Saturday, April 13, 2013

I would love to say I can relish Colleen Hoover's success but while she was making hundreds of thousands of dollars she didn't pay me ANYTHING for having "Write Poorly" in her book.

We never signed a contract, you used my words and made money my first book is dedicated to you.  I just sent it to Denise Jolly, Laura Yes Yes, Lauren Zuniga ... All the poets you say you admire.

If I was your partner and you gave me 5% my year would have been easier.

My dad had an unsuccessful brain surgery in September, 2012 and was paralyzed on the left side from them until his death on April 1st.

Pay the artist.  We all know each other.

And I have contacted lawyers.

Edmund Charles Davis-Quinn
Westbrook, ME
edquinn@gmail.com

if you think I deserved to be compensated for a best selling book please send me money on PayPal at ecquinn@yahoo.com

Colleen Hoover is an excellent writer.  I have no idea why she didn't see the need to pay me.  Make me a partner, compensate me we are friends.

Now things are going to get bad for you.  I have no idea why you never gave me ANYTHING!


Friday, April 12, 2013

A Velvet Revolution, Led by Poets

In honor of my first chapbook printing soon this morning and since it costs me no money, I am releasing every poem I have enjoy.  If you like them and feel inspired by any of them please write. Write and Write again.  I want you to listed to the words of one of my heroes Roger Ebert and write until your thought ends and then just don't write.  Eat, drink a beer, have coffee, walk, run, talk on the phone. Just don't turn on the TV.

Let's make the world a better place together. Agape.  In the words of Bill and Ted "Be Excellent to Each Other".  In the words of Wil Wheaton "Don't Be a Dick."

It's not that hard to live a good life.  If you feel the wind blowing in your face on a dog beach watching the water and seeing dogs run into your shopping bag for pretzels, just throw them some pretzels and wonder at the beauty of dogs in a dog beach.

Man and dog are companions for a reason.  A toddler and a puppy have the same energy.  If you have the time and space and attention for a dog get one, I wish I did just like my hero Roger Ebert.

And end Orwellian speech.  The thirty year legacy of the trickle up economics of Ronald Reagan, Fox News, Exxon Mobil and Wal-Mart needs to end.  Corporations are not people.

Poets apply to Standard and Poor's.  You are observers.  You notice things.  Things others don't see.

You don't give a shit what the boss thinks. It's a skill use it.

We are performers, lets do improv and theatre training.  Let's make performances let's do tributes to the poets I like.

I would LOVE to read for instance Kurt Vonnegut's perfect encapsulation of why society is failing at a library.  The Portland Public Library basement is perfect. I want Wil Gibson and Luk O'Connor to record me reading "A Man Without a Country."

Lets make this world a better place, artists run for office, people like you.  Let's not let money rule the world anymore.

Who knows if any of this will work, but it can't get any worse then the second gilded age of 2013.  Lets end 3rd world debt from capitalist monsters like hedge funds.  Lets end the glorification of money on Fox News and NBC.  Turn off your cable and get a Roku with with either Netflix or Amazon Prime your choice.

Heck we have a performance poet as President in Barack Obama.  His speech in honor of A Congressional Medal of Honor winner said he turned "mud huts into cathderals."

Ignore the lobbyists.  Make them illegal.  Raise Capital Gains taxes to 25%, bring Estate taxes back.  Dismantle the Federal Reserve, World Bank and IMF they have all done more harm then good.

End austerity, it fails every time.  It turns recession into depressions, embrace the power of sharing and the sacred art of barter.  If you want to make this project start to happen with performance poetry please give to paypal at ecquinn@yahoo.com and share this post.  Lets start a revolution, occupy the world.  A velvet revolution of poets.

Here are my poems. My first published poem in Colleen Hoover's "Write Poorly" has sold hundreds of thousands of copies.  It's never been a better time to be an artist.

Have fun.  Blog every day. Blog every day.  And let's reset copyright law and the tax code.  People's united is illegal corporations are not people but psychopaths.

And let's end blowing up mountains for coal, and starting wars for oil.  Turn off the lights at Wal-Mart at 3am, no one is there.

