09/03/2017

Publishing and republishing

Besides publishing a current list of literary magazines accepting reprints, the blog Published to Death includes a link to poetry publishers accepting unagented manuscripts. And it's not just for poetry. There are listings for all genres, including visual, and their markets and includes cool links such as . . . calls for submissions by the month, paying markets etc. Yes, there are similar sites, but this is a good one.


Of course, Duotrope is, at least in my limited experience, the best of the best when it comes to offering an "extensive, searchable database of current fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and visual art markets, a calendar of upcoming deadlines, a personal submissions tracker, and useful statistics compiled from the millions of data points". Yes, that's their description but it is what they do and they do it well. I was a subscriber until they erected a paywall. After that I couldn't justify the expense. I seldom followed through and actually submitted anything.


I did a poetry blog instead. Poetry needs to be free. However, that means if I want to publish something elsewhere, in a "real" publication, I must find publishers who accept reprints.  Annasadhorse may be one of the the least visited sites in the universe but most publishers automatically refuse anything unless they get first rights. Rock and a hard place.

Beware the Six Month Rule

Back in Bangkok after an ill-fated trip to Singapore. We were planning to stay there for five days and then slowly travel north though Malaysia working our way back to Bangkok. Unfortunately, at customs Lee ran up against the Six Month Rule and we had to cancel our plans. In fact, only after a prolonged interview with the head of customs at the Singapore airport was he allowed into the country.

The Six Month Rule requires that, to enter the country, your passport must be valid for at least six months beyond your travel dates. A list of countries that have this requirement here. Lee's passport expires in April. We picked up six month tourist visas for Thailand before leaving the US, so we didn't learn about the rule until Singapore. They could have turned him away right there but, after showing return travel arrangements, he was permitted entry. Plus it probably helped that his passport was already full of stamps from other countries, some proof anyway of our nomadic life-style. We felt very lucky, especially after learning that Singapore is very strict about it. So, beware the Six Month Travel rule or you might find yourself on day one of a trip headed back home on the next available flight whatever the cost, whether you can afford it or not.

But we did stay five days in Singapore. More about that later.


03/03/2017

Pattaya

Morning in Pattaya
Morning in Pattaya

Some call Pattaya the wild west of Thailand. We were there for a conference so, other than streets thronging with nearly naked bar girls and fat, grubby sexpats with girlfriends younger than their granddaughters, we saw none of it.

Sunset in Pattaya
Evening in Pattaya

A friend at the conference did mention however that, while on the lunch break, a ladyboy grabbed  him by the crotch and tried pulling him in for a drink. I'm not sure Trump would like Pattaya. He likes to do the grabbing.


05/02/2017

It was inevitable




Mysteries on Sukhumvit

Four more or less identical mirrors hang above the sidewalk on the front of a strange shop along Sukhumvit, one of Bangkok's busiest streets. They are too high up to use as mirrors so why they are there, as ornaments, protection from spirits or whatever, I do not know. Whenever I pass by, the door is locked and the shade pulled, thus it remains a mystery.


To be continued . . .

30/01/2017

The Silent Majority aka The Deplorables



Silence is compliance . . . PERIOD

Here is the very long list of Republicans who have remained silent on Trump's refugee ban. Time to dump the spineless, compliant Republican Party!

THE DEPLORABLE GOP
The Deplorable Republican Silent Majority
source: Vox

29/01/2017

Lunar New Year 2017



Tis the year of the Fire Rooster according to the Chinese lunar calendar, so Happy New Year. Here's wishing you all the best in the coming year. They say if you encounter a dragon on the lunar new year, give him money. We did so we did. Dragon was moving fast so Swami had to follow him into a girlie bar to put money in his mouth.

Swami & the Dragon - Bangkok - Lunar New Year Celebrations
Swami and the Dragon
Bar on Sukhumvit soi 22

21/01/2017

Americans protest Trump nationwide

The Big News today, the gigantic event that took place today . . .

The numbers speak for themselves

. . . is that millions of Americans protested the swearing in of the most vile, sexist, racist, liar, the most corrupt, the most compromised, toxic, hate-spewing, stupid, impulse driven creep to ever darken the door the White House ... Traitor Donald Jackass Trump.

