Kujaku Poetry & Ships

Google search now useless

2012-01-28T10:12:00.002-05:00

Wow. Google search just destroyed itself. I'd been reading about the new 'personalization', wondering what it would mean to me -- it means Google search is now completely useless. I just did one of my usual searches and it returned eight hits. 8! Six of which are pages I posted myself. Yeah, when I'm 'searching' for info, I just want to talk to myself and not learn from anybody else.I switched

Five Levels of the Watershed

2012-01-02T09:59:00.000-05:00

Very excited to be part of this! Composer Erik Spangler contacted me in 2010 because he was searching for poetry of the Chesapeake Bay to be part of his new composition. It has come to fruition. It's an orchestral sound poem that includes music, environmental sounds, and tanka poetry. You can also listen to it free online at: http://soundcloud.com/dubble8/five-levels-of-the-watershed-1 You can

Review: Puss in Boots

2011-11-04T18:22:00.003-04:00

I just got back from seeing Puss in Boots at the cinema. It's a good movie, not a great movie, but fun for a couple of hours. The frustrating part is that half of the movie is an imaginative, even insightful interpretation of classic fairy tales and nursery rhymes, but half of it is a bucket full of Hollywood clichés featuring cartoon physics, chase scenes, rivals who are romantically attracted

Visually Impaired Kindle Users Group

2011-10-24T20:52:00.001-04:00

I don't normally post forwards, but I care very much about people with disabilities being able to access things the rest of us take for granted, so I'm posting this notice about the Visually Impaired Kindle Users Group--------------As you may know, Timothy Emmonds and I started a group to share tips for visually impaired people on how to use the Amazon Kindle for reading. We want it to be useful

Great New Kindles, but They Still Suck

2011-10-03T06:38:00.000-04:00

I've been watching the Amazon Kindle Press Release from September 28, 2011. The new Kindles are exciting, and the prices are coming down. I am intrigued by the Kindle Fire--it integrates all sorts of things, such as music, reading, and watching movies. It's in color. And yes, I did say, you can watch movies on it. And it's cheap for a tablet -- $199. But you know what? Kindle still sucks. I

So Many Good Reasons Not to Tell the Internet Who You Really Are

2011-09-17T11:33:00.000-04:00

Well, after being denied and disabled, and me spending time frantically trying to find how to get my account back again, it has been reenabled. Maybe it's a coincidence that it reappeared after I posted on my blog about it. I decided to leave the post so as a warning to the rest of the world that if they have something to hide, the Google Identity Police will get them. You know, hiding

Atlas Poetica a victim of Google Identity Police

2011-09-17T10:55:00.000-04:00

Help! I'm a victim of the Google identity police. With their new 'real name policy', my journal Atlas Poetica's email account is now locked and slated for deletion with no way for me to appeal. I ran afoul of the new policies for Google+ when I accepted an invite for my journal, Atlas Poetica, whose email address is Atlas Poetica at gmail dot com. I put the data for the journal, including its

Born That Way

2011-09-13T16:39:00.000-04:00

Lindsay Miller, a lesbian who calls herself a queer woman, logged 'Queer by Choice, Not by Chance' over at the Atlantic. The general thrust of her argument is that she is erotically attracted to both men and women, but she chooses women. She likes the equality of a same sex relationship and the fact that there is no male privilege to dismantle when both partners are women. She likes basing her

Further Deceit by Lulu.com

2011-05-26T09:09:00.000-04:00

In my previous post, I detailed what Lulu.com is doing wrong with ebooks. I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. The Lulu response is enlightening--an ebook from Lulu is not, in fact, and ebook. Except, it might be. You, the consumer, have no way of knowing before you buy it, and after you buy it, you're screwed, because if you didn't get what you expected, it's the author's fault.

Lulu.com, Defective Ebook Publisher

2011-05-19T11:34:00.000-04:00

You know what they say, if you can't beat them, humiliate them publicly. Lulu.com publishes defective ebooks and denies all responsibility for doing so, and refuses to investigate the malfunction of their publishing wizard. Specifically, even though the author uploads the cover file and they display it on their website, implying that an ebook does in fact come with a cover, they don't. You get a

Still More Twitter Tanka

2011-05-12T06:20:00.000-04:00

Trying to blog more of my Twitter poetry, that most ephemeral of literatures. they can't stand the silence, they want hearts that ring like bells what fractions of a heart were carried, counted, divided, summed, until the whole was zero? go out in the sun, a burrowing creature all winter, heart cracked open by beams of light there was never a muddy spring that ran clear, and this

More Twitter Tanka

2011-04-15T15:53:00.000-04:00

Twitter is so ephemeral, I am trying to unearth poems that have only appeared on Twitter and put them on my blog so that they will be easier to find and can be more readily seen. night watch at three am the drunks asleep but the fishboats heading out topmen aloft in a gale shoulders aching as they battle the mainsail a whale named "Salt" swimming circles and slapping the sea with her tail

Twitter Tanka

2011-04-03T08:44:00.001-04:00

The following tanka have been published on Twitter, but nowhere else. I thought I ought to gather them up and put them some place easier to find. move over, Shiki, there’s more than a wisteria branch to be seen from this invalid’s bed nothing certain but death and taxes, today, I suffer from a little of each I look like Frankenstein: I’m green, and I have stitches in each temple where

