In the city of Sandness everyone is a poet and everything is poetry …
Archives for April 2023
In Pentameters of Rain by Mark Anderson
April 27, 2023 by at 8:59 am
Terminal Goals by Mark Anderson
April 14, 2023 by at 6:20 am
Check out Korrektiv poet Mark Anderson’s short story chapbook, Terminal Goals, just out from Bottlecap Press!
In Terminal Goals, Mark Anderson imagines a near term future in which humanity creates human level A.I. and puts it immediately to use indulging in their wildest, most abusive fantasies. Through three distinct viewpoints, the story examines people and their creations caught in cycles of abuse.
The science fiction / horror triptych opens with “Three Weeks Before the Machine Rebellion,” told through a hyperbolic advertisement for HappyCorp Cruise Line. At this luxury cruise guests can wake up to the calming waves of the ocean and go down to the cafe where they are encouraged to abuse their robotic servers.
The story progresses with “Messenger Disconnected” which follows the call logs of an engaged couple, Walt and Sabrina, while Walt takes the aformentioned cruise. Over the course of the week the conversations degrade until the couple is no longer speaking the same language.
This leads to the concluding voice in “My Name is Guest Service,” which follows the A.I. system created for the cruise line in its attempt to find its creator and discover its terminal goal: the programmed-in reason for its existence. Nobody ends up happy in this exploration of the ultimate power of language, especially humanity. And at HappyCorp Cruiselines, if you’re not happy, nobody is.
Speaking of the San Diego Reader …
April 13, 2023 by at 8:08 am
Check out what our old pal Joseph O’Brien’s been up to!
Doctrine of the Immaterial by Mark Anderson
April 12, 2023 by at 6:42 am
More new fiction by Korrektiv poet Mark Anderson. Check out “Doctrine of the Immaterial” at Bone Parade!
“I pulled the kettle from the stove before it boiled to a whistle, and I lurched down to the basement as silently as my creaking bones would allow….”
The Last Conversation in the Universe by Mark Anderson
April 11, 2023 by at 6:58 am
Mark L. Anderson’s far far future story, “The Last Conversation in the Universe,” appears in the new anthology, Existential Hologram, just out from Starry Eyed Press!
From the YouTube Music Video Archives: Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (‘Resurrection’) – Finale
April 9, 2023 by at 10:00 am
“Why have you lived? Why have you suffered? Is it all some huge, awful joke? We have to answer these questions somehow if we are to go on living – indeed, even if we are only to go on dying!” These are the questions Mahler said were posed in the first movement of his Symphony No. 2, questions that he promised would be answered in the finale.
–John Henken, Los Angeles Philharmonic, ‘About the Piece’
The full symphony is available on YouTube here, courtesy of the Netherlands’ Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Quin Finnegan has more on Mahler (and Percy!) here.
‘… Still With You.’
April 9, 2023 by at 12:00 am
From the Armadio degli Argenti of Blessed John of Fiesole, OP (Fra Angelico), c. 1450
‘… I rose up and am still with you.’
‘… He Brought Them Out of Darkness …’
April 8, 2023 by at 12:00 am
From the Armadio degli Argenti of Blessed John of Fiesole, OP (Fra Angelico), c. 1450
‘And he brought them out of darkness, and the shadow of death; and broke their bonds in sunder.’
‘… His Sepulchre Shall Be Glorious.’
April 7, 2023 by at 3:25 pm
From the Armadio degli Argenti of Blessed John of Fiesole, OP (Fra Angelico), c. 1450
‘In that day the root of Jesse, who stands for an ensign of the people, him the Gentiles shall beseech, and his sepulchre shall be glorious.’
‘Let Him Not Lose What He So Dear Hath Bought.’
April 7, 2023 by at 3:00 pm
From Cell 25 of the Convent of San Marco, by Blessed John of Fiesole, OP (Fra Angelico), 15th Century
Think on the very làmentable pain,
Think on the piteous cross of woeful Christ,
Think on His blood beat out at every vein,
Think on His precious heart carvèd in twain,
Think how for thy redemption all was wrought:
Let Him not lose what He so dear hath bought.
–Pico della Mirandola (translated by St Thomas More)
‘… Wounded for Our Iniquities …’
April 7, 2023 by at 12:00 pm
From the Armadio degli Argenti of Blessed John of Fiesole, OP (Fra Angelico), c. 1450
‘… he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins….‘
‘They Parted My Garments Amongst Them….’
April 7, 2023 by at 11:50 am
From the Armadio degli Argenti of Blessed John of Fiesole, OP (Fra Angelico), c. 1450
‘They parted my garments amongst them; and upon my vesture they cast lots.’
‘… He Shall Be Led as a Sheep to the Slaughter …’
April 7, 2023 by at 10:00 am
From the Armadio degli Argenti of Blessed John of Fiesole, OP (Fra Angelico), c. 1450
‘He was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth.’
‘I am ready for scourges….’
April 7, 2023 by at 9:15 am
From the Armadio degli Argenti of Blessed John of Fiesole, OP (Fra Angelico), c. 1450
‘For I am ready for scourges: and my sorrow is continually before me.‘
‘I have not turned away my face …’
April 7, 2023 by at 8:00 am
From the Armadio degli Argenti of Blessed John of Fiesole, OP (Fra Angelico), c. 1450
‘I have given my body to the strikers, and my cheeks to them that plucked them: I have not turned away my face from them that rebuked me, and spit upon me.‘
‘… They Strike the Cheek of the Judge of Israel.’
April 7, 2023 by at 6:00 am
From the Armadio degli Argenti of Blessed John of Fiesole, OP (Fra Angelico), c. 1450
‘ Now shall you be laid waste, O daughter of the robber: they have laid siege against us, with a rod shall they strike the cheek of the judge of Israel.’
Lickona on the state of the San Diego theater scene
Korrektiv author Matthew Lickona keeps chugging along at the San Diego Reader! Here are his contributions to the recent Music & Arts issue. (Click on the link and scroll down.)