PRONUNCIATION: blĭzē
ADJECTIVE: Inflected forms: blu·zi·er, blu·zi·est
1. Resistant to work or exertion even while needing to complete it under (usually) deadline pressure; disposed to procrastination. 2. Quick-moving yet without evident progress or accomplishment of goals: The blizy writer's features never came in under deadline. 3. Conducive to inadvisable indolence: a blizy winter afternoon on the Internet.
ETYMOLOGY: Of Bluzy Poet origin. A blending of busy of Middle English bisi, busi, from Old English bysig, with lazy of Low German origin.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Postus interruptus
Sorry, an unexpected condition has occurred which is preventing Poet from fulfilling the request.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Wanted:
Looking to hire 1-3 developer(s) to write screensaver program for poet's brain.
Hours interminable. Pay negligible.
Frivolous inquiries only.
Reply to insomniahangover@notreallyaworkingaddress.com.
Hours interminable. Pay negligible.
Frivolous inquiries only.
Reply to insomniahangover@notreallyaworkingaddress.com.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Peaches & Peanuts in South Carolina
Outta here (not there, those were last weekend) till Dec. 1. Have a good holiday.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Down Spooky now available in the Bloof store also...
Remember this old thang?
Been meaning to add this for a while, but have just gotten around to it.
The original publisher is now defunct, but Bloof has the last remaining new copies of my first poetry collection Down Spooky in stock, and is pleased to be able to offer them for the discount price of $10 (usually $14).
If/when this last box sells out, Bloof will be reprinting the book in a new edition with a new cover and several restored poems cut from the original printing. Fancy!
Get 'em here.
Been meaning to add this for a while, but have just gotten around to it.
The original publisher is now defunct, but Bloof has the last remaining new copies of my first poetry collection Down Spooky in stock, and is pleased to be able to offer them for the discount price of $10 (usually $14).
If/when this last box sells out, Bloof will be reprinting the book in a new edition with a new cover and several restored poems cut from the original printing. Fancy!
Get 'em here.
THIS WEEKEND: Bloof goes South!
Friday, November 14 @ 8:00 PM
Atlanta, GA
Sandra Simonds, Jennifer L. Knox & Shanna Compton
Hosted by Bruce Covey
Emory University
Schwartz Center Theater Lab
1700 N. Decatur Road
&
Saturday, November 15 @ 8:00 PM
Durham, NC
Patrick Herron, Jennifer L. Knox & Shanna Compton
Minor American Series
Hosted by Kathryn L. Pringle & Magdalena Zurawski
Ken Rumble's place
(email kathrynlpringle [at] gmail [dot] com) for info)
Sandra Simonds is the author of Warsaw Bikini(Bloof Books, 2008) and several chapbooks, as well as the founder of Wildlife, an experimental, handmade poetry magazine. She earned a BA in English and Psychology from UCLA and an MFA from the University of Montana. She is currently a PhD student in Creative Writing at Florida State University.
Patrick Herron is a poet, artist and information scientist living in Chapel Hill, NC, USA. His doll Lester is the author of the book Be Somebody (2008, Effing Press) while Patrick is the author of several books of poetry including The American Godwar Complex (2004, BlazeVox) as well as a recent book on text mining and scientific discovery (2008, Verlag Dr. Mueller). Patrick's web art has appeared in the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and his proximate.org is part of the permanent collection of the New Museum for Contemporary Art. You may find some of Patrick's poems and essays in journals such as The Exquisite Corpse, Jacket, Fulcrum, A Chide's Alphabet, and Talisman. He is the founder of the Carrboro International Poetry Festival, a member of the board of Carolina Wren Press, winner of the 2005 Triangle Arts Award from The Independent (Durham NC), and a former Carrboro NC Poet Laureate. Patrick teaches new media studies, develops serious games, and studies semiotic landscapes of innovation for the Jenkins Chair at Duke University. He is working on a new volume of poetry tentatively entited Embedded.
Jennifer L. Knox was born in Lancaster, California—where absolutely anything can be made into a bong. Her poems have appeared in the anthologies The Best American Poetry (1997, 2003 and 2006), Great American Prose Poems: From Poe to Present, Free Radicals: American Poets Before Their First Books, and The Best American Erotic Poems: From 1800 to the Present. She has taught poetry writing at New York University and Hunter College, and is available for children's parties, séances, and tradeshow booth demonstrations. She lives in Brooklyn. Her books A Gringo Like Me and Drunk by Noon are both available from Bloof Books.
Shanna Compton is the author of For Girls & Others (Bloof Books, 2008), Down Spooky (Winnow, 2005), and several chapbooks, as well as the editor of GAMERS (Soft Skull, 2004). Her poems and essays have appeared widely in magazines and anthologies including The Best American Poetry 2005, The Poet's Bookshelf 2, Exchange Values XV, and several others. She teaches at The New School and runs the DIY Poetry Publishing Cooperative. She lives in a valley near a river in New Jersey. For more information, see www.shannacompton.com.
+++
Please come out if you're around! Friday night is Sandra's first reading with the brand spanking new book. I'm looking forward to meeting her and Patrick, to visiting with Bruce & Kate & Maggie & everybody else. How lucky are we to do these trips?
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Champagne headache
Wondering if those who actually believed the "palling around w/ terrorists" bullshit are now feeling terrified? If so, well, then they know how I've felt ever since W. beat Ann Richards for the homestate governorship.
Heard our former neighborhood Fort Greene was insane last night after 11. I missed it a little.
Satisfaction tempered though. WTF is up with Prop 8 in CA?
Heard our former neighborhood Fort Greene was insane last night after 11. I missed it a little.
Satisfaction tempered though. WTF is up with Prop 8 in CA?
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Seems like there's something I'm forgetting to do today...
Just kidding!
I'm heading to my polling place as soon as I have breakfast.
Don't just sit there. VOTE.
I'm heading to my polling place as soon as I have breakfast.
Don't just sit there. VOTE.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Preorder special on Warsaw Bikini!
Sandra Simonds' new book Warsaw Bikini has been finalized and is currently printing. We're pleased to offer a special preorder price of $12 with free shipping to celebrate its release.
Orders should begin shipping on or about November 16, at which time the special offer will expire. (Regular price $15 + shipping).
Get yours now.
UPDATE: This sale is now over. Thanks to everyone who ordered!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Break in case of emergency
If you were ever to need a poet to leap over a bar, you could do worse than Michael Quattrone.
If you were ever to need a poet to hide under a bar, I could probably manage that. Jen Knox could also help out.
If you were ever to need a poetry venue in which to be hear shouts of "He tried to kill me!" and "I swear I'll burn this place to the ground!" go check out KGB.
And if you were ever to need a poet to serenely continue reading his last poem, right from where he stopped when the chaos broke out, as if nothing much had gone down, well, CAConrad's your man.
Reading report to come.
If you were ever to need a poet to hide under a bar, I could probably manage that. Jen Knox could also help out.
If you were ever to need a poetry venue in which to be hear shouts of "He tried to kill me!" and "I swear I'll burn this place to the ground!" go check out KGB.