Twitter Special Focus for Atlas Poetica 9

2011-02-01T00:25:00.000-05:00

Atlas Poetica : A Journal of Poetry of Place, issue 9, Summer, 2011, will be focussing on Twitter. It's been two years (can it really be so long?) since we did our first focus on Twitter. Twitter continues to grow as a micropoetry community with poets publishing tanka, kyoka, and gogyohka via Twitter. There are several Twitter microjournals such as microcosms and 7x20, as well as archives, such

Review : Peter Simple by Capt. Frederick Marryat

2010-12-31T16:45:00.000-05:00

Peter Simple is an early novel by Captain Frederick Marryat, he who actually served during the Napoleonic Wars and under the redoubtable Lord Cochrane to boot. As such, Marryat's sea novels are replete with details of life as actually experienced by the men and officers of the time. However, Marryat's a humorist, and his goal is to tell an entertaining tale, and with Peter Simple he succeeds

Tomoe Tana's History of Japanese Tanka Poem in America Needed

2010-12-18T14:02:00.000-05:00

I have lost my copy of Tana's master's thesis and I'm desperate to replace it. Tana, Tomoe. The history of Japanese tanka poetry in America. [HJTP] San José: San José State University, 1985. [thesis-M.A] The only copy is located at San José State University. It doesn't circulate so I can't get it through interlibrary loan. I got a cooy through the gay grape vine a couple of years ago, but I no

Cosmo Jarvis' Gay Pirates

2010-12-11T07:38:00.001-05:00

21 one year old straight man Cosmo Jarvis has made a corker of a music video, which you can see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dysG12QCdTA 'Gay Pirates' is not camp, send up, Jack Sparrow love-in, or anything else funny or fluffy. On the contrary, it's a lovely and tragic love ballad about a pair of gay sailors on a ship full of homophobic pirates and the price they pay for being true to

Reviews for LGBT Nautical Fiction Coming Soon

2010-11-13T11:44:00.000-05:00

I have decided to start reviewing nautical novels and other books with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgendered (LGBT) characters on a time available basis. I'm doing this because I enjoy the field and I want to help other readers find quality books to read. Many reviewers are informal reviewers, and that's helpful, but often reflects "Why I dis/like this book" rather than a critical analysis of

What If It's Not Autism?

2010-11-12T22:12:00.000-05:00

A pediatric doctor and researcher offers a compelling presentation about his theory that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and autism are the same disease. He theorizes that CFS is an adult onset Neuro-Immune Disorder and that autism is what happens when it onsets in early childhood and that ADD and ADHD is what happens when it onsets in older children. His research with neuroSPECT scans and other

Further Frustrations with Kindle

2010-10-23T17:28:00.003-04:00

I have been using my Kindle for a couple of weeks now. After the initial learning curve, I was settling into being able to listen and read to my Kindle with minimal interruptions. Mind you, I can't do anything special with it -- I have not felt comfortable enough to experiment. However, I have even started to trust the claims of long battery life. I used to charge it obsessively as I have been

The Spoon Theory

2010-10-20T16:07:00.000-04:00

When a person has a chronic illness, a disabling illness or condition, life becomes very difficult. Energy is limited. For a person who has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), lack of energy is the problem. It's very difficult to explain to people why you can do this thing but not that thing. If you can do one thing, surely you can do it all? Well, yes. I can do 'anything', but not 'everything.' The

Day Three, Kindle with Case

2010-10-13T18:00:00.002-04:00

Monday I got my Kindle 3G as a gift from a fan (thank you very much). It came with a Kindle cover... on Tuesday. So, the two are now united and in operation. It hooked up easily enough. I like the built in light that comes with the case. It would be better if it rose a little higher, it does not shine evenly on the Kindle. In particular, it does a poor job of illuminating the keyboard and

Tom Wisner, Bard of the Chesapeake

2010-10-09T21:52:00.001-04:00

I have only just now learned that Tom Wisner, the Bard of the Chesapeake Bay has passed away. Daddy Art, that is to say, Captain Art Daniels delivered the eulogy. It is always sad to see a piece of the Chesapeake's history and culture pass away, but I am sadder still that this is old news and I have only just now heard it. That's what comes of committing the disloyalty of spending my year on the

Kindle vs Nook and the winner is....

2010-10-06T17:45:00.002-04:00

Kindle. Hands down, no debate, knock out punch in the first round.Today I had the opportunity to compared a Nook and Kindle 3G side by side in the Barnes and Noble bookstore. I must say the staff at Barnes and Noble were very nice and helpful, even as it was apparent the Nook was going down in flames. First: Nook doesn't do text to speech. POW. Dead. Not even a contender. Vainly did the clerk

Listening to My New Kindle

2010-10-05T21:16:00.000-04:00

I received a Kindle 3G as a gift from a fan, which I greatly appreciate. We met each other in an online game a month ago and were chatting. I told him about my novels, the Pirates of the Narrow Seas series featuring a gay lieutenant during the Age of Sail, and intrigued by my telling him the Kindle would read aloud (which I had heard from print-impaired friends), he decided to buy a Kindle and my

#Applefail - no iBooks for You!

2010-10-02T22:21:00.000-04:00

You can't access iBookstore unless you have an iPad or an iPhone. No, you're not allowed to even look at the catalog and browse. Period. You must shell out hundreds of bucks before you can even look and see if there's something you want to buy. By contrast, I can view the Kindle store from any kind of machine I want. I downloaded the Kindle for Mac app and I can read and buy books from the Kindle

What is Tanka?

