I went to Boston over the weekend. I rode in a plane that flew there, no problem, and my friend Josh met me in the chilly air and we took the subway back to his place in Jamaica Plain and he cooked up a roast. He is a great cook, like so good it's weird, like how come you decided to do cooking so good.
Then on Saturday I went via commuter rail to Providence and met with Mairéad Byrne, whose collection of poems, The Best of (What's Left of) Heaven, I'm publishing in a month or two. It was a delightful afternoon meeting with her, talking about the book and poetry in general and the business of poetry. I felt very privileged and then I took the commuter rail back to Boston and caught up with Daniel Trask, a diligent novelist who self-published a great, thoughtful book called DMR about working in a home for the mentals.
Then I watched the Ravens/Steelers game (irksome loss) at the Cask & Flagon, which ESPN called the second best baseball bar. It's right there at the butt of Fenway. I thought for a minute about taking a picture of the back of Fenway but instead wrote it with the ink of memory. Then I rode on a plane back to Baltimore. It seemed to take forever but finally I got home and look at me now: I'm at my desk at work.
So what's next? This weekend I'm driving up to Ithaca to go skiing with my brother, Alan. He probably won't cook a roast, but we're going to celebrate the New Year with some restaurant people or something.
Publishing Genius gets to nominate someone to contend at Opium Magazine's Literary Death Match on January 30th. Who will I pick? Remember "Thumbs Up 7-Up" from when we were in 3rd grade? I feel like that.
Showing posts with label bloggy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bloggy. Show all posts
Monday, December 28, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Neil Young does Fresh Prince theme
Hey, I celebrate good TV.
And while I don't watch videos at work, I listen to them. So not seeing this performance, it honestly took me a while to realize this wasn't actually Neil Young. Five stars.
(Thanks Adam Kotsko.)
And while I don't watch videos at work, I listen to them. So not seeing this performance, it honestly took me a while to realize this wasn't actually Neil Young. Five stars.
(Thanks Adam Kotsko.)
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Shellie Zacharia's NOW PLAYING
I just received Now Playing, by Shellie Zacharia, from Keyhole Books. I read the titles and enjoyed them immensely. I read the first story, "Uno!" and enjoyed it immensely. I mean, really, really a lot. It has a great tone, so smartly breezed and fluffed, and ends with a point that would seem saccharine if everything else in the story hadn't come together so well.
I'm looking forward to reading the other 180 pages in this book.
I'm looking forward to reading the other 180 pages in this book.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
NYC Spelling Bee
Rozalia Jovanovic wrote a very funny account of a spelling bee. When I was in NYC last weekend I wished I went there more often. The fact that Rozalia's write up takes this cool event as if it were a commonplace sort of thing makes me wish I was there more often more.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Everyday Idiot
Here's another logo by Justin Sirois.
Justin and I went to see Where the Wild Things Are on Friday. It was at a theatre in the suburbs. There were plenty of kids. It didn't strike me as a kids movie, but they did keep yelling and all the adults kept laughing at them. The main kid in the movie, Max, wore a sweater like my brother had when he was 8ish, and later like my friend Jason Lee had when he was 28ish. Love that sweater.
I thought the movie would rule a little harder in terms of defying the time-space continuum, but I think it doesn't cover the same fare that I'm used to with Spike Jonze. Like, when Max returns home from where the wild things are, I wondered how much time had passed? Would it be like in CS Lewis where it was only an instant, or like in Rip Van Winkle where it was year? I mean, actually what I expected is for Spike Jonze to create a whole other option that I hadn't thought of, but that's not really what this movie is about.
The movie was just trying to make me really sad about how no one can ever get along. Boom, mission accomplished. But how hard is that?
I spent like the whole day in bed yesterday. Last week I spent almost no time in bed, so I deserved it. I watched the Ravens game. The Ravens game was pretty awesome, in spite of a very close loss (missed field goal).
So much rain lately. Today blue skies, but still there has been a lot of rain.
**
Today at Everyday Genius, Lee Rourke brings us a story by Tom McCarthy. It's a playish thing, actually, quirky, maybe laying a diss on Greek classicists or modern dramaturgy? I'm not sure, but open to discussion.
Justin and I went to see Where the Wild Things Are on Friday. It was at a theatre in the suburbs. There were plenty of kids. It didn't strike me as a kids movie, but they did keep yelling and all the adults kept laughing at them. The main kid in the movie, Max, wore a sweater like my brother had when he was 8ish, and later like my friend Jason Lee had when he was 28ish. Love that sweater.
I thought the movie would rule a little harder in terms of defying the time-space continuum, but I think it doesn't cover the same fare that I'm used to with Spike Jonze. Like, when Max returns home from where the wild things are, I wondered how much time had passed? Would it be like in CS Lewis where it was only an instant, or like in Rip Van Winkle where it was year? I mean, actually what I expected is for Spike Jonze to create a whole other option that I hadn't thought of, but that's not really what this movie is about.
