February Moonsong

the moon turning round from white to
white in morning’s sky where mercy appeared
irrelevant, the cottonwood’s naked black

February limbs reached for that sky that after-
noon—a Union Pacific graffiti-tagged freight
train surging beside a black & blue river the

rain pinging the gray tin roof that evening, the
season’s first rain as if metaphorical tears could wash this a-
way—moonset along the mesa in nimbus

overcast & bitterbrush—a heart tattooed &
straining—a freight train inside the tunnel—a mild
edema, a waxing moon holding water, a white

rope hammock in graying snow between the
cottonwood & the locust—the unin-
habited house trailer atop the bluff where trees

did not take root, the rusted drag harrow
cast off in a sky gray snowdrift—gibbous moon
in an afternoon sky weighed down with

power lines, expectation, a promise of ice the
damaged heartbeat the naked trees the train’s
graffiti as far as the eye can see


Jack Hayes
© 2011

My mid-February poetry spasm continues today with another new poem—& a reminder: if you're interested in reading the poetry from my most recent book, The Spring Ghazals you can either read them on the dedicated blog at the rate of two per week (Wednesday & Saturday), or purchase the book from one of these fine outlets:
Lulu
Amazon
Barnes & Noble (new—& a bargain at $11.40 US!)
Amazon UK (£7.94)

Both Amazon & Lulu have the book for $12 US. 

Photo of the Week 1/29/11

Sunrise Over Indian Mountain

Indian Valley, ID

Monday 1/24

Yes, the Photo of the Week is back! 

A few highlights from the upcoming week on Robert Frost's Banjo:

Sunday: A review of Peter Brooks' novel, The Alchemy of Chance, a new release from Tangerine Tree Press

Monday: Yes, he takes requests!  Tune in Monday to learn who requested what song for the Monday Morning Blues!

Thursday: A review of poet Jessica Fox-Wilson's excellent book of poems, Blameless Mouth.  You can learn more about Blameless Mouth on Ms Fox-Wilson's everything feeds process blog or on the book's dedicated Facebook page.

Friday: Eberle Umbach, this month's guest on Homegrown Radio!

Saturday: Think blues, but with a twist!

Spring Ghazals, One More Time!

A happy Friday to you all!  No Homegrown Radio this week—Caroline Pond is in the midst of various music projects & I’m most grateful that she was able to make the time to participate in the series—she provided a couple of dynamite songs.  If you haven’t checked out her music yet, you can hear both the songs Ms Pond submitted here on last week’s post.  You’ll also find links to her CDs there.  Homegrown Radio will return next month—& the featured artist will be Eberle Umbach!  There will be some interesting music for sure—all solo pieces composed & performed by Eberle herself.

In other news, a surprise: The Spring Ghazals blog is back, tho with a bit different format than in the past.  Now, I know regular readers have heard about the “return” of The Spring Ghazals so often that they may picture it as like the monster in one of those 80s horror films who just won’t stay dead.  But really, this incarnation is quite different.

From here on out, I’ll be posting the actual poems from the book, two per week (I’m thinking Wednesday & Saturday as an ongoing schedule, tho this week’s poem is up today, Friday).  That means there should be posts thru July, at which point I’ll assess what the blog’s ongoing function might be.  But until then, it’ll be all poetry, all the time.  The poems will be posted in “book order,” with the first poem, “Ghazal 4/24” appearing today, & then one poem each on subsequent Wednesdays & Friday until the manuscript is complete.  You can read “Ghazal 4/24” here.

& as it will be all poems, there won’t be any explication, explanation or background material.  The reason for this is simple—I’ve decided it’s time for me to let go of “my” Spring Ghazals & let them be yours, dear readers.  Of course, I’ll be happy to field questions & comments on the poems, & I’d encourage readers to do this if the spirit so moves them.   

But although this new format is intended to let the book go out, unmitigated as it were, to the readers, it also presents you as readers with a choice.  You can read all the poems on the blog over the course of these next several months, gratis, or you can shell out actual money to have a book.  An interesting thought I’ve been entertaining recently is that books may not go obsolete as some have predicted, but instead become “premium” items.  Just as many recording artists now allow you to “pay what you want” (sometimes even without setting a minimum price) for downloadable music, but charge for CDs or, even more especially, vinyl, the future of publishing” may follow suit in some way, especially as the net allows poets & fiction writers to become independent artists, operating outside the traditional publishing models.  Time, as usual, will tell—even if it doesn’t tell us.

