With this column American Life in Poetry celebrates its tenth anniversary. Thanks to all of you for supporting us, week in and week out!
When I was a boy, I was advised that if a wasp landed on me I wasn’t to move until it flew away. I did as I was told and got stung.
Here Karen J. Weyant, who lives in Pennsylvania, takes a similar risk.
Yellowjackets
When my father held his Bic lighter to the nests in back of the garage, the gray paper pulp sparked
then blackened. Ashes fell, coating crawling ivy and clover. A few yellowjackets fled,
one or two swirled, flying into the sweaty face of my father, but most too stunned,
their usual side-to-side swag of a dance, flailing in the smoke. When one landed on my arm, I stiffened.
His wings settled into a still gauze, body coiled in yellow bands, the same shade as buttercups we held
to our skin, cupping sunlight near our chins. Every step, careful, quivering, as if neither of us knew who was supposed to sting.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2013 by Karen J. Weyant and reprinted from Poetry East, Nos. 80 & 81, Fall 2013. Karen J. Weyant’s most recent book of poems is Wearing Heels in the Rust Belt, (Main Street Rag, 2012). Poem reprinted by permission of Karen J. Weyant and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2015 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
Liam Neeson is at it again in an action thriller that has the hallmark of the “Taken” franchise turned on its head, if only because his central character is now a washed-up Brooklyn mobster and once prolific hit man instead of a skilled former CIA operative.
Fittingly, “Run All Night” is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who performed similar duties for “Unknown” and “Non-Stop,” two action films that share the same bond of Liam Neeson acting heroic in showdowns with bad guys.
This third collaboration with Collet-Serra has Neeson in a tightrope of a different nature, for “Run All Night” has the actor playing the role of Jimmy Conlon, once such a feared assassin that his nickname “The Gravedigger” caused NYPD detective John Harding (Vincent D’Onofrio) to stay on his trail for decades.
Oddly enough, “Run All Night,” though set in the present, has the sense of the gritty New York landscape of the Seventies, where rundown buildings and neighborhoods are festering criminal hot spots. But even more in tune with a bygone era is that police corruption is rampant.
Early on, two NYPD patrolmen are spotted taking bribes from the Irish criminal enterprise run by Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris), the man for whom Jimmy Conlon spent a lifetime doing contract killings and other assorted misdeeds.
Now semi-retired, Conlon has seen better days. An alcoholic living in a shabby Brooklyn apartment where he can’t afford to pay the heating bills, Conlon has become a joke to the younger hoods in the Maguire criminal family.
Scraping by on meager handouts, Conlon is reduced to such humiliating chores as playing Santa Claus at a mobster’s family gathering.
He’s also doing errands for Maguire’s hotheaded, loose cannon son Danny (Boyd Holbrook), who lacks his father’s smarts and sharp instincts.
A very big part of the guilt that wracks Jimmy during his sober moments is the knowledge that his estranged son Mike (Joel Kinnaman) adamantly refuses to have anything to do with him, such that Jimmy has never met Mike’s wife (Genesis Rodriguez) and two grandchildren.
Though he once had a promising career as a boxer, Mike Conlon is a working-class stiff who thinks first of providing and caring for his family, doing construction work by day and driving limousines at night.
At the boxing gym, he’s also a mentor to a Bronx kid, who figures prominently into the story when things go wrong one night.
Driving some shady-looking Albanians to a meeting, Mike hardly realizes that he would end up having to run for his life after Danny Maguire winds up in a shootout and decides that he must eliminate any potential witnesses to multiple execution-style murders.
When Mike becomes a target of the Maguire clan, Jimmy must make a choice between the crime family he chose and the real family he abandoned long ago.
The decision for Mike is tough because Shawn Maguire has been his longtime best friend and confidante.
With Mike on the run, Jimmy’s only penance for his past mistakes may be to keep his son from the same fate that Jimmy knows awaits him if he betrays the Irish mob. Did I fail to mention that “Run All Night,” aside from having a lot of violent action, is a story of redemption?
The central story is that the sins of the fathers come back to haunt their sons. While Shawn’s son is a ruthless punk who has no control of his emotions, Jimmy’s son has no love for his absentee father, who abandoned the family long ago and only resurfaced five years ago for the funeral of his former wife, the mother of Mike.
Set to pulse-pounding action that results in a thrilling car chase in Brooklyn and a tense manhunt in a burning Bronx apartment building, “Run All Night” touches all the bases for pure adrenaline excitement, even better than the best of the “Taken” films.
Though the story is full of action, the most interesting feature is the examination of the fractured relationships between two men who are like brothers, and a father trying to make amends with his son for things that happened years ago.
The estrangement that Mike feels towards his father is not so easily overcome, even though Jimmy is taking great risks to shield his grown son from vicious thugs.
But in the course of one long night, being chased through the grim New York streets by both sides of the law, the inevitable bonding occurs.
While Jimmy penetrates the Maguire hideout and guns down a great number of henchmen, he and Mike do not so easily elude the most fearsome contract assassin Andrew Price (Common), a killing machine willing to eliminate Mike’s entire family if necessary.