The movie was just trying to make me really sad about how no one can ever get along. Boom, mission accomplished. But how hard is that?
I spent like the whole day in bed yesterday. Last week I spent almost no time in bed, so I deserved it. I watched the Ravens game. The Ravens game was pretty awesome, in spite of a very close loss (missed field goal).
So much rain lately. Today blue skies, but still there has been a lot of rain.
**
Today at Everyday Genius, Lee Rourke brings us a story by Tom McCarthy. It's a playish thing, actually, quirky, maybe laying a diss on Greek classicists or modern dramaturgy? I'm not sure, but open to discussion.
**
The Facing Pages conference I'm paneling with One Story and Bomb Magazine looks really cool, and really free to NYers if you register by the 21st. If anyone is interested in attending or meeting up, let me know somehow.
**
New Survey up at the PG website.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
How You Doin' You Doin' Good?
My piece at Wunderkammer is up today. I didn't know it at the time, but I was writing about a picture of Kendra Grant Malone.
Kendra Grant Malone and Tao Lin's story, "Conor Oberst Sex," came out today as a very nice looking eBook from Matthew Simmons's press, Happy Cobra Books.
I've never met KGM but I met Tao last week and we did food. I met Matthew Simmons in May. I hope I meet KGM sometime. I hope I never meet a cobra, but if I do, I hope it is happy.
I had the privilege of speaking to a publishing class at George Washington University last night. It was a lot of fun. First the professor talked about archiving and problems like bit rot and cross-platform migration, then I talked about how I want to become as big as Google and I answered a wide range of very interesting questions. Everyone was really great and I feel more confident about appearing at the Facing Pages conference at Poets House later this month.
Finishing up Easter Rabbit and getting it off to the printer. Thanks to Justin Sirois for his work turning Christine Sajecki's painting into a book cover. Later I will post it, with the blurbs for the book.
In conclusion: life, man. Geez, y'know?
Kendra Grant Malone and Tao Lin's story, "Conor Oberst Sex," came out today as a very nice looking eBook from Matthew Simmons's press, Happy Cobra Books.
I've never met KGM but I met Tao last week and we did food. I met Matthew Simmons in May. I hope I meet KGM sometime. I hope I never meet a cobra, but if I do, I hope it is happy.
I had the privilege of speaking to a publishing class at George Washington University last night. It was a lot of fun. First the professor talked about archiving and problems like bit rot and cross-platform migration, then I talked about how I want to become as big as Google and I answered a wide range of very interesting questions. Everyone was really great and I feel more confident about appearing at the Facing Pages conference at Poets House later this month.
Finishing up Easter Rabbit and getting it off to the printer. Thanks to Justin Sirois for his work turning Christine Sajecki's painting into a book cover. Later I will post it, with the blurbs for the book.
In conclusion: life, man. Geez, y'know?
Monday, October 5, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Is this spam?
Just got this email:
Hello.Also, I forgot to mention that the other day I pre-ordered Keyhole 8.
Am Mr.Kelvin Chris and will like to place an order regarding some Light Boxe 172 pp 5 x 7" perfect bound paperback from your company to Singapore.I will really appreciate you email me back with those that you carry in stock and their price ranges,also your terms of payment as well.I will like to be one of your honest customer and hope you answer to my request ASAP.Thank you very much and waiting for your prompt responds.God Bless You.
Best Regards
Mr.Kelvin
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
*Sweatpants Wrap Up; **A review; ***Another Review, ****Submissions Update
*
Tour was revelatory. Some highlights include:
+Throwing a rug at people for about an hour in NYC outside the Cake Shop. Then getting into a wrestling match at a dance party. Then getting stuffed into a garbage can.
+Staying in a suite in Philadelphia that cost more than a tour van whould have -- thanks Bill.
+Hanging out with the awesome guys in Mostly Dimes. Tom losing his voice because he nailed the Sweatpants theme song so dang good and then blaming us for it every night afterward. And Eric's stagedive to the onto an empty floor.
+Also meeting other bands like Pedals on Our Pirate Ships and Straight Punch to the Crotch, even though I was generally so tired at load in time that I felt antisocial.
+Going to an impromptu pool party in Charlottesville and diving into the pool everytime I did something awesome, which was often.
+Playing in DC to a really nice audience which included one of my top ten biggest musical influences (falling somewhere between Stevie Wonder and Bob Mould).
+Getting better/more serious about doing the band. Feeling like there is something to it more than just a good way to hang out with Dave and Jamie.
**
My review of Matt Bell's short collection of microfictions, How the Broken Lead the Blind (sold out from Willows Wept), is posted now at Gently Read Literature. In thinking about Matt's book, I make this point: "Regardless of the logistical framework of any story, my first judgment of each is simply that it is interesting. This is a rare feat in a genre which prioritizes mood and ingenuity over coherence and occurrence." I'm sure it's debatable. I just hope it makes sense. It reads like I got all my teeth jumbled in my mouth.
