p-ramblings

doesn't this make you want to move to brazil!

check out the new survey on the left just under the links.

one of my family members (who will remain nameless here) called to tell me that the deal with the thong and book below (from the Wednesday, March 15, 2006 post) is tacky. i don't really think it is, but then again, i think it is mostly humorous.

i want to know what the rest of you think. is it tacky or not? if you have an opinion either way, please take this very brief poll.

Since many of you have commented on or have tried my writing suggestions below, I thought I would add some more.

1. Write a series of poems under water. Basically, jump under water, make up a poem in your head, and then run back to land and write it down quickly. The water must be under 75 degrees but above 60.
2. Create a poem from other poems. This is basically a cento knock-off. Take bits from other poets’ poems and place them in lines. Once done, rent a wood chipper. Feed your centoesque poem through the chipper. Take the fragmented paper and glue the bits haphazardly on a new piece of paper.
3. Write a lyric poem, run it through an online translation program 100 times back and forth from English to Spanish to French to English, and once finished, rewrite the translated piece as if you are a dolphin who can speak.
4. Get a sharpie, another poet (be playful with gender here), and some butcher paper. Spread the paper under both of you on the floor in a 6 ft by 6 ft space. Wrestle the other poet with the sharpie in your hand, attempting to write a poem on the paper below your feet while fighting off the other poet.
5. Take your least favorite poet’s work to the woods with you. Bury the work six feet under. Come back for it in a year and write about the ability of the poetry to last in time.

Tasks of the Week

1. Dance, read, work, and sing (in that order) while pouring powdered sugar on a chimpanzee.
2. Donate my fingers to life.
3. Refuse to work until the tyranny of harsh lighting is corrected.
4. Sing softly to a redhead above the city while slowly undoing buttons.
5. Wrestle an imaginary water buffalo.
6. Write a letter to my representative protesting his existence.

sadly, mark young has decided to abandoned pelican dreaming. he has left us with his writing to others, including his long and interesting allegrezza ficcone.

the wonderous anny ballardini has translated my poem below, "bits from austin," into italian as "pezzettini da austin ." check it out.

bits from austin

clearly here
         anointed or
         aligned

browns for a crack
under the sun

     “we would listen to your voice
     if we could find a season”

splinters over a page
eyes that would not stop moving

   with you
   in another life
   we do not fail to be.

click here to hear me reading this poem.


with my hands

in place
  a steady decision to
  find us here

crushed

 “i have grown so busy”

with a voice
several voices that
turn in turning

 we cease to be

   a handle   long
          lost

in vision.

one opening

stars through to eyes broken with
tears

  in some things a beginning
or a loss
  with dazed hands

though we would breathe
we halt with penitent gaze

“i watch your hearing turn away”

check out the weekend MiPo show. www.miporadio.com.

a new issue of moria is on the cyber shelves. it contains poetry by:
lea graham
christine kanownik
arlene ang
steven stewart
jill magi
marthe reed
chad lietz
hugh tribbey
jeff crouch
pr primeau
charles perrone
david tolkacz
marchi nelligan
karyna mcglynn
gary lundy
louis armand
eric lehman
michelle greenblatt & sheila murphy
michael estabrook
andy gricevich
bob marcacci
gregory vincent st. thomasino


as usual, i'm looking for poetry, reviews, and theory articles for future issues. www.moriapoetry.com

since everyone who has read The Vicious Bunny Translations knows they are partially about sex, i thought i would sweeten the deal.

you can now purchase The Vicious Bunny thong to accompany the book, or if you contact me, i'll ship you both the thong and the book for a discounted rate of $22.

check out galatea resurrects. eileen has brought it to life.

buy a thong (or journal or t-shirt) to support Cracked Slab Books. our first book will be on the market in a month or so (if you want a preview copy, contact me), but for now, you can support us by buying this wonderful gear.

find your mob name. (i post this because it made me laugh when i put in my brother's name.)

i'm back from austin and awp. what fun! the city was great to visit, and i was able to meet and get to know many writers i've only heard of or have corresponded with for years through e-mail.

it's a great thing to be sitting down for lunch with kristy odelius and simone muench (and about five others) and look over your shoulder and see joy harjo next to you, and then later in the day sitting down for beers with lea graham and ray bianchi and look across and see tim o'brien (with some other writers).

sitting at Cracked Slab Books' table, many poets came by i wanted to meet, such as jennifer moxley, k. silem mohammad, and joshua clover, and many poets i'm fans of stopped by to talk, such as aaron belz and jen hofer.

as someone who works with experimental poetry and tries to support it through both an ezine and a press, i thought that i would see less activity in austin, but many experimental poets showed up, and i even was able to see some fun experimental poets read (hugh tribbey, cheryl pallant, piotr gwiazda, and bob archambeau--who places me with others in the chicago poetry mafia) and read myself (thanks to grant jenkins--he's an interesting writer himself. he's posted his own experience of awp.)

unfortunately, i missed meeting some poets i was hoping to meet, but that is always the case (i've heard that lorna dee cervantes and I were even in the same room together and that shanna compton came by the table when nature had pulled me away--shanna's down spooky has not left my nightstand since i received it; i've been reading it over and over). i came home with some wonderful books and sold out all of my own books (The Vicious Bunny Translations went rapidly. if you didn't get a copy, you can get a resonably priced copy here.)

i made it to austin today for awp. this afternoon i wandered around the mostly empty tables of people setting up books for the book fair. as soon as i found cracked slab's table and started to set up, reb livingston walked up and started setting up for not tell motel. nice person.

the display hall is huge, and the thought of that many wonderfully presses gathered together is wonderful.

this is cool. pictures of a book being made.

chris rizzo has published a nice review of lars palm's mindfulness, one of the new ebooks put out by moria.

the fates are cruel
but consistent