The bottom line for “Run All Night” is that if you are a fan of the action heroics in several Liam Neeson films bookended by the first “Taken” to the most recent “Taken 3,” then this latest effort is a comfortable fit.
Whenever our hero, even when flawed, sets out to protect a family member, expect plenty of explosive action fanfare.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
LAKEPORT,Calif. – Lake County Friends of Mendocino College and the Friends of the Mendocino College Library are co-sponsoring a reading event featuring guest readers Armando Garcia-Dávila and Waights Taylor Jr. on Sunday, March 15,at 2 p.m. in room 7050 at the Mendocino College Lake Center.
The center is located at 2565 Parallel Drive in Lakeport.
Admission to this event is free.
Garcia-Dávila, the Healdsburg Literary Laureate in 2002-03, describes himself as a "blue-collar poet," as he expresses his wide-ranging thoughts rooted in his Mexican-American/Catholic upbringing.
His latest book, “Profile: Poems and Stories,” is a mix of humor, love, family and pathos.
Taylor, born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, is the author of the award-winning “Our Southern Home,” an examination of the Civil Rights movement.
His latest book and first novel, “Kiss of Salvation,” is set in Alabama of the late 1940s, pairing a white homicide detective with a black private eye in a mystery sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.
New York Times best-selling author Sheldon Siegel said this about Kiss, “The Kiss of Salvation takes us back to the dawn of the Civil rights movement in 1947 Birmingham. It’s a murder mystery, a history, and an in-depth study of evolving times in the American South. Deftly written and immensely readable, Taylor paints a picture of a complex era in American culture. Highly recommended.”
Be certain to mark your calendars for this free event that is sponsored by two affiliate organizations of the Mendocino College Foundation.
For more information about the event, visit www.mendocino.edu or call 707-468-3051.
COBB, Calif. – Cobb Mountain Artists' next meeting on Wednesday, March 11, will host artist Gail Salituri.
The meeting is a continuation of the group's “Artist Presents” series, which features an individual Lake County artist talking about their artistic process, techniques and their media of choice, sometimes including a demonstration.
Join them at 7 p.m. in the meeting room in the Middletown Senior Center, located at 21256 Washington St.
Meetings are free and open to the public.
Salituri has been working as a professional artist for the majority of her adult life.
Her artwork ranges from original oils, to water color and enjoys photography as her hobby.
Former owner of Inspirations Gallery in Lakeport, Salituri has taken her gallery online and continues to work and show her art through many websites including Inspirations Gallery Online.
Her original works currently are showing at the prestigious Lee Youngman Gallery in Calistoga.
Her expanding line of limited edition lithographs and Giclees are finding a growing audience in Lake County and beyond The Golden State.
Salituri has been an accredited judge for the Fine Arts Fair System in the state of California but most enjoys benefit work such as “Art by the Stars” in Sonoma, along with painting original pieces for Wine and Chocolate which benefits Lake Family Resource Center.
In 2009 Salituri won the Stars of Lake County Award for her outstanding dedication to the art community.
LUCERNE, Calif. – The Lucerne Alpine Senior Center will host “Open Mic Lucerne' from 6 to 11 p.m. Saturday, March 21.
Starting at 6 p.m. performers are on stage with house band FOGG, featuring classic, heavy metal rock and roll with original numbers and covers of your favorites.
Assistance is available with amplification.
The past events have seen full venues, so sign up early. Call 707-274-8779 for your reserved time or come and sign up beginning at 5 p.m. March 21.
Don’t miss this chance to showcase your talent. Being in the audience is great fun and free too. Music, comedy, mime, readings and any other activity that is family-oriented is appreciated. Room also is available for dancing and relaxing.
There is no charge for attending or performing.
Bring the whole family to this child friendly event.
At Open Mic Lucerne, a spaghetti feed is offered with traditional and vegetarian full meals available for $5.
All proceeds from dinner benefit the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center, a not-for-profit serving Northshore senior populations with on-site lunches, Meals on Wheels, personal advocacy and other services.
For more information about Open Mic Lucerne, call Lucerne Alpine Senior Center at 707-274-8779.
Many of us have built models from kits – planes, ships, cars.
Here’s Robert Hedin, a Minnesota poet and the director of The Anderson Center at Tower View in Red Wing, trying to assemble a little order while his father is dying.
Raising the Titanic
I spent the winter my father died down in the basement, under the calm surface of the floorboards, hundreds
of little plastic parts spread out like debris on the table. And for months while the snow fell
and my father sat in the big chair by the Philco, dying, I worked my way up deck by deck, story by story,
from steerage to first class, until at last it was done, stacks, deck chairs, all the delicate rigging.
And there it loomed, a blazing city of the dead. Then painted the gaping hole at the waterline
and placed my father at the railings, my mother in a lifeboat pulling away from the wreckage.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2013 by Robert Hedin from his most recent book of poems, The Light Under the Door, (Red Dragonfly Press, 2013). Poem reprinted by permission of Robert Hedin and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2015 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
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