My review of The Collectors (also by Matt Bell, from Caketrain) is coming out in this issue of The Chapbook Review. Links forthcoming.
***
PH Madore's Dispatch is a cool place to read stories. I like the new logo, and I like the pictures that Christy Call draws. The latest issue is a story by Adam Moorad. In the latest news in Madore's war, he is offering stickers that you can get for free. Then you can take pictures of where you put the sticker and upload them to the Litareview website. (Suggested locations include "Betwixt the pages of quality," a police car and Miranda July's mailbox.)
****
A lot more paper submissions came in than I was expecting. Some came in after I left for tour so they didn't make it on the road with me. I'm reading them anyway, of course. I have to say, having a paper copy really helps the process a lot. I'm about 50% done with the first read-throughs. I'm honestly surprised with how good these manuscripts are. I posted about that at Facebook and someone told me if I don't say bad things about some of them, people will think I lack discernment. But it seems possible that people who are ready to mail their manuscript with just a moment's notice are also at a stage where the work is ready to be considered. At any rate, it's been fun reading hardcopy and when PG officially opens again, it will probably be a submission requirement. Or is that jerky? Is it less jerky than having long response times?
Tour was revelatory. Some highlights include:+Throwing a rug at people for about an hour in NYC outside the Cake Shop. Then getting into a wrestling match at a dance party. Then getting stuffed into a garbage can.
+Staying in a suite in Philadelphia that cost more than a tour van whould have -- thanks Bill.
+Hanging out with the awesome guys in Mostly Dimes. Tom losing his voice because he nailed the Sweatpants theme song so dang good and then blaming us for it every night afterward. And Eric's stagedive to the onto an empty floor.
+Also meeting other bands like Pedals on Our Pirate Ships and Straight Punch to the Crotch, even though I was generally so tired at load in time that I felt antisocial.
+Going to an impromptu pool party in Charlottesville and diving into the pool everytime I did something awesome, which was often.
+Playing in DC to a really nice audience which included one of my top ten biggest musical influences (falling somewhere between Stevie Wonder and Bob Mould).
+Getting better/more serious about doing the band. Feeling like there is something to it more than just a good way to hang out with Dave and Jamie.
**
My review of Matt Bell's short collection of microfictions, How the Broken Lead the Blind (sold out from Willows Wept), is posted now at Gently Read Literature. In thinking about Matt's book, I make this point: "Regardless of the logistical framework of any story, my first judgment of each is simply that it is interesting. This is a rare feat in a genre which prioritizes mood and ingenuity over coherence and occurrence." I'm sure it's debatable. I just hope it makes sense. It reads like I got all my teeth jumbled in my mouth.
My review of The Collectors (also by Matt Bell, from Caketrain) is coming out in this issue of The Chapbook Review. Links forthcoming.
***
PH Madore's Dispatch is a cool place to read stories. I like the new logo, and I like the pictures that Christy Call draws. The latest issue is a story by Adam Moorad. In the latest news in Madore's war, he is offering stickers that you can get for free. Then you can take pictures of where you put the sticker and upload them to the Litareview website. (Suggested locations include "Betwixt the pages of quality," a police car and Miranda July's mailbox.)
****
A lot more paper submissions came in than I was expecting. Some came in after I left for tour so they didn't make it on the road with me. I'm reading them anyway, of course. I have to say, having a paper copy really helps the process a lot. I'm about 50% done with the first read-throughs. I'm honestly surprised with how good these manuscripts are. I posted about that at Facebook and someone told me if I don't say bad things about some of them, people will think I lack discernment. But it seems possible that people who are ready to mail their manuscript with just a moment's notice are also at a stage where the work is ready to be considered. At any rate, it's been fun reading hardcopy and when PG officially opens again, it will probably be a submission requirement. Or is that jerky? Is it less jerky than having long response times?
Friday, August 14, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
The Bad News
My PC is broken. There is something wrong with the motherboard. At first I thought it was the power supply, which is replaceable and wouldn't be a big deal, but I've determined that the capacitors on the motherboard are leaking.
I've had my PC for three years, which means that there are a lot of applications on it that I need and which, well, maybe I didn't pay for, meaning they're going to be difficult to restore.
Thankfully, of course, everything is backed up. I still have all the chapbooks I was laying out and stuff. It's just going to take a few weeks to get everything running again.
And there are two people who have ordered printings of This PDF Chapbook. I'm sorry they haven't shipped yet. I'm working on it.
Now I have to learn how to use my MacBook as a PC.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Recently I wrote a bio for my band
It is this:
Sweatpants is a straight up, sweet ol' rock band but maybe a little punkier than they want to be. Like, they keep listening to Phil Collins and the latest Top 40 singles and try to cover Bruce Springsteen and Alex Chilton songs, but instead they just play faster and harder and more ferociously. Adam Robinson (former Flying Party), Dave NeSmith (of Bats & Mice, Rah Bras, Sleepytime Trio) and Jamie Gaughran-Perez (Lenny Hoffman) dude it out so you don't have to. Sometimes intricate, sometimes hooky, always brash, Sweatpants want to rock your cradle, want to ease you into that neverland between the gym and the shower, the couch and the grave.
