2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

I love Stanley Kubrick.I read the entire series of 2001 books written by Arthur C. Clarke. I love the Nietzschean overtones. I love the soundtrack/score. I love everything about 2001: A Space Odyssey, but the thing that has really stuck with me is the black monolith. Appearing at key points in human history, the indiscernible pillar confounds and advances the minds of those who encounter it. Lingering on the mystery of such a technology, I feel my own mind alienated and evolved. I watched 2001 for the first time mere hours before the ball dropped at midnight and I celebrated the coming of 2001, of the Willennium, which means I've had "that darn monolith" on my mind for over a decade now. Can you tell the difference in my brain?

Penelope: A Modern Sequel

For one of my recent final papers I decided to write a short epic poem (oxymoron?) titled Penelope: A Modern Sequel. This piece was written in response to Nikos Kazantzakis's Odyssey: A Modern Sequel. A couple of people asked if they could read it, so here you go!

Click here to download Penelope: A Modern Sequel in PDF form.

Roger Waters "Perfect Sense Part I and II"

Roger Waters, "Perfect Sense Part I and II" from Amused to Death (1992, Columbia)

Flowers to the Wild Weeds

Stones bloomed with red carnations, reptiles swelled in size

the sun descended like a lord dressed in gold robes

holding his earth-wife in his arms dressed with the moon,

and passed out wings for worms, and flowers to the wild weeds.

- Nikos Kazantzakis, Odyssey: A Modern Sequel