“If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.”
– Albert Camus
The Seven Deadly Virtues
X.J. Kennedy
X.J. Kennedy
Constancy
Strict constancy’s an overrated virtue:
A little flexibility can’t hurt you.
A little flexibility can’t hurt you.
Generosity
While greedy bastards grab bucks by the fistful,
The generous grow poorer and look wistful.
The generous grow poorer and look wistful.
Chastity
Spurning forbidden fruit-peel, pulp, and juice —
The chaste know peace, but rarely reproduce.
The chaste know peace, but rarely reproduce.
Good Cheer
When grief and gloom are what you want, good cheer
Is nothing but a big pain in the rear.
Is nothing but a big pain in the rear.
Modesty
Though sometimes modesty’s worth emulation,
It’s worse than useless during copulation.
It’s worse than useless during copulation.
Sobriety
A certain charm inheres in strict sobriety
Until one ventures forth into society.
Until one ventures forth into society.
Humility
When talk is soft, there’s no harm in the humble
Who, when shrill protest’s called for, merely mumble.
Who, when shrill protest’s called for, merely mumble.
A plugged-in E-Verser sends Top Seven Deadly Sins of Internet Use:
1. Sending an e-mail that’s supposed to have an attachment, but forgetting to attach it.
2. Using “ur” for “your” and “u” for “you.”
3. Surfing the web when you’re supposed to be working. Ahem.
4. Complaining about other people’s spelling.
5. Sending a snarky e-mail about someone to that person, when you had really meant to send it to someone else but put that person’s name on the “send” line instead of the “subject” line. Not that I’d know anything about this.
6. Sending chain e-mails to certain people in your address book because you know that those are the people who won’t complain that you’re sending them chain emails, thus taking advantage of their easygoing natures, not to mention inflicting them with 7 years of bad luck because they’re far too easygoing to forward the chain messages themselves.
7. When you’re on an e-mail list, and someone sends an irate message like “get me off this list!”, you send a message to the entire list saying “shut up!”, which causes other people to send messages saying “stop sending me these stupid messages!”, which begins a flame war of attrition amongst all of the rest of the members of the list.
Unbelievable but real film title of the week:
Favorite Deadly Sins (1995)
“If something is timeless, then it will also be timely.” Robert Fagles on his new The Aeneid:
E-Verse collective noun of the week:
A galaxy of starlets
E-Verse invaluable fact of the week:
According to Spiegel Online, about 8 percent of Germans consume 40 percent of all the alcohol sold in the country.
Oxford University Press has published the seven books on the deadly sins from the New York Public Library Lectures in Humanities on the subject. Greed by Phyllis A. Tickle, Envy by Joseph Epstein, Gluttony by Francine Prose, Lust by Simon Blackburn, Anger by Robert A. F. Thurman, Sloth by Wendy Wasserstein, and Pride by Michael Eric Dyson.
For more on the seven deadly sins, as well as the seven virtues, including t-shirts, check out:
An angry reader sends in “top five institutional and political sins:”
1. Genocide (murder in terms even Dante couldn’t quite belly up to)
2. The murder of meaning: through newspeak, the spin, the unfo, nonfo
3. The murder of entertainment: Reality T.V.
4. The murder of entertainment, Part II: T.V. news channels and programs — unreality tv?
5. The murder of accountability
2. The murder of meaning: through newspeak, the spin, the unfo, nonfo
3. The murder of entertainment: Reality T.V.
4. The murder of entertainment, Part II: T.V. news channels and programs — unreality tv?
5. The murder of accountability
Bonus quote:
“Of the seven deadly sins, only envy is no fun at all.” – Joseph Epstein
Bonus movie title:
The Seven Deadly Sins (1917)
The Seven Deadly Sins of Buying Real Estate in Dubai:
Forbes gives us the Seven Deadly Sins Of Retirement Planning:
Delaware Co. Literacy Council:
A reader writes in:
“I was looking desperately a couple nights ago for ‘Here lies a lady’ to quote it to my son (age 10), who was experiencing alternating periods of fevers and chills. And I couldn’t find any of the anthologies I have (had?) that include it, nor could I find it anywhere on the web. Extremely frustrating. Can you help?”