This is our website: WE AR SWEATPANTS.
Currently reading: One of These Things is Not Like the Other by Stephanie Johnson.
I think I'm cooler because of this video, even though I had nothing to do with the song, the video, the band, or anything to do with it at all. Cooler I mean than I was before, not cooler than you.
2:11 LOLOLOLOLLOL
Commas.
I would read Sam Pink's serious new manuscript. I wonder why he hasn't sent it to me. I'm the sort of person who can MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.
Currently reading: submissions. There were some by Gregory Sherl, poems that came in in May and I read but forgot to respond to. They are amazing. His poems are what keeps me going. (Almost everyone else's aren't, sorry.) I think I'm going to start holding people to a higher standard.
Been up since 6:30. I think I'm starting to get things done.
Gonna go to a diner soon, eat something and read some more Stephanie Johnson.
OH! Saw GI Joe last night with JSir, who is actually a lot like Sgt Slaughter (who wasn't in the movie). Anyhoo, it was not as bad as I thought it would be.
Whoever has a novel/la manuscript that is funny, serious, ~30,000 words long, not ironic funny but clever funny is okay, heartwrenching, basically a shorter version of The Brothers K, or I would also take The Road, whoever has that novel you can send it to me at my PERSONAL email address. I'm reading for a summer 2010 release so this offer won't last long.
Seriously, your over-serious or over-coy book will be disregarded and rejected and not responded to. Send your best work. Bloom said "All bad poetry is unfailingly sincere" -- I want sincere but not bad, and not poetry.
I think 7 out of 10 people have books about WWII but no one ever sends them to me. If you have a book about WWII I will read it and I will have to laugh every 2-3 pages in my head at least. I will have to think you're a better writer than me from now on.
I don't want any books about celebrities. Those books are good but I don't like celebrities AT ALL. I DISLIKE THEM.
Last night I came to the uncomfortable realization that I'm too old for deejays playing like dance music or house music at bars. I walk in and then walk right back out. It's like so many bars want to recreate that scene in XXX starring Vin Diesel when they're like chasing them and they run through a crowded club and all the lights are flashing and the heads are bobbing to some industrial music or whatevs and they pan up to where the deejay is and he's bald and it's sooo incredible you wish you were there (except of course someone's about to pull out an Uzi).
Anyway, who do you gotta kill to get some pants over here.
Sweatpants is a straight up, sweet ol' rock band but maybe a little punkier than they want to be. Like, they keep listening to Phil Collins and the latest Top 40 singles and try to cover Bruce Springsteen and Alex Chilton songs, but instead they just play faster and harder and more ferociously. Adam Robinson (former Flying Party), Dave NeSmith (of Bats & Mice, Rah Bras, Sleepytime Trio) and Jamie Gaughran-Perez (Lenny Hoffman) dude it out so you don't have to. Sometimes intricate, sometimes hooky, always brash, Sweatpants want to rock your cradle, want to ease you into that neverland between the gym and the shower, the couch and the grave.
This is our website: WE AR SWEATPANTS.
Currently reading: One of These Things is Not Like the Other by Stephanie Johnson.
Currently listening to the new Jarvis Cocker record and liking it a lot.
Here's an awesome video of Dave's last band. I'm sure I've posted this here like twenty times.
I think I'm cooler because of this video, even though I had nothing to do with the song, the video, the band, or anything to do with it at all. Cooler I mean than I was before, not cooler than you.
2:11 LOLOLOLOLLOL
Commas.
I would read Sam Pink's serious new manuscript. I wonder why he hasn't sent it to me. I'm the sort of person who can MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.
Currently reading: submissions. There were some by Gregory Sherl, poems that came in in May and I read but forgot to respond to. They are amazing. His poems are what keeps me going. (Almost everyone else's aren't, sorry.) I think I'm going to start holding people to a higher standard.
Been up since 6:30. I think I'm starting to get things done.
Gonna go to a diner soon, eat something and read some more Stephanie Johnson.
OH! Saw GI Joe last night with JSir, who is actually a lot like Sgt Slaughter (who wasn't in the movie). Anyhoo, it was not as bad as I thought it would be.
Whoever has a novel/la manuscript that is funny, serious, ~30,000 words long, not ironic funny but clever funny is okay, heartwrenching, basically a shorter version of The Brothers K, or I would also take The Road, whoever has that novel you can send it to me at my PERSONAL email address. I'm reading for a summer 2010 release so this offer won't last long.
Seriously, your over-serious or over-coy book will be disregarded and rejected and not responded to. Send your best work. Bloom said "All bad poetry is unfailingly sincere" -- I want sincere but not bad, and not poetry.
I think 7 out of 10 people have books about WWII but no one ever sends them to me. If you have a book about WWII I will read it and I will have to laugh every 2-3 pages in my head at least. I will have to think you're a better writer than me from now on.