For a saner world I offer my poems, let's make change happen.  I would love for this to be seen by Barack Obama, Noam Chomsky, Lawrence Lessig, Joe Sacco, Bernie Sanders, Al Franken (we look like cousins) and Chris Hedges. Make art and give freely, it's magic.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Saul Williams Music Poem/Slam Poetry and Hip Hop

Music Poem from Saul Williams's journal from 2000 --- From "The Dead Emcee Scrolls" pg. 152

Can music change the world?
Are these simply songs to be heard
And forgotten?
When JB said, "Say it loud..."
Did that affect a shift in conciousness?
Can the music of a society
Help mold its mental state?
Can a great song affect more than the way
A musician approaches his next song?
How about the way they approach their children.
Their loved ones? Their lives?

I believe I am
A man molded by music
And my intent is to mold
To shape
These are the ways
Of a carpenter.

====================

"The Dead Emcee Scrolls" is a challenging book by Saul Williams.

It's about where hip hop had a chance to be, and may not be reaching right now.

I am getting more into the slam poetry scene all of the time.  It speaks to me.  Language is powerful, words are powerful.

Hip-hop had a poetry to it, some does, some is misogynistic and glorifies capitalism and money.

I think some of the best of early hip-hop has become part of the slam poetry scene.  Some of it is rapped, most just spoke, a lot inbetween.

It's about the words, it's about talking about lives.

It's about talking about pain, family, redemption, gladness and sadness.

I am very proud of the Portland, Maine poetry scene.

May it continue to prosper.

Edmund (aka Ed2D2)


Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Homeless (With a guitar)

Homeless
 homeless
  many nights under Portland skies

Have my guitar
My shoulder hurts so

Beer helps
Rum helps
Beer I need another beer

Anything to get me drunk
Anything to dull the pain
 Anything to feel different

To stop the tears
To stop the pain
To stop the sadness

Addiction
Homelessness
Insanity
Sadness
A tough life

I need my guitar
I need my music

Reminds me I can make music
That I can create

Reminds me I just need a home
for my guitar
for my music
for my mind

To settle down
To finally feel home

To play
 to create
  to sing
  to dance
to make people smile
not pity

I have to hold this guitar
I have to have my guitar
Almost pawned it so many times
For some money, for some beer, for some rum.

I have held this guitar a long time
My shoulders are so sore, so very sore
Lost my home to addiction, drink, madness

I just need a home
I just need some help
I need to grow
I need to settle

And need to just play
I need to just play
and
sleep
in
my own bed.

And perchance to dream,
and rest the sleep of the settled.

(c) 2011, Edmund Davis-Quinn

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Are we in a Brave New World

Part of the July 26th Writer's Almanac: http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2011/07/26


Today is the birthday of English author Aldous Huxley (1894) (books by this author), born in Godalming, Surrey. He was the grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley, a scientist and man of letters who was known as "Darwin's bulldog" for his defense of the theory of evolution. Huxley wrote a few of novels that satirized English literary society, and these established him as a writer; it was his fifth book, Brave New World (1932), which arose out of his distrust of 20th century politics and technology, for which he is most remembered. Huxley started out intending to write a parody of H.G. Wells' utopian novel Men Like Gods (1923). He ended by envisioning a future where society functions like one of Henry Ford's assembly lines: a mass-produced culture in which people are fed a steady diet of bland amusements and take an antidepressant called Soma to keep themselves from feeling anything negative.
It's natural to compare Brave New World with George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four(1948), since they each offer a view of a dystopian future. Cultural critic Neil Postman spelled out the difference in his 1985 book Amusing Ourselves to Death:
"What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture. ... In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that our desire will ruin us." (less)
Feel like we may be there in our world of Prozac and Ritalin and reality TV and tea parties and ..
Any thoughts?
edmund

On a Vonnegut kick of late

Recently been on a Vonnegut kick, read all in the last month.

Just adore "A Man Without A Country," an older, cynical Vonnegut looking at a bizarre country, does see the country he likes in librarians.

"Cat's Cradle" -- didn't realize every chapter was meant as a joke. Just genius and bizarre.

"Slaughterhouse Five" -- left a huge impression, amazing and hard, hard story to tell. 