So, please swing on by The Spring Ghazals from time to time to read the poems! 

& now for a words from our sponsors!


The Spring Ghazals can be purchased at any of the following online outlets:

Lulu
Amazon
Barnes & Noble (new—& a bargain at $11.40 US!)
Amazon UK (£7.94)

Both Amazon & Lulu have the book for $12 US.  

Photo of the Week 1/2/11

Two Juncos & a Sparrow Eating Seed on our Porch

Indian Valley, Idaho

Wednesday 12/29/10

The photo was taken during the big winter storm that hit on Tuesday & lasted thru Wednesday, dropping well over a foot of snow & knocking out power for much of the two days, including 18-1/2 hours straight on Wednesday.   We couldn't get to the feeders, so Eberle strewed seed on the porch.

In other news: I'd like to acknowledge that our very own SoCal Correspondent & dear friend Audrey Bilger received a well-deserved commendation on the Ms Magazine Blog: her interview with Twitter phenom Feminist Hulk was named #2 on the list of Top 10 Ms Blog Posts for 2010—that's out of 1,000 posts that appeared on the Ms. Blog last year.  Way to go, Audrey! 

The Spring Ghazals on Robert Frost's Banjo

Happy Friday to you all!  This morning we have a bit of a poetic excursion planned, & in doing so, I’m introducing a new feature to Robert Frost’s Banjo—one I hope you’ll enjoy & one that I hope will be helpful to me: the proverbial “win-win” situation.

As some of you know, I started a blog dedicated to my collection of poetry, The Spring Ghazals.  In case you’re not familiar with this, The Spring Ghazals is made up of poems I wrote between May 2008 & February 2010.  The poems are concerned with love & loss & memory & time, & in a fragmented & lyric sense of the word, describe a narrative arc. 

I decided recently, however, that the dedicated blog wasn’t really spreading the word about the book in the way I’d hoped.  As a result, I decided to close the shutters on that blog & try to spread the word here in hopes that the wider readership would result in more people being interested in & ultimately purchasing the book.  Speaking of which: The Spring Ghazals is available at Lulu, as well as on Amazon & Amazon UK.

As a “kick-off” to this new series, which will appear at irregular but frequent intervals (at least weekly) during the month of December, & then will probably move to its own weekly day in January, I thought I’d post a virtual reading of one of the poems, complete with video slideshow.  This poem, “Fondue,” comes from “The Kitchen Poems” section of the book, seven poems all based on some type of food.  

Future posts will include discussion topics about the book & self-publishing; some background about the composition of the poems; (more) virtual readings; a series called Music Theory for Poets; any noteworthy book news—& more.  Hope you enjoy it!

Photo of the Week 12/5/10

Song Sparrow in Russian Olive in Afternoon Light

Indian Valley, Idaho

Friday, December 3rd

Tomorrow on Robert Frost's Banjo? I was saying Monday Morning Uke, but that ain't happening—too busy this weekend.  I may take a day off.

This week on The Spring Ghazals: music theory for poets continues!

Alcools? I'm having a deuce of a time with the next poem,"Le Larron," ("The Thief.") I can see why one translation of Alcools I have omitted it—it's difficult.  I don't know if it will be up Monday or not, but I hope to complete it soon so I can move on! 

"December Inventory"

December Inventory

sparrows in tousled hair a
banjo strung with iron wire an a-
temporal glass of milk—an

echo within a wishing well—white
stones an alphabetical hex sign
a red barn in my arms the

black water the black e-
motional cottonwood limbs a
yellow backloader creaking thru drifts a

globe on a shelf its ecru oceans its
pink mountains its blue islands my
empty arms in the fog

a plate of garbanzos
a plate of potatoes & coconut the
brown juncos tearing the Russian olive’s

pods my emotional fingers against a sky
no longer anywhere a hermetic
snowdome’s figure skaters

a glass door a
musicbox in my lungs an
opening in space where sound escapes

Jack Hayes
© 2010

Hope you enjoyed the poem.  I’m also here to announce that there won’t be a Homegrown Radio feature this month—long story, but suffice it to say that I do have someone lined up for January, & it’s going to be some exciting music—so stay tuned!

