Poetry From A Non Poet 3

lago

 

I saw the water it went on forever

I felt the wind on my face

Heard the sounds of language

Drifting up to the roof

 

The sight of the island drawing near

A stranger in a not so strange land

The stairs climbed to unknown heights

The sun kissed my soul

 

Listening to the almost silence

Not thinking only feeling

Why can’t all days be like this

Why can’t I discover with you

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

notmovingpictures Episode 87: Rejection Sucks

On this episode I drop the news about finally making myself submit a short story I wrote only to have it rejected and what my plans are for it (and other writing projects) moving forward. Then I talk about being diagnosed with depression and how it seems to run in my family. Next I talk about my experiences visiting Peru and how they differ from a travel podcast I have been listening to before segueing back into depression and my writing. Lastly I read the rejected short story Aware. I've already started editing it again so it will turn up somewhere soon. I promise.



Opening music - Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing music: Rollins Band - Disconnect

Email: www.notmovingpictures@gmail.com  Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Older episodes can be found by going to www.archive.org. Just search for notmovingpictures.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

notmovingpictures Episode 085: Walk This Way

Episode 85 starts off with the continuing saga of my brother-in-law Gary and his travails with immigration before moving on to the recent update that Peru's president has stepped down from his office even though he continues to proclaim his innocence. Then I give an update on what I have been reading recently. Names like Todd Taylor, Kevin Sampsell, Mike Faloon, Allen Morris Jones and Barry Eisler are all dropped. Lastly I close with a little storytelling from basic training about music. There you go, have at it.



Opening music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing music: Run-DMC - Walk This Way

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com  Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Older episodes of the podcast can be found at www.archive.org. Just search for notmovingpictures.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

notmovingpictures Episode 081: Writing Stories and More Alberto Fujimori

It's been a while. I took an unscheduled break from podcasting but now I've returned with my batteries recharged. This episode finds me talking about a new short story that I've written as well as an idea for another one and then I'm onto the Alberto Fujimori saga in Peru amongst other things.



Opening music: Alloy- Live To See The Day
Closing music: New Model Army - Winter

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com  Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Older episodes can be found at www.archive.org. Just search for notmovingpictures.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

notmovingpictures Episode 80: Pardoning Fujumori

The last episode....................of the year. Talking about the uproar in Peru over the pardon of Alberto Fujimori, recommending small press authors to the Tulsa County Library and the thought that I need to drastically improve my ability to speak Spanish.



Opening music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing music: Levee Walkers - All Things Fade Away

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Older episodes can be found at www.archive.org. Just search for notmovingpictures.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

notmovingpictures Episode 077: Vamos Peru Carajo!

Peru qualifies for the World Cup, I'm working on lyrics for a new song and I tell a tale of being too young to buy beer. Don't judge me and certainly don't do what I did. I was young and stupid, what's your excuse?



Opening music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing music: La Bicicleta de Alan - Lima

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com  Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Older episodes of the podcast can be found by going to www.archive.org and searching for notmovingpictures.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

notmovingpictures Episode 076: Problems, I've Got Them

Problems. Everybody has them and so do I. Allow me to vent.



Opening music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing music: Grant Hart - Morningstar

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com  Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Older episodes of the podcast can be found at www.archive.org. Just search for notmovingpictures.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

notmovingpictures Episode 70: Peru And The Browns Connection

This time around I refer back to Curtis Armstrong and the 80s movies I watched with Gary, my current writing projects, DACA and our president and finally the similarities between being a fan of the Cleveland Browns and the Peruvian National Futbol team.

Opening music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing music: Phil Rudd - Sun Goes Down



Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com  Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

notmovingpictures Episode 069: Gary's Return Part Two

This is part two of my conversation with my brother-in-law Gary. In this episode we talk about going to the Curtis Armstrong Slumber Party at the Circle Cinema to see three of the five 80s movies that were shown. We saw Revenge Of The Nerds, Better Off Dead and Just One Of The Guys before giving in to the lure of sleep. We also discourse on politics and how much easier Spanish is to pronounce than English all while being interrupted by my wife and a very hungry kitten.



Opening music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing music: The Rubinoos - Revenge Of The Nerds

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com  Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

notmovingpictures Episode 068: Gary's Return Part One

It took forever but finally my brother-in-law Gary has returned to the podcast. We sat down on a Sunday and talked about how his immigration has gone so far, and the differences between the U.S. and Peru.



Opening music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing music: Almirante Ackbar - Cientos Truenos

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com  Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Ten For Tuesday Episode 127: Hope You Like Spanish

Another Tuesday, another episode of ten good songs. Hope you like Spanish.



The I Don't Cares - Born For Me
Juliana Hatfield - Ordinary Guy
Noise Addict - My Pathetic Friend
Ben Lee - Pop Queen
Tourista - Requiem
Mundaka - Desaparecer
Pavement - Cut Your Hair
Serto Mercurio - Inciendo
Los Romanticos de Zacatecas - Es Por Ti
Palehound - Flowing Over

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com  Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Older episodes of the podcast can be found by going to www.archive.org and searching for Ten For Tuesday.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Ten For Tuesday Episode 126: Looking For Cool Music

Lot's of cool music this episode including not one, not two but three bands from Peru. You know I've got a special place in my heart for Peru so I'm always looking for cool music from there.