2010-09-29T19:49:00.005-04:00

Tanka are a five line, short lyric poem originally from Japan. The ancient Japanese were composing them even before they were literate (7th century AD); they sang them as songs. For more than a thousand years tanka was the dominant form of Japanese poetry. It lost its pre-eminent place when haiku was invented in the 17th century, but it continues to be written to this day. Famous tanka poets in

Fire Pearls for Weddings

2010-08-06T20:05:00.001-04:00

I stopped by my local library yesterday and chatted with the librarians. It turns out that Fire Pearls is often checked out of the library for weddings! I presume people are looking for poetry suitable to read at weddings. I'm very charmed at this unexpected development, and I wish all engaged people happily ever after. Especially so now that Proposition 8 has been overturned in California, and

Keibooks Announces Catzilla! List of Poets and Cover Cat

2010-07-30T12:00:00.000-04:00

Keibooks Announces Catzilla! List of Poets and Cover Cat Keibooks announces the final selection for Catzilla! Tanka, Kyoka, and Gogyohka About Cats. Edited by M. Kei, the anthology features the work of forty-five poets from around the world. The poets have written tanka, kyoka, and gogyohka (all five line poems originally from Japan) in homage to our funny, friendly, and infuriating feline

Post-Exertional Malaise : The Hallmark of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

2010-07-04T17:37:00.000-04:00

I was going to post a comment on a particularly hateful blog about the difference between Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and ordinary fatigue, but it grew into a much longer article, so I decided to blog it myself. Basically, it boils down to a debate. There are two definitions of CFS: one, promoted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and popular in Europe, is that CFS is fatigue principally

The Adventures of Timmynocky the Sailor Cat, a true story

2010-06-17T18:52:00.004-04:00

Those of you have visited my website at picasaweb.com/kujakupoet will familiar with Timmynocky, the junior of our two cats here on the Kalmar Nyckel. We are here at Harborfest in Norfolk, Virginia, so if you are, stop by, ship visition is noon to 1730. But I digress. Timmynocky is normally allowed to roam free when we are in port. He knows how t find his home and returns for food, which is

If Shoes Could Kill... they probably would

2010-06-03T09:30:00.000-04:00

Devoted followers of this blog (all three of you) know that my obsessions are wooden sailing vessels and tanka poetry. Occasionally I do stray into other topics because sometimes the urge to shout, "Hey, everybody, there are gerbils in her boots!" is too overwhelming to resist. Click the link above and see what I mean. If giving gerbils concussions with every high fashion step you take isn't

Voyaging and Drydock, with pictures

2010-05-28T21:17:00.000-04:00

I have just returned from my first ocean voyage with the Kalmar Nyckel. We took her to drydock in Portsmouth, Virginia. I have posted pictures at my Picasaweb site. New albums with all new pix include: 'Voyaging' and 'Drydock.' I have reorganized and added new material to 'Sea Cats,' 'Ship Features,' 'Under Way,' and 'Other Vessels.' Enjoy. ~K~

Ahoy the shore!

2010-04-26T18:14:00.001-04:00

I am posting this from my brand new little netbook while aboard the Kalmar Nyckel, the tall ship of Delaware wherein I am a member of the crew. I'm sitting near one of the few available electrical outlets belowdecks, which also means I am sitting just outside the splatter range of the water leaking down around the capstan. It's a steady rain here and the temperature is right at that point where a

Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume Two (2009) Completed

2010-04-25T16:22:00.002-04:00

April 25, 2010 The editorial team of Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume Two, have completed the editorial process. Final selections have been made and the manuscript is now being prepared for publication. It will be available for sale through the MET Press bookstore in May, 2010. The editorial team consisting of M. Kei, editor-in-chief (USA), Sanford Goldstein (JP), Patricia Prime (NZ),

10% Discount on Keibooks During April

2010-04-04T12:12:00.000-04:00

If you have been planning to buy a copy of Atlas Poetica : A Journal of Poetry of Place in Contemporary Tanka (AtlasPoetica.org), or my new novel Pirates of the Narrow Seas (NarrowSeas.blogspot.com), or one of my previous titles, such as Fire Pearls : Short Masterpieces of the Human Heart or Heron Sea, Short Poems of the Chesapeake Bay, April is the month to do it! Lulu.com, home to Keibooks, is

Short List for Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume Two

2010-03-16T09:29:00.000-04:00

Please forward to all interested persons and venues. Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume Two, is nearing completion. The editorial team consisting of M. Kei, editor-in-chief (USA), Sanford Goldstein (JP), Patricia Prime (NZ), Kala Ramesh (India), Alexis Rotella (USA), Angela Leuck (CAN), and Collin Barber (USA), read all tanka published in English during 2009, totaling approximately

New Picasa Album

2010-03-02T09:14:00.002-05:00

Recently I purchased a digital camera and have uploaded images to a Picasa web album. You will find some publicity photos of me, as well as from my books, plus candid images from the tall ship whose crew I recently joined: the Kalmar Nyckel. The KN is going through winter maintenance right now, so is torn apart and not pretty, but I managed to get some good shots of various pieces of deck

Life Imitates Fiction

2010-03-02T09:04:00.001-05:00

During 2008-2009 I wrote a trilogy of novels for my own amusement called Pirates of the Narrow Seas. The first one, now named The Sallee Rovers, is in print already: http://www.lulu.com/content/8157511. A good review caused a small e-book publisher, Bristlecone Pine Press, to pick up all three. They'll be coming available on the Kindle and other e-book sellers later this spring. At the time I

