Friday, September 29, 2006
The tee shirts should say "I am a technical difficulty."
What *is* up with the gone-missing posts at the Poetry Foundation website?
Crossposty goodness*
& so here it is, Anne Boyer's Good Apocalypse which has some poems in it and also some art in it (including this, one of my favorites). Anne Boyer's Good Apocalypse
w/ illustrations by the author
5x7.5, 36 pages
$7, available now
There is nothing, really, more to say (yet) except that you should purchase it. Right away. To soothe your little eschatological heart.
* Since not all of y'all also read that blog.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
So
I really have learned a lot, being out here. How 'bout you?
How shall we persist?
Would we be missed?
May we resist?
Yes, let's insist.
Here's my fist!
(That's in jest.)
How shall we persist?
Would we be missed?
May we resist?
Yes, let's insist.
Here's my fist!
(That's in jest.)
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Sold out
Down Spooky has sold out its (not very big) print run.
Supposedly they will print more. Apparently backorders will be filled at that time. (Soon. Thanks, patience.)
& so that solves the mystery of the kink.
Supposedly they will print more. Apparently backorders will be filled at that time. (Soon. Thanks, patience.)
& so that solves the mystery of the kink.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Attention (& value)
[This is an evolving post. Moved up from Saturday.]
Uh huh. We've even got the verb right: to pay.
But also, value is differently assigned to/created for public vs. private attention. Depending on who you ask. (& whether you ask them in front of anybody or not.)
Which is more intimate, the public or private paying of attention?
And then, what value does one place on intimacy?
As in a money-economy, people do various things & have various goals & philosophies concerning how best to spend their limited currency. Some are virtuously thrifty. Others make a flashy show of overtipping. Others can't seem to save even enough to scrape by. Some are sanctimonious about it. Some feel better when they whine about it (& we want them to feel better). Some just enjoy being boisterous, because it is their favorite subject & they consider themselves expert. &, sadly, others run around like bankrobbers sticking everybody else up for it.
To return to value (because that's really something): value is most certainly personal & intimate. It becomes insitutional only by bringing enough individuals around to its side. "You" & "I" value some things alike & some things different. Also, I may not value what you value, but I feel an imperative to value that you do. I'm just like that: interested in you. Possibly even nosy.
The currency of our attention is private & individual. Or it's public & institutional. Or it's some fluid combo. Or god how blatant it is. Or look, there's goes a really cute dog!
--
[Update: (Tuesday, 9/26) I'd put this verbiage below in the comment box (thus the nocaps style) as a kind of footnote first, but I'm moving up here. I did have Jordan's post in mind, but also some things some others of you have said.)]
--
less of a response than a riff on similar, really.
more, perhaps: the attention i give to a poem/book/something else in private is different in quality than the attention i direct to it by making my private attention public. in other words: by pointing. i value the private kind more, in the way people cherish things they keep private but still like things they show around. it's a reader's type vs. a reviewer's type.
some kind of reverse-alchemical change seems to happen when private attention becomes public pointing. i am thinking about the reasons for this. since pointing can be a gift, it is subject to motive (on a scale from genuine excitement to mere flattery on the positive end, to ridicule/humiliation/cruelty on the negative end).
when the object of attention is not object but human i cannot help but anticipate that person's reaction to my attention. that impacts/informs/reveals my action, and my motives include this awareness.
i am speaking from a payer's POV, not a (what?) payee's. there are several reasons (along another similar but differently appointed scale) one might/does want to draw attention to oneself (or the objects one creates; "the work"). just as there are many modes (another scale) in which to do it: "i have made/done this and am proud of this and you might be interested in this." vs. "hey, everybody look at me. i don't care why!" ...stilll thinking.
because...positive pointing (the public paying of positive attention) can be "pure" of motive (conveying genuine excitement or enthusiasm) OR impure of motive, say self-aggrandizing or expert-positioning.
the paying of negative attention is sometimes pure (say, in the case of a bad but fairly argued book review, for instance) OR impure (pointing with the intention to shame/humiliate etc.).
i am just thinking.
i wasn't talking about marketing (and don't care except insofar as it is relied on to sell the books necessary to allow the books to exist, and remembering i have worked as a publicist). that line of thinking (whether self-marketing or the marketing of/for others) is loaded with motive and ends me where many do: i wish there were no such thing as money. (hated the job, liked the results, you know?)
anyway, uh, thanks for pointing.
Uh huh. We've even got the verb right: to pay.
But also, value is differently assigned to/created for public vs. private attention. Depending on who you ask. (& whether you ask them in front of anybody or not.)