Tenement - Crop Circle Nation (demo)
Almirante Ackbar - Cientos Truenos
Big Eyes - Leave This Town
The Steady 45s - 1903
Laguna Pai - Galan de Combi
Las Cafeteras - If I Was President
Lo Tom - Overboard
Los Outsaiders - Nina
Rancid - Telegraph Avenue
In The Whale - Ride

Email: tenfortuesday@gmail.com  Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Older episodes of the podcast can be found by going to www.archive.org and searching for Ten For Tuesday.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

notmovingpictures Episode 065: Walking Stalker

There are a variety of topics in this episode. I talk about the Tornado that just hit Tulsa, my Mom's recent heart attack, Walker Stalker and a few other things before closing with my Rush t-shirt story.



Opening music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing music: Laguna Pai - Galan de Combi

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Older episodes of the podcast can be found by going to www.archive.org and searching for notovingpictures.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

notmovingpictures Episode 53: Concerts, Flooding In Peru and Kola Inglesa

I decided to throw together a brief episode to offer a break from my conversation with Aaron. Do not fear, there is more to come on that front, and soon. For if you choose you can hear me rambling on about my computer situation addressed, the flooding situation going on in Peru and my recent family trip that ended up at Pops, a cultural spot on Route 66 and some upcoming concerts I'd like to attend. Oh yeah, and the idea that I could be working on new music in the near future. Now excuse me while I get back to watching Jason Bourne.



Opening music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing music: Superchunk - In Between Days

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com Twitter: @notmovingpics
Older episodes can be found by going to archive.org and searching for notmovingpictures.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

notmovingpictures Episode 46: My Peruvian Vacation

This episode was recorded on September 30th, the last day of my Peruvian vacation. Not long after I returned home I had almost all of the podcast edited and planned on finishing it the next day and then uploading it. Except then my laptop died. Everything on it has been unavailable including all of my saved episodes, my music, pictures, documents, etc and quite realistically it all may be lost for good. Luckily I still had the file on my recorder and so I was able to use a computer and download the editing program and start over. Since I want to get this up I have decided not to do any editing on the content. Normally I will take out too many uhhhs or if I cough or sniffle because I feel it distracts from what was being said. Not this time though. What we have here is a conversation between myself and my brother-in-law Gary Rivera. Gary was preparing to emigrate to the U.S. and we talked about the differences in our countries as well as what I did on my vacation. Since this was recorded in Peru and is a great deal about Peru I decided to close the episode with some Peruvian metal. Enjoy.



Opening music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing music: M.A.S.A.C.R.E. - Sombras de la Humilidad

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com
Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Older episodes of the podcast can be found at archive.org, just search for notmovingpictures.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

notmovingpictures Episode 044: Should I Stay Or Should I Go

So this is the kind of an episode where I ramble on about how I've been trying to schedule a vacation in Peru and the thoughts or doubts I have about getting a medical scan to see if I may have a potentially bad (or not) medical condition and how all of the waiting makes me think about life. You can hear how all of this ties together and affects each other. Then I delve into the Peruvian Presidential election and our very own election here in the U.S. Lastly I discuss some zine projects that I need to get done before I go to Peru and some reviews I am doing for Zine Nation.

Extra points for you if you get the connection to the closing song and one of the themes for this episode.



Opening Music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing Music: The Black Black - The Plan Is There Is No Plan

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com
Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Older episodes can also be found @ www.archive.org, just search for notmovingpictures

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

notmovingpictures Episode 042: Peruvian Politics From The Outside

With this episode I catch on what has been going on lately. I've been attempting to learn guitar and have actually came up with a riff for a future song. Another song is done and I'm waiting for Aaron to finish the mix on it and also how the Grand Slam of the Ok, So Story Slam went for me as well as the status of the zine that I am working on. I also delve into the murky waters of Peruvian politics and describe how their President is elected as well as who the candidates were this election. Of course it's not over yet, the second part of the process is a runoff between the top two vote getters. I ended up talking for longer than I thought I would so there you go.



Opening Music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing Music: Toys That Kill - Times We Can't Let Go

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com
Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Older episodes can also be found @ www.archive.org, just search for notmovingpictures

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Ten For Tuesday Episode 094: Eclecticity Anyone?

Well, this one is a day late but cut me some slack, I've been busy getting back into work after a short vacation. Vacations are never long enough no matter how long they are and work is............well, work. That's all I have to say about that. As for the music this episode, it is quite eclectic as in all over the place and these kinds are usually my favorite. Check it out.