In other news: Many thanks to HKatz of The Sill of the World blog for an excellent & insightful review of The Spring Ghazals.  You can check out the review here.

If you aren’t familiar with this blog, you’re really missing out.  The quality of writing on The Sill of the World is high & HKatz’ The Week in Seven Words series is a unique concept that’s also executed with aplomb.  If you’d like to read HKatz’ observations on writing, you can check out my interview with her in the Writers Talk series right here.  There’s also a wonderful poem by HKatz accompanying that interview at this link.

Just a few reminders: The Spring Ghazals is now available on Amazon & Amazon.uk (& presumably other Amazon international sites, tho I haven’t confirmed that.)  It should be available on Barnes & Noble within the next several days.  If you haven’t purchased the book but follow this blog either on Blogger or thru Networked Blogs, please consider doing so.  If you have the book, please consider writing a review on Amazon &/or Lulu.  Giving the book a positive rating on either of these sites is also helpful.  The book’s Amazon page is here; the Lulu page here.  Of course, I’d always welcome other bloggers reviewing the book or setting up interviews with me about it.

Thanks for your interest!

"The Spring Ghazals" on Amazon!

Happy Wednesday, all!  Great news—The Spring Ghazals is now available on both Amazon & Amazon.uk.  It doesn't appear to be on Barnes & Noble yet, but I'll continue to check into that.  The links are as follows: Amazon is here; Amazon.uk is here.  If people want me to check on other international Amazon sites, I'll be happy to do so—just let me know.

I know a few people experienced problems trying to place an order with Lulu, & I'm hoping the process works more smoothly thru Amazon.  If you want to buy yourself or the poetry lover in your life a holiday present, now's the time!

If you haven't checked out the dedicated blog for The Spring Ghazals, please do.  There's a new series running there called "Music Theory for Poets," which has gotten some nice feedback.  Of course, if you're not a self-professed poet, you're still most welcome!

Also, for those of you who have read The Spring Ghazals or are in the process of reading it, it would be great if you'd consider posting a review &/or rating on either the Amazon page or the Lulu page.  

We now return you to our regular programming.  This includes Writers Talk tomorrow with fiction writer & poet Karen Schindler!

Photo of the Week 11/28/10

Junco & Goldfinches in the Willow

View out our kitchen window

Saturday, November 27th

Tomorrow on Robert Frost's Banjo? The Monday Morning Blues! & once again, something new & unsual!

This week on The Spring Ghazals: music theory for poets!  I know there are a lot of musical references in the collection, & I'll be discussing those in the next few posts; & yes, there will be mp3s involved!  First post in the series should be up tomorrow morning.


Alcools? I've started to translate the next poem"Le Larron," ("The Thief") but I don't believe it will be ready for Monday.  If it's ready by mid-week I'll post it then rather than waiting until a week from Monday.  Please stay tuned! 

Photo of the Week 11/14/10

Three Burros Along a Fenceline

Monday Gulch Road
Indian Valley, Idaho

Saturday, November 13th

Be sure to check in on The Spring Ghazals! There have been some exciting new posts there recently, including one about an interview, which you can read here on the Tangerine Tree Press blog—many thanks to Sheila Graham-Smith!  Also, one final reminder: today & tomorrow are the last two days to purchase The Spring Ghazals at 15% off (by entering coupon code LEAF305 at checkout).  Sales have been extremely slow, so I'm hoping some of you will want to take advantage of this.  You can purchase The Spring Ghazals at this link.

There won't be a Monday post on Alcools. The next translation isn't completed yet (again).  Completing a translation of "Le Larron" ("The Thief") is a priority in the coming week!

& tomorrow on Robert Frost's Banjo? The Monday Morning Blues! Not sure what, exactly, but it'll be here.

Stay tuned....

Photo of the Week 11/7/10*

Tractor & Outbuilding

Indian Valley, Idaho

November 5th

Please check out today's post at The Days of Wine & Roses; it's the final post before the blog is retired! 


