It was payday, so Robert and I went to the bookstore a few days early to pick up some books we had ordered.. the ones by Lorca, Camille Paglia, and a biography on Eudora Welty. We also found some classics, Dr. Zhivago, which Robert had always been meaning to read... He also found one called Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam (pictured above) Well, to me its a "classic." The poems in there, some of the same ones from the earliest beginning of the series - have a double impact on me because while I'm reading them over again, I remember seing each poet do the performance. So now I'm eagerly awaiting the fifth season of Def Poetry on HBO, which btw starts June 10th. I can't tell you how this one show brings such life back to words.. makes poetry accessible for so many.. Is proof positive that poetry is not dead, but alive, kicking, a scream, a whisper, taking names and coming back for more. I love this stuff!

A belated Happy Birthday to Beau Sia, whose celebration was yesterday... (one of the original members of the Def Poetry cast, and also one of my favorites)

Since we were at the mall yesterday, we I decided to show Robert the pet store where I work.. gave him a tour of the place. He was thoroughly impressed, how spacious it was. They used to be inside the mall itself, now they're at another location closeby and its got so much more room. So we browsed the entire front of the store, spent a lot of time at the dog and cat windows... the bird cages.. and of course the ferrets, lol. For some reason they were much more animated than usual... granted it was a little later in the day from when I'm usually there.. I guess they figure after a certain time, they turn into "show ferrets"... running, jumping all over the place... showing such excitement. Really funny to watch, and we had a good time, just being there.

A friend of mine from Kansas City (who's recently moved to California) is starting a poetry e-zine. He's been talking about this for a while now.. well the idea has been running for about a year, and now things are starting to fall into place. So if anyone wants more info on this, check out the recent post by epsilonakaeric at my poetry group Bailey's Java Cafe http://groups.yahoo.com/group/baileys_java_cafe