Urge Overkill - Positive Bleeding
The Pixies - Monkey Gone To Heaven
Dramarama - Last Cigarette
The Crombies - It's Not You
The Last Slice - Chicks A Trip
The Clash with Ranking Roger - Rock The Casbah
The Expanders - Man Should Not Hold Back
Sugar - Hoover Dam
You Won't - Ya Ya Ya
Kanaku Y El Tigre - So Te Mueres Manana

Ten For Tuesday is a podcast dedicated to playing the music I couldn't find anywhere else. The music I like varies from style to style, genre to genre and era to era. You will hear punk, ska, rock, Americana, metal, country, rockabilly and more from all over the world. It doesn't matter if it's a major label or indie as long as I like it then it gets played. The motto is Less Talk More Music which means you won't hear me waxing poetic for fifteen minutes between songs. At TFT its all about the music...and me of course.

Email: tenfortuesday@gmail.com Twitter:@notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com
Old Episodes can be found by going to www.archive.org and searching for Ten For Tuesday.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Don't Confuse Alone With Lonely

I spent the Christmas holidays by myself, unless of course you count the sporadic visitations of Alex The Cat and I don’t. My wife and son were visiting her cousin in Memphis and unfortunately I couldn’t get time off from work. They tend to not give me time off around the holidays even though I’m the only supervisor in the evenings and those that were on 1st shift jumped on requesting it early. The thing is that when people found out I was going to be alone they began to besiege me with invitations to join them but thankfully, I was able to defer their good intentions. You see, I don’t mind being alone, as a matter of fact I was looking forward to spending some time by myself.

For some reason people tend to confuse alone with lonely. The two are not the same. Time spent by myself is usually that rarest thing where I get to indulge myself. And I did. I stayed up as late as I liked, slept in without being concerned with setting an alarm. I ate pizza on Christmas Eve and Christmas day and since it rained for over two days straight I barely left the house. While I did get two podcasts recorded and ready to go mainly I read or caught up on my Netflix queue. Basically I just did what I wanted when I wanted. I didn’t venture outside until after midnight on Saturday. I finally braved the torrential downpours to get a few groceries and hit Whataburger for some comfort food.

I've said it many times that I'm not a social person not do I care much for celebrating holidays. If it weren't for my wife and son I'd never have a tree up or decorations of any kind around the house. It's just not my thing and there is nothing wrong with that. Not everybody is the same and I feel we should embrace what makes us unique. I'm just trying to be me and stay true to myself. As I get older it seems so clear to me how much unnecessary grief and drama we put ourselves through trying to project an image of what we really are not. Having said that I know that at times I drive my wife crazy with the way I am because she's Peruvian and they are very social people.

So there you have it. I was alone for Christmas and not sad about it. Sure I would have liked to be around my family but since I couldn't be, spending some quality time with myself was a nice option to have.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

My Review Of Reckless Traveler by Walter Rhein

For some reason it has taken me a great deal of time to post a review of Reckless Traveler by Walter Rhein. I mean, after all, I read it in a few days right after I received it. Sure a lot has been going on in my life creatively but this book was fun, so well written and...........why don't I just copy the review here so you can see for yourself?

I had stumbled across Walter Rhein’s blog, Streets Of Lima, several years ago in a search for something related to American expats living in Peru, which I wished could happen with me. Why? I am married to a Peruvian and although at the time I had only visited Peru once I was quite taken with the country and the people and I felt drawn there. Streets Of Lima was a fun and interesting destination for me where I could at least see someone living where and as I wished I could. My wife doesn’t wish to return to live in Peru or else I think it would have already happened. Fast forward a few years and now I find that Rhein has written a memoir of his time spent living in Peru.
The book is full of what I would expect would be normal experiences for a person living in not just a foreign country but also a foreign way of life. For Rhein it went beyond the normal way of learning a new culture, a new way of life, as he didn’t try to just live it. He attacked it recklessly, full speed ahead without giving thought to the consequences. With too much thought or planning I think he wouldn’t have actually been in the moment and experiencing life. I don’t know if I could have been as brave as he was given my penchant for sticking to the same old same old. Well, at least I used to be that way.
So what is Reckless Traveler about you may ask? If you want stories about embarrassing language gaffes you will find it in this book. If you want stories about being bullheaded about modern medicine and absolutely knowing that traditional ways are useless it’s in this book. If you want stories of devilishly allowing others believe you are a typical gringo who doesn’t even take the time to learn to speak the local language it’s in this book. If you want stories about letting go of the rigid way of thinking life is as you’ve learned and accepting another place based on what it is instead of what it isn’t you will find it in this book. If you want stories of reckless travel to see places and things of incredible beauty you will find it in this book. All told with great humor in a natural way that always left me wanting to read a few pages more, just a few more. That’s the sign of a great book to me.
I’m sure Walter Rhein could have told even more stories and this book could have swelled to two or three times its size but as it is it’s pretty perfect. It left me wanting more, just a little more. I even found myself seeking out my wife to read to her from the pages more than once and she enjoyed the stories as well. Perhaps in a few years there will be a sequel, a volume two. After all, the Walter Rhein still travels to Peru and I believe he is there now as I write this, lucky dog that he is. Books like this make life a lot more enjoyable for me and inspire me to make my dreams come true. Now if only I can figure out a way to make that happen. Buy this book, it’s worth the money, it’s worth the time spent reading it. It’s worth that and much more.
Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.