And if you were ever to need a poet to serenely continue reading his last poem, right from where he stopped when the chaos broke out, as if nothing much had gone down, well, CAConrad's your man.
Reading report to come.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
My life in nearly
So this is me with my to-do list, perpetually. Back taxes, nearly. Bookkeeping, not yet. Trip planning, nearly. Hey can I get paid for that class I taught in June, again. Oh shit another 2 weeks go by without answering any emails, even the fun ones, always. And no poems. Who has time for poems!?
I fiercely hope that under an Obama administration my organizational tussle with whatever planets muck me is resolved, preferably in the first term, and that poems once again hold sway. Like, I could try reading some! A banner day! Let's get some fanfare!
I fiercely hope that under an Obama administration my organizational tussle with whatever planets muck me is resolved, preferably in the first term, and that poems once again hold sway. Like, I could try reading some! A banner day! Let's get some fanfare!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Veganniversary
Just realized I've been vegan 6 months, as of today.
And I have not died from lack of protein, go figure. Actually, I have never felt better. (Mostly thanks to this book & this one.)
And I have learned to make all manner of luscious things that have even my nonvegan friends and family going wow. (Many courtesy of this book.)
My grocery budget has been cut by 1/3. (Beans and tofu are quite thrifty, as are in-season veggies, particularly from our CSA.)
Best of all, completely cutting dairy has significantly reduced my allergies. Ahhhhhh! Breathing rocks!
And I have not died from lack of protein, go figure. Actually, I have never felt better. (Mostly thanks to this book & this one.)
And I have learned to make all manner of luscious things that have even my nonvegan friends and family going wow. (Many courtesy of this book.)
My grocery budget has been cut by 1/3. (Beans and tofu are quite thrifty, as are in-season veggies, particularly from our CSA.)
Best of all, completely cutting dairy has significantly reduced my allergies. Ahhhhhh! Breathing rocks!
Hurry up and wait
We made what I think are the final edits to Warsaw Bikini this weekend, tweaked the cover a bit, took out the interior artwork, added the ISBN and barcode, fixed a couple of minor typos. New proofs are on the way, express.
Fingers crossed!
Waiting for the printer is always the hardest part.
Fingers crossed!
Waiting for the printer is always the hardest part.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Yo, Georgia! UPDATE: & North Carolina!
We--and by "we" I mean Jennifer L. Knox, Sandra Simonds & myself--will be heading your way in about a month: Friday, November 14.
We're gonna go visit Bruce Covey, the world's tallest poet, and do a reading at Emory University, which has a beeeeyooootiful campus. And hopefully we'll see Laurel and Collin and Kodak and Laura too. We had a blast downthataway in 2005. (Hey, is there decent vegan food in Atlanta?)
Trying to decide if we should fly or drive though. Driving the space-age hybrid is more economical since we'd be HOV, but we can't think of any place else to stop and maybe get in another reading as we zip through VA/NC/SC. You got any ideas?
UPDATE:
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14 @ 8:00 PM
Sandra Simonds, Jennifer L. Knox & Shanna Compton
Hosted by Bruce Covey
Emory University
Bldg/Room TBD
Decatur/Atlanta, GA
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15 @ 7:00 PM
Patrick Herron, Jennifer L. Knox & Shanna Compton
Minor American Reading Series
Hosted by Kate Pringle & Maggie Zurawski
Location TBD
Durham, NC
(Big thanks to Evie Shockley & Kate Greenstreet for their help, and to Kate & Maggie for fitting us in!)
We're gonna go visit Bruce Covey, the world's tallest poet, and do a reading at Emory University, which has a beeeeyooootiful campus. And hopefully we'll see Laurel and Collin and Kodak and Laura too. We had a blast downthataway in 2005. (Hey, is there decent vegan food in Atlanta?)
Trying to decide if we should fly or drive though. Driving the space-age hybrid is more economical since we'd be HOV, but we can't think of any place else to stop and maybe get in another reading as we zip through VA/NC/SC. You got any ideas?
UPDATE:
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14 @ 8:00 PM
Sandra Simonds, Jennifer L. Knox & Shanna Compton
Hosted by Bruce Covey
Emory University
Bldg/Room TBD
Decatur/Atlanta, GA
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15 @ 7:00 PM
Patrick Herron, Jennifer L. Knox & Shanna Compton
Minor American Reading Series
Hosted by Kate Pringle & Maggie Zurawski
Location TBD
Durham, NC
(Big thanks to Evie Shockley & Kate Greenstreet for their help, and to Kate & Maggie for fitting us in!)
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
Funniest moment
Watched on MSNBC (of course). And at one point, 2 kids behind Chris Matthews held up signs saying
"Never gonna give you up"
"Never gonna let you down"
Yeah, got rickrolled on live teevee.
"Never gonna give you up"
"Never gonna let you down"
Yeah, got rickrolled on live teevee.
Multiple choice
If you missed the debate, find it online. Several times, Gwen Ifill (who I think did a good job in general) gave Palin *multiple choice* questions. Perhaps she was attempting to address the worries that she was "in the bag."
Whatevs. I watched the whole thing. Palin still doesn't make sense. She was breathing in a very rushed, odd way much of the time (visibly nervous, especially in the beginning), but managed to bluster right through spots that would have been silence or sputtering had she not improved on her mistakes in the Couric interviews.
Was she better? Yes. Did she sound like she knew what she was talking about? No.
And ugh, the winking! Her accent was comically exaggerated, alsohhhhh.
By the way, Bosniaks is not only a perfectly fine word, it's the correct one.
Whatevs. I watched the whole thing. Palin still doesn't make sense. She was breathing in a very rushed, odd way much of the time (visibly nervous, especially in the beginning), but managed to bluster right through spots that would have been silence or sputtering had she not improved on her mistakes in the Couric interviews.
Was she better? Yes. Did she sound like she knew what she was talking about? No.
And ugh, the winking! Her accent was comically exaggerated, alsohhhhh.
By the way, Bosniaks is not only a perfectly fine word, it's the correct one.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Guys, Can You Please Help Me Get a Rape Kit?
For Mel Nichols
America, my head is made of African ivory and Tennesse marble.
We just overloaded the little fluff head
in a practice debate on a ruffly green lawn
surrounded by a metaphorical desert.
Somewhere, a candidate shines like a factoid oasis.
Tonight should be like taking a pistol to a wrestling match.
The risk is not in overreaching,
but overcoming. Words are what someone else
tells you to say. But America knows who the real
me is in my own words without the script.
Just call me racism n sexsim.
All I know for sure is patriots don't vote for Muslims, or
for those who seek the interconvulutes of my poor cerebrum.
Leave the chihuaha without a bone to chew on.
Jill American lands a fair point: Libs are such wimps.
In other words America, I am dumb, just like you.
I excite the militarized bone. I am vast,
and contain variety. Also some mediums.
All the ones that have been put in front of me
over the years are the ones I have understood.
I am indiscriminating. I reared my head up from a little child.
Tonight I will turn my TV off.
It seves as a impenatrable barrier.