Google Themes

2010-03-02T08:33:00.000-05:00

Two years ago my autistic son took some photographs. I have turned two of them into themes for Google. They're nice nature photographs, look for 'Goose Lagoon', taken in the lagoon near the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum at the foot of Lafayette Street in Havre de Grace, Maryland; and 'Fallen Willow,' taken near Concord Point Lighthouse at the same location. The willow is now gone; it was removed

Google Buzz Would More Aptly Be Named Google Bugs

2010-02-14T13:48:00.000-05:00

One expects a certain level of competence from a Google product. Buzz isn't it. Quite aside from the brouhaha over its default privacy settings (why yes, thank you, I think I WOULD like to have the entire world know who I email, complete with their names and email addresses without being notified in advance -- NOT), the software simply doesn't work right. It works wrong in so many obvious ways

Photos and Images at Picasa

2010-02-12T21:32:00.000-05:00

I do not have a camera, but I have occasionally been able to borrow one or con somebody into taking pix for me. They are now posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/kujakupoet. You will want to check out the Kalmar Nyckel - Snowmageddon images in particular, taken during snow duty this February at the ship. Sadly, the battery died, so most of the exterior images did not survive, but there's

Slow Motion : The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack Free to Read

2010-01-27T21:53:00.000-05:00

Since not many people are buying Slow Motion : The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack, my log books kept in verse form of several extended trips aboard a skipjack (sail-powered oyster dredge), I have decided to make it available for free on Scribd.com. http://www.scribd.com/doc/25945756/Slow-Motion-Scribd-com-Edition "Slow Motion: The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack" by M. Kei is a break-through

XMRV Revisited

2010-01-26T00:02:00.000-05:00

Recently Simon Wessly et al, authors of the PLOS article I criticized in a previous post, have fired back at criticisms they are receiving from around the world regarding their patient cohort. Since I believe in giving the Devil his due, I will briefly summarize their reply. They specifically addressed the criticism that their patients are not typical of CFS patients, and that their patients

Catzilla! Cat Tanka Call for Submissions

2010-01-25T20:05:00.001-05:00

Call for Submissions Catzilla! Cat Tanka & Kyoka Catzilla! Cat Tanka & Kyoka is an anthology on the theme of cats edited by M. Kei. It will be published in the fall of 2010. The anthology will feature tanka, waka, kyoka, tanka sequences, tanka prose, tanka acrostics, shaped tanka, extended tanka, and any other creative use of tanka, waka, and kyoka in homage and affection to the felines we

Pirates of the Narrow Seas Now in Print

2010-01-24T17:09:00.000-05:00

Keibooks P O Box 1118 * Elkton, Maryland, USA * 21922-1118 Email: Keibooks@gmail.com * WEB: www.Lulu.com/Keibooks Date: 25 January 2010 PRESS RELEASE - For Immediate Release Pirates of the Narrow Seas award-winning novel by M. Kei published by Keibooks In Pirates of the Narrow Seas, Lt. Peter Thorton of the 18th century British navy must struggle to come out gay while surviving storms at

XMRV, Chronic Fatigue, and Controversy

2010-01-12T23:04:00.008-05:00

I've been following the XMRV research in detail. Researchers at the Whittemore-Peterson Institute affiliated with the University of Nevada have identified a strong link between CFS and XMRV. Some scientists have speculated (and have clearly identified it as a speculation) that it is the cause of CFS. All scientists who have made such speculations have stressed that we are in the early stages of

Going to Sea

2009-12-21T10:11:00.003-05:00

I haven't written here lately. I've been swamped with work, recovering from surgery, moving house, and various literary projects. However, I've made a big decision: I'm quitting my job at Wal-mart and going to be a substitute teacher while I look for permanent work. That will give me my weekends and evenings back, which I plan to use to volunteer with the tall ship, Kalmar Nyckel. I have been

Pirates of the Narrow Seas Wins Sweet Revolution Award

2009-09-19T15:31:00.002-04:00

The Sweet Revolution Award is for same sex romances published on Fictionpress.com, the archive for the original draft of Pirates of the Narrow Seas. PoNS 1 was nominated and won in the category of 'best full cast' and was a special judge's pick as well.The complete series is now hosted at NarrowSeas.blogspot.com: Pirates of the Narrow Seas, PoNS 2 : Men of Honor, and PoNS 3 : Iron Men. Thank you,

How I Decide to Buy a Book

2009-09-18T08:56:00.002-04:00

Recently I've been musing over posts on Twitter's #writechat related to blurbs and associated marketing materials, and perusing their blog posts and comments on the same subject. That got me to reflect not just on blurbs, but the whole process of deciding whether or not to buy a book.The first thing is the type of book. If I go in to buy a nautical adventure, I'm probably not going to come home

#Gayfiction on Twitter

2009-09-15T20:44:00.002-04:00

Hey, if you're a fan of gay fiction, and you're on Twitter, let's use the hashtag #gayfiction to chat. I know there are other gay authors out there, as well as fans of gay fiction, so let's network!~K~

Heart of a Sailor reviewed online

2009-09-10T21:40:00.001-04:00

Hyperbole Poetry Magazine online published a short review of Heart of a Sailor by M. Kei at < http://www.world-class-poetry.com/Hyperbole-Hyperbole-Poetry-Ezine-Vol2-No8.html>. "you'll find M. Kei's tanka poems to be as full of passion as they are nature and beautiful language" -- read the complete review at the link above.