Which is more intimate, the public or private paying of attention?
And then, what value does one place on intimacy?
As in a money-economy, people do various things & have various goals & philosophies concerning how best to spend their limited currency. Some are virtuously thrifty. Others make a flashy show of overtipping. Others can't seem to save even enough to scrape by. Some are sanctimonious about it. Some feel better when they whine about it (& we want them to feel better). Some just enjoy being boisterous, because it is their favorite subject & they consider themselves expert. &, sadly, others run around like bankrobbers sticking everybody else up for it.
To return to value (because that's really something): value is most certainly personal & intimate. It becomes insitutional only by bringing enough individuals around to its side. "You" & "I" value some things alike & some things different. Also, I may not value what you value, but I feel an imperative to value that you do. I'm just like that: interested in you. Possibly even nosy.
The currency of our attention is private & individual. Or it's public & institutional. Or it's some fluid combo. Or god how blatant it is. Or look, there's goes a really cute dog!
--
[Update: (Tuesday, 9/26) I'd put this verbiage below in the comment box (thus the nocaps style) as a kind of footnote first, but I'm moving up here. I did have Jordan's post in mind, but also some things some others of you have said.)]
--
less of a response than a riff on similar, really.
more, perhaps: the attention i give to a poem/book/something else in private is different in quality than the attention i direct to it by making my private attention public. in other words: by pointing. i value the private kind more, in the way people cherish things they keep private but still like things they show around. it's a reader's type vs. a reviewer's type.
some kind of reverse-alchemical change seems to happen when private attention becomes public pointing. i am thinking about the reasons for this. since pointing can be a gift, it is subject to motive (on a scale from genuine excitement to mere flattery on the positive end, to ridicule/humiliation/cruelty on the negative end).
when the object of attention is not object but human i cannot help but anticipate that person's reaction to my attention. that impacts/informs/reveals my action, and my motives include this awareness.
i am speaking from a payer's POV, not a (what?) payee's. there are several reasons (along another similar but differently appointed scale) one might/does want to draw attention to oneself (or the objects one creates; "the work"). just as there are many modes (another scale) in which to do it: "i have made/done this and am proud of this and you might be interested in this." vs. "hey, everybody look at me. i don't care why!" ...stilll thinking.
because...positive pointing (the public paying of positive attention) can be "pure" of motive (conveying genuine excitement or enthusiasm) OR impure of motive, say self-aggrandizing or expert-positioning.
the paying of negative attention is sometimes pure (say, in the case of a bad but fairly argued book review, for instance) OR impure (pointing with the intention to shame/humiliate etc.).
i am just thinking.
i wasn't talking about marketing (and don't care except insofar as it is relied on to sell the books necessary to allow the books to exist, and remembering i have worked as a publicist). that line of thinking (whether self-marketing or the marketing of/for others) is loaded with motive and ends me where many do: i wish there were no such thing as money. (hated the job, liked the results, you know?)
anyway, uh, thanks for pointing.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Keyword strings (cuz I got nothin)
What was Raymond McDaniel trying to say in his poem Murder? [Maybe check this interview.]
Can you give me a timeline about John Ashbery? [No, but look here.]
Degentesh poems are not boring. [True dat. & they can be yrs.]
Todd Holland documentary San Francisco. [Are you looking for Transcendence?]
Why are love bugs always stuck together? [Why do you think they call them love bugs?]
Can you give me a timeline about John Ashbery? [No, but look here.]
Degentesh poems are not boring. [True dat. & they can be yrs.]
Todd Holland documentary San Francisco. [Are you looking for Transcendence?]
Why are love bugs always stuck together? [Why do you think they call them love bugs?]
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Friday, September 22, 2006
Note to self:
The impossibility of loving everyone must not interfere with one's attempts to (at very least) love onself. And vice versa.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
1/3 of poets are perpetually tardy
I am so too busy.
There are things that I want very much to do, now.
But before I can do those things, I have to do other things first. (Things which I also want to do; it is not a case of must vs. may, exactly, but a matter of lingering & overlapping.)
The things I have to do include:
* Finishing the unfinishable last hurrah book. Still.
(1/3 of the nearly 200 authors missed the deadline for corrections, which was three weeks ago. Woe.)
* Finish assembling the cherries & getting all the preorders & contributor copies in the mail.
(This is a pleasant task, to be sure, but still a task with which the task above has interfered.)
Then come the things I would like to do now, if not sooner. The things with covers & pages that came in the mail. Things like Organic Furniture Cellar & The Anger Scale & a whole box from Salt!
