, but I seem to forget it when I'm in the middle of absurd, scary, and awful situations.
I will define these terms:
Absurd, scary, and awful: ...
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3 comments
Sep.07.2008
I'm completing my sabbatical project. It's about connecting literature with each chapter of Eckhart Tolle's book, The Power of Now. I chose Mary Oliver's poem "Flare" for one of the chapters which discusses negativity and the pain-body. If you read the poem, you will know Eckhart's...
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About Susan
Born in Long Beach, California, Susan Browne has lived most of her life in the Bay Area. Her poetry has appeared in Ploughshares, Subtropics, River City, The Mississippi Review, Gargoyle, Margie, American Life in Poetry, and other literary journals and...
Connections
Causes Susan Browne Supports
Unicef
Amnesty International
Run Together, A Race to Raise Money for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society