p-ramblings

i've spent the morning reading the tale of genji. the japanese focus on impermanence is so different than our western obsession with lasting work. just on the news this morning i heard a person proclaiming that michael jackson's music will "last forever." no, it will not. neither will the work of shakespeare, homer, or anyone else. 2500 years versus forever.

bonnie and clyde by galo ghigliotto just in time for the movie. (this version, however, is in spanish.)

i'm creating a series of poems written on found objects. if you would like one, send me your address.

i always knew the styx is below my feet.

Three things:

1. Here's a nice discussion of the post-avant. Adam Fieled also has been having some interesting discussions regarding a definition for it. My thoughts are in many ways similar to Adam's, and in my own writing, I've been trying to include an "I" as a process I, as a way of accepting language coding while looking for individuation.

2. This is awesome--San Francisco International Poetry Festival. The idea behind this is wonderful. I'd love to do a Americas Poetics conference here in Chicago. We need to be talking more north and south.

3. Someone asked me the other day why I'm not a Billy Collins fan. Here's why:

"One of the reasons people don't read as much poetry anymore is the fault of the poets," he said. "It's not the public's fault. There's an awful lot of bad poetry out there. I'd say about 87 percent of the poetry in America isn't worth reading."

It's the other 13 percent, Collins said, that he lives for. "Poetry should be transparent. Transparent poems tend to teach themselves."

A. This statement is logically suspect. When have people read that much poetry? If I start writing super clear poetry, will Americans rush out to buy it? "Screw the movies, I now have clarity in poetry!" I don't think it going to happen. To me, that's analagous to the odd argument one hears about divorce being harmful to the traditional family. What traditional family exactly? Do we want to revert to the 50s family? Let's start stripping rights, and bring on the alcohol (women had high rates of alcholism in the 50s).

B. The funny part of this argument to me is that poetry is being produced and sold at higher rates now than at any time in history. Do yourself a favor and check the numbers. Don't trust me or Collins. Check. Much of the poetry now is being sold at small presses, but it is still out there in record numbers. Does that mean that it is all good? Of course not. But more people are interested in it now than ever.

It's hot in Chicago tonight, and I'm sleepless and taking a break from Japanese literature--that's been my concern lately. My head is full of Genji's romances, but near my side are works by Emerson, Foucault, Plato, Lucretius, and Paz, and I've just been sorting through blogs for recent poetry news. With Keira on my hands, I've been taking a break from the bickering of the poetry world to be domestic. Glancing around tonight, I found many fascinating critical pieces by poets surfacing. Something seems to be shifting in American poetry lately, but I cannot fix it yet.

mark young's terracotta warriors is great and free.

john olson on reading.

sillman posted a link to the current poet laureates. for those of you non-facebookers, i want to note that ray bianchi has just become the poet laureate of chicago. check out some interviews here and here. i just voted for him to throw out a first pitch for the white sox. if you want to do the same, go here.

huff's poetics. i feel a kinship with the words--which seems quite odd working in the same language.

i'm enjoying the thinking through of the post-avant over at adam's blog.

some interesting posting happening over on barbara jane reyes' blog lately.

I have a few copies of Spirits, the creative writing journal for IUN where I teach, to pass out. It contains poetry and stories by Northwest Indiana writers and by many well known national writers, such as Eileen Tabios, Christophe Cassamassima, and Nicke Demske. Send me a note, and I'll drop one in the mail for you.
(If you'd like to submit to future issues, send work with a bio to spirits@iun.edu. In your subject line, write Spirits 2010.)

according to bowker's numbers, 560,626 new books and editions were published last year in the u.s. back in the 1990s, the numbers were less than 300,000. new publishing technologies have helped greatly with the numbers, and these types of numbers are enough to make one question the arguement that the arts are in a declining state. poetry, which has seen a dramatic increase in books published, is flourishing in the u.s. does that mean that everyone reads it? of course not, but when has most of the population read poetry?

I just returned from Simpoesia, an international poetry conference, in Sao Paulo, Brazil put together by Virna Teixeria. Before I made it to the conference, I spent a few days in Rio--the marvelous city.

The conference was well-attended and interesting, and Sao Paulo was wonderful. That surprised me. Most people prepared me for Sao Paulo by saying it is a massive concrete city. In fact, it has some nice parks and great cultural places, such as the Afro-Brasil Musuem, the Musuem of Art Sao Paulo, the Pinocateca, and the Musuem of the Portguese Language. I probably would have made the mistake of missing the Musuem of the Portuguese Language had I not had dinner with the poet Frederico Barbosa. He suggested it, and I'm glad he did. The musuem is half about the history of Portguese in Brazil and half about poetry. In fact, after watching a film, the audience is welcomed into a room of poetry--that's the best way I know to describe it. It's bascially an installation exhibit with poetry on the floor, poetry speeding by projected on the walls and ceiling, and poetry being read. Incredible! I'd love to be able to put together such a project here in the U.S.

It was also wonderful to get to know the translators Steven Butterman and Stefan Tobler along with the many wonderful poets from Brazil, Europe, and Latin America, such as Flávia Rocha and Rodrigo Garcia Lopes. I was able to talk in person again with Sérgio Medeiros and Maria Esther Maciel and to hang out with Tracy Grinell and Julian Brodanski. Julian gave me his chapbook, and after reading it, I encourage the rest of you to get a copy of it.

