Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Exploding Toothpaste

Here's a song for traveling and our friends at Airport Security. :) The chords are a bit off--but if you want, and I have my guitar around, I can sing it for ya! ;)



Exploding Toothpaste 

There’s two hours left before my plane leaves the gate G
But I’m worried that I might be already late Em
Cuz it’s an orange alert and the line to the x-ray machine C D
goes around and around     D
and the TSA rent-a-cop is yelling again
saying keep the line moving like we’re already in
the Soviet Union where everyone says
they could pull you into a room to be never seen again

And I’m really really glad the plane doesn’t explode
But I’ve been on many planes and truth to be told
Not a single plane blew up because a struggling musician
took her guitar on board. Or her toothpaste exploded.

But instead of protesting and making scene C
I just take off my shoes and walk through the machine G
And I wonder how many more lines it will take C
how many more lines, how many more lines… D
You can’t go anywhere without your picture ID
In the home of the brave and the land of the free
What the hell’s the point of saluting the flag
when a mom must put her breast milk in a see-through plastic bag?

Now I got a nice suitcase with a lock on the side
but now all that means is I have something to hide
But since when is a government’s word good enough
to let a man I don't know search through all of my stuff?

And I know that some of you might say I’m being naïve
But I wonder is it gullible to say I believe
While we’re all so fucking worried about liquids and shoes
we should pay more attention to the freedoms we lose
‘cuz they say that we must do everything we must do
but Joseph McCarthy once seemed reasonable too
And I wonder will I ever see
why we’re giving up our freedom so that we can be free--

it’s exploding toothpaste!

we’re trading lives for oil but there’s exploding toothpaste
The ice caps are melting
but there’s exploding toothpaste
You can’t be free while there’s exploding toothpaste
I take off my shoes and pledge allegiance
to the United States of Exploding Toothpaste


Thursday, March 8, 2012

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Pre-release response for Seasonal Velocities has been wonderful! :) Yay!

Review of Seasonal Velocities from A. Finn Enke, Director of LGBT Studies at UW Madison! 



Ryka Aoki, Seasonal Velocities
Review comments by A. Finn Enke

"Seasonal Velocities is a startling gem of a book. With her characteristic honesty and a powerful, fierce grace, Ryka Aoki carries us through fear in the dark, the half-lives of scars, home, and hope. As vivid and unflinching as it is lyrical, this poetry delivers and demands sparkling truth even as it speaks of violence, longing and love. Rather than aiming to transcend, Aoki invites us to make alliance with all the contradictions of being human, to grow stories, to listen, and to build community despite everything."

Please consider pre-ordering Seasonal Velocities. 30% discount thru March, with release in April.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

AWP

It's my last night in Chicago, and I had a Potbelly sandwich across the the street from the Art Institute. This was not like any other AWP experience. With my book out, there was no hunger to network--at least not in the same way. I enjoyed myself, looked for interesting books and tables with very yummy refreshments (Bushmills Irish Whiskey!) I had a blast with my conference roommate, Nancy Agabian--that worked out amazingly well.

This afternoon I worked out in the gym ($10 fee grr) and was asked if I wanted to teach martial arts in the hotel. Yesterday I went to Starbucks and met a guy who does drywall, another who plays the bass, and some guy who tells terrible terrible jokes. Drywall guy gave me his card and said call him. So lots of fun interactions.

I thought I might get a drink my last night here, but it's still a bit noisy, and one conference leaves for another to enter. Already, the lanyards and different colors and name tags are different fonts. Oh, but it was fun, wasn't it!?