Here Lies a Lady
John Crowe Ransom
John Crowe Ransom
Here lies a lady of beauty and high degree.
Of chills and fever she died, of fever and chills,
The delight of her husband, her aunt, an infant of three,
And of medicos marveling sweetly on her ills.
Of chills and fever she died, of fever and chills,
The delight of her husband, her aunt, an infant of three,
And of medicos marveling sweetly on her ills.
For either she burned, and her confident eyes would blaze,
And her fingers fly in a manner to puzzle their heads —
What was she making? Why, nothing; she sat in a maze
Of old scraps of laces, snipped into curious shreds.
And her fingers fly in a manner to puzzle their heads —
What was she making? Why, nothing; she sat in a maze
Of old scraps of laces, snipped into curious shreds.
Or this would pass, and the light of her fire decline
Till she lay discouraged and cold, like a thin stalk white and blown,
And would not open her eyes, to kisses, to wine;
The sixth of these states was her last; the cold settled down.
Till she lay discouraged and cold, like a thin stalk white and blown,
And would not open her eyes, to kisses, to wine;
The sixth of these states was her last; the cold settled down.
Sweet ladies, long may ye bloom, and toughly I hope ye may thole,
But was she not lucky? In flowers and lace and mourning,
In love and great honor we bade God rest her soul
After six little spaces of chill, and six of burning.
But was she not lucky? In flowers and lace and mourning,
In love and great honor we bade God rest her soul
After six little spaces of chill, and six of burning.
[Special thanks to J.S. Renau for pulling that one off his shelf and sending it in for me. – E]
“A novel is a basket that carries inside it a dreamworld we wish to keep forever alive.” Orhan Pamuk in The Guardian:
Paul Stanley, of KISS, shares his paintings with you:
William Shatner Owns George Lucas, very funny and recommended for fans:
Check out some six-word sci-fi stories:
Some examples:
Failed SAT. Lost scholarship. Invented rocket.
– William Shatner
Computer, did we bring batteries? Computer?
– Eileen Gunn
– Eileen Gunn
Vacuum collision. Orbits diverge. Farewell, love.
– David Brin
– David Brin
Gown removed carelessly. Head, less so.
– Joss Whedon
– Joss Whedon
Check out Jennifer Makowsky’s latest Pop Matters column on Vampires at the movies and in books, featuring a clip of Bela Lugosi as Dracula:
A reader sends in this link for all the Superman fans:
E-Verse recommends:
The following theatre piece, directed by friend and former editor of The Cortland Review, Guy Shahar, is from the 2006 Independent Actor’s Showcase in New York. It is an outtake from a scene in the film You Can Count on Me which was adapted for the stage, and stars Maria Gingrich and Don Puglisi.
Bonus list
Top five films all currently in theaters about royalty:
1. Marie Antoinette (no explanation needed)
2. The Last King of Scotland (about Idi Amin, who claimed this title for himself)
3. A Night With the King (about King Ahashuerus and Queen Esther, the story of the Jewish holiday of Purim)
4. The Queen (about the British royal family in the wake of the death of Princess Diana)
5. The Illusionist (takes place in turn of the century Vienna, with Crown Prince Leopold as a character)
2. The Last King of Scotland (about Idi Amin, who claimed this title for himself)
3. A Night With the King (about King Ahashuerus and Queen Esther, the story of the Jewish holiday of Purim)
4. The Queen (about the British royal family in the wake of the death of Princess Diana)
5. The Illusionist (takes place in turn of the century Vienna, with Crown Prince Leopold as a character)
“Recently I’ve noticed a disconcerting trend for publishers to tell literary critics exactly what they should be saying about a new book. Instead of letting reviewers get on with their job of reviewing, publishers are behaving like anxious children, pulling at the journalist’s sleeve and suggesting what should come next.”
