That Sudden Sound, Pop Music It strikes at a moment too sharp for stale repetition. Pleasing sound is nothing to quiet down. Yet reprisal's a pale echo--one arrival is allowed. Sing, by all means, arched into time’s faltering applause. Memory accompanies death's penchant for time-bound shadow. Why n...

Why thank you Cate.

"sometimes empathizing with the voice of the poem sometimes being angered by it (I think that's a good thing)."

The speaker is not especially likable in parts. So I appreciate your nuanced read. I hope he sounds honest though, at least, honestly flawed.

take care
norm

Hi Folks, it's been awhile. I'm including here a link to my recent sonnet series.

http://theformalist.org/archives/author/norman-ball

Or you can see the video version here:

http://vimeo.com/45044964

I hope this subject affects you as it affected me.

take care
norm ball

There are so many houses on so many corners nothing can corner the seeker within Magical potions. Unshakeable nightmares Each one is different. Each one's the same. Fresh from neglect, the poor are laid open on televised porches, on newspaper stands Nations play host to recalcitrant shadows foreign ...

The fierce precision of Michael Jackson's dance was rooted in an elemental fear of his father. What besides fear could render such fearsome precision? It's was as though he was desperately trying to leave his body, perpetually scared out of his skin. If his feet languished on the gound, his father, ...

I often imagine you a real-life friend Imaginary. Therein lies the familiarizing power of the Internet!

I was born in Glasgow, raised mostly in the US. Yes, sleek sonnets. Or as the Scots might say, rather sleekit.

take care
norm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DmOnAbkYfA Burnt Doun (by Norman Ball) Oh nae mair leaves need seegnifee a tree 'cept widden words tae fall frae me. Mah makary* will nou suffice. Sae see yese woud play roun' real nice. Frae birk tae elm tae sprush tae pine I've sned** the firth*** doun tae ane**** l...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKpA5bOTd94

http://christopherdickey.blogspot.com/2 ... ry-ii.html

To the Art of Lovingly-Assembled Slights, Both Real and Imagined She preps her bristles, prickly and hellbent for passersby who happen on her feast of pity. Man is manna, heaven-sent (i.e the putz du jour .) Can we at least draw scandal from performance, how the cart anticipates the witless stalking...

Hi Mat:

I think Cate was nice enough to post a link over there already. But you're welcome to carry it over however you see fit.

thanks and take care
norm

Requiem to the Weaned I left all tits for lower climes. Though breasts still tease a tipple. I'll not cheat a teat as nurture lives to coax a suckle. Chests are best at most 'til two. A milky treat relieves the flu and fortifies strong bones in you. Til boners rule. All nips aside. The tent doth pit...

Beware leak-bearing lips. A fresh career can launch post-augmentation. On its face, the contours of a paralytic sneer seem comically benign. Yet there's a case for flouting phony pouting. Why deface time's stark imprimatur, its ageless knack for running looks aground? We can't go back. Nor can injec...

The Lost Way Up the Mountain So she opened up the door and fell across the madman crouched beneath the stair. And the madman, duly woken, sought to climb her sodden rope of morning hair. Had she known the pauper lay atop the day's rolled-up and sordid new affair, she'd have kept to tugging knots, a...

The Mohican http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6TjHHdfWMI The Mohican knew well that his end had drawn near, as he notched empty hours counting pitchers of beer swirls of dull respite, awash in the world bleary-eyed bliss with a headache's reward The Mohican foreshadowed the world's bitter end when bro...