Favorites over time:

1984
Huck Finn
The Martian Chronicles
To Kill a Mockingbird
On The Road
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Edge City: Life on the New Frontier.

edmund

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Learning is Play

This is dedicated to my mom, Christine Davis.  Was written for Mother's Day readings at Mama's Crowbar, haven't read it there yet.

-------------------------------------------------

Hi, mom
how are you?

How was your day
What are you reading
What are you thinking?

How's dad
how's my sister

Good childhood
pretty easy.

Montgomery
pretty quiet

Watching TV with my sister

Already changing channels
Constantly
Enjoy needling my sister

She enjoys needling me
We still do

No one knows how to get under your skin like family

Family knows you in ways no one can

Memories of you at birth
at 8, at 15, at 22 ...

Memories of who you were not who you are

Memories of Eddie

Of being Eddie Einstein
Of being a mad scientist

I am still a geek
Still love play
Still love nerdy things

Science on Saturday
At Princeton Plasma Physics Labs
A new talk every week,
advanced stuff,
interesting stuff

Mom always having me learn
Always having me grow
Always treating me as an equal in conversation
Giving me her love of learning

Giving me a love of exploring
exploring myself
exploring the world
exploring knowledge

Curious
always curious

First words
"What's That"

Always wanting to
learn with play

To learn with play
Learning can be fun
Learning is fun

Reading is fun
Gaming is fun
Talking is fun.

Playing with books
Already at 3.

Star Wars Read and Learn LPS
The old ones books with a record to read along.

Reading is play
Words are play
Learning is play.

Science is play.
Math is play.

Still love to play
Will always love to play.

Dance, sing, play puzzles

Learning
Figuring out patterns and puzzle
Figuring out things

Puzzles
Dominion, Carcassone, Magic, silly things

Thanks, mom
Thanks for reading
Thanks for believing
Thanks for the emotional support
Thanks for the financial support.

I love you.

Hey, Charlie

I have been holding off on this poem for a little while.  Was going to try to perform it live first.

Decided I would like to have the words.

------------------

Hey, Charlie
Madness isn't funny

Mania isn't funny

It's not WINNING
It's not tiger blood
It's not a joke

Hitting women is wrong
Making yourself a spectacle is wrong
Running away from your life is wrong
People depend on you.

Give yourself time.
Get yourself help.
Heal yourself.
Center yourself
Ground yourself.

Get better.
Seriously, get better man.

Seeing someone go mad on tape is much, much too hard to watch.

Seeing it person is harder

Seeing it in the mirror is the hardest of all.
Madness ain't easy.

Get some rest
Get better
Heal thyself.

Breathe
Get some air
Get some space
Find your center

Let yourself settle
Let yourself normalize
Let yourself breathe
Let yourself breathe

Breathe with me
water breath

Big breath in,
long breath out

Big breath in,
long breath out

Breathe, dude
Relax, you don't have to be everywhere
You don't have to always say yes
Calm the fuck down

Your life isn't a joke

Apologize, repent
Cry if you need to
Let your friends help you
Let people help you

If you need to see a doctor

If you need to admit yourself,
Have doctors help you rest
Have doctors help you normalize

Life is hard, very hard
Madness is so many times harder.

Watching someone self-destruct isn't funny.
Your life isn't a show.
It's not theater.

Celebrities aren't our playthings
Despite what Perez Hilton or the National Inquirer thinks
They are people, people with issues
Sometimes serious ones.

Charlie, breathe ask for help
Get help, normalize yourself
Center yourself, breathe

Don't do anything you will regret later

Stop trying to win.
Life is not a game.
Life is not about winning.

Start trying to live your life.
Find who you are
Calm down
Relax
Be who you are.

With love,

Edmund

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

2011 Portland Poetry Slam team

Want to work to get off book

Amazed at the last 3 weeks at Port Veritas.

We have a very, very dangeous slam team.

Congratulations to: ‎2011 Port Veritas/Portland, ME Poetry Slam Grand Slam Champ is Sean Mcgovern-Waite. He, Tui Scanlan, Ryan McLellan, and Wil Gibson are your team. William Antony Trix Bruno is the alternate.

I am impressed by all of you .. and of all 20 semi-finalists.

ed