I don't want any books about celebrities. Those books are good but I don't like celebrities AT ALL. I DISLIKE THEM.
Last night I came to the uncomfortable realization that I'm too old for deejays playing like dance music or house music at bars. I walk in and then walk right back out. It's like so many bars want to recreate that scene in XXX starring Vin Diesel when they're like chasing them and they run through a crowded club and all the lights are flashing and the heads are bobbing to some industrial music or whatevs and they pan up to where the deejay is and he's bald and it's sooo incredible you wish you were there (except of course someone's about to pull out an Uzi).
Anyway, who do you gotta kill to get some pants over here.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
News
A couple cool things to point out:
1. This PDF Chapbook by Francis Raven, The C and O Canal, was reviewed at THE CHAPBOOK REVIEW by Michael Leong. John Madera continues to do amazing work there, putting together great reviews and interviews. I love The Chapbook Review and sincerely appreciate the forum where short books are considered seriously. Okay, well, some of the reviews don't seem altogether "serious" (see Ryan Manning's, which purports to be an erotic thriller), but definitely the one that Michael Leong wrote is serious and considerate, and worth serious attention.
2. Josh Maday interviewed Andy Devine for elimae. This is an extraordinary interview. Definitely one of my all time favorites. Devine's book WORDS is forthcoming from PGP in 2010 (sidenote: you can see all of the [tentative] forthcoming PGP books at the new catalog). The interview begins:
1. This PDF Chapbook by Francis Raven, The C and O Canal, was reviewed at THE CHAPBOOK REVIEW by Michael Leong. John Madera continues to do amazing work there, putting together great reviews and interviews. I love The Chapbook Review and sincerely appreciate the forum where short books are considered seriously. Okay, well, some of the reviews don't seem altogether "serious" (see Ryan Manning's, which purports to be an erotic thriller), but definitely the one that Michael Leong wrote is serious and considerate, and worth serious attention.
2. Josh Maday interviewed Andy Devine for elimae. This is an extraordinary interview. Definitely one of my all time favorites. Devine's book WORDS is forthcoming from PGP in 2010 (sidenote: you can see all of the [tentative] forthcoming PGP books at the new catalog). The interview begins:
Josh Maday: To whom am I speaking?
Andy Devine: Andy Devine -- and just to be clear, not the actor, but the writer.
Maday: Thank you for clarifying. You must get that a lot, being mistaken for someone else.
Devine: It's just the name that's the issue. I'm unmistakable in other ways. For instance, I usually don't write in sentences. They can be quite limiting.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
35 Hours In
Rewarded myself yesterday with a big pack of Spree, which I ate in about 2 minutes. I like the mellow flavors best.
Mailed a bunch of books today. I'm glad a lot of people took advantage of the special.
I like Donald Hall's poem, "Meatloaf," in the New Yorker this week and would like to speak intelligently about it (but can't). Like, I like the formal conceit and I'm pretty sure there is more to it than nine syllables in nine stanzas of nine lines -- oh! it's about baseball! -- I think there is also a deliberateness in when Hall changes subjects from Kurt Schwitters to meatloaf to the women -- but it's an extremely easy poem to read and clearly those mystery explorations don't make it more edifying. This stanza here is "all guts, no glory" in the sense that it's baldfaced, sincere, and done so well that it doesn't make me uncomfortable, but then, too, it doesn't really achieve anything in terms of making me get as emotional as he was as a suicide risk (which is nice):
There is a lot of presupposition in those lines, and I like how much he's taking for granted. I also like how regular guy he is and maybe this achieves a lot for poetry that people stop caring about it for a while and just watch TV then become suicide risks? I dunno.
Why am I spending so much time considering a mainstreamer? I'll go read a poem by someone nifty.
Hey, here's one by someone named Christopher Rizzo, which Greying Ghost just re-released apparently in a pamphlet that looks pretty neat.
Buy the whole book for $3.50.
There's a lot I don't know about that poem, but I like it a lot. Each word is like two words. What is a hillelagh? Am I misreading that stanza because I don't see two words in thornery. It's a crafty poem, and a tricky one, and you have to kind of parse it out like you do with a lot of poems like ee cummings poems, but not all of them, but most of the ones you have to approach like a puzzle I don't like, and yet this one I do.
15 minutes until 36 hours in, how you like me now? How you like me then?
This weekend I leave for a camping trip with my two parents, my two brothers, their two wives and two kids -- and then it's just me. I am only one thing. It doesn't seem fair, but I like it this way. I just hope the kids do not kill me. To be honest, I am not a big kid guy. If you're looking for someone who wants to talk to kids and play with them and stuff, just pass me by. I hope this isn't too square.
I pretty much just want to sit around and read Alaska by James Michener all week. I will read it in the morning by a smoldering fire pit, in the afternoon at a picnic table, in the evening while floating in a kayak, at night in my parents's RV. One day I will carry it up Mt. Ampersand and read it on that guy.