So now, if 1/3 of poets will please respond that'd be awesome. The book is being closed this weekend regardless, with or without, because I really really really need to move on.
There are things that I want very much to do, now.
But before I can do those things, I have to do other things first. (Things which I also want to do; it is not a case of must vs. may, exactly, but a matter of lingering & overlapping.)
The things I have to do include:
* Finishing the unfinishable last hurrah book. Still.
(1/3 of the nearly 200 authors missed the deadline for corrections, which was three weeks ago. Woe.)
* Finish assembling the cherries & getting all the preorders & contributor copies in the mail.
(This is a pleasant task, to be sure, but still a task with which the task above has interfered.)
Then come the things I would like to do now, if not sooner. The things with covers & pages that came in the mail. Things like Organic Furniture Cellar & The Anger Scale & a whole box from Salt!
So now, if 1/3 of poets will please respond that'd be awesome. The book is being closed this weekend regardless, with or without, because I really really really need to move on.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Note to self:
Friends forgive even your worst typos, your most mangled syntax, the flubs of your ungrammatical heart.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Tonight in New Haven . . .
. . . should I survive the train and mythical burger (& really, there's no reason to suspect I won't), I won't quite be reading a "whole new set of wholly new poems," but close.
Been working on revisions to the the "For Girls" poems from April's NaPoWriMo, which have never been performed in their full-bottomed bustleness, as well as some incidental gifts of poems from the ether, and at the other end of the scale will read some unfiltered raw biomass from the notebooks, such as a poem named "Tony Danza."
Which is not to say the "For Girls" series is completed (thanks to Ian). But as it stands, I mean, the girls in a semicircle awaiting their number on their dance cards.
If anybody shows up, that is. If not, we shall sing & mimic our favorite tropical birds. Which could also be fun.
Been working on revisions to the the "For Girls" poems from April's NaPoWriMo, which have never been performed in their full-bottomed bustleness, as well as some incidental gifts of poems from the ether, and at the other end of the scale will read some unfiltered raw biomass from the notebooks, such as a poem named "Tony Danza."
Which is not to say the "For Girls" series is completed (thanks to Ian). But as it stands, I mean, the girls in a semicircle awaiting their number on their dance cards.
If anybody shows up, that is. If not, we shall sing & mimic our favorite tropical birds. Which could also be fun.
Monday, September 18, 2006
Yo, New Haven
Got plans for tomorrow?
Tuesday, September 19 at 7:00 PM in New Haven, CT
Shanna Compton, Ada Limón & Jennifer L. Knox
The Ordinary Evening Reading Series
Anchor Bar
272 College Street
New Haven, CT
Tuesday, September 19 at 7:00 PM in New Haven, CT
Shanna Compton, Ada Limón & Jennifer L. Knox
The Ordinary Evening Reading Series
Anchor Bar
272 College Street
New Haven, CT
Can I interest you in a A Slice of Cherry Pie, Sheriff?
Click for the documentary slideshow: The Making of A Slice of Cherry Pie.
(You can also see Ivy making the UK version here.)
A Slice of Cherry Pie
A poetry chapbook anthology inspired by
David Lynch's Twin Peaks series
Edited by Ivy Alvarez
5.5 x 8.5, 24 pp.
hand-stitched
Strathmore Laid or Wove 24lb in Natural White interior
(Acid-free, 25% cotton & 30% pcw recycled, produced with windpower)
Pegasus 80lb Cover in Museum White cover
(Acid-free, chlorine-free, archival, 30% pcw recycled)
First edition: 100 copies
(HEHF 12)
Featuring poems by Emilie Zoey Baker, Jilly Dybka, Collin Kelley, Elena Knox, Jared Leising, Daniel Lloyd, Siobhan Logan, Eileen Tabios, Maureen Thorson, Andrew J Wilson & Maike Zock.
$6.00 includes US shipping
Go here to order in the US ('bout 45 or so left of the first printing, thanks to preorders).
Or here to order the UK version.
Ivy also hosted an online launch party on Friday, and you can still catch some of the festivities here.
& Ivy's also accepting submissions for Deranged, the next chap in the series. So send her your poems inspired by Lynch's Lost Highway and/or Mulholland Drive before December 31, 2006.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Letterpressing in the press . . .
I'm mentioned briefly in this profile of Emily Barton in the NJ Star-Ledger today. (I hear there are pics in the printed version, too.) We did get all her wedding invitations done finally, you'll be happy to know.
& hey, you can get her new book here.
& hey, you can get her new book here.
Friday, September 15, 2006
Fun Friday
First, I'm off to the letterpress studio. (Woohoo.)