Overall, visiting Brazil made me want to bridge the gaps between Anglo American and Latin American writing. The work that the Brazilians are doing now is incredible, and to be honest, it feels like they are a few steps ahead of us. I don't mean that in a negative way towards U.S. poetry; really I just felt like I was looking at the future of U.S. poetry by being there. It probably helps Brazilians seem poetry friendly--or at least that's what they seem like to me.

i still think this wiki is a great idea. http://innovativeaudiences.pbworks.com/.
check out ernesto's writing under language traditions.

i am going to create a new blog dedicated to animated poetry. i'm thinking mostly about animated .gifs, but it really could be any type of animation. (i'm a simple person. i just like to see moving words.) if you have something to add, send it to me at holymerda@moriapoetry.com. the blog will be as unedited as i can let it be, so i'll take just about anything. i'm just going to chunk what is sent onto the blog.**

**i know the e-mail address sounds like a spoof, but the blog will be real. i just like imaging a bunch of poets typing holymerda.

**if you are an academic lacky, don't take the "unedited" thing to mean feel free to send me vita filler.

I had the pleasure yesterday of hearing Marco Giovenale and Giovanna Frene read as part of an event set up by Jen Scappettone. Two other readers read, but unfortunately, I had to leave before the reading was over. I was looking forward to meeting Marco and was not disappointed. He is a gracious person, and his work is fascinating. I was happy to pick up his book La casa esposta and Giovanna’s Sara laughs (only the title is English). Giovanna’s book was written between 2002-2005; she states in the beginning that it was written after 9/11.

I have spent the past few weeks reading poetry by young Brazilian, Japanese, and Italian writers, and I’m feeling more hopeful lately.

a powerpoint poem. it's already configured to run timed and on a loop.

another great galatea resurrects is online. check out the many reviews, including the one tom hibbard wrote for my fragile replacements (i'm not sure why the used copies are more expensive than the new ones on amazon).

approaching 35, i'm thinking about the middle of the way, of dante's journey ("nel mezzo del cammin") and andrade's ("In the middle of the road there was a stone"). i'd like to opt for the infernal voyage leading to the clean lights, but from my writing window i look down to the street.

thanks goes out to anny ballardini for translating my piece "january words" ("parole di gennaio") for the site Qui.

larry sawyer reviews a recent reading i gave with karen anderson.

i just got back from getting my visa for brazil. i'm excited to see the country and take part in simpoesia II in sao paulo. for the invitation i thank virna teixeira, an excellent poet herself.

the list of poets participating is impressive.

International Poets:

Alfredo Fressia (Uruguay)
Efraín Rodríguez Santana (Cuba)
Julian Brodanski (USA)
Luís Serguilha (Portugal)
Gustavo López (Argentina)
Rodolfo Hasler (Spain)
Silvia Iglesias (Argentina)
Stefan Tobler (England)
Steven Butterman (USA)
Tracy Grinnell (USA)
Victor Sosa (México)
William Allegrezza (USA)

Brazilian Poets:

Andréa Catrópa
Antônio Vicente Pietroforte
Carlos Augusto Lima
Contador Borges
Donny Correia
Edson Cruz
Flávia Rocha
Frederico Barbosa
Glauco Mattoso
Greta Benitez
Horácio Costa
Luís Roberto Guedes
Marcelo Tápia
Marco Vasques
Maria Esther Maciel
Micheliny Verunschk
Paloma Vidal
Sérgio Medeiros
Rodrigo Garcia Lopes
Rodrigo de Haro
Tatiana Fraga
Virna Teixeira

here are some books i'm currently reading:
Modern Japanese Literature, Donald Keene (ed)
Race and the Avant-Garde: Experimental and Asian American Poetry Since 1965, Tim Yu
Delta Blues, Skip Fox
Through the Funeral Mountains on a Burro, Charles Freeland
The Complete Haiku, Basho
Letters to Poets: Conversations about Poetics, Politics, and Community, Jennifer Firestone (ed)

skip's poetry is always fascinating, and i'm finding tim's critical reading of the language poets and asian american poets as an interesting contrast/connection. beyond that, i'm teaching a class on japanese literature this summer, so i'm reading/rereading some of the classics.

i spent part of the morning wrestling the imaginary water buffalo, and now all i see are red doors stacked in the back alley of a church.

always decline

add two boxes to number three and then erase

assume that language has betrayed you (we have fees for everything)

always decline

do not leave your number

join the masses

imagine that the big rally has passed and that three cards never win

embrace the distraction

always decline

the mountain goat
ignores the tourists
gathered round
for pictures

just so
am i among
the anxious throng
waiting for battle
to begin.

1.

robin
flight among
limbs. eye moving chaotically.
bricks of varying colors in morning dark rain.
bushes swaying. signs of
life in
spring.


2.

snow
on rooftops
remains in morning still.
we try to find the right words to
explain ourselves as part
of this
system.

1.

if i am alone
i am no longer
the same i.


2.

no made place
without someone
whispering dreams
over broken ashtrays
in back seats baked
by sun.

if i toss a dart,
would it guide me
or just fall haphazardly
where i roughly want
it?


3.

a seat is a portal

a slide is a graphical line

a building is a speck

please leave the keys on the stand by the bed.

and it comes with us
across the imagined
real.

i'm briefly coming out of poetry reading retirement to read at two events this weekend.

i just updated the Series A sound page so that you can hear all the wonderful readings over the past year recorded by Chicago Public Radio.

Please come to Series A this Wednesday to hear Jonathan Messinger and Joshua Adams. Series A is held at the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago (5020 S. Cornell). It's easy to get to on public transportation, and it has a parking lot. BYOB.

For more info, see www.moriapoetry.com/seriesa.html.