With apologies to whoever wrote the first line as it appears here. Didn't realize it was already a poem when I flarfnabbed it. I just couldn't resist it!
America, my head is made of African ivory and Tennesse marble.
We just overloaded the little fluff head
in a practice debate on a ruffly green lawn
surrounded by a metaphorical desert.
Somewhere, a candidate shines like a factoid oasis.
Tonight should be like taking a pistol to a wrestling match.
The risk is not in overreaching,
but overcoming. Words are what someone else
tells you to say. But America knows who the real
me is in my own words without the script.
Just call me racism n sexsim.
All I know for sure is patriots don't vote for Muslims, or
for those who seek the interconvulutes of my poor cerebrum.
Leave the chihuaha without a bone to chew on.
Jill American lands a fair point: Libs are such wimps.
In other words America, I am dumb, just like you.
I excite the militarized bone. I am vast,
and contain variety. Also some mediums.
All the ones that have been put in front of me
over the years are the ones I have understood.
I am indiscriminating. I reared my head up from a little child.
Tonight I will turn my TV off.
It seves as a impenatrable barrier.
With apologies to whoever wrote the first line as it appears here. Didn't realize it was already a poem when I flarfnabbed it. I just couldn't resist it!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
I am getting pretty regular electronic mail from people & orgs who do not like, as I do not like, any notion of "giving any money to rich assholes." Yes, certainly. But many of these same people work at or attend universities or community colleges or technical schools, where the majority of students (or their parents) need loans to make tuition, and the loans began crunching last year (see Time Magazine) and now will only get worse, if you believe the Parade O' Experts. If there are fewer (or less affordable) loans, there will be fewer students. And so the untenured instructors are fucked again. Of course they are.
I am not usually such a pessimist, but my mother was a government loan officer in a former life and if not for a full-time hourly job all through college in addition to Staffords and Pells, I would be working at one of those burger joints that as of this week cannot get credit to buy the new cappucino machinery.
Our retirement pennies (such that we have not already withdrawn early to pay for a poetry habit) have decades to bounce back I guess. (And we'll probably be broiled crispy by then anyway, those of us who are not raptured before then.)
I sure hope people don't stop purchasing designer consumer goods from a certain ginormous department store chain via the internets. Hopefully the landlords will let us stay on for free. Or the banks, when the seize the landlords' homes because we cannot pay their mortgages for them. Or the government, when they seize the banks. Or us, when we seize the government.
I am not usually such a pessimist, but my mother was a government loan officer in a former life and if not for a full-time hourly job all through college in addition to Staffords and Pells, I would be working at one of those burger joints that as of this week cannot get credit to buy the new cappucino machinery.
Our retirement pennies (such that we have not already withdrawn early to pay for a poetry habit) have decades to bounce back I guess. (And we'll probably be broiled crispy by then anyway, those of us who are not raptured before then.)
I sure hope people don't stop purchasing designer consumer goods from a certain ginormous department store chain via the internets. Hopefully the landlords will let us stay on for free. Or the banks, when the seize the landlords' homes because we cannot pay their mortgages for them. Or the government, when they seize the banks. Or us, when we seize the government.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Tonight @ KGB!
Monday, September 22 in Manhattan
Danielle Pafunda & Caroline Knox
Hosted by Laura Cronk & Michael Quattrone
KGB Bar
85 East 4th Street
7:00 PM
FREE
Subway: 6 to Astor Place or F/V to 2nd Ave
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Reminder: This Saturday! & Monday!
Saturday, September 20 in Brooklyn
Nada Gordon ("flamboyantly brillant!")
Sharon Mesmer ("mesmerizingly genius!")
Danielle Pafunda ("V.C. Andrews-creepy!")
Laura Sims ("utterly astounding!")
Hosted by Shanna Compton ("winningly self-effacing!")
Unnameable Books ("easily the best bookstore ever!")
456 Bergen Street
Brooklyn, NY
3:30 PM
FREE, including refreshments. A party in the middle of the day...why not?
(Subway: Any train that goes to Atlantic Hub)
+++++
Also, don't miss...
Monday, September 22 in Manhattan
Danielle Pafunda & Caroline Knox
Hosted by Laura Cronk & Michael Quattrone
KGB Bar
85 East 4th Street
7:00 PM
FREE
Subway: 6 to Astor Place or F/V to 2nd Ave
Sunday, September 14, 2008
David Foster Wallace: 1962-2008
Terribly sad. One of my favorite novelists and essayists.
I saw him read a couple of times. It seemed excruciating for him, but the standing-room-only crowds were delighted and engaged by his work. He was brilliant, funny, insightful. Infinite Jest is a major book, not to be missed.
I saw him read a couple of times. It seemed excruciating for him, but the standing-room-only crowds were delighted and engaged by his work. He was brilliant, funny, insightful. Infinite Jest is a major book, not to be missed.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
For making your way through the muck
If you haven't seen it yet, take a look at PolitiFact.org.
This morning I sent this link to several people whose politics don't jibe with mine, and I got a much better response than I expected. (I usually make it a rule just not to engage on such topics with family, etc.--the arguments are useless and everybody ends up angry or feeling bad.)
I was careful to note the site is nonpartisan and unaffiliated with either party, and that *both campaigns' statements* could be fact-checked there. I noted that I've been feeling frustrated with both campaigns and most of the media, and am worried about the resulting difficulty voters may be having becoming truly informed. (Record turnouts are expected this year, including lots of first-time voters!)
Seemed to get through to folks OK, and nobody responded defensively.
Average reply was "Thanks, great site. We have been feeling frustrated too. I'm going to forward it to my friends."
So there's that.
This morning I sent this link to several people whose politics don't jibe with mine, and I got a much better response than I expected. (I usually make it a rule just not to engage on such topics with family, etc.--the arguments are useless and everybody ends up angry or feeling bad.)
I was careful to note the site is nonpartisan and unaffiliated with either party, and that *both campaigns' statements* could be fact-checked there. I noted that I've been feeling frustrated with both campaigns and most of the media, and am worried about the resulting difficulty voters may be having becoming truly informed. (Record turnouts are expected this year, including lots of first-time voters!)
Seemed to get through to folks OK, and nobody responded defensively.
Average reply was "Thanks, great site. We have been feeling frustrated too. I'm going to forward it to my friends."
So there's that.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
You're invited
Danielle is coming to town soon. So we're staging a to-do, a hullabaloo, a coup!
Saturday, September 20 in Brooklyn
Nada Gordon ("flamboyantly brillant!")
Sharon Mesmer ("mesmerizingly genius!")
Danielle Pafunda ("V.C. Andrews-creepy!")
Laura Sims ("utterly astounding!")
Hosted by Shanna Compton ("winningly self-effacing!")
Unnameable Books ("easily the best bookstore ever!")
456 Bergen Street
Brooklyn, NY
3:30 PM
FREE, including refreshments. A party in the middle of the day...why not?
(Subway: Any train that goes to Atlantic Hub)
+++++
Also, don't miss...