More poetry? Be sure to check in on The Spring Ghazals! There's a new virtual reading. 


There won't be a Monday post on Alcools. The next translation isn't completed yet (again).


& tomorrow on Robert Frost's Banjo? This month's Alice in Wonder Band selection.

Stay tuned....

If you're curious about the asterisk in the title, this photo was taken in 2009.  It's been a strange week!

Photo of the Week 10/31/10

Sagebrush Along a Fenceline

Whiteman Lane
Indian Valley, Idaho

Tuesday, October 26th

Please check out today's post at The Days of Wine & Roses; it's the final poem collection, & as such, will be the last poem posted to the blog. There will be one final "wrap up" post next week.


More poetry? Be sure to check in on The Spring Ghazals! There have been some exciting new posts there recently, including one about another book review which you can read here on the Soulless Machine blog—big thanks to writer Aaron Wilson!  


There won't be a Monday post on Alcools. The next translation isn't completed yet (again).


& tomorrow on Robert Frost's Banjo? The Monday Morning Blues! Something new & different.

Stay tuned....

Interview on “everything feeds process”

Happy Wednesday afternoon, everybody. I’m once again intruding on B.N.’s story to bring you more news about my book, The Spring Ghazals. You can read my interview about the book right here on Jessica Fox-Wilson’s blog everything feeds process. Jessica has been so generous with her support of The Spring Ghazals, & I’m very grateful for all her efforts.

I know of one more review that’s slated to appear next week, but I do want to remind everybody that I’d be happy to have more reviews or interviews. It’s not always easy trying to market a self-published book of poetry—actually, if you asked publishers, I think they might say the same for poetry that’s published traditionally—& it sure is great to have help in the process.

You can hear a couple more of the ghazals in the ongoing virtual reading over on The Spring Ghazals blog—just follow this link. Also, I’m happy to announce that you can get the book at a 15% discount (all absorbed by Lulu in case you’re curious) from now thru November 15th—simply by entering coupon code LEAF305 when you checkout—you can read all the details here. Once again, The Spring Ghazals is available on Lulu right here.

Now we return to our regularly scheduled programming….

Photo of the Week 10/23/10

Apples in Our Backyard

Indian Valley, Idaho

Friday, October 22nd

Please check out tomorrow's post at The Days of Wine & Roses; it's the final poem in the Heaven sequence ("Heaven #6), & is the penultimate poem in the collection.  Counting tomorrow, there will only 3 more posts on The Days of Wine & Roses before the blog is retired.

More poetry?  Be sure to check in on The Spring Ghazals!  There will be a new post there within the next day or so, & at least one more during the course of the week.

There won't be a Monday post on Alcools.  The next translation isn't completed yet.

& tomorrow on Robert Frost's Banjo?  We begin B.N.'s story All Knees Shall Bend And Every Tongue Shall Vow.  This story is about 911, & about privilege.  It's a powerhouse, & while B.N. & I don't agree about some of the points-of-view that come up during the narrative, I give it a high recommendation as a piece of fiction.  The story is divided into five parts, & it will be posted serially, Sunday thru Thursday.

Banjos, Ghazals, Buses & More

Happy Wednesday afternoon, all. It’s yours truly checking in with news & highlights & coming distractions!

Speaking of which, & as illustration of the titular “more,” check this out: tomorrow on Robert Frost’s Banjo: a Writers Talk interview with our own regular contributor & fan favorite, L.E. Leone! In addition to her interview, L.E. will also have a new poem for us tomorrow on the Writers Talk blog.

But there’s more: regular contributor, B.N.—who is now officially in the market for a different nom de plume—will have a 5-part story running in this space Sunday thru Thursday of next week. The story is titled All Knees Shall Bend And Every Tongue Shall Vow, & it’s a powerhouse. To accommodate the story, the Photo of the Week feature will move to Saturday.

Not to mention: 2 more installments of Homegrown Radio with Joel Murach, both this Friday & again on October 29th!