Heron Sea, Short Poems of the Chesapeake Bay

2009-09-04T17:22:00.001-04:00

I have decided to make my first collection, Heron Sea, Short Poems of the Chesapeake Bay, available for free online through Scribd.com. You can access it by clicking on the title of this post. Blurbs for Heron Sea:“Heron Sea is a rich word-tapestry of the Chesapeake Bay area. M. Kei’s attunement to environment and the life it engenders is remarkable. Here is a sensual experience so lovingly

Montserrat Review Honors Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka

2009-09-01T21:24:00.000-04:00

September 1, 2009 Perryville, MDMontserrat Review, one of the most prestigious literary journals in America, publishes 'Best Reading' each spring and fall in which the Book Review Editor Grace Cavalieri presents her recommendations for the best reading in a variety of categories. With the tens of thousand of poetry books published by presses small and large in North America, selecting works to

Saigyo Awards for Tanka 2009

2009-08-24T18:58:00.003-04:00

I just received the list of winners from the Saigyo Awards for Tanka for 2009. As usual, the winners are Orientalist. As usual, I have a poem that is an honorable mention.Melville--not the great white whalebut your restless heartI'll take with me andbury in the sea~K~

Asking Passage

2009-08-04T18:36:00.002-04:00

Two years ago I went for a walk in early spring in the abandoned lot outside my window. Although it is much smaller than Winnie the Pooh's Hundred Acre Wood, it is a place with its own mysteries. I wrote all the tanka poems below on the spot. The sequence was published by Lynx, a journal for linking poets. During the hike, I was struck by how much the Japanese aesthetic of aware (the pathos of

Heart of a Sailor -- free PDF

2009-07-31T12:19:00.003-04:00

Anyone who would like a free PDF of my latest work, the chapbook, Heart of a Sailor, can email me at kujakupoet at gmail dot com to request a copy. The PDFs can be freely shared, provided they are not altered in any way. (Full details of the shareware license are included with the ebook.) You can get your free copy with one caveat for me -- you have to come back to the blog and leave a comment

Skip a Stone for the Poet of the Chesapeake Bay

2009-07-30T12:45:00.003-04:00

The Heart of a Sailor, a tanka chapbook by M. Kei is available through the WCP Toolbar by World Class Poetry. These short online chapbooks are free to read and share using the WCP toolbar. Heart of a Sailor by M. Kei, blends his famous watermen poems with a tinge of homoeroticism as a sailor yearns for love amid the beauty and dangers of work on the water.The introduction by Allen Taylor,

Pirates of the Narrow Seas

2009-07-22T18:33:00.003-04:00

A little over a year ago I was reading nautical fiction and became annoyed with yet another book in which any reference to a gay character was fleeting and derogatory. This annoyed me, and I decided to write a story for my own amusement featuring a gay hero. It struck me that with the formulaic structure of this most ancient of genres, a gay hero would an an interesting twist. How would a man

Tanka Round Table Passes the Torch

2009-07-08T17:23:00.002-04:00

Denis M. Garrison, founder and moderator of the Tanka Round Table hosted by Googlegroups, has announced that he is stepping down to attend to personal matters. The new Moderator is yours truly, M. Kei. I know you will join me in wishing Denis will and expressing thanks for all that he has done for the tanka community. The Tanka Round Table is a precious resource that brings intelligent and

Star Poems

2009-07-08T09:13:00.013-04:00

Novices have just asked me questions about tanka, such as 'why five'? And why isn't a poem tanka if written on four lines?The reason for five is because that's the way it is and has been for fourteen hundred years. 'Tanka' is the name we put on that kind of poem. Just like a sonnet has fourteen lines, you can't write something with eight lines and call it a sonnet and expect that most people will

Rice Paddy Crop Art

2009-07-08T09:07:00.002-04:00

This beats crop circles all hollow! Using different colors of rice plants, farmers create amazing images in Japan. The human urge for creativity is evident in every activity -- if only we let it be so. ~K~

Tanka Non-Fiction

2009-07-08T00:21:00.003-04:00

Because some of you have asked. Here is a listing of non-fiction about tanka that I have written, with pointers on where to read it. Most of it is available free online. Abbreviations are from the 'Tanka Venues' list approved by the Tanka Society of America for use in their publications. Find it at the Research Desk of TankaCentral.com Kei, M., '11 Good Kyoka; Experiments in English.' MET 1:1.

LGBT Bookshelf

2009-07-04T19:52:00.002-04:00

Mel Keegan has launched a new website to promote Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender books. Inspired by the AmazonFAIL campaign in which LGBT books were omitted from Amazon.com's promotional practices, Keegan decided to harness techonology to circumvent traditional booksellers that are seen as less than supportive of LGBT works. The site is the joint creation of participating authors and

Independence Day

2009-07-04T10:52:00.003-04:00

On this, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the usual diatribes by left and right have been launched. As for myself, I was raised with a fundamental faith in the Constitution, and it is this adherence that creates my political views. There are those that believe the United States is the best country on earth and that those who don't agree can go back where they came from so that

Pirates of the Narrow Seas

2009-07-02T20:55:00.001-04:00

For those of you who have been frustrated by the bug disconnecting Chapter One to Chapter Two, it finally appears fixed. Emailing the host didn't work, but re-uploading the chapter appears to have done the trick. For those of you who are reading it, comments are appreciated! ~K~

Rip Off Artists Now Hitting Tanka Poets

2009-06-17T17:58:00.002-04:00

FanStory.com -- which offers writers the dubious opportunity to possibly earn pennies for their writing submitted to their site (but only if you pony up a monthly fee), is now targeting tanka poets. They define tanka as being sanjuichi form (5-7-5-7-7) in English ONLY -- and will not accept any other form of submission. Since this is a common error in neophyte sites, I wrote them a nice short

