HUMBUG Poetry Contest

Eye On Life Humbug Poetry Contest 

This week only, December 12th through 16th.  Submit a twisted Christmas (or other winter holiday of your choice) poem to The Poetry Locksmith and be entered to win a bag of humbug.  Winner announced on Monday, December 19th.

Contest rules:

• Previously unpublished poems only
• No more than two poems per contestant
• Contest open only to poets in the United States
• Paste your humbug poems into the body of an email.  NO ATTACHMENTS.
• Enter "HUMBUG" in the subject line
• Send the email to me at tomr@rubecom.us
• Include your name and mailing address so we can send you your prize if you win
• Less than 400 words
• Approach Christmas (or your preferred holiday) from an unusual angle

After December 19th, all rights revert to the poets.  The bag of humbug will be shipped concurrent with winner announcement.  In addition to the winner, a number of runners up will be published in The Poetry Locksmith at Eye On Life.

Simon Perchik at Eye On Life

This week at Eye On Life, The Poetry Locksmith, it is our pleasure to feature Simon Perchik's poetry. Simon has a unique voice that is worth hearing. I hope you'll stop by and have a look.

In other news, I wrote an article about the new PS900 series power supplies by Ingersoll Rand in an attempt to demystify them. I hope I succeeded. They also came out with a retrofit version designed to ease replacement of the old PS873 series with the new PS900 series. I'll be writing about that soon at Door Hardware Genius.

Being Happy

There is so much that is fun to do.

I wrote a poem and an article about deadbolts , and I published some other poets' poetry, too.

In addition, the weather since Hurricane Irene has been fabulous. The last couple of days I've been able to do some cycling just around the area. But more than that, it's simply wonderful to walk outside when it's neither too hot nor too cold. When the moments are this delicious, it's so much easier to be mindful of them.

A Season of Poetry

I don't know whether I am just getting more involved or whether poetry is getting more popular, but it seems as though there are more and better poetry events happening with greater frequency than in previous years. I am finding it to be an exciting time.

The National Poetry Slam was held in Boston this year, so I had pretty much a front row seat for the whole thing. I was randomly selected to judge two bouts, which in one case got me one of the only seats in the house. All venues were standing room only - that's right, standing room only to see poetry.

It really feels like a new era for poetry with so many young people so involved. This is a great and fantastic thing.

The IJS Retreat Approaches

My wife and I are looking forward very much to the Institute for Jewish Spirituality (IJS) retreat this weekend. We did it last year and it was a very deep experience for both of us.

One of the highlights for me is meditation led by Jordan Bendat-Appell. The energy present at the retreat is incredible, especially when brought into powerful focus by such an adept leader.

Also the vegetarian food is fantastic.

Reading Poetry in Public

I tried a new tactic at the Cantab Lounge last night. Usually if I read at open mic I'm nervous, so I have a couple of beers. However, I have noticed that this does not really enhance my performance so I decided to try mindful breathing instead. Mindful breathing worked great. As the crew of the Boston Poetry Slam set up the stage, I breathed and became totally calm. When the first eight or nine poets read, I was open and receptive and ready to thoroughly enjoy - which I did. When I went up to read I was happy and eager. It was a kind of funny, cute poem I wrote about waiting for Donna outside a store. I'll post it someplace and let you know.

At the break I contacted Simone Beaubien, the driving force behind the Boston Poetry Slam and Host City Director for the National Poetry Slam coming up in August. She agreed to an interview. If you'd like to read it, please click here.

Touching Base

I've been busy. I wrote a poem, an article about some new hardware and I published one of our regular contributors to Eye On Life Magazine: Donal Mahoney.

Like I say, I've been busy. :)

Live, Sort of...

I have started putting vocal recordings of some of my work on SoundCloud. It's a good thing... but I don't want it to take the place of open mike at the Cantab in Cambridge as my spoken word outlet. Nevertheless it is nice to be heard, and one cannot be heard if one is silent. In this way I can be heard even when I am silent.

Sick of Hardware

Oh, not actually. It's just a head cold. But hopefully, since I am taking a day off from being a Hardware Genius, I will get a chance to write a little something in between being horizontal and hopefully unconscious. I've been reading Ben Mazur's "Poems". I could read that. That's certainly enjoyable, and I want to eventually write a review. Or I could write a poem or a hardware article. Or I owe the HP Community an article on the topic of perception.

Then again, I might just watch a Disney Animated Feature.

So much to do. So little time.

Low Voltage Detective

Like many locksmiths, I find myself challenged today by the increasing complexity of electric locking systems. Now that I am in distribution it is my job to know something about these systems so I do my best to educate myself and take advantage of whatever training opportunities present themselves. Customers depend on me to advise them about what hardware they need, how it should work, and what they should do when it doesn't work as it should.

I recently had a technical support adventure on this topic, so I wrote an article about it that you can read here.

It Used To Be More Fun

The most fun I had in the door hardware industry was when I was a neighborhood locksmith. I had found my niche in the market and established myself in my service area. It was like the theme song of the old TV show, "Cheers": everybody knew my name. Certainly a great way to become an integral part of a community is to provide an essential service. I was a help in time of trouble, an emergency responder and sometimes a confidante.

As a salesperson in hardware distribution, I deal with many more people in a day, but I rarely see any of them. There is still a sense of community, but it is much more sporadic and far flung. I still get to be a hero sometimes, but it is not the same.

Yet as I often say, life is change. To embrace life, one must embrace change. And so I have. And so I will.

Curiously Limited

Wondering at the vortex of events that led to a radically truncated ride yesterday, 31 miles instead of 100, I am told by someone that does not think she knows that it was meant to be and by another who thinks she knows that nothing is meant to be. Somewhere between probably lies the truth. It seems to me that sometimes there is a thing that needs to happen, and other things happen to make this very needed thing take place in the time line.

Personally I am comforted by the idea that the universe will unfold exactly as it should, so I will stick with that.

Melissa Diana, Featured Poet on EOL

Eye on Life Online Magazine is kicking off Poetry Month (United States) with work by Melissa Diana. Please come by and read.

Started Training

Woke up this morning in bed with my alarm clock. Apparently I had shut if off in my sleep. I had had it set for my usual 4:50am wake up call, but my body apparently said, “No way,” and I slept until 6:43. Felt good.

Yesterday was my first commute by bike of the season as I begin training for my upcoming cycling events. In may I am doing the Gran Fondo event for the American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure, and at the end of June I am doing the Cape Cod Getaway event for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Yesterday’s ride was ridiculously hard after about a month off the bike, and little three-mile rides before that. I am definitely feeling it today. Weather will prevent me from further training this week, so I’ll work out indoors and keep my eye out for the next good day.

Poet's Tool Box

When writing a poem, the poet uses words in a special way to convey meaning. “Meaning” is a slippery word, isn’t it? Well, for our purposes, let’s agree that “meaning” means what a person wants to communicate. Let us further stipulate that the reason poetry exists is because words alone are often not quite up to the task of fully expressing meaning. Poetry helps words do more than what they were designed to do by painting pictures, evoking feelings and triggering thought processes in the mind of the reader or listener. The poet attempts to do this by arranging words in a certain way.

Here is a series I wrote at the request of a friend on how to get more meaning into your poetry:

• Rhyme
• Meter
• Form
• Imagery

These articles appear on "HubPages" - a place where I make a small amount of money when people see the ads Google places on the page.

Poet's Tool Box Part 2: Meter

Poet's Tool Box Part 2: Meter