An E-Verser announces Contact Improv
Wednesday nights in November
6:45pm-9:10pm
Cathy Weis’ Studio
537 Broadway (between Spring and Prince)
N/R to Prince Street, 6 to Spring Street, F to Broadway-Lafayette
$13
No class November 22nd
www.movementresearch.org
Wednesday nights in November
6:45pm-9:10pm
Cathy Weis’ Studio
537 Broadway (between Spring and Prince)
N/R to Prince Street, 6 to Spring Street, F to Broadway-Lafayette
$13
No class November 22nd
www.movementresearch.org
In this class we will find ease and strength, release and power in the body’s anatomical systems. We will find mobility through the head-tail connection; support through efficient use of the skeleton; and fluidity through spirals. We will learn to use our whole bodies to listen, and tune our senses for instantaneous response to the dance. This class is appropriate for all levels, including first-timers and experienced dancers. The class is structured to allow participants to move at their own pace, with options for more and less challenging work.
Match the sexy prose with the politico who penned it:
A reader writes in with a bibliographic question on last week’s Lovecraft poem:
“A question, and probably not one of sufficient interest to merit general E-Verse distribution: is ‘Where Once Poe Walked’ one of the ‘Fungi From Yuggoth’?”
Waywiser Press announces the second annual Anthony Hecht Prize, with a deadline of December 1st.
The prize is open to poets who have no more than one previous published collection of poems, and comes with a purse of $3,000 and publication by Waywiser in the US and the UK. Further information, guidelines and entry forms, are to be found at the following website address:
www.waywiser-press.com/hechtprize2006.html
www.waywiser-press.com/hechtprize2006.html
FRANK O’HARA FESTIVAL
Cosponsored by Poets House, the Poetry Project and MoMA
Cosponsored by Poets House, the Poetry Project and MoMA
Tuesday, November 28, 7:00pm
PASSWORDS: Bill Berkson on Frank O’Hara
PASSWORDS: Bill Berkson on Frank O’Hara
Poet Bill Berkson will explore the life and work of O’Hara through the lens of the pivotal year of 1956, when O’Hara was preparing his first major collection, Meditations in an Emergency.
Poets House
72 Spring Street, 2nd Floor
$7, Free to Poets House & Poetry Project Members
72 Spring Street, 2nd Floor
$7, Free to Poets House & Poetry Project Members
Wednesday, November 29, 8:00pm
Frank O’Hara Reading
Frank O’Hara Reading
Bill Berkson, Ned Rorem, Maureen O’Hara, Tony Towle, Eileen Myles, Patricia Spears Jones, Anne Waldman, Taylor Mead, Olivier Brossard, Bob Holman, John Yau, Kimberly Lyons, Lytle Shaw, David Shapiro, Anselm Berrigan, Greg Fuchs, John Gruen, and Scott Murphree will read the work of the beloved New York School icon.
The Poetry Project, St. Mark’s Church
131 East 10th St .
$8, $7, Free to Poets House and Poetry Project Members
131 East 10th St .
$8, $7, Free to Poets House and Poetry Project Members
Thursday, November 30, 6:00pm
FRANK O’HARA AT MoMA
FRANK O’HARA AT MoMA
John Ashbery, Bill Berkson, Michelle Elligott, Alfred Leslie & others will share their favorite anecdotes about Frank O’Hara and his MoMA heyday. Selected archival materials including correspondence and photographs will be on view in the MoMA Library and Archives Reading Room.
Bartos Theater and MoMA Archives Reading Rooms
The Museum of Modern Art
4 West 54th Street
$10, $8 for MoMA, Poets House & Poetry Project Members.
Tickets available at the MoMA Lobby information desk, the Film & Media desk, or at www.moma.org/thinkmodern
The Museum of Modern Art
4 West 54th Street
$10, $8 for MoMA, Poets House & Poetry Project Members.
Tickets available at the MoMA Lobby information desk, the Film & Media desk, or at www.moma.org/thinkmodern
A little late for Halloween, but too funny not to show, take a look at this surprisingly good Transformer costume:
E-Verse Radio commits at least three or four of the seven deadly sins on a daily basis. It is a regular weekly column of literary, publishing, and arts information and opinion that has gone out since 1999. It is brought to you by ERNEST HILBERT and currently enjoys over 1,300 readers. If you wish to submit lists or other comments, please use the same capitalization, punctuation, and grammar you would for anything else intended for publication. Please send top five lists, bad movie titles, limericks, facts, comments, and new readers along whenever you like; simply click reply and I’ll get back to you.
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