HMS Victory Firing a Broadside

2009-06-12T14:26:00.004-04:00

If you are a regular (or even an irregular) reader of my blog, you know of my interest in nautical history of the 18th and 19th centuries. While I'm more interested in smaller vessels, especially fore-and-aft rigged craft, the sheer impressiveness of a British battleship in action cannot be denied.The link above will take you to a web page with a video of HMS Victory firing her first broadside

My Very Gay Wedding

2009-06-06T08:59:00.003-04:00

Tanka poet 'Andrew' has established a blog that is one giant personal ad, tanka venue, and blog on gayness, love, and relationships. I admire his hubris, and the blog (unlike most) is actually interesting to read. I'm tired of 'gay blogs' that are nothing more than ads for porn sites, or else the rants of the political disaffected. Being gay means being more than a political penis. It means being

Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka Reviewed

2009-05-15T18:49:00.003-04:00

The reviews and commentary for Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka are beginning. You can read the review by Johnye Strickland at Simply Haiku at: http://SimplyHaiku.com, in the Summer, 2009, issue.An Xiao, one of the poets whose work was selected for the anthology has posted her own comments at: http://thatwaszen.blogspot.com/2009/04/take-five-best-contemporary-tanka.htmlAn extremely short blurb

Streetlights : Poetry of Urban Life in Modern English Tanka

2009-05-07T06:43:00.001-04:00

Streetlights is a major new anthology by Modern English Tanka Press. Two years in the works, it is now in print. It features hundreds of poems by dozens of authors. Below are a few of my poems that have been accepted.Streetlights is different from the usual tanka anthology in that it focusses on urban/suburban life, and includes kyoka as well as tanka.the sweep of the revolving door

End Poverty and CEO greed

2009-04-18T08:36:00.004-04:00

The simple fix for both poverty and greed of corporate executives is simple: Tie CEO pay to his employee's pay. If the CEO 'deserves' a huge increase for bringing profits to his company, then surely all the people under him who did the actual work to make it happen deserve it, too. Therefore, cap CEO compensation at no more than 50X what his lowest paid employee receives. This leaves

Have a Wreck (But only if you're over 21)

2009-04-15T20:20:00.002-04:00

You heard it here first.Last fall my family and I went to a crabshack, which is a local institution here in the Chesapeake region. It's a roof over an open air bar that serves steamed crabs and other food. I wanted a good drink, and I like gold rum, so my daughter devised a mixed of gold rum and cranberry juice with a bit of pineapple. I added a spritz of ginger ale and the bartender threw in an

Amazon.com censors Gay books

2009-04-13T06:34:00.000-04:00

Letter to Amazon.com:So, let me see. You want me to publish my original (gay) material on Amazon.com, and pay whatever fees you deem fit to charge, BUT, you're not going to allow people to find my books? Why on earth would I allow you anywhere near my intellectual property if you're going to treat me like garbage and charge me money for it?With the ban on LGBTQ material do I have to fear that

Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, 2008 Anthology, Published by Modern English Tanka Press

2009-04-12T22:32:00.000-04:00

TANKA NEWS & HAIKU HEADLINES published a new entry entitled "Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, 2008 Anthology, Published by Modern English Tanka Press" on 4/9/2009 3:07:30 PM, written by DMG.Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, 2008 Anthology, Published by Modern English Tanka PressDATE: April 7, 2009 PRESS RELEASEFor Immediate ReleaseTake Five:

A New Bad Habit: Twitter

2009-04-12T17:29:00.003-04:00

I didn't think I'd like Twitter, but I stumbled over its web interface and gave it a try. I've been pleasantly surprised. It's simple, easy to use, and lacking all the bells and whistles that make other social sites annoying, difficult, and prone to bugs. Twitter does what it does well. It doesn't do much, but that's okay; the emphasis is on the interaction between people. The shortness means you

Three Questions (Tanka)

2009-04-05T20:15:00.001-04:00

Curtis Dunlap has been running a series on his Blogging Along Tobacco Road blog in which poets answers three questions about writing haiku. I wrote and asked him if I could mention tanka instead, and he said yes. My answers and three poems are now posted, and some folks have been kind enough to write comments. You can read it for yourself at: http://tobaccoroadpoet.blogspot.com/2009/04/

Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka blurbs

2009-03-23T20:14:00.001-04:00

The following blurbs have been provided for Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka. Step by step, the project comes to fruition. "Powerful short stories written in five lines — that's what Take Five is all about. This anthology is not just your tanka wallpaper variety; nearly every piece is a jumpstart for the heart that tells the truth about that four-letter word called "Life." M.Kei and his team

Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka goes to press

2009-03-17T16:20:00.003-04:00

Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka has finished the editorial process and been turned into the publisher. It will be set up, a galleyproof will come to me, and barring any unpleasant surprises, will go on sale to the public in the middle to end of April in honor of National Poetry Month. I am please to thank Sanford Goldstein, Pamela A. Babusci, Bob Lucky, Patricia Prime, and Kala Ramesh for

PoetHound Review

2009-02-12T13:14:00.001-05:00

Many thanks to PoetHound for reviewing my chapbook Bridge of Bones from Lilliput Review. An excerpt of the review:sifting throughthe window screenthis evening,the yellow scent ofwild vines blooming.“yellow scent” caught my imagination immediately. I think of honeysuckle blooms in my old backyard in Indiana and of the morning glory vines here in Florida. This poem is describes the briefest moment