Monday, September 22 in Manhattan
Danielle Pafunda & Caroline Knox
Hosted by Laura Cronk & Michael Quattrone
KGB Bar
85 East 4th Street
7:00 PM
FREE
Subway: 6 to Astor Place or F/V to 2nd Ave
Saturday, September 20 in Brooklyn
Nada Gordon ("flamboyantly brillant!")
Sharon Mesmer ("mesmerizingly genius!")
Danielle Pafunda ("V.C. Andrews-creepy!")
Laura Sims ("utterly astounding!")
Hosted by Shanna Compton ("winningly self-effacing!")
Unnameable Books ("easily the best bookstore ever!")
456 Bergen Street
Brooklyn, NY
3:30 PM
FREE, including refreshments. A party in the middle of the day...why not?
(Subway: Any train that goes to Atlantic Hub)
+++++
Also, don't miss...
Monday, September 22 in Manhattan
Danielle Pafunda & Caroline Knox
Hosted by Laura Cronk & Michael Quattrone
KGB Bar
85 East 4th Street
7:00 PM
FREE
Subway: 6 to Astor Place or F/V to 2nd Ave
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Roll'd
Unlike Heart, Van Halen & Jackson Browne re: their songs being used by the RNC, I think Ric Astley might be cool with this:
Saturday, September 6, 2008
On Warsaw Bikini...
Update: Sandra has chosen a cover design. Drawing (detail) by Andy Mister.
"In Sandra Simonds's poetry, a terrific, nihilistic dislike of herself and others (her heroine "dires" men) vies with an extreme will to prevail in full color. The tension is sustained by an imagination of remarkable fertility and a rich and crowded verbal palette. Simonds writes to sting. She's like a Plath whose capacity for erotic altruism has thoroughly imploded, producing a crisis that only a brilliant talent could turn into a field of triumphantly exhibited power. Simonds has such a talent." --Cal Bedient
"For 100 years, maybe 3000, poetry has wanted to know what it is. Sandra Simonds shows it. Every outset projects a lack the sequence must undo, overturning postponement our wanting’s askance with preposterous now. Why these baubles on the brain? Food, fishes, Poland. I am small, she says, her happenstance clothing the essential. That wilderness holds together, discloses organum, who knew?" --R. M. Berry
"Sandra Simonds' poems are hyperactive conduits into the chaos of our lost-at-sea moment in time. She's in love with words and all the damage they can do. La belle dame sans papiers--she's witty, smart, a real troublemaker, playing the lyre of her twenty-first century blues." --Barbara Hamby
"In Sandra Simonds's poetry, a terrific, nihilistic dislike of herself and others (her heroine "dires" men) vies with an extreme will to prevail in full color. The tension is sustained by an imagination of remarkable fertility and a rich and crowded verbal palette. Simonds writes to sting. She's like a Plath whose capacity for erotic altruism has thoroughly imploded, producing a crisis that only a brilliant talent could turn into a field of triumphantly exhibited power. Simonds has such a talent." --Cal Bedient
"For 100 years, maybe 3000, poetry has wanted to know what it is. Sandra Simonds shows it. Every outset projects a lack the sequence must undo, overturning postponement our wanting’s askance with preposterous now. Why these baubles on the brain? Food, fishes, Poland. I am small, she says, her happenstance clothing the essential. That wilderness holds together, discloses organum, who knew?" --R. M. Berry
"Sandra Simonds' poems are hyperactive conduits into the chaos of our lost-at-sea moment in time. She's in love with words and all the damage they can do. La belle dame sans papiers--she's witty, smart, a real troublemaker, playing the lyre of her twenty-first century blues." --Barbara Hamby
Friday, September 5, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Monday, September 1, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Seems like an appropriate time...
...to post "the Hillary Clinton" poem from For Girls:
We Know She Knows about Her Elephantine Legs
I can understand trousers are comfortable
but she's a woman.
She should ditch the blobby trousers
to hide her fat veiny legs
& make it easier to find her penis.
She should ditch the Botox
She should ditch that Puritan look
She should ditch the dude and BE IN SCHOOL
She should ditch her third husband fast
ditch her asshole father
ditch her overgrown lips
ditch her personal relationship with Jesus
ditch her Mimi-like makeup & booze
ditch her overzealous manager & production team
She should ditch the creep who knocked her up
& try dating someone who's actually into her.
She looks like a big black garbage bag filled too full.
But she did the skirt anddress thing.
Now it's time to put on the big girl pants
and kick some ass.
How about a bag over her face and a gag in her mouth?
She should A) lay off the tanning beds,
B) stop dressing like a Vegas call girl,
C) give up on the white lipsticks,
andfinally D) dig up some sturdy, thick man legs
supporting a desperate piercing sound.
How appealing.
She needs a big helping
of shut-the-fuck-up
and an extra dose of shawl or small detailing
so she can look as smart as she is.
If she’d just try a little EXERCISE.
The American People just want
to tap that feminine side
(except the cankles)
all the way to the White House.
Note: "I can understand (trousers) are comfortable but she's a woman and she is allowed to show that," remarked Italian fashion designer Donatella Versace in Die Zeit, February 8, 2007, speaking of presidential candidate Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and her infamous pantsuits. The poem mines comment-stream responses to this so-called news as they appeared on the Huffington Post website, mixing them with similarly phrased "she should ditch" advice for women supplied by an Internet search engine.
----
And I collected these bits well over a year and a half ago--I could come up with much worse if I googled now. See, sexism is not a problem. You ladies should just shush.
Also, see this article for the historical context re: her role at the convention, since the MSM seems hellbent on omitting it as they continue to flog away. If you're too lazy to read it, let's just sum it up: Since 1972, 11 runner-up candidates' names have been entered in nomination and more than that have spoken at the convention. When Jesse Jackson was in the same position, he gave his convention speech *without ever explicitly endorsing* Michael Dukakis. But I guess he didn't have offensive cankles or an impaired fashion sense.
We Know She Knows about Her Elephantine Legs
I can understand trousers are comfortable
but she's a woman.
She should ditch the blobby trousers
to hide her fat veiny legs
& make it easier to find her penis.
She should ditch the Botox
She should ditch that Puritan look
She should ditch the dude and BE IN SCHOOL
She should ditch her third husband fast
ditch her asshole father
ditch her overgrown lips
ditch her personal relationship with Jesus
ditch her Mimi-like makeup & booze
ditch her overzealous manager & production team
She should ditch the creep who knocked her up
& try dating someone who's actually into her.
She looks like a big black garbage bag filled too full.
But she did the skirt anddress thing.
Now it's time to put on the big girl pants
and kick some ass.
How about a bag over her face and a gag in her mouth?
She should A) lay off the tanning beds,
B) stop dressing like a Vegas call girl,
C) give up on the white lipsticks,
andfinally D) dig up some sturdy, thick man legs
supporting a desperate piercing sound.
How appealing.
She needs a big helping
of shut-the-fuck-up
and an extra dose of shawl or small detailing
so she can look as smart as she is.
If she’d just try a little EXERCISE.
The American People just want
to tap that feminine side
(except the cankles)
all the way to the White House.
