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Arts & Life
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- Written by: Ted Kooser
Here's a poem about something that each of us receives, though only once. If you didn't get yours written into a poem, you've got it put away somewhere.
Wyatt Townley lives in Kansas, and "First Kiss" is from her new book, “Rewriting the Body,” from Stephen F. Austin State University Press.
First Kiss
Here you are forty years
later in a white coat
examining my ears.
All I can think
is how your tongue once
turned in the tunnel
you're peering into. The
fault is not in my ears,
but between them!
No one can see that far.
But could we gaze back
through the years and dead stars
to the doorstep of my parents' house,
you bending down with your tall mouth
to make the softest landing on mine,
having thrown off my balance
so tenderly, can you explain,
good Doctor, how to regain it?
American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2018 by Wyatt Townley, "First Kiss," from Rewriting the Body, (Stephen F. Austin State University Press, 2018). Poem reprinted by permission of Wyatt Townley and the publisher. Introduction copyright @2019 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.
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- Written by: Tim Riley
‘THE IRISHMAN’
Let’s face the fact that director Martin Scorsese knows more than a little something about delivering mob-themed movies. After all, he was raised in the Little Italy neighborhood of New York City that inspired several of his films.
Italian heritage is hardly the measure to explain Scorsese’s success with mob dramas. His talent was evident in “Mean Streets,” one of his earliest works about a small-time hood aspiring to work his way up the ranks of the local mob.
Scorsese’s “Goodfellas,” which starred Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci as two gangsters ascending the hierarchy of the Mafia, depicted serious violence. “Casino” is another great gangster film that also starred De Niro and Pesci.
The point of revisiting the prolific director’s mob hits is not just that he has a proclivity for using the same actors in key roles, but to underscore that he’s the best candidate to adapt Charles Brandt’s “I Heard You Paint Houses” book about a Mafia player.
The titular character of “The Irishman,” based on Brandt’s book, is Robert De Niro’s Frank Sheeran, who began his career as a truck driver and worked his way up to being a confidante to Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), the powerful leader of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union.
Delivering meat products for a trucking company, Sheeran had a fortuitous encounter when he met mob boss Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) while having engine trouble at a Texaco gas station.
One may ask, what exactly is the meaning of the title of Brandt’s book? In his first conversation with Sheeran, Hoffa says “I heard you paint houses,” to which Sheeran replies in the affirmative, adding that “I also do my own carpentry.”
Painting a house is when the hitman splatters the blood of his victim on the interior of a building. Doing one’s own carpentry refers to the disposal of a body. Think of the effort necessary to prepare a pine box for a funeral service.
Scorsese frames the film from the point of view of the titular character. Having outlived just about everyone connected to the mob, Sheeran reminisces in his old age at a Catholic retirement home, showing few regrets other than a failed relationship with one of his daughters.
The criminal life comes easily to Sheeran as he soon starts selling meat products from the back of his truck to Philadelphia gangster Skinny Razor (Bobby Cannavale), who facilitates an introduction to crime boss Angelo Bruno (Harvey Keitel).
Meanwhile, these mob connections also bring Sheeran back into contact with Bufalino, leading to new work collecting cash payoffs in shakedowns. Stationed in Italy during World War II, Sheeran’s ability to speak the language ingratiates him to his new mob associates.
Sheeran’s family life gets complicated, particularly when his young daughter Peggy (Lucy Gallina) realizes something ominous about her father when he viciously beats up a grocery store owner who had mistreated her.
Later in life, the adult Peggy (Anna Paquin), knowing her father’s volatile temper and suspecting the worse, can only blankly stare at him during family gatherings, and his attempt at reconciliation even at the end of his days is met with stone-cold silence.
Upon Bufalino’s recommendation, Sheeran advances into a position of trust within the Teamsters Union to intimidate those who might pose a risk to Hoffa’s leadership and the use of the pension fund to finance mob-owned hotels in Las Vegas.
Unmistakably, during the ‘50s and ‘60s, Hoffa loomed large as one of the most powerful men in America, given that the Teamsters Union controlled the distribution of goods throughout the country with a tight grip on the trucking industry.
The film targets the political scene during the 1960 presidential election, noting the mob support that factored into John F. Kennedy winning the White House with ballot tinkering in Illinois and other campaign activities.
Things get ugly when the newly-elected president appoints his brother Bobby (Jack Huston) as Attorney General, who without missing a beat charges hard against Hoffa’s union for corruption.
Hoffa also has an enemy with the hotheaded union rival Anthony Provenzano (Stephen Graham), known by the moniker of “Tony Pro,” who disrespects the Teamsters leader by showing up late to meetings dressed like he’s going to a pool party.
Scorsese has packed the film with so many hoods it is hard to keep track. Amusingly, the introduction of new characters is accompanied by captions such as “shot eight times in the head in a Chicago parking lot” and “shot three times in the face.” Death by natural causes is rare.
Given that “The Irishman” is from the point of view of Sheeran, the historical accuracy of this mob tale is in question, particularly as it relates to the disappearance of Hoffa in 1975 without any apparent trace.
Watching “The Irishman,” which runs at three-and-one-half hours, is a serious time commitment, but the effort is worthwhile because this film ranks in the top tier of Scorsese’s work. “Netflix” offers the comfort of viewing this epic at home.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Konocti Art Society ends 2019 by donating proceeds from its annual Kelseyville Pear Festival art raffle to the Lake County Art Council’s Summer Youth Art Program.
Each year KAS artists create pear-related art projects which are raffled at the Kelseyville Pear Festival.
Many of the KAS artists donate their time and expertise teaching art to Lake County youth.
Barbara Funke, Annette Higday, Jeanne Landon-Myers and Gerri Groody were happy to present this donation. Artists of KAS not shown in picture are- Leah Adams, Phyllis Thiessen, Patty Oates, Karen Magnuson, Judy Cardinale, Jo Bergesen, Jan Hambrick, Carolyn Morris, Diane Stawicki, Diana Liebe, Barbara Kossen, Karen Hook, Gay McComb, Iman Griffith, Linda Crayne and Lucia Boyle.
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- Written by: Ted Kooser
Sometimes a poem can seem to be like a jeweler's setting, in which a gemlike image is presented.
This one, by Chase Twichell, who lives in upstate New York, has one of those perfect gems of observation in the "cinnamon swirls" of sand on the surface of the road. I'll never seen sand on the road again without thinking of this.
It's from her new book, “Things as It Is,” from Copper Canyon Press.
After Snow
I'm the first car after the sander.
The cinnamon swirls of fresh sand are intact.
Except for that—the sand and the road—
The woods look as if they might have
a thousand years ago, except for
the absence of tracks.
American Life in Poetry doe not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2018 by Chase Twichell, "After Snow," from Things as It Is, (Copper Canyon Press, 2018). Poem reprinted by permission of Chase Twichell and the publisher. Introduction copyright @2019 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.