More Ignorant Poppycock about Muslim-American History

2009-02-02T21:32:00.003-05:00

The article linked above takes umbrage with a Muslim member of Congress using Thomas Jefferson's copy of the Qur'an to swear their oath of office, and proceeds to spout nonsense about the early American-Muslim relationship. So, I was going to post a reply, correcting some of the more egregious errors and explaining the actual state of politics and war at the time, but it grew into a response much

From Homoerotic Tanka to Barack Obama

2009-01-31T09:02:00.003-05:00

An earlier post on homoerotic tanka has gotten some positive feedback, and some bewildered comments wondering why a poet would fear censure. I've also gotten emails telling me how 'brave' I am to post such things. Frankly, hiding behind a pen name as I do to protect myself, I'm not sure I'm that brave. Above and beyond that, that people say such things is a tacit acknowledgement that there is

Lulu.com : World's Largest Collection of Bad Poetry

2009-01-28T16:42:00.002-05:00

Dear Robert Young,It's generally considered a bad idea to insult the people you want to do business with. I am personally offended and so are a lot of other people by the rude remarks you made to the New York Times about those of us who have been foolish enough to publish with Lulu.com. "Indeed, said Robert Young, chief executive of Lulu Enterprises, based in Raleigh, N.C., a majority of the

Update on Many Things

2009-01-15T08:10:00.003-05:00

I have completed Men of Honor , the sequel to Pirates of the Narrow Seas , and posted it online at fictionpress.com. A few enthusiastic readers have read the first one, and I hope they will enjoy the second one, which I personally think is even better. Both novels can be read free online at: http://www.fictionpress.com/~mkeiHaving been spending my creative energies on the novels (I think there is

Pirates of the Narrow Seas

2008-11-10T09:28:00.004-05:00

As a few of my friends know, I have been writing a novel, entitled Pirates of the Narrow Seas, a historical nautical adventure set in the eighteenth century and featuring a gay protagonist. I'm a fan of nautical fiction, but being gay myself, I got rather tired of all the heterosexual heroes. Churchill is said to have named "rum, sodomy, and the las"' as the traditions of the British naval

Fighting for the Right to Vote

2008-11-04T16:21:00.003-05:00

Well well. Hank Stuever at the Washington Post has really put his foot in it. He opposes voting early. He is apparently one of those lucky elitists that doesn't have to worry about taking off work to stand in long lines to vote. I have voted every election I've been able to, but there was an election when I couldn't vote because the employer didn't let me take time off work to do it. We were

Five

2008-10-17T09:14:00.002-04:00

Opening the current issue of Ribbons , the journal of the Tanka Society of America, I find once again another writer's attempt to suggest something of what tanka in English might be. Of the several points offered, the presence of a poem formatted on five lines is once again offered as part of what defines tanka. While it is conventional to format tanka in five lines in English, it is not required

Stylus Review : Slow Motion

2008-10-10T22:29:00.004-04:00

Patricia Prime has also review Slow Motion : The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack in the current issue of Stylus Magazine. A lengthier and more literary review, she gives ample space to discussing the form and content from various angles. I am grateful for her deep appreciation for what I was trying to accomplish with Slow Motion . She quotes a number of the poems to illustrate the points she

For the Love of Skipjacks

2008-10-10T22:11:00.004-04:00

Slow Motion : The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack made the cover of Bay Weekly Magazine October 9. The lead article 'For the Love of Skipjacks' reviews Slow Motion and includes excerpts and photos from the book. Reviewer Dotty Holcomb Doherty touches briefly on the history of tanka poetry and covers the wide range of treatments possible, from sensory intake, to life experiences, philosophy, and

1000 Tanka

2008-10-01T08:44:00.005-04:00

Today the publication of Modern English Tanka 9 marks an important milestone in my career: I have a thousand tanka in print, with several more to be coming out soon. It's a prodigious quantity of work, and made even more startling when the reader reflects that with a single exception, they were all published between spring of 2006 and now--a span of little more than two years. What is even more

Best Canadian Tanka Poets

2008-09-04T10:56:00.001-04:00

Dear Editors and Poets,As you probably know by now, I am the editor-in-chief of Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka, forthcoming from Modern English Tanka Press in 2009. I and my editorial team have set ourselves the goal of reading all tanka published in English during 2008, regardless of the source. Therefore we would appreciate your help in getting the word out to Canadian tanka poets and

Saigyo Awards for Tanka 2008

2008-09-02T22:10:00.006-04:00

The Saigyo Awards for Tanka is a new contest sponsored by Carolyn Thomas. I sent my entry fee and contest entry, wondering what it would be like. Well, the results arrived in the mail today. Thomas has produced a simple but elegant broadside of several pages featuring the winners and a number of Honorable Mentions. One of my poems received an Honorable Mention:a white sailskimming throughmy

TIBU

2008-08-29T17:16:00.002-04:00

I've acquired a new vice: I've posted to Thisisby.Us, the gimmick site for writers that promises them a share of the advertising revenue depending on how many 'goodness points' they get. Apparently, some of the novice writers are under the impression that it's a 'serious' literary site, which speaks volumes to the naivete of novice writers. But at the same time, there are a few interesting and