Note: "I can understand (trousers) are comfortable but she's a woman and she is allowed to show that," remarked Italian fashion designer Donatella Versace in Die Zeit, February 8, 2007, speaking of presidential candidate Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and her infamous pantsuits. The poem mines comment-stream responses to this so-called news as they appeared on the Huffington Post website, mixing them with similarly phrased "she should ditch" advice for women supplied by an Internet search engine.
----
And I collected these bits well over a year and a half ago--I could come up with much worse if I googled now. See, sexism is not a problem. You ladies should just shush.
Also, see this article for the historical context re: her role at the convention, since the MSM seems hellbent on omitting it as they continue to flog away. If you're too lazy to read it, let's just sum it up: Since 1972, 11 runner-up candidates' names have been entered in nomination and more than that have spoken at the convention. When Jesse Jackson was in the same position, he gave his convention speech *without ever explicitly endorsing* Michael Dukakis. But I guess he didn't have offensive cankles or an impaired fashion sense.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Still really busy
Don't take it personally. I will get back to everyone when I can.
I will continue working additional hours through August, except when I (thankfully) escape to Maine. So much for summer. September will be better, when I go back to my usual schedule.
Just realizing (duh) the sour mood and inability to write are probably a result of this extra work. For one thing, it's really boring. For another, commuting 4 days rather than 3 loses me an additional 4 hours of productive time and a day at the gym. Yeah, so, that makes me grumpy, and I am unable to focus on my "real" (though less lucrative) work (i.e. poetry and the press) until I pay the rent. Alas.
Then the landlord arrives to complain we haven't mowed the yard.
Still, (most) things are moving along, despite the busyness. Which is good. Fall will be good.
Yrs,
s
I will continue working additional hours through August, except when I (thankfully) escape to Maine. So much for summer. September will be better, when I go back to my usual schedule.
Just realizing (duh) the sour mood and inability to write are probably a result of this extra work. For one thing, it's really boring. For another, commuting 4 days rather than 3 loses me an additional 4 hours of productive time and a day at the gym. Yeah, so, that makes me grumpy, and I am unable to focus on my "real" (though less lucrative) work (i.e. poetry and the press) until I pay the rent. Alas.
Then the landlord arrives to complain we haven't mowed the yard.
Still, (most) things are moving along, despite the busyness. Which is good. Fall will be good.
Yrs,
s
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Maybe I should change the name of this blog to:
Intentionally Boring
Willfully Antisocial
Lackluster Fling
Poos You Can't Even Use
My Attention Suffers Multiple Fractures
I Prefer the Farm or the Garden
I Dislike Being Gawked At These Days
Where There's No Action, There's No Gossip
I Am Reading Nonfiction & YA Fiction Instead Because Poetry Has Gotten On My Nerves
I Can No Longer Feel You Out There, or When I Can I Find It Uncomfortable
Summer Lazies
Maybe After I Get Back from Maine
I Don't Give a Fuck about Any Conferences
Entertainment Devauled
Look Into My Blank
Rural Motorcycle Gangs Are More Exciting
Malcontent and Proud of It
A Sense of Obligation Is a Surefire Killer of Joy
Thank You for Formerly Listening
I'd Rather Be Reading Anne Boyer
YouTube Has Free Guided Meditations. Some Are Even Good.
I Can't Wait to See Dark Knight, Except It's Sold Out at IMAX in Philly
Zucchini Expert
Willfully Antisocial
Lackluster Fling
Poos You Can't Even Use
My Attention Suffers Multiple Fractures
I Prefer the Farm or the Garden
I Dislike Being Gawked At These Days
Where There's No Action, There's No Gossip
I Am Reading Nonfiction & YA Fiction Instead Because Poetry Has Gotten On My Nerves
I Can No Longer Feel You Out There, or When I Can I Find It Uncomfortable
Summer Lazies
Maybe After I Get Back from Maine
I Don't Give a Fuck about Any Conferences
Entertainment Devauled
Look Into My Blank
Rural Motorcycle Gangs Are More Exciting
Malcontent and Proud of It
A Sense of Obligation Is a Surefire Killer of Joy
Thank You for Formerly Listening
I'd Rather Be Reading Anne Boyer
YouTube Has Free Guided Meditations. Some Are Even Good.
I Can't Wait to See Dark Knight, Except It's Sold Out at IMAX in Philly
Zucchini Expert
Monday, July 14, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
& tomorrow
Tuesday, July 8 at 6:30 PM
in New York, NY
Jennifer L. Knox, Dara Wier & James Tate
read for KGB Night in Bryant Park
Hosted by Laura Cronk & Michael Quattrone
Word for Word Series
Bryant Park Reading Room
42nd Street between 5th & 6th Ave
(Behind the NYPL; look for the green umbrellas near 42nd)
FREE
Rain location:
The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen
20 West 44th Street
(between 5th & 6th Avenues)
in New York, NY
Jennifer L. Knox, Dara Wier & James Tate
read for KGB Night in Bryant Park
Hosted by Laura Cronk & Michael Quattrone
Word for Word Series
Bryant Park Reading Room
42nd Street between 5th & 6th Ave
(Behind the NYPL; look for the green umbrellas near 42nd)
FREE
Rain location:
The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen
20 West 44th Street
(between 5th & 6th Avenues)
Spooky Boyfriend
Contributors:
Peter Davis
Jennifer L. Knox
Dan Bailey
Amy King
Ken Baumann
Reb Livingston
Shane Jones
Betsy Fagin
Adam J. Maynard
Juliet Cook
Joey Minutillo
Shanna Compton
Stephen Daniel Lewis
Sarah A. Chavez
More info, etc.
Peter Davis
Jennifer L. Knox
Dan Bailey
Amy King
Ken Baumann
Reb Livingston
Shane Jones
Betsy Fagin
Adam J. Maynard
Juliet Cook
Joey Minutillo
Shanna Compton
Stephen Daniel Lewis
Sarah A. Chavez
More info, etc.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Smoked glasses & feathered hair
Been working on cover sketches for Sandra's book this weekend. Should have options for her soon.
Had my first margarita of the summer yesterday and it was damn tasty. But it was also $7.75 and I didn't even call the tequila. Kind of bum deal. I guess in NJ they're considered exotic or something. At least the salsa was not Pace. Even the Ronnie Milsap on the jukebox hit the spot.
Looking forward to a shorter workweek this week. Feels like that's all I've been doing lately. I hope they hire a replacement for the person who quit soon.
Might go out of town, or just to Brooklyn for the holiday. Not sure yet, and I'm not feeling particularly patriotic.
Had my first margarita of the summer yesterday and it was damn tasty. But it was also $7.75 and I didn't even call the tequila. Kind of bum deal. I guess in NJ they're considered exotic or something. At least the salsa was not Pace. Even the Ronnie Milsap on the jukebox hit the spot.
Looking forward to a shorter workweek this week. Feels like that's all I've been doing lately. I hope they hire a replacement for the person who quit soon.
Might go out of town, or just to Brooklyn for the holiday. Not sure yet, and I'm not feeling particularly patriotic.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
New review
The new Rain Taxi features a lovely review For Girls by Nate Pritts:
Pick up a copy or subscribe to Rain Taxi here.