Maybe I'll read The Road too. I hear that's a good one.
Mailed a bunch of books today. I'm glad a lot of people took advantage of the special.
I like Donald Hall's poem, "Meatloaf," in the New Yorker this week and would like to speak intelligently about it (but can't). Like, I like the formal conceit and I'm pretty sure there is more to it than nine syllables in nine stanzas of nine lines -- oh! it's about baseball! -- I think there is also a deliberateness in when Hall changes subjects from Kurt Schwitters to meatloaf to the women -- but it's an extremely easy poem to read and clearly those mystery explorations don't make it more edifying. This stanza here is "all guts, no glory" in the sense that it's baldfaced, sincere, and done so well that it doesn't make me uncomfortable, but then, too, it doesn't really achieve anything in terms of making me get as emotional as he was as a suicide risk (which is nice):
5.
When I was named Poet Laureate,
the kids of Danbury School painted
baseballs on a kitchen chair for me,
with two lines from “Casey at the Bat.”
In fall I lost sixty pounds, and lost
poetry. I studied only “Law
and Order.” My son took from my house
the eight-sided Mossberg .22
my father gave me when I was twelve.
There is a lot of presupposition in those lines, and I like how much he's taking for granted. I also like how regular guy he is and maybe this achieves a lot for poetry that people stop caring about it for a while and just watch TV then become suicide risks? I dunno.
Why am I spending so much time considering a mainstreamer? I'll go read a poem by someone nifty.
Hey, here's one by someone named Christopher Rizzo, which Greying Ghost just re-released apparently in a pamphlet that looks pretty neat.
Untitled
by Christopher Rizzo fr. Naturalistless
Drizzleaf
Hazealous
livellum
herespite
blushillelagh
thornery
majorambling
oakay
Buy the whole book for $3.50.
There's a lot I don't know about that poem, but I like it a lot. Each word is like two words. What is a hillelagh? Am I misreading that stanza because I don't see two words in thornery. It's a crafty poem, and a tricky one, and you have to kind of parse it out like you do with a lot of poems like ee cummings poems, but not all of them, but most of the ones you have to approach like a puzzle I don't like, and yet this one I do.
15 minutes until 36 hours in, how you like me now? How you like me then?
This weekend I leave for a camping trip with my two parents, my two brothers, their two wives and two kids -- and then it's just me. I am only one thing. It doesn't seem fair, but I like it this way. I just hope the kids do not kill me. To be honest, I am not a big kid guy. If you're looking for someone who wants to talk to kids and play with them and stuff, just pass me by. I hope this isn't too square.
I pretty much just want to sit around and read Alaska by James Michener all week. I will read it in the morning by a smoldering fire pit, in the afternoon at a picnic table, in the evening while floating in a kayak, at night in my parents's RV. One day I will carry it up Mt. Ampersand and read it on that guy.
Maybe I'll read The Road too. I hear that's a good one.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
I [heart] that Spinanes song "I [Heart] That Party With the Monkey Kitty"
Dennis Cooper gave a nice profile of Light Boxes.
Yesterday was strange. All I ate was 4 (peanut) M&Ms. I went to the bank (started a PGP biz acct finally) and post office during my lunch hour, and when I got back it was too late to eat. Then I went to the radio station after work and didn't have time to eat. From the radio station I went to band practice and got home, exhausted, at 11. I just collapsed into bed. I woke up at 4am and put a finger of peanut butter (chunky) into my mouth. Couldn't fall asleep. Watched True Blood.
I just ate some dry cereal.
I feel uncomfortable about this blog post so far.
Reading on the radio for The Signal was fun and I tried to read slow but I felt a lot of nervousness even though Aaron Henkin was a great host and made it very comfortable. I marvel at how much work goes into producing an hour long show. I think I read about 15 poems, which he may use for filler in different episodes, if he can match the content of the poems to the content of the show. That means if The Signal does a show about
Grandmas
adopted brothers
dying children
Liberian strife
Curtis Ebbesmeyer
trash vortex
transgression and poetry
doubt
remorse
my friend Bill
or Mike Schmidt
then maybe I will get on the radio.
It was awesome when the Dollar Store Show came to Baltimore. I met up with the tourists at Baltimore's formidable (and free) museum of art and we looked at the show for the Sondheim Prize, which I still don't know who won. Amelia Gray goofed around with an Ellsworth Kelly sculpture and it was a gas. Then we went to Joes2 but I didn't eat (it's not something I do) but they ate some pizza with corn and apples on it. Then we went to try and see a marching band that was supposed to be marching banding down the street. Then we went to the reading.