Trump is nothing more than a statistical anomaly from the twilight zone. He lost the popular vote by a greater margin than any President in the history of the United States. It is only because of the outdated "electoral college" that he now wields immeasurable power but . . .  We are stronger. This loser didn't even have the balls to attend his first press conference.


Squirrel Appreciation Day

It's Squirrel Appreciation Day.


Make a squirrel's day.

15/01/2017

Ringling Circus dreams

This spring the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus is emptying its cages and folding up its big tent forever.

When I was in my early twenties I nearly joined Ringling Bros. circus. A job was waiting. Well, a job was waiting for Billy Grummel but we both knew Joey, the "one time with a dime" guy who ran a ring toss game on the midway and our mutual lover. Billy could work on the midway. I dreamed of taking care of the elephants. But all that's another story. My point is, I too once loved the circus but today I celebrate its demise.

I didn't know then what I know now. I didn't realize that elephants who, in the wild, might enjoy a 100 mile stroll before breakfast, are tortured until their spirit breaks then sold into a life of slavery. Except for when they perform, give rides to tourists, haul logs, beg on the street or at a temple etc. they live in chains.

So good. Ringling Bros. circus is closing. It only took 36 years of petitions, protests, legal wrangling but finally, finally it's closing. Thank you to all who wrote letters, signed online petitions, sent in a few bucks, explained to the kids why "we aren't going to the circus", joined a street protest when the circus came to town, talked to a friend about it, blogged about it ... whatever ... cared. The voice of compassion has been heard although, of course, it was the loss of revenue that carried it to the ears. It's all good.

And now . . . .

07/01/2017

Where I hang my hat

After 38 hours of travel we're, well, "home" or back in Bangkok. They tell me missing December here means missing the best weather of the year but, IMO, the weather is still nice, that is ... overcast and "cool" . . . 28° C or 82.4 F. That's "winter" temps in Thailand. I'm not being facetious. Bangkok malls are all carrying winter clothes ... poly jackets, heavy coats, sweaters, hats, gloves and just yesterday a friend, a westerner, even complained it was cold. Having just left Oregon where winter cold froze the dog poop in my daughter's backyard, allowing for a speeding, aroma-free removal and a giant snow storm left my mother-in-law and her cat, Alley, stranded at home surviving on dwindling rations, 28° C is not cold. Oh well. Reality is relative.

Ok. Gotta go. Meeting a friend in an hour.

01/01/2017

Day One, 2017

Happy New Year.

Is this idea of a "new" year merely a stupid fantasy? Oh well. Who cares? As Heraclitus said, change is the only constant. In that light, painful though it may be, here's hoping changes in this new year led to new, better beginnings.

Also, in keeping with the season, I published a new poem on AnnaSadhorse, Horary for the Third Millennium CE.

20/12/2016

Winter Solstice I Ching - 2016

First hexagram:

K'an - #29 - Danger

Changing line #5

The dark waters of this pit will rise no higher.
Your greatest danger now lies in panic.
Keep your wits and you will escape.



Changing to:

Shih - #7 -  The Army

Good fortune.
No mistakes if you follow a course led by experience.

15/12/2016

It's Sober Santa time again

The Christmas season is upon us and one of the my few loyal readers made a special request . . . that, for old time's sake, I re-post Sober Santa. So, without further ado, I give you Sober Santa.

Ho-ho-ho!
Merry Christmas!
Let the games begin!


11/12/2016

Other places . . .


On the move again.

Other places - Bangkok letterbox
Bangkok mailbox

At the moment we're back in Taiwan, the rainy island

Here I Am
Taipei Cultural Center

which is either a sovereign country or renegade province

Back in Taiwan
Rainy day in Taipei

depending on who you talk to.

Taiwan must get independence
Sovereign movement

Tomorrow we fly back to the U.S.

Tag poem
Photo tags poem

for Christmas with family and friends.

Christmas in Taipei
Snowman in Taipei

I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone . . .
the kids, still overwhelmingly sweet, raucous and innocent
and the adults, cherished friends. Ain't life grand?!