Also, please stop by the Bloof Blog for more news & reviews of My Zorba!
Though Shanna Compton's second full-length book will probably get noticed first for its quasi-gender studies focus, the ironic tone and muscularly discursive lines of For Girls (& Others) mark it as first-rate poetry first, a lesson in articulating individual identity in a public sphere.
Compton owns her project--a kind of contemporary primer for girls that, in revealing how far we've come, indicates we haven't strayed far enough from the ideas of the 19th-century handbook that serves as impetus for some of the poems. Luckily, we have Compton's voice to help guide us: "Might you unlearn / to resent the joy / the world takes in you, // learn to return its gaze." The ending of "Pride in Having Small Feet" sets up the interesting tension of employing the rhetorical style of these outdated manuals in the service of offering some real insight. Moments like these, handled with grace and forcefulness, define the book, and provide the truest sense of a purpose here.
Lingustic virtuosity is a solid draw as well. Those who've read Compton's first collection, Down Spooky, already know her to be adept at torquing language in a way that reveals not simply multiple meanings, but multiple registers. "The Dome Is It" is a good illustration of Compton's ability to move into a realm where language becomes a reference to itself, where moods are the words used to describe them:The opposite of no withinThroughout, Compton uses syntax and lineation to provide some of the punch. In "Opening Address," she begins the book with a pronouncement about girls "upon whom the universe / bestows fullness / in all the right places." Both biblical sounding and funny, it's a good read on the tone used throughout the book. Simultaneously reverent and irreverent, For Girls (& Others) is a complex work on identity and the forces we all work against to assert it.
the curved, complete shape
of your dreamed conveyance.
Everything you've said lately
so similar to immediate
but not quite so.
Pick up a copy or subscribe to Rain Taxi here.
Also, please stop by the Bloof Blog for more news & reviews of My Zorba!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Saturday, June 21, 2008
After a year and a half...
...I met a neighbor. He called me over to the back fence to apologize for cursing loudly while working on his car.
If you have ever met me & my potty mouth in person, you will know why I find this so funny.
If you have ever met me & my potty mouth in person, you will know why I find this so funny.
I really should...
...just apologize to my entire inbox.
But that would put me *even more* behind.
Jeez. Who invented this working 2-3 jobs thing?
Happy longest-day-of-the-year, summerfesters.
But that would put me *even more* behind.
Jeez. Who invented this working 2-3 jobs thing?
Happy longest-day-of-the-year, summerfesters.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Blugh
1. (n.) A gassy, bloated feeling one sometimes gets from reading blogs; often temporary
2. (n.) A blog, blog entry, or recurring topic in the blogosphere that induces a feeling of blugh in the reader
3. (n.) An unidentified crumb stuck between the sole of the foot and the shoe's inner lining that is uncomfortable enough to make the shoewearer consider removing her shoe, but not so uncomfortable as to provoke her to actually do so
2. (n.) A blog, blog entry, or recurring topic in the blogosphere that induces a feeling of blugh in the reader
3. (n.) An unidentified crumb stuck between the sole of the foot and the shoe's inner lining that is uncomfortable enough to make the shoewearer consider removing her shoe, but not so uncomfortable as to provoke her to actually do so
Caution: Knees may hurt from too-frequent jerking
Seriously, there are so many other fun things to jerk.
Peace, peoples.
Peace, peoples.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Perhaps should mention...
...that I'm hosting this reading tonight, as the final night of our Summer Writers Conference class on Major Jackson's Hoops.
But all are welcome.
Friday, June 13 at 6:00 PM
MAJOR JACKSON
Hosted by Shanna Compton
New School University
66 West 12th Street
Room 510, 5th Floor
Note: You will probably be asked to sign in at the security desk on the first floor and show an ID of some kind.
But all are welcome.
MAJOR JACKSON
Hosted by Shanna Compton
New School University
66 West 12th Street
Room 510, 5th Floor
Note: You will probably be asked to sign in at the security desk on the first floor and show an ID of some kind.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Not ignoring you...
I know, I'm a terrible correspondent. I haven't even had time to peep the blogs in almost a week.
I'm just so busy right now with freelance work, and teaching this week, and a panel next week, and trying to get Sandra her first set of proofs, and whew!
Also, gotta get the second installment of the Gurlesque interview laid out.
But really, after this week things should calm down considerably. Maybe it will finally feel like summer in ways other than the heat?
I'm just so busy right now with freelance work, and teaching this week, and a panel next week, and trying to get Sandra her first set of proofs, and whew!
Also, gotta get the second installment of the Gurlesque interview laid out.
But really, after this week things should calm down considerably. Maybe it will finally feel like summer in ways other than the heat?
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Been working...
...on Sandra's book this weekend, more. Tracked down & replaced the troublemaker font. (So the only things making trouble now're the poems, as they are wont.)
Everyone who turned the book down before I got to it = nuts.
Also, it's hot out. Downright steamy. But I enjoy that.
Everyone who turned the book down before I got to it = nuts.
Also, it's hot out. Downright steamy. But I enjoy that.
Friday, June 6, 2008
By the way, the global crisis
It's less the biofuels than the meat.
It takes 16 lbs. of grain to produce 1 lb. of beef.
70% of the grain grown in the US--enough to feed 800 million people--goes instead to feed livestock animals.
Of which our population of 300 million eats 10mbillion a year.
It takes 16 lbs. of grain to produce 1 lb. of beef.
70% of the grain grown in the US--enough to feed 800 million people--goes instead to feed livestock animals.
Of which our population of 300 million eats 10
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Semi hiatus mode
It's probably pretty obvious by now. But it's temporary. I just have a lot going on.
Also, I'm in a dry spell, poetrywise. This is nothing to stress about. It just happens, especially when I am very busy.
My finger injury has healed nicely, and I can mostly type without it bothering me. (Yay!) Still looks a little weird, but it's not like I'm a hand model.
I'm teaching next week so may not post at all.
I've been reviewing books, but posting them at Facebook rather than here. You can read them without having an account. Mostly nonfiction lately, but I've got some more poetry titles in my queue.
Monday, June 2, 2008
June poem
Romance
Admit you don't love aimless June,
the midsummer month, too hot to stress
& sweat & fidget beneath the moon.
The bullfrog's oboe tones obsess
the reeds, throaty come-ons for copper snakes.
Well, that's pretty nice. Perhaps the month is moot.
& there's the namesake bug, its anticake-
walk leavings, chairs for former marchers, beaut-
iful jewels clipped to the screens, as if bedecking Garbo's
swanny neck, the dramatic arc of a sultry drive-in play.
She could save all summer. She could kiss the hobo,
then he'd go on to earn it, to get a designer day
job tying hankies to sticks. They'd lie under rhinestone
skies off the tracks to Texas. She'd learn to love his rank cologne.
From For Girls (& Others), originally published in Court Green as part of their bouts-rimes dossier in issue #3.
Admit you don't love aimless June,
the midsummer month, too hot to stress
& sweat & fidget beneath the moon.
The bullfrog's oboe tones obsess
the reeds, throaty come-ons for copper snakes.
