Riding Out the Dumb Silence
()
About this ebook
If you're looking for a poetry and short story collection where trains hit cars, garbage men find heads in trash cans, women throw groceries at men, gurus sheer their flocks, and little girls want to grow up to become dinner plates, this is the book for you.
If you aren't looking for those things, you really should be.
Phillips blends the all-too-real with the fantastic to deliver one of the weirdest, strongest collections you'll read this, or any year.
Michael Phillips
Professor Mike Phillips has a BSc in Civil Engineering, an MSc in Environmental Management and a PhD in Coastal Processes and Geomorphology, which he has used in an interdisciplinary way to assess current challenges of living and working on the coast. He is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research, Innovation, Enterprise and Commercialisation) at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and also leads their Coastal and Marine Research Group. Professor Phillips' research expertise includes coastal processes, morphological change and adaptation to climate change and sea level rise, and this has informed his engagement in the policy arena. He has given many key note speeches, presented at many major international conferences and evaluated various international and national coastal research projects. Consultancy contracts include beach monitoring for the development of the Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay, assessing beach processes and evolution at Fairbourne (one of the case studies in this book), beach replenishment issues, and techniques to monitor underwater sediment movement to inform beach management. Funded interdisciplinary research projects have included adaptation strategies in response to climate change and underwater sensor networks. He has published >100 academic articles and in 2010 organised a session on Coastal Tourism and Climate Change at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris in his role as a member of the Climate, Oceans and Security Working Group of the UNEP Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands. He has successfully supervised many PhD students, and as well as research students in his own University, advises PhD students for overseas universities. These currently include the University of KwaZuluNatal, Durban, University of Technology, Mauritius and University of Aveiro, Portugal. Professor Phillips has been a Trustee/Director of the US Coastal Education and Research Foundation (CERF) since 2011 and he is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Coastal Research. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Geography, University of Victoria, British Columbia and Visiting Professor at the University Centre of the Westfjords. He was an expert advisor for the Portuguese FCT Adaptaria (coastal adaptation to climate change) and Smartparks (planning marine conservation areas) projects and his contributions to coastal and ocean policies included: the Rio +20 World Summit, Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts and Islands; UNESCO; EU Maritime Spatial Planning; and Welsh Government Policy on Marine Aggregate Dredging. Past contributions to research agendas include the German Cluster of Excellence in Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM) and the Portuguese Department of Science and Technology.
Read more from Michael Phillips
The Chelsea Market Cookbook: 100 Recipes from New York's Premier Indoor Food Hall Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Commands of Jesus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMake Me Like Jesus: The Courage to Pray Dangerously Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Murder by Quill: A Scottish Castle Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChelsea Market Makers: Recipes, Tips, and Techniques from the Artisans of New York's Premier Food Hall Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGeorge MacDonald's Spiritual Vision: An Introductory Overview Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAngel Dreams Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Commands of the Apostles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sword, the Garden, and the King Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUniversal Reconciliation: A Brief Selection of Pertinent Quotations Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Eyewitness Gospel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Beyond Trilogy: The Garden at the Edge of Beyond, Heaven & Beyond, and Hell & Beyond Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPractical Essential Christianity: What Christianity Is . . . What It Isn't Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Eleventh Commandment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBold Thinking Christianity: Discovering Intellectually Vigorous Faith Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cappuccino Club Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSea to Shining Sea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Dreams Trilogy: Dream of Freedom, Dream of Life, and Dream of Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA God to Call Father: An Imaginative Journey into the High Places of Intimacy with God Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Out of the Wardrobe: A Personal Odyssey Toward Bold Thinking Faith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pinnacles of Power: A Contemporary Novel of the Church Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLand of the Brave and the Free Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Sacrifice of Obedience: Gethsemane Moments in the Life of Jesus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBest Friends for Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGetting More Done in Less Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInto the Long Dark Night Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to Riding Out the Dumb Silence
Related ebooks
Goldie and the Three Bears: 50 Loving States, Wisconsin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Growling For More Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Armstrong & Oscar Cozy Mysteries 1-3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Golden Stairs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gwythienian: Odan Terridor Trilogy, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChilling Tales to Listen to at Night Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFollow The Leader Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBefore The Passions Of The Moon: WEREWOLF CAMPFIRE SERIES, #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHabit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bad Decisions Playlist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Together and By Ourselves Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Harry Starke Genesis Bundle 1: Genesis Bundles, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDirty Peace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsResurrecting Anastasia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost: In the streets of New York Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWestinghouse Patent Pend. and Friends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Incident