Open when not closed
Open when not closed . . .
- Taipei shop -

I can't wait to commiserate with them about the goddam fuck show of a
U.S. Presidential election. Trump? What irony! America's self-appointed
new-age elitists, good ol' boy women and the USSR jointly elected an
impulsive, revenge driven, gold-plated vaudeville scammer.
America has fallen through the trapdoor. 

Batterred typewriter in Taipei, Taiwan
Life in the gap
- Taipei -

Then, after the first of the year, it's back out into the dirty old world again.



20/11/2016

Biker dude dog




While his human was off shopping, this little fellow seemed to be enjoying a fabulous adventure on the motorbike.


When he realized I was standing there he turned and said, in no uncertain barks, "Get outta here". I immediately regretted ogling him. He was deep in his game and, quite understandably, did not appreciate by-standers photographing him.


Don't worry. It all worked out OK. I quickly moved out of sight, though I did take one last photo before going on my way. As for the dog, the second I disappeared from view, he roared off again on the open road.




14/11/2016

Supermoon over Bangkok

Hello moon . . .


. . . old friend.



13/11/2016

Fiends on high

So Donald Trump picked Steve Bannon as his Chief Strategist. No surprise but wow, just wow. Bannon is a depraved, scorch-the-earth fiend. The air is bad here in Bangkok today, a "very unhealthy - the entire population is more likely to be affected" purple on the air quality index, but the toxic stink polluting the world is coming from America.


10/11/2016

Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold


The sea is calm tonight
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.
Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

This via Sled Press at Sixteen Tons -- Thank you. It helps tonight.

To Do List

Morning After To-Do List:

1. Take over the Democratic Party and return it to the people. They have failed us miserably.

2. Fire all pundits, predictors, pollsters and anyone else in the media who had a narrative they wouldn't let go of and refused to listen to or acknowledge what was really going on. Those same bloviators will now tell us we must "heal the divide" and "come together." They will pull more hooey like that out of their ass in the days to come. Turn them off.

3. Any Democratic member of Congress who didn't wake up this morning ready to fight, resist and obstruct in the way Republicans did against President Obama every day for eight full years must step out of the way and let those of us who know the score lead the way in stopping the meanness and the madness that's about to begin.

4. Everyone must stop saying they are "stunned" and "shocked". What you mean to say is that you were in a bubble and weren't paying attention to your fellow Americans and their despair. YEARS of being neglected by both parties, the anger and the need for revenge against the system only grew. Along came a TV star they liked whose plan was to destroy both parties and tell them all "You're fired!" Trump's victory is no surprise. He was never a joke. Treating him as one only strengthened him. He is both a creature and a creation of the media and the media will never own that.

5. You must say this sentence to everyone you meet today: "HILLARY CLINTON WON THE POPULAR VOTE!" The MAJORITY of our fellow Americans preferred Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. Period. Fact. If you woke up this morning thinking you live in an effed-up country, you don't. The majority of your fellow Americans wanted Hillary, not Trump. The only reason he's president is because of an arcane, insane 18th-century idea called the Electoral College. Until we change that, we'll continue to have presidents we didn't elect and didn't want. You live in a country where a majority of its citizens have said they believe there's climate change, they believe women should be paid the same as men, they want a debt-free college education, they don't want us invading countries, they want a raise in the minimum wage and they want a single-payer true universal health care system. None of that has changed. We live in a country where the majority agree with the "liberal" position. We just lack the liberal leadership to make that happen (see: #1 above).

Let's try to get this all done by noon today.

-- Michael Moore
Nov. 9, 2016

09/11/2016

Day after yesterday

I am stunned and angry. Thanks third party voters and people who sat this one out. Thanks sexist women and men who think you need a cock to be President. Thanks Democratic Party for nominating the "next in line". This is on you.

At least for now, this article in the New York Times, An American Tragedy by David Remnick, and this one in The Guardian, Donald Trump is moving into the White House and liberals put him there by Thomas Frank, will have to stand in for my thoughts and feelings on the deplorable, dismaying, disasterous outcome of the Presidential election.

It's still Nov. 9 here in Bangkok and now 7 PM. People in America are just waking up to what will now be (if we're lucky only) a four year election hangover. Me? I'm done for today.

08/11/2016

Holy fucking god!