Well, that's pretty nice. Perhaps the month is moot.
& there's the namesake bug, its anticake-
walk leavings, chairs for former marchers, beaut-
iful jewels clipped to the screens, as if bedecking Garbo's
swanny neck, the dramatic arc of a sultry drive-in play.
She could save all summer. She could kiss the hobo,
then he'd go on to earn it, to get a designer day
job tying hankies to sticks. They'd lie under rhinestone
skies off the tracks to Texas. She'd learn to love his rank cologne.
From For Girls (& Others), originally published in Court Green as part of their bouts-rimes dossier in issue #3.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
This finger injury...
...is really pissing me off.
It doesn't hurt anymore, but I still have to type what I usually type with my index finger using my eff-you finger. Slows me down, and that means I didn't catch up over the weekend as planned.
It's always something.
It's actually healing pretty well though. So that's cool.
The extra freelance hours continue.
It doesn't hurt anymore, but I still have to type what I usually type with my index finger using my eff-you finger. Slows me down, and that means I didn't catch up over the weekend as planned.
It's always something.
It's actually healing pretty well though. So that's cool.
The extra freelance hours continue.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
It's called an immersion blender for a reason
I nearly cut the tip of my left index finger off last night (making delicious sauce for a grilled vegan pizza).
So typing is difficult.
Enjoy the holiday weekend. Um, assuming you don't work retail or food service.
So typing is difficult.
Enjoy the holiday weekend. Um, assuming you don't work retail or food service.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
I'm so influential...
...that Oprah's copycatting me.
Been vegan a month as of tomorrow. Not hard at all. And I feel great.
My allergies have totally disappeared.
Been vegan a month as of tomorrow. Not hard at all. And I feel great.
My allergies have totally disappeared.
Sharon Mesmer is fucking awesome
& you--yes you!--can maybe get a little awesomeness rubbed off on you by signing up for her fiction class. But only if you hurry...
The Summer Writers Colony at the New School is a very unique and very
intense three-week program which grants six credits and provides an
MFA-type experience for students of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.
Students participate in daily workshops with established poets and
fiction writers, as well as literary salons and discussions with
renowned visiting writers, sessions with magazine and book editors,
readings, a literary walking tour, and a practicum in fine-art book
printing. And with ample housing opportunities available, students
can become truly immersed in New York City’s literary world. The SWC
runs from June 2 through June 20, 2008.
This summer’s visiting writers include novelist Russell Banks,
discussing his book The Reserve; Bruce Coville discussing Into the
Land of the Unicorns, Skull of Truth, My Teacher Flunked the Planet
and the picture book Romeo and Juliet; 2007 National Book Award
finalist Lydia Davis discussing Varieties of Disturbance; New York
Times Notable Book author Honor Moore discussing The Bishop’s
Daughter; celebrated essayist Philip Lopate discussing Getting
Personal; National Book Critics Circle finalist poet Major Jackson
discussing Hoops; and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon.
Previous visiting writers have included John Ashbery, Billy Collins,
Mary Gaitskill, Adam Haslett, Edward P. Jones, Rick Moody, Joyce
Carol Oates, James Tate, and Cólm ToibÃn.
The workshop faculty includes Deborah Brodie, Douglas Martin, Madge
McKeithen, Sharon Mesmer, Kathleen Ossip and John Reed.
If you know of someone who might benefit from this fascinating
immersion in writing, literature and the literary life, kindly pass
this information on. For questions, or if you yourself are
interested, feel free to contact Luis Jaramillo, Associate Chair of
the Writing Program at jaramill@newschool.edu or 212-229-5611,
extension 2346
I am just so
Busy.
Somebody quit at work so I'm taking up her slack till they hire a new staffer.
Had visitors. Then more travel. (DC was great though.)
But maybe this long weekend I can catch up.
Somebody quit at work so I'm taking up her slack till they hire a new staffer.
Had visitors. Then more travel. (DC was great though.)
But maybe this long weekend I can catch up.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
DC this Sunday
Sunday, May 18 at 3:00 PM in Washington, DC
Jennifer L. Knox, Shanna Compton & Wade Fletcher read for the In Your Ear Series
Hosted by Maureen Thorson & Cathy Eisenhower
DC Arts Center
2438 18th Street NW
(Between Belmont & Columbia)
Washington, DC
Free for DCAC members or $3
& some more Bloofy news here.
Jennifer L. Knox, Shanna Compton & Wade Fletcher read for the In Your Ear Series
Hosted by Maureen Thorson & Cathy Eisenhower
DC Arts Center
2438 18th Street NW
(Between Belmont & Columbia)
Washington, DC
Free for DCAC members or $3
& some more Bloofy news here.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Monday in Ashland, OR
Monday, May 12 at 7:00 PM
in Ashland, OR
Jennifer L. Knox reads for Emergent Forms
Emergent Forms: A 21st Century Reading Series
Hosted by K. Silem Mohammad
Southern Oregon University
Room/Bldg. TBD??
1250 Siskiyou Blvd
FREE
in Ashland, OR
Jennifer L. Knox reads for Emergent Forms
Emergent Forms: A 21st Century Reading Series
Hosted by K. Silem Mohammad
Southern Oregon University
Room/Bldg. TBD??
1250 Siskiyou Blvd
FREE
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Things
Summer eventually. I'd either like to take a break here or make some movies & photographs.
I'll go to Maine again. For a too-short week. But not until August. A good deal of the pleasure is the long anticipatory time beforehand.
In June, I teach a little mini re: Major Jackson's Hoops. (The program website has it wrong. Jenny's taking Honor Moore.)
And in a few weeks, DC to read/see Maureen & Jeff. Whee!
First though I clean and scrub and vacuum and arrange, primping the house. The Mom comes next week for her holiday. We'll be touring landscape. The farm may have early strawberries they said, though maybe there's not been enough sun the last several days. The little sis comes too.
The front flowerbed offers fuchsias (oh that word) and the boxes even more violas now. And the side garden promises tall ornametal grasses, spiky lupine, furry mounds of sweet william (they're back), two more clusters of violas, and various greenery. The thuggish pachysandra makes its move in the back.
And there are more poems coming. Pitiless calendar. I say when's enough.
And what is this, pneumonia? This linger-whammy. Fake out after fake out.
But books in the mail yesterday, including 6 Faux chaps & 3 Action books. So I'll be reading eagerly, even if the notes don't materialize. Poor reactions, sometimes such paperthin things, a little motheaten at birth, invalids made weak by the raging word virus.
What we get for typing on Benadryl, sure.
I'll go to Maine again. For a too-short week. But not until August. A good deal of the pleasure is the long anticipatory time beforehand.
In June, I teach a little mini re: Major Jackson's Hoops. (The program website has it wrong. Jenny's taking Honor Moore.)
And in a few weeks, DC to read/see Maureen & Jeff. Whee!
First though I clean and scrub and vacuum and arrange, primping the house. The Mom comes next week for her holiday. We'll be touring landscape. The farm may have early strawberries they said, though maybe there's not been enough sun the last several days. The little sis comes too.
