An Homage for Jack Kerouac on his Birthday

DJ Bahler's "Everything is going to the beat intro" is pretty fabulous.
http://soundcloud.com/dj-bahler/sets/mashin-pit

“Maybe that's what life is...a wink of the eye and winking stars.”

He was a good one. I'm glad he existed.

The Laughing Heart

(For a little bit of assurance, and a lot a bit of love for Tom Waits and Charles Bukowski and because I've been thinking about The Beats lately.)


Listening to Waits read this poem made me realize just how powerful human expression is. It should never be withheld, always embraced, and shared with the world. If ever I'm not okay with being myself, I will think of Bukowski's words, because we ought to remind ourselves we are marvelous, we are to be delighted in.

The Laughing Heart
By Charles Bukowski

your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.

Reading is Sexy

A certain kind of intimacy comes from watching others deep in a book/ magazine/newspaper, whether it's glancing at a complete stranger in a coffee shop, library, park, the beach, or if it comes from admiring your significant other/ crush being carried off into a completely different land created by words.

For the creeper/admirer in all of you, and to promote the appreciation of a sexy body and mind, I've put together a small compilation of websites featuring readers:

http://lu-yi.blogspot.com-- Each of the photos on this post are story-worthy. Oh, the stories within the stories.

http://hotguysreadingbooks.tumblr.com--Because those who don't like a good looking man with a book in his hand, well, they are just sad folk.

http://peoplereading.blogspot.com/--A blog with a very cool goal:

The goal: A hundred readers every hundred miles, everywhere the globe is populated. The arctic, not exempt—any scientific communities looking for a new project? The oceans, not exempt—forward to your friends who work on outrigger canoes, fishing vessels, oil rigs, cruise ships. The upper reaches of Siberia—not exempt!— reindeer herders read, too. A map filled up with readers would be a beautiful display of diversity, and unity. I invite you start your own sister (or brother) blog, wherever you may be.

http://typewritergirls.net/--Fun girls who create literary shenanigans in the Pittsburgh area and beyond.