At the reading it was cool to see something that very much reminded me of Chicago. It was hosted in a Chicago way and Zach Dodson's piece reminded me a lot of the sort of thing I'd see at the No Exit café during what was it, I guess it might have been called the Bang Bang Improv Night or something? Anybody? This was in that later 90s. Anyway what I mean is the Dollar Store Show, the way it's hosted, kind of direct but with a sense of (not altogether messed up) performance and a sense of audience. In Baltimore most hosts that I've seen are straightforward and give the relevant info and that's it, and in Milwaukee the hosts of shows are lucky if they can get three words out of their mouths without laughing, but in the shows I've seen in Chicago, the hosts blend it all up good. That's how Zach and Mary Hamilton did it. And also they had someone at a merch table and someone stood by the door and took a $1 cover. That kind of stuff doesn't happen in Baltimore anymore. At least not at the shows I go to. Normally there's a can somewhere and a pile of books somewhere.
The readings were good. I think the funniest thing I've ever seen Blake Butler do. His new book, Scorch Atlas, holy cow, HOLY WOW, LOOKS AMAZAREEHING. I started reading it and it reads amazareehing too. I want it. It's something I have and it's something I want, this book. Aaron Burch got a li'l risque, a little dirty, and also managed some depth when he talked about some things from an ex that he kept boxed up in the closet so he could forget about them (and also not). Amelia Gray's was the best story. I wish I could hear it again. It was about finding a pregnancy test (positive) in a potted plant outside a Dunkin Donuts. It recounts a long list of reasons having the baby is a bad idea, and it was read with a masterful use of the word "and."
Oh geez.
I'm working on synthesizing the results of several interviews with authors and publishers for a paper about small presses. The paper mostly focuses on business practices.
My band (SWEATPANTS) has put together a tour for the end of August. If you can help us with a show in Philly on Wed Aug 26, or in Charlottesville on Fri Aug 28 man that'd be awesome.
I know someone who has a Tshirt that says "Maybe you will die soon" on it. And I know someone who had two Tshirts that said "I'm thinking about death" and she would lend her second one to anyone who wanted to think about death with her.
It's nice to see a guy get disabused by abuse in David Erlewine's awful story, "Mr. Fixer." The reason the story is so good is because of this bit of 'log, "You're s-s-still married I see." "Danny, I'm sorry, for all of it." "It's Daniel." "Of course. Look, I can't stay long." The woeful circumstances of the rest of the story rotate around that exchange. Without that exchange the story would be a lot more one dimensional.
Next week I'm going camping with my family. For years, ever since I was born, we've been going to the same place in the Adirondacks. I'm not going to tell you where though because it's getting harder and harder to get a site there. Well, okay, when my family goes we get three sites.
I got my copy of Dewclaw last week. David Erlewine writes about stuttering and the domain for Dewclaw is LispService.com. Huh. Anyway, Dewclaw is pretty fantastic and I'm already looking forward to seeing what Evelyn and Adam put together for the next issue. I think my favorite work in the issue is the poetry of Rachel B. Glaser, but I also really like how the Matt Salesses story therein accompanies his recent PDF Chapbook, "We Will Take What We Can Get."
Yep, Dennis Cooper spotlighted Light Boxes. If anyone wants to write something about MLKNG SCKLS send me an email (adam at publishinggenius dot com) and I'll send you a book.
Yesterday was strange. All I ate was 4 (peanut) M&Ms. I went to the bank (started a PGP biz acct finally) and post office during my lunch hour, and when I got back it was too late to eat. Then I went to the radio station after work and didn't have time to eat. From the radio station I went to band practice and got home, exhausted, at 11. I just collapsed into bed. I woke up at 4am and put a finger of peanut butter (chunky) into my mouth. Couldn't fall asleep. Watched True Blood.
I just ate some dry cereal.
I feel uncomfortable about this blog post so far.
Reading on the radio for The Signal was fun and I tried to read slow but I felt a lot of nervousness even though Aaron Henkin was a great host and made it very comfortable. I marvel at how much work goes into producing an hour long show. I think I read about 15 poems, which he may use for filler in different episodes, if he can match the content of the poems to the content of the show. That means if The Signal does a show about
Grandmas
adopted brothers
dying children
Liberian strife
Curtis Ebbesmeyer
trash vortex
transgression and poetry
doubt
remorse
my friend Bill
or Mike Schmidt
then maybe I will get on the radio.
It was awesome when the Dollar Store Show came to Baltimore. I met up with the tourists at Baltimore's formidable (and free) museum of art and we looked at the show for the Sondheim Prize, which I still don't know who won. Amelia Gray goofed around with an Ellsworth Kelly sculpture and it was a gas. Then we went to Joes2 but I didn't eat (it's not something I do) but they ate some pizza with corn and apples on it. Then we went to try and see a marching band that was supposed to be marching banding down the street. Then we went to the reading.
At the reading it was cool to see something that very much reminded me of Chicago. It was hosted in a Chicago way and Zach Dodson's piece reminded me a lot of the sort of thing I'd see at the No Exit café during what was it, I guess it might have been called the Bang Bang Improv Night or something? Anybody? This was in that later 90s. Anyway what I mean is the Dollar Store Show, the way it's hosted, kind of direct but with a sense of (not altogether messed up) performance and a sense of audience. In Baltimore most hosts that I've seen are straightforward and give the relevant info and that's it, and in Milwaukee the hosts of shows are lucky if they can get three words out of their mouths without laughing, but in the shows I've seen in Chicago, the hosts blend it all up good. That's how Zach and Mary Hamilton did it. And also they had someone at a merch table and someone stood by the door and took a $1 cover. That kind of stuff doesn't happen in Baltimore anymore. At least not at the shows I go to. Normally there's a can somewhere and a pile of books somewhere.