Ghazals? Yes, folks, The Spring Ghazals is on Lulu.com & is awaiting all you kind potential buyers! Is it ill-advised to self-publish a book of poetry during an “economic crisis?” Perhaps, but there you have it—the book is published. I can honestly say that The Spring Ghazals is a good book, one that I’m proud to have written, & one that stands up to comparison to other books of contemporary poetry, whether self-published or not. I also can honestly say that I’m not a natural marketer or self-promoter. If I were those things, it’s safe to say my life experiences would have been quite different. But having said that, I do hope you’ll consider purchasing the book, & that in addition, you’d consider writing a review on your blogs &/or giving yours truly a “writerly” interview. These things would be much appreciated & would I believe win you much good karma in the long run.

Speaking of poetry (& more): how about The Poetry Bus? I have my copy, I’m happy to say, & it’s wonderful. Lots of good writing in this issue, & yours truly has a poem in there (page 32!)

You can get The Poetry Bus for approximately the cost of a movie ticket, & you can get The Spring Ghazals for less than the cost of your average cd (per CDBaby, the average cd is $12.85)! Just saying.

Banjos: Well, Eberle & I had a music show on Friday. First, let me say that Eberle played great. In retrospect, I wish she’d played on more songs. Yours truly? Well, my guitar playing was fine—I felt a bit off, I think largely due to a small turn-out, but I do have a margin on the guitar. But the feedback I’ve gotten so far is that there was just too much intense blues stuff & that my singing style (at least my delta blues singing style) is too “talky” for a full-length stage show. This feedback has been the source of much soul-searching over the past few days. Right now, I’m leaning toward spending the winter working on some instrumental material, both on the guitar & on the banjo—so for a bit at least, future Monday Morning Blues segments may be instrumentals. I’m also considering expanding my repertoire to involve what’s typically referred to as “old-timey” music these days. Can I mix “I Wish I was a Mole in the Ground” with “Banty Rooster Blues” or “Gonna Wear That Starry Crown” with “Levee Camp Moan?” We shall see!

Have a great rest of Wednesday, folks, & hope to see you early & often around Robert Frost’s Banjo for the great upcoming features.

The Wednesday News

Hi folks! A bit of a chatty post this morning, as I keep you up-to-date on things around Robert Frost’s Banjo central.

Music life has been very busy of late around these parts. I played the Cambridge, Idaho Fall Festival last weekend—one set with Heather Uebelhoer in our still-unnamed incarnation of eclectic cover band: everything from the Carter Family to the Cure! Heather is a fantastic singer who also accompanies herself with fingerstyle guitar, while I fill in on dobro, tricone & banjo (see pic below)—& one set of old blues, both solo & with Eberle (see top pic.) During that set, Eberle debuted her blues yayli tambur playing—we don’t have a pic of her accompanying me with that instrument, but there’s a pic below showing the yayli tambur along with Buffy the musical buffalo, our mascot & good luck charm. For those who don’t know, the yayli tambur is a Turkish instrument that looks a bit like a banjo on steroids. The instrument is either plucked or bowed—Eberle bows hers. The yayli tambur is traditionally tuned D-A-D (actually, there are paired string courses), so the instrument is actually kind of perfect for playing the blues in D, especially on the more “modal” delta blues. The yayli tambur is also notable for the fact that its frets (which are tied on) are set up in microtones—in other words, you can play the tones “in between” the notes of a Western scale. Eberle joined in on the yayli tambur on “Banty Rooster Blues,” “Levee Camp Moan,” & “Hobo Blues.” I’m constantly amazed by her ability to fit unusual instruments into the blues—a big part of this is her ability to think rhythmically & percussively.

Eberle & I will be playing essentially the same show on Friday evening in McCall, Idaho at the Alpine Playhouse—hope to see you local readers there! Admission is $5.00—a bargain, I say—& the Alpine will be receiving 50% of the proceeds to benefit the Playhouse. Will this be my last show of the season? I don’t know; I don’t have any other shows booked, but I’d like to keep things rolling at least while the nice weather lasts. We shall see.

On the poetry front: as you probably know, I’ve “re-launched” The Spring Ghazals, my book of poems written 2008-2010. It’s available for purchase here, & you can also read about the book & the publishing process on my new blog, The Spring Ghazals. There have been some really good discussions from the commenters that will be of particular interests to any authors out there who are thinking about self-publishing. Also, today on The Spring Ghazals blog, you’ll get to hear recordings of yours truly reading a couple of poems from the book.