at Steakhouse Noir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Five Realms of the Emerald Kingdom: The Missing General Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Place on the Porch Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNormandy Nights Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings20 Something Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow I’m Spending My Afterlife Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Freddy Goodman (Ain't No Good Man) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmong the Oranges: I’Ll Meet You North of August Among the Oranges Under the Cyclops Moon in a Garden of Zero Roses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLot 39 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEchoes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hey There Lonely Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFour 4 One: Romance & Adventure Short Story's by Ctw Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCrossroads Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Moonless Sky: English Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Poetry For You
The Odyssey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Way Forward Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love Her Wild: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Journey to the Heart: Daily Meditations on the Path to Freeing Your Soul Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Thoughts: An Exploration Of Who We Are Beyond Our Minds Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Inward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Prophet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Twenty love poems and a song of despair Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Selected Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ariel: The Restored Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bedtime Stories for Grown-ups Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Edgar Allan Poe: The Complete Collection Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You Better Be Lightning Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dream Work Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Collection of Poems by Robert Frost Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road Not Taken and other Selected Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Inferno: The Divine Comedy, Book One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad: The Fitzgerald Translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Enough Rope: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gilgamesh: A New English Version Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tradition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Weary Blues Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Iliad: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Reviews for Riding Out the Dumb Silence
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Riding Out the Dumb Silence - Michael Phillips
coconuts
my neighbor is outside
cutting a coconut in half
with a hand saw
I don't think he is trying to get at
the milk or the meat
but whatever he is doing
he isn't having an easy time of it
there is a wooden pallet
leaned up against the chain link fence
he balances the coconut on top of the pallet
saws a few times
moves it to another spot on the pallet
saws a few times
moves it again
he tries a few strokes
with one foot up on the pallet for leverage
then with the coconut against the fence pole
then back on the pallet
he moves that coconut a hundred times
sawing at it everywhere
everywhere except
what would seem to be the logical place:
on the ground
but I can't really go out there
and tell him how to cut his coconut
I don't even know
why he is cutting the coconut
so any help I try to offer
would probably be useless
he has been sawing that coconut
for about fifteen minutes now
and I can't take my eyes off of him
eventually he will make his way through the coconut
and I will stop watching
we will go our separate ways
him with his perfect coconut halves
me still wondering why
one of us
will have
wasted
our time
storm watch
it's finally raining
had to wait until 4am
but here it is
it's not a great rain
but steady, respectable
waiting for a little water around here
is like torture
sometimes i'm afraid
that the lack of weather
is going to kill me
i was born in a Minnesota snowbank
it was February
-22 degrees
yeah, i know
but it's true
and being dropped into that kind of world
tends to create
expectations
in a person
we had clearly defined seasons
and when those seasons passed
you knew that a little more of your time
had wound out
but spring would always come
with the sweet but fleeting feeling
that you had at least one more shot
at everything
but here
all we have
is a calendar
and i often forget to look at it
so when i step outside
i'm not sure
if it is May or December
summer fall winter spring
it's all the same
you can wake up one day
and find that ten years have disappeared
and all you have to measure it by
is faith
and the misguided belief
that their year
and your year
are the same distance
from whatever comes next
if I was smart
if I was smart I would take notes
throughout the day
look at that crazy guy...
damn, it sure is hot...
what is that on my toe?
then when there was nothing
coming down to the keys
through the fingers
I could simply flip through a few scribbled pages
and find something to dig into
as it is
there is nothing here now
but me and the dust
and it's not even interesting dust
from the Sahara or Istanbul or Las Vegas
just garden variety Los Angeles dust
probably fake dust
from a movie set somewhere
but you never know
maybe it was tracked in from Utah or Montana
North Carolina or Ohio
and left in Union Station
before the carrier set out for Hollywood
or Beverly Hills or Compton
an innocent cluster of soil
knocked out of a boot tread
on the way down the steps of the Greyhound
a few grains caught up in a breeze
and bounced through all the little towns
of this big city
finally making its way here
and becoming trapped in this house
just short of the salty water
and a free ride to Catalina
or Japan
instead it lands on top of my telephone
where I happen to see it
while I am wondering
what to type
maybe there isn't any such thing
as uninteresting dust
just uninteresting
poets
chaos
sitting here staring at the same page of the same magazine
for fifteen or twenty minutes
when the horrible screech of scraping, crushing metal
gives me a jolt
it is 3:18 a.m.
I open the back door
walk outside
and there is a motor home
slowly coasting toward me
the engine is running, but it is just idling along
apparently the driver had tried to park
but instead
hit an SUV
turning it sideways
and crumpling it up into the back of a red sports car
he backed away from the unfortunate mess
and continued on his way
which is where I came into the picture
the motor home was headed toward my car
so I said a quick goodbye
but somehow the driver straightened out
and went on along his way to who knows where
in the aftermath of all that
I expected chaos
alarms, irate car owners, police, dogs
you know, those kind of things
but instead it was silent
I stood looking at the SUV
interior lights on
three windows and a good amount of metal
shattered
it was turned sideways and