The readings were good. I think the funniest thing I've ever seen Blake Butler do. His new book, Scorch Atlas, holy cow, HOLY WOW, LOOKS AMAZAREEHING. I started reading it and it reads amazareehing too. I want it. It's something I have and it's something I want, this book. Aaron Burch got a li'l risque, a little dirty, and also managed some depth when he talked about some things from an ex that he kept boxed up in the closet so he could forget about them (and also not). Amelia Gray's was the best story. I wish I could hear it again. It was about finding a pregnancy test (positive) in a potted plant outside a Dunkin Donuts. It recounts a long list of reasons having the baby is a bad idea, and it was read with a masterful use of the word "and."
Oh geez.
I'm working on synthesizing the results of several interviews with authors and publishers for a paper about small presses. The paper mostly focuses on business practices.
My band (SWEATPANTS) has put together a tour for the end of August. If you can help us with a show in Philly on Wed Aug 26, or in Charlottesville on Fri Aug 28 man that'd be awesome.
I know someone who has a Tshirt that says "Maybe you will die soon" on it. And I know someone who had two Tshirts that said "I'm thinking about death" and she would lend her second one to anyone who wanted to think about death with her.
It's nice to see a guy get disabused by abuse in David Erlewine's awful story, "Mr. Fixer." The reason the story is so good is because of this bit of 'log, "You're s-s-still married I see." "Danny, I'm sorry, for all of it." "It's Daniel." "Of course. Look, I can't stay long." The woeful circumstances of the rest of the story rotate around that exchange. Without that exchange the story would be a lot more one dimensional.
Next week I'm going camping with my family. For years, ever since I was born, we've been going to the same place in the Adirondacks. I'm not going to tell you where though because it's getting harder and harder to get a site there. Well, okay, when my family goes we get three sites.
I got my copy of Dewclaw last week. David Erlewine writes about stuttering and the domain for Dewclaw is LispService.com. Huh. Anyway, Dewclaw is pretty fantastic and I'm already looking forward to seeing what Evelyn and Adam put together for the next issue. I think my favorite work in the issue is the poetry of Rachel B. Glaser, but I also really like how the Matt Salesses story therein accompanies his recent PDF Chapbook, "We Will Take What We Can Get."
Yep, Dennis Cooper spotlighted Light Boxes. If anyone wants to write something about MLKNG SCKLS send me an email (adam at publishinggenius dot com) and I'll send you a book.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
How you doing, here're some thoughts I just had, I'm setting blog culture back 10 years with this post, Sometimes when people do goofy things for a lo
ng time the things stop being goofy and become kind of cool and I wish I was like those people, Huh, I wonder if there are any things I do that were goofy for a long time but have become cool cuz I stuck with them, Why don't I ever post about what women want, Why don't I watch more baseball, Has poetry become more important to me than baseball, Finally reading "Play" by Mathias Svalina was a great idea and sometimes I laugh and then feel sad immediately afterward about the kids who disappear, Oh shoot is what I'm doing now something Sam Pink would do/has done, Anyway, what I was saying about "Play" and baseball is that I think Adam Peterson's blog is my new favorite, He's practically Mike Royko you know what I'm saying, Baby I don't care how you feel I just care about what you do *Updated*
Via Sean Lovelace and his funniness of review, I like this story called "Doll Eyes" by Robert Repino in Night Train. The way the story moves, the pacing, the details coming in quick succession reminds me that flash fiction is harder to read than regular fiction. You have to pay closer attention, be more patient -- which is counterintuitive because when I think "short" I think "cool, I'll be done with this in 2 seconds and a better person afterward."
Hey, it's like poetry in that way, except not as flakey.
In other news, if I want to do something I just do it and then whatever happens, happens.
I don't have a game plan, per se.
What if everyone was like Shane Jones and just suddenly deleted his/her blog out of nowhere? It would be like M. Night Shamalyan's movie The Happening.
Via Sean Lovelace and his funniness of review, I like this story called "Doll Eyes" by Robert Repino in Night Train. The way the story moves, the pacing, the details coming in quick succession reminds me that flash fiction is harder to read than regular fiction. You have to pay closer attention, be more patient -- which is counterintuitive because when I think "short" I think "cool, I'll be done with this in 2 seconds and a better person afterward."
Hey, it's like poetry in that way, except not as flakey.
In other news, if I want to do something I just do it and then whatever happens, happens.
I don't have a game plan, per se.
What if everyone was like Shane Jones and just suddenly deleted his/her blog out of nowhere? It would be like M. Night Shamalyan's movie The Happening.
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