Announcing the first ever NETT Poetry Festival!

February is Poetry Month for NETT!

In our never-ending effort to make NETT more than the typical running club, we have come up with a unique and creative idea I guarantee no other running club has: A poetry festival.

Here's how it will work:
Beginning February 1 all members of the extended NETT family will be invited and encouraged to submit a creative "something" to Crazy Dave that they feel represents NETT, its members, running, nature, whatever. That "something" can be an original poem or story you've written (short, long, rhyming, not rhyming, whatever), a poem by someone else (be it Shakespeare or one you read on the bathroom stall), the lyrics to a song you know that reminds you of running, whatever.

We'll gather them up and continue posting them on the NETT Blog during the month and at the end of the month, we will invite folks to read them at a social gathering. No one will be forced to read them and I'm sure we can find other folks to read if you're too shy.

Yes, this is a "festival" to celebrate the creative arts and no this really won't be a "contest" with a winner and losers.

By the way, I've posted a poll up on the Meetup group to get your reaction to this idea as well. If you hate it, love, etc. let me know.

Poetry festival winding down

For those who didn't get to attend the in-person poetry festival, I thought I'd post my last submission here. Still open to others, but we'll be returning to regular non-poetic, programming here on the blog soon.

My friend the poet

I have a friend
Who speaks in verse
In iambic pentameter
Without need to rehearse

He came from an island
To visit a friend
And found a new home
In which to spend

The next 20 years
Learning to teach
Others to share
The value of speech

La Camisa Blanca
He wears a white shirt
And converses with dogs
In language diverse

From Creole to French
From English to Spanish
His relaxing tones
Make stresses vanish

And on days when he chooses
He runs like a deer
One moment away
The next moment near

But there’s a part of my friend
I find most admiring
A simple habit
That’s simply inspiring

He puts forth an effort
(As all of us should)
To always remind us
That “Life is Good”

Update: NETT Poetry Festival to serve as Haiti relief fundraiser

This is just a quick and uncharacteristically serious, update in response to the many NETT members who have made inquiries about some kind of Haiti fundrasising. A few of us are currently working on planning an event in the near future where we can get together to donate clothing, sneakers, and money to Haiti while also celebrating our Poetry/Song festival.

As many of you know, one of NETT's members, Jean Dany Joachim, is a native of Haiti and was scheduled to visit there the day after the earthquake hit. (For those who asked, yes, Jean Dany is safe here in Boston but is very distraught at the devastation to his homeland and continues to try to get news from the ground or a flight to Haiti. See his interview here on WBUR's web site and this interview and video on the WickedLocal Cambridge web site.

So we'll go forward with our festival in the hopes that we can use it to raise some money and spread Jean Dany's message of hope--there will be a new sunrise and despite the turmoil, Life is Good.

Kicking off our Poetry Festival with..what else...a limerick

Okay, since it's February, we're going to kick off the online portion of our poetry festival with a couple limericks submitted by Dave Molk.

Oh the coyote will run wild and free
from the woods to the roads he can see
all his foes will give chase
when he lines up to race
but they can't catch NET and T


Crazy D what a scandal did make
as the cheat sought his glory to fake
'fore he entered each race
all the course he would case
so he'd win by a shortcut he'd take


I don't know about you, but it makes we want to hoist a pint of stout in the local pub! Who's next?

NETT jams out at poetry festival

It was a great time at the first annual NETT Poetry Festival/Haiti Fundraiser/Olympics viewing party. We enjoyed some great food, some fun and thoughtful reading and a jam session by the NETT all-star house band. Special thanks to Jean Dany for reading and talking to us a bit about how we can help Haiti. Also, huge thanks to the Miller-Medzons--what a generous and talented family, huh? Imagine if the Patridge Family could run and play hockey and you get the idea. If you didn't get a chance to donate, you can text Haiti to 90999 to give to the Red Cross or text "world" to 50555 to donate $10 to the "we are the world".

Click the "play" button below to check out the video of the NETT house band jamming away!

Jean Dany voted Poet Populist for Cambridge!!!!!!

GREAT NEWS!!! NETT's own Jean Dany Joachim has been voted the Poet Populist for Cambridge this year! It is a tremendous honor for JD and we are all VERY proud of him.

For more information, see the Cambridge Arts Council's web site here. You can read JD's biography (a story all its own!) and some of his poetry.

For those of you looking to hear JD read part of the infamous Loquacious Dog poem, you can watch it here. Boy, what a story!

If you want to catch JD in person, he'll be formally accepting his honor from the Mayor of Cambridge at the Cambridge River Festival this weekend. There will be a Poet Populist tent with readings all day and JD will receive his honor at 3 pm.

Saturday June 13
3 pm
Memorial Drive at the Weeks Footbridge

Congrats JD!

Life is Good!

A particularly appropriate lyric for NETT

In keeping with the poetry festival theme, here's a unique set of lyrics that grabbed my attention. Local rock legend Bill Janowitz's band Crown Victoria put this song out and it references our own Battle Road (he lives in Lexington these days).

One, Two, Three
By Bill Janowtiz

See the spotlight’s on her tawdry dresses on the bed beside the fire
She’s always kept her word, she’s not a liar
Walking down the Battle Road, the Lincoln woman’s family is not home
Oh, you’re beautiful you know
Oh, we beg you not to go
She probably drinks a glass a beer a thousand miles away from here
Or maybe she is underneath the sea
One, two, three, so easily

Q&A with Marshall up on the ENETRS site

Folks, we interrupt our poetry festival coverage to bring you some "creative writing" of another kind. The organizers of the Eastern New England Trail Race Series have just posted the Q&A I did with Marshall Randolph after his tremendous performance in winning the series this year. For those interested, it's posted here.