& be sure to stay tuned, because we’ll have a very special guest tomorrow on Writers Talk!

Return of The Spring Ghazals

Happy Saturday, all.  I’m very pleased to announce that I’ve re-published my book The Spring Ghazals, complete with a distribution arrangement that will have it available on Amazon as well as Barnes & Noble, & also available to brick-&-mortar booksellers.  While it may be several weeks before it shows up on the major book retail websites, it’s already available at Lulu.com right here.

If you’ve been following this blog for some time, you may recall that The Spring Ghazals is made up of poems I wrote between the spring of 2008 and early this year.  The collection is very much “of a piece” in terms of theme & voice, & I do feel it represents my best work to date.  If you’d like to learn more about this project, please visit my dedicated The Spring Ghazals blog; there will be updates there about the book, as well as ongoing posts about the book’s background & the self-publishing process.

I do hope some of you will decide to purchase this book.  As far as my fellow bloggers go, I’d love it if some of you would see fit to review the book &/or possibly host yours truly for an interview during the next several weeks.  Certainly I’ll do my best to reciprocally boost any projects you’re doing, be they music, creative writing or graphic art.

& finally, I want to thank all the many folks who’ve supported this blog & my other online ventures with readership, commentary & even friendship.  It means a great deal to me, & your support has been a big factor in my seeing these poetic projects thru to fruition.  Thanks to you all!

It May Be Autumn, But….

There’s new content on my new blog, The Spring Ghazals!  In case you don’t know, this blog is dedicated to examining the publishing process of my book of recent poems (also called The Spring Ghazals.)  The book should be available in the next week to 10 days—stay tuned for more info.

On the The Spring Ghazals blog, I’ll look not only at the nuts & bolts of the publishing process, but also at the book’s background &, by extension, my own poetic background & uneasy relationship with the mainstream of contemporary poetry—what my friend B.N. & I have referred to as “poebiz” for the past 25 years.   Links for yesterday's & today's posts are here & here.

Hope to see you there—& happy Saturday, all!

Happy Birthday (Eve), Audrey Bilger!

OK, so I’m kind of anticipating birthdays again here—but I wanted to give a quick birthday shout-out to Robert Frost’s Banjo’s own SoCal correspondent & more importantly, excellent friend, Audrey Bilger.  Audrey’s frenetic schedule—complete with new admistrative job, book deals & her role on the Ms Magazine Blog—not to mention her usual run of publications (on everything from 18th century literature to comic strips) & activities, have reduced her role here—sad for us, blog-wise, but of course as a friend I’m thrilled by all the great happenings in Audrey’s life these days. 

If you’re new to Robert Frost’s Banjo, I’d encourage you to search the label “Audrey’s Writing.”  Some of Audrey’s posts, like her Lesley Gore interview or her examination of whether “Reformed Rakes” make good husbands have been among the blog’s most popular posts all-time—a day never passes that there aren’t “hits” on many of Audrey's posts.  

But I also have some good news for the near future—you won’t be simply reduced to searching for Audrey’s writing amongst the blog archives, because she’ll be participating in the Writers Talk interview series next Thursday, October 7th.  Mark your calendars & stay tuned, because I know that’s going to be an interview you don’t want to miss.  Audrey is one of the wittiest, smartest & most articulate people I know.

& also a dear friend—so happy birthday, tomorrow, Audrey.  Hope you have a great day, & many, many happy returns!

The Spring Ghazals Revisited

Happy Tuesday afternoon all!  I apologize for intruding on the flow of B.N.’s wonderful story, but I do have an important announcement—important to me at least!

I’m in the process of re-publishing The Spring Ghazals, my collection of poems written between 2008-2010, & I’ve started a new blog to record the process & also as a site where I can look back at the earlier stages of the book’s existence.  You can find The Spring Ghazals blog right here; & the first post went up today.

That’s it for now!  Hope to see you at The Spring Ghazals—& of course stay tuned for the conclusion of B.N.’s story Still Life, with Girl, which will post tomorrow morning.