Prune Juice

2008-08-18T07:09:00.003-04:00

Friend and Colleague, Alexis Rotella, has established a new journal, entitled Prune Juice, to publish senryu and kyoka. This journal will be published twice a year by Modern English Tanka Press. Submissions are now open for humorous, satirical, and witty poetry. Read the full submission guidelines at the home page.Good luck, Alexis~

"a wonderful collection of poetry"

2008-08-15T15:02:00.002-04:00

Robert Wilson, managing editor of Simply Haiku, one of the major Internet journals for Japanese short form poetry, has reviewed Slow Motion in the current issue of the journal. "M. Kei has written a book of tanka and haiku about life on a skipjack fishing vessel in the Atlantic Seaboard's Chesapeake Bay. He takes readers on a journey reminiscent of Bashô, allowing them to feel a semblance of

Moonset Tanka Contest 2008

2008-08-07T20:16:00.001-04:00

I was just notified that one of my poem's won the 2008 Moonset Tanka Contest, and that another was an honorable mention. I have not won this contest before, so I am quite pleased! The winning poems will be published in Moonset, so after they've come out, I'll post them here. ~K~

Homoerotic Tanka

2008-07-03T09:48:00.002-04:00

I'm pleased to have a solo show and interview at 3Lights Gallery online. Liam Wilkinson has done a lovely job as usual presenting my work. I like his conceit of the gallery exhibiting poetry as if it were art. The theme of the exhibit, homoerotic tanka, is one that I often write, but which people often fail to realize. With a gender-non-specific pen name like 'M. Kei' it leaves the poems open to

Love Letters : Homoerotic Tanka of Love and Friendship

2008-07-03T09:35:00.001-04:00

M. KEI : LOVE LETTERSOne of tanka's most distinctive and passionate of voices makes his return to 3LIGHTS this Summer with an exhibition of homoerotic tanka of love and friendship. Although many would associate M. Kei's poetry with images of the ocean, the coast and his native Chesapeake Bay, this latest exhibition from the editor of such publications as Atlas Poetica, Fire Pearls and author of

1st Int'l Erotic Tanka Contest

2008-07-01T17:29:00.001-04:00

FIRST INTERNATIONAL EROTIC TANKA CONTESTDeadline Postmark: Dec. 31st 2008 Eligibility: Open to everyone MUST BE AT LEAST 21 YEARS OLDTO ENTER Subject matter: Erotic, sensual/physical tanka. Tanka that expresses love in all its manifestations. Please NO pornography!! Prizes: First Place $100 Second Place $50 and Third Place $25Prize monies maybe reduced if there are insufficient funds due

Kujaku Poetry & Ships

Google search now useless

Five Levels of the Watershed

Review: Puss in Boots

Visually Impaired Kindle Users Group

Great New Kindles, but They Still Suck

So Many Good Reasons Not to Tell the Internet Who You Really Are

Atlas Poetica a victim of Google Identity Police

Born That Way

Further Deceit by Lulu.com

Lulu.com, Defective Ebook Publisher

Still More Twitter Tanka

More Twitter Tanka

Twitter Tanka

Twitter Special Focus for Atlas Poetica 9

Review : Peter Simple by Capt. Frederick Marryat

Tomoe Tana's History of Japanese Tanka Poem in America Needed

Cosmo Jarvis' Gay Pirates

Reviews for LGBT Nautical Fiction Coming Soon

What If It's Not Autism?

Further Frustrations with Kindle

The Spoon Theory

Day Three, Kindle with Case

Tom Wisner, Bard of the Chesapeake

Kindle vs Nook and the winner is....

Listening to My New Kindle

#Applefail - no iBooks for You!

What is Tanka?

Recommended Reading for Tanka in English

Fire Pearls for Weddings

Keibooks Announces Catzilla! List of Poets and Cover Cat

Post-Exertional Malaise : The Hallmark of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

The Adventures of Timmynocky the Sailor Cat, a true story

If Shoes Could Kill... they probably would

Voyaging and Drydock, with pictures

Ahoy the shore!

Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume Two (2009) Completed

10% Discount on Keibooks During April

Short List for Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume Two

New Picasa Album

Life Imitates Fiction

Google Themes

Google Buzz Would More Aptly Be Named Google Bugs

Photos and Images at Picasa

Slow Motion : The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack Free to Read

XMRV Revisited

Catzilla! Cat Tanka Call for Submissions

Pirates of the Narrow Seas Now in Print

XMRV, Chronic Fatigue, and Controversy

Going to Sea

Pirates of the Narrow Seas Wins Sweet Revolution Award

How I Decide to Buy a Book

#Gayfiction on Twitter

Heart of a Sailor reviewed online

Heron Sea, Short Poems of the Chesapeake Bay

Montserrat Review Honors Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka

Saigyo Awards for Tanka 2009

Asking Passage

Heart of a Sailor -- free PDF

Skip a Stone for the Poet of the Chesapeake Bay

Pirates of the Narrow Seas

Tanka Round Table Passes the Torch

Star Poems

Rice Paddy Crop Art

Tanka Non-Fiction

LGBT Bookshelf

Independence Day

Pirates of the Narrow Seas

Rip Off Artists Now Hitting Tanka Poets

HMS Victory Firing a Broadside

My Very Gay Wedding

Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka Reviewed

Streetlights : Poetry of Urban Life in Modern English Tanka

End Poverty and CEO greed

Have a Wreck (But only if you're over 21)

Amazon.com censors Gay books

Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, 2008 Anthology, Published by Modern English Tanka Press

A New Bad Habit: Twitter

Three Questions (Tanka)

Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka blurbs