Bangkok, Nov 9 - morning

WTF! It's Nov 8 in America and the presidential election is in full swing and Predator Trump is leading. I know. The votes aren't all in and the West hasn't been counted but WTF? I am so disappointed in America and terrified, not just for us but for the whole world. Trump is unhinged. The guy is a maniac. Lead America? HA! Represent the most powerful country on earth on an international level? OMG! He's incapable. He's a menace to us all!

The fools voting for Trump are blinded by their anger and magical thinking. They're doing a performance murder/suicide dance of death with this thing believing, at the same time, that they can pull the trigger and not die. If Trump wins, these fuckers are in for a horrific reality check. Fine, if it were just them, but unfortunately the rest of us would be pulled into the madness with them.

07/11/2016

Message from the front side of tomorrow

Good news. It's almost over.

It's Nov. 7 in America but, here in Bangkok, Nov. 8 has already begun. That means the reality TV/psychodrama  we-are-fucking-SICK-of-it-can-it-be-over-already Nov. 8th US Presidential election day has finally begun somewhere in the world.

Well, the Bangkok air quality index has been in the red alert zone for a few days, and maybe it's election stink, but today the pressure is off. The index is back down to a more livable moderate yellow so, somewhere anyway, things are looking up.

Still, we all have to wait a few more hours to find out who wins. Will it be Hillary? If Trump looses will he sue America? Will life go on from here? But Time is a tough master. As usual, we'll have live our way to the answers. 

Bangkok - shrine along Sukhumvit 22
Shrine off of Sukhumvit 22
Bangkok

However, I do know this. There can be light at the end of a dark passage. I have seen it. I even photographed it for proof. So, stay strong. If you haven't already . . .  go vote for her! See you on the other side.

29/10/2016

Paw prints for the future

Paw prints - Bangkok
Paw prints on Soi Sukhumvit 15
Bangkok

Perhaps these paw prints, currently embedded in a Bangkok street, will be unearthed by someone thousands of years from now and preserved as an artifact from our time on earth.


26/10/2016

Hello Good-gye Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai at night - homage to Thailand's beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Chiang Mai at night
Homage to the King
Thailand's beloved King Bhumibol passed away just days before we got here. The impact is hard for outsiders to grasp. How can we? In America, bloated monster Donald Trump grabbed power overnight by inspiring hatred and bigotry. In the UK, self-serving politicians gerrymandered the Brexit thus threatening, not only the stability of the UK and the European Union, but perhaps the world. In contrast, King Bhumibol was that rare, actually wise, actually virtuous leader who inspired, guided and stabilized Thailand by the force of his personal example like a wise, loving father. The country is in mourning for a year and the sadness is tangible.

White wat - Chiang Mai
White stupa in Chiang Mai
We were planning to stay in Chiang Mai for the next five months, and did for a week, but have decided to move on. There are a few reasons but mainly it's because, this time, we didn't stay in the old city and by "old city" I mean that part of Chiang Mai located inside the moat and crumbling walls of what was once the Lan Na Kingdom.

The words Chiang Mai means "new city" which was true in 1296 when it became the new capital of the old Lan Na kingdom, founded in 1262. Today it is that part within the wall and square moat. This trip we stayed outside and walking to the old city required crossing the belt line road which is something like a foreign body trying to cross the body's blood-brain barrier. There are only a few crosswalks over this daunting road and most of those don't even have a traffic light. You cross at your own risk. And even where there are lights, they barely give enough time to run across before changing back to red.

Of course we went there, sometimes taking a songthaew (red truck) just to avoid crossing the road but it just wasn't the same. Yes, the old city is extremely picturesque but I already spent months photographing it on earlier trips. Also Khun Churn, our go-to vegetarian restaurant, moved away from the center and the peanut butter smoothies at Beetroot Cafe are now watered down and the girl working there acted like she wished we were dead. So, we decided to move to Bangkok. You have to know when it's time to go.

One note though—on our last day in Chiang Mai a friend turned us on to a different, excellent veggie restaurant, Imm Aim Vegetarian & Bike Cafe. They serve even better peanut butter smoothies and the people were really nice so who knows? We may move back but, for now anyway, we are apartment hunting in Bangkok.