Poetry festival submission: Peace, at eight minutes a mile

The first-ever NETT PoetryFestival/Haiti Fundraiser/Olympics viewing party is only a couple days away! Please RSVP ASAP on the Meetup page if you can attend. To keep things going we're posting another original submission into the festival.

Peace, at eight minutes a mile

Snow crunching beneath your feet
Winter sun above
Gentle wind upon your back
This is what you love

This is what you live for
This still fills your dreams
This makes all the turmoil
Half of what it seems

Laughing conversation
With many-miled friends
Worth the early rousing
A means and yet an ends

This is health embodied
This is body and soul
This was de Leon’s dream
To keep from getting old

Sometimes it’s pushing limits
Sometimes a full-on test
Sometimes a well-paced journey
Is the only way to rest

This is what you go to
This is what you need
When the mapped out path ahead
Is impossible to read

Poetry festival submission: Bear in there!

Almost forgot, here's Chrissy's favorite that brought the house down!

Bear In There
Shel Silverstein
There's a Polar Bear
In our Frigidaire--
He likes it 'cause it's cold in there.
With his seat in the meat
And his face in the fish
And his big hairy paws
In the buttery dish,
He's nibbling the noodles,
He's munching the rice,
He's slurping the soda,
He's licking the ice.
And he lets out a roar
If you open the door.
And it gives me a scare
To know he's in there--
That Polary Bear
In our Fridgitydaire. There's a Polar Bear
In our Frigidaire--
He likes it 'cause it's cold in there.
With his seat in the meat
And his face in the fish
And his big hairy paws
In the buttery dish,
He's nibbling the noodles,
He's munching the rice,
He's slurping the soda,
He's licking the ice.
And he lets out a roar
If you open the door.
And it gives me a scare
To know he's in there--
That Polary Bear
In our Fridgitydaire.

Things I Didn't Know I Loved

Yes, we are a literate bunch of Mini Ponies. Many of you participated in our Poetry Festival last February.

Well, I came across a poem this week that I thought many of you may like to read. It was written by a 14-year old girl who was battling Leukemia and unfortunately lost her battle a few years later. So yes, it's a tear-jerker, but worth a read.
Things I Didn’t Know I Loved
by Jamie Connors

Fourteen years old, I’m sitting in a wheelchair
Being pushed by a nurse down a stark white corridor, She stops to get my chart

I close my eyes, I’m running, Muscles flexing, adrenaline pumping
Sweat trickling down my forehead as the sun beats down on my back
Laughter
Screaming
No one can catch up
Speedy Gonzalez
Pure ecstasy
The best high in the world…
I open my eyes to the cold, harshly-lit hallway before me
My blanket slips
I adjust myself,
It’s extremely difficult
I’m practically out of breath
All seventy five pounds of me ache
Only skin and bones
I knew I loved running
I never knew I loved muscle,
Never knew I loved fat

To read the rest of the poem to to ParkwayBoston for the full version.

Poetry festival submission: They Tried to Make me Go to Indoor Track

Oh, this one is fecking brilliant, from Jerry the Tick. Sing it to the tune of "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse.

They tried to make me go to indoor track
By Jerry De Zutter

They tried to make me go to indoor track but I said 'no, no, no'
Yes I had an eating injury but when I come back you'll know know know
I got better for my workout time and for the others track's just fine
They tried to make me go to indoor track but I won't go go go

I'd rather be out on the trails with NETT
I ain't goin' nowhere today
Cause there's no way
There's no way you can reach me
And make me circle that way

I dread weaving in and out of the MIT track running mass
Maybe just stay at home drinking from my beer glass

They tried to make me go to indoor track but I said 'no, no, no'
Yes I had an eating injury but when I come back you'll know know know
I’ve avoided injury on the 200 meter oval, not gotten dizzy and haven’t gone out of my mind
But meet me at CAC and we’ll run over to Beacon Hill that’s where we’ll go go go

Crazy said 'the track is very near'
I said "I like the river path my dear"
I'm gonna, I'm gonna lose my cool
so I'll just keep my legs right here
He said 'don't get yourself depressed,
just tell that story to the rest

They tried to make me go to indoor track but I said 'no, no, no'
Yes I had an eating injury but when I come back you'll know know know

I don't wanna run 200 meter circles again
I just ooh don't care that they're my friends
I'm not gonna spend ten seconds
have everyone think I'm on that trend

It's not just my pride
I just want to run hill repeats outside

They tried to make me go to indoor track but I said 'no, no, no'
Yes I had an eating injury but when I come back you'll know know know
So I’m better for my time but keep going and I may whine
They tried to make me go to indoor track but I won't go go go

Welcome NETT's Newest Member

Welcome to NETT Danyson! Congrats to Jean Dany and Jo! He writes beautiful poetry, dazzles us with his phenomenal running, but this is JD's finest performance.

Favorite poem: Stopping by woods on a snowy evening

Okay, I'll keep the momentum of our online poetry festival going by submitting what I think might be one of my favorite poems for a couple reasons. One, it's by New Englander Robert Frost, who not only knew what it was like to live here in the winter, but loved hiking so much, they named a very long trail in Western Mass after him. But it's also one of my favorites because I think we can all relate to it as trail runners, no? Admiring a patch of woods you'd love to explore...even if it's someone else's property? And, yes, we all know what it's like to have "miles to go before I sleep" don't we?


Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
By Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.