Left Hand Poetry

After last week's foray into corporate pride-swallowing, I'm coming at you with a much more bucolic work, "Ode to MD 67." This one is straight from the heart and a little rough around the edges. For a couple of years I spent a lot of time on that old state road, and to the future it ultimately delivered me into.

A little meta-commentary, I've updated the podcast's closing to be a bit more streamlined. I know everyone always listens to the end to hear that end theme, so this will hopefully get you there a little quicker while I still conduct the business of the podcast. Speaking of business, I'll reiterate what I say there: if you visit https://LeftHandRob.net, you'll see along the right hand column of the home page all of my books, and for your reference my poetry books. Own the words you've heard me speak! While the podcast IS a labor of love for me, grabbing a copy of those books (they make great gifts, y'all) would be an amazing help to support this production. Okay, sales pitch over. Let's wrap this up the usual way.

You know the drill:

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

Donate to Black Lives Matter

Donate to the Souther Poverty Law Center

Donate to the Equal Justice Initiative

Transgender Law Center

The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.

Welcome to Season 2! New Year, same podcast. Hopefully that's a comfort to you, especially after the attempted insurrection that happened earlier this week in DC. Coincidentally, this week's poem is titled "Yes Man," and it came from an actual experience I had at work, long long ago. It's not happy, nor absurd, in fact it's a little sad and it's a poem I wrote to process the feelings that burrowed themselves deep into my chest when the event occurred. All these years later they are just echoes now, and the disappointment in my voice is directed firmly at those in power who refuse to act as they should and sadness at those who are led down a path toward madness. Given what comes below in every one of these posts, you should be able to figure out about whom I am speaking. I'll see about picking something a bit more bucolic or absurd for next week's episode, until then...

You know the drill:

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

Donate to Black Lives Matter

Donate to the Souther Poverty Law Center

Donate to the Equal Justice Initiative

Transgender Law Center

The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.

I hope you enjoy this little essay that was selected by a dear friend or me to read as part of an afternoon of music and poetry at my home town library a few years back. "Tiny Dog Infestations" is yet another absurd look into the fact that when people have a tiny dog they somehow always have more than just the one. There's also some historical context in there as well. It's all as true as you want it to be.

You know the drill:

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

Donate to Black Lives Matter

Donate to the Souther Poverty Law Center

Donate to the Equal Justice Initiative

Transgender Law Center

The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.

The audio this week is a little more ... intimate sounding that it usually is. I used a different setup, but hey, keeps things interesting for your ears! The poem this week is "Mental Sorbet," which I describe the genesis of said phrase in the poem itself. It's a quick one and something a little weird for you as we head into a weird holiday season when I hit publish on this episode. For those of you downloading and listening in 2020 (or likely too far into 2021), I hope you're safe and secure and that this episode provides a few moments of pleasantly odd distraction from whatever troubles you. Unless it's a certain scene in a certain movie, in which case, sorry about that.

You know the drill:

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

Donate to Black Lives Matter

Donate to the Souther Poverty Law Center

Donate to the Equal Justice Initiative

Transgender Law Center

The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.

Folks -- at this point, I think I can even say Friends -- I have a problem. Whenever snow starts falling out of the sky, my brain slips into a poetic mood and unbidden it begins to crank out verses about the stuff. My poetry books are littered with snow poems. So obviously when the first proper snowfall of the winter happened here where I am, I leafed through said books and found a poem on the subject to read for you. And so we have this week's episode "On the Meaning of a Single Snowflake." Of course, it's somewhat ironic given that it refers to those first snowflakes that fall and give us no clue (weather forecasts need not apply) as to whether we're in for several inches and a bit of shoveling or just some flurries that sublimate away before you can say "one horse open sleigh."

You know the drill by now:

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

Donate to Black Lives Matter

Donate to the Souther Poverty Law Center

Donate to the Equal Justice Initiative

Transgender Law Center

The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.

If you're a regular listener of the podcast, you may have thought that I was finally cashing in on the "or so" part of when I originally told you that this podcast would publish "every week *or so*." Fear not, friend, for I have a fresh episode for you right here. If you're finding this episode at some point in the future - Hi! How's the future? Do we have flying cars yet?

This week, a poem based on a photo I discovered online, I think it was likely a writing prompt, and if so prompt it did! The photo was of a young girl standing before an elephant playing a violin (the girl was playing the violin, not the elephant. This would have been a much different poem if that had been the case). "I Played for the Queen of All Elephants" is a poem I had thought was done, but when I chose to record it this week and did my pre-record read through I found that the story just trails off. It was all set up and no payoff. So I added a few more stanzas to finish the tale. Hopefully you can't tell where the original bit ends and the new bit begins, unless you have your copy of "Blue." in front of you. You do own a copy of "Blue.," don't you? If not, you can find the link to it on the "Buy my Books" page on my blog (https://lefthandrob.net , if you're not already there).

"I Played..." is a bit of fantasy, tangentially appropriate in this season of dreams, but not Holiday-themed in any way, unless you consider peace, harmony, and music Holiday themes.

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

Donate to Black Lives Matter

Donate to the Souther Poverty Law Center

Donate to the Equal Justice Initiative

Transgender Law Center

The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.

Well, y'all seem to like it when I dig into the absurdity archive, so I pulled out one of my favorites from one of the weirder corners of my brain. I mean, it's been out in the world for about 8 years now, but it's probably new to you. That's right, this week it's "Avocado (dis)Information". See if you can spot the chemistry pun.

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

Donate to Black Lives Matter

Donate to the Souther Poverty Law Center

Donate to the Equal Justice Initiative

Transgender Law Center

The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.

This episode drops on American Thanksgiving, and as I'm in a thankful mood I chose "Thanks to English Teachers" for this week's poem, inspired by both those who taught me and my wife, who is herself an amazing and talented English teacher. For them, for her, I am thankful!

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

Donate to Black Lives Matter

Donate to the Souther Poverty Law Center

Donate to the Equal Justice Initiative

Transgender Law Center

The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.

I had originally meant to read this poem last week, but as I said then the events of the weekend had moved me to write some new poems, and they were very much of the moment. Hopefully they hold up over time as much as this one has - in my opinion. You may or may not have been paying attention to the back and forth of the 2012 election back when it was happening, but I was, and a slice of that moment worked its way into that poem, dreamt up on a morning's commute, back when I spent so many hours to and from work. This week, it's "Capital Improvement."

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

Donate to Black Lives Matter

Donate to the Souther Poverty Law Center

Donate to the Equal Justice Initiative

Transgender Law Center

The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.

I had originally planned to program one of my more politically-minded poems that I had already published in one of my collections (Blue.), but over the weekend I was moved by current events to share a pair of poems on my Instagram story. If you follow me there, you've likely already read them. If not, hey, I'm on Instagram, posting photos that I write brief poems about (LeftHandRob).

So this week you get another two-for: "Victory," a piece celebrating the win for President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris and "Quiz Show Guru," an elegy for Alex Trebek.

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

Donate to Black Lives Matter

Donate to the Souther Poverty Law Center

Donate to the Equal Justice Initiative

Transgender Law Center

The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.