Then back here to work some more on the Cherries. Most of the covers are printed and the interior just needs a few minor adjustments before I fire up the lasers.
At5:00 PM 6:00 PM EST (which is what Ivy's 10:00 PM UCT works out to, right?) I'll be at the online launch party for the Private Press version of the chap. (See you there!)
And finally, after that I'm off to see Maureen, who is reading at the Fall Cafe for the Burning Chair Series, tonight at 7:30. (See you there!)
Then back here to work some more on the Cherries. Most of the covers are printed and the interior just needs a few minor adjustments before I fire up the lasers.
At
And finally, after that I'm off to see Maureen, who is reading at the Fall Cafe for the Burning Chair Series, tonight at 7:30. (See you there!)
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Cherries, cherries everywhere
Ivy has announced that she'll be hosting an online release party tomorrow for the UK version of A Slice of Cherry Pie. Details here.
And I am making books today too. You can follow along at the new DIY Publishing Flickr group. (Click the image up there.)
You can still preorder the US version here, and the UK edition will be available tomorrow here.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Kink in the line
Amazon is not currently filling orders for Down Spooky, unless you order from one of the Marketplace Sellers. Neither is the press, apparently. (Sorry. Working on it. Trying to get copies myself. Am out.)
In the meantime, I think Shaman Drum bookstore still has copies. (Hi, Ray!) And they have an online store.
Update: Clay says there are also some at Pegasus (Shattuck Ave., Berkeley) still. If you are not Bay Area, you can try him here (because he is Super Helpful & deserves a gift of some kind). Or one of the other stores on the books page might still have some? (I bet they'd mail it to ya if you called and asked pretty please.)
In the meantime, I think Shaman Drum bookstore still has copies. (Hi, Ray!) And they have an online store.
Update: Clay says there are also some at Pegasus (Shattuck Ave., Berkeley) still. If you are not Bay Area, you can try him here (because he is Super Helpful & deserves a gift of some kind). Or one of the other stores on the books page might still have some? (I bet they'd mail it to ya if you called and asked pretty please.)
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Fool's errand
But I'm going to try to write/finish whole new sets of wholly new poems for each of these readings.
I've got exactly a week before New Haven.
Update: Three down.
I've got exactly a week before New Haven.
Update: Three down.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Friday, September 8, 2006
And now, a special message from CAConrad:
"Poets Refine Money" by CAConrad, limited edition broadside from HEHF, 2005. (Sorry, it's outta print.)
A NEW kind of book offer, JUST FOR YOU! /\\///\\\\/////\\\\\\///////
SEE FOR YOURSELF HERE
DEVIANCE 4 U, from CAConrad
My new book DEVIANT PROPULSION is finally out!
(Soft Skull Press, $13.95)
For the price of the book, ordered directly through me, HERE IS WHAT YOU WILL GET!
Your copy will be with me for 24 hours where I will
talk to it
meditate with it
have cocktails dinners shouting matches with it
have my favorite drag queens of Philadelphia press it to their bosom
well
in other words whatever I happen to be doing that day
and then, on the last page I will write all about the day
just for you.
the first 20 poetry lovers will get their special copy
which will also be signed 1 thru 20
there will also be a special blog where the message I write to you 20 will appear
contact me TODAY at CAConrad13 [at] aol [dot] com to reserve your copy!
HESITATION IS A BAD THING THAT YOU NEED TO GET OVER!!!!
Thursday, September 7, 2006
Wednesday, September 6, 2006
Tuesday, September 5, 2006
Suspense
. . . in the flow of the word faucet, by now obvious.
Chipping away at the Lingering Volume. We're so close.
Owed one letter re: poems that's going out (finally) today.
Will begin another this week.
Otherwise reading fiction meant for "young persons," of which I am apparently still one.
Have decided to try something altogether new. Will let you know if I succeed.
The weather necessitates a shifting, a sifting through closets.
Oh, and I have some readings coming up.
Chipping away at the Lingering Volume. We're so close.
Owed one letter re: poems that's going out (finally) today.
Will begin another this week.
Otherwise reading fiction meant for "young persons," of which I am apparently still one.
Have decided to try something altogether new. Will let you know if I succeed.
The weather necessitates a shifting, a sifting through closets.
Oh, and I have some readings coming up.
Sunday, September 3, 2006
Saturday, September 2, 2006
Friday, September 1, 2006
Letterpresent
I get to go back to the studio today. Helping some friends with their wedding invitations. It's such a lovely excuse!
Lobsters* on a Plane!
*[This post has not been modified, but I have since gone vegan. And yes, that does exclude eating these "bugs of the sea."]
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