The front flowerbed offers fuchsias (oh that word) and the boxes even more violas now. And the side garden promises tall ornametal grasses, spiky lupine, furry mounds of sweet william (they're back), two more clusters of violas, and various greenery. The thuggish pachysandra makes its move in the back.
And there are more poems coming. Pitiless calendar. I say when's enough.
And what is this, pneumonia? This linger-whammy. Fake out after fake out.
But books in the mail yesterday, including 6 Faux chaps & 3 Action books. So I'll be reading eagerly, even if the notes don't materialize. Poor reactions, sometimes such paperthin things, a little motheaten at birth, invalids made weak by the raging word virus.
What we get for typing on Benadryl, sure.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
If you missed the Flarf Festival...
...you missed Eiríkur Örn Nor∂dahl performing his (amazing) tongue-twisting piece re: silver syphilitic surfers.
But you can catch him doing his Dictators series here.
But you can catch him doing his Dictators series here.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
BEGINS TONIGHT: Flarf is life
2008 Holistic Expo & Peace Conference
THURSDAY, APR 24, 8:00 P.M., DIXON PLACE, 258 BOWERY, $8
Film, neo-benshi, and theater by:
Brandon Downing: Two new short films
Rob Fitterman: Film: Bisquick / Bismarck
Nada Gordon: Neo-benshi: "Uzumaki"
Mitch Highfill: Play: "The Secret History of the '60s"
Rodney Koeneke: Neo-benshi: "Mary Poppins"
Michael Magee: Play: "William Logan: A Sedentary Life"
K. Silem Mohammad & Gary Sullivan: Play: "Chain: A Dialog"
Kim Rosenfield: Neo-benshi: "Meglio Stasera / The Libido Theory"
++++++++++++++++
FRIDAY, APR 25, NEW TIME ***8:00 P.M.***, 300 Bowery, buzz "Sherry/Thomas," FREE
Publication party for new books and DVDs by:
Brandon Downing: Dark Brandon (DVD)
Mitch Highfill: Moth Light
Sharon Mesmer: Virgin Formica
K. Silem Mohammad: Breathalyzer
Mel Nichols: Bicycle Day
Rod Smith: Deed
Gary Sullivan: PPL in a Depot
++++++++++++++++
SATURDAY, APR 26, 6:00 P.M., BOWERY POETRY CLUB, 308 BOWERY, $8
A Segue reading to benefit Bowery Arts and Sciences, featuring the FLARF ORCHESTRA, conducted by Drew Gardner
Musicians:
Franklyn Bruno - guitar
Ehran Elisha - drums
Francois Grillot - bass
Dave Ross - guitar
The Saw Lady - saw
Poets:
Shanna Compton
Katie Degentesh
Benjamin Friedlander
Drew Gardner
Nada Gordon
Mitch Highfill
Rodney Koeneke
Michael Magee
Sharon Mesmer
K. Silem Mohammad
Mel Nichols
Eiríkur Örn Nor∂dahl
James Sherry
Rod Smith
Christina Strong
Hosted by Gary Sullivan & Brandon Downing
This benefit reading will help keep Segue readings at an affordable $6.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
One of "those people"
At the risk of being annoying...I am, as of Monday, (attempting to be) vegan.
Or geez (which rhymes with CHEESE), "mostly vegan."
As opposed to "mostly vegetarian." Which I have been for years, though I've had pretty serious lapses. (Including Texas smoked BBQ & the quest for the perfect grass-fed organic beef hamburger.)
But I just can't do it anymore. I have to pretend to know a whole lot less than I do (i.e. lie to myself) to keep it up.
Luckily cheese is the only dairy product I will miss. I already choose soy versions of most dairy.
Because recently--say the last year--I've become irrevocably fascinated with nutritional science, and the (unfortunate, unbelievable, maddening) politics of food in this country. (My mom was a lifelong employee of the USDA, though a rural division that dealt mostly with environmental issues and farm subsidies.) I began reading the stuff as a way of opening up a second avenue of freelance writing. But there you go. Knowledge is nonreturnable.
So, just because I think kindly of you, I would like to recommend, without further comment on this topic here (possibly ever), the following books, if you are interested in finding out how what you don't know about nutrition is an amazing amount of scary shit but also an amazing amount of very cool shit:
Enjoy. I am.
Or geez (which rhymes with CHEESE), "mostly vegan."
As opposed to "mostly vegetarian." Which I have been for years, though I've had pretty serious lapses. (Including Texas smoked BBQ & the quest for the perfect grass-fed organic beef hamburger.)
But I just can't do it anymore. I have to pretend to know a whole lot less than I do (i.e. lie to myself) to keep it up.
Luckily cheese is the only dairy product I will miss. I already choose soy versions of most dairy.
Because recently--say the last year--I've become irrevocably fascinated with nutritional science, and the (unfortunate, unbelievable, maddening) politics of food in this country. (My mom was a lifelong employee of the USDA, though a rural division that dealt mostly with environmental issues and farm subsidies.) I began reading the stuff as a way of opening up a second avenue of freelance writing. But there you go. Knowledge is nonreturnable.
So, just because I think kindly of you, I would like to recommend, without further comment on this topic here (possibly ever), the following books, if you are interested in finding out how what you don't know about nutrition is an amazing amount of scary shit but also an amazing amount of very cool shit:
The China Study
Eat to Live
The World's Healthiest Foods (great for everyone, omnivores included--this guy is not a vegetarian)
Eat, Drink & Be Healthy (ditto)
Enjoy. I am.
Random observations
Everything takes longer than originally estimated.
The secret to writing poetry is being in love, with someone or something.
Comedy is sometimes exaggerated accuracy. (Or as it's usually put: it's funny cuz it's true..)
Mulch may be nice looking and effective against weeds, but it often smells like vomit.
And speaking of vomit: Flarf is life.
The secret to writing poetry is being in love, with someone or something.
Comedy is sometimes exaggerated accuracy. (Or as it's usually put: it's funny cuz it's true..)
Mulch may be nice looking and effective against weeds, but it often smells like vomit.
And speaking of vomit: Flarf is life.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Why's it so quiet? OH!
Dumbass me forgot to turn off comment moderation when I got back...in MARCH.
So I've not been ignoring you! Haloscan doesn't notify me--I have to remember to check.
& I didn't.
:P
So I've not been ignoring you! Haloscan doesn't notify me--I have to remember to check.
& I didn't.
:P
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Been so busy...
...since we got back that I'm behind on my April poems again.
About to head to Binghamton for this:
Then after I'm back tomorrow I'm buckling down.
I think this inability to write while roadtripping makes me the opposite of Gabe Gudding.
About to head to Binghamton for this:
TONIGHT
Thursday, April 17 at 9:00 PM
in Binghamton, NY
Jennifer L. Knox & Shanna Compton read
at Binghamton University
The Belmar Pub
95 Main Street
Sounds like this will be a ton of fun. A few local poets read for 3-5 mins each, then we go on, then a break, then an open mic. Madness, no?
Then after I'm back tomorrow I'm buckling down.
I think this inability to write while roadtripping makes me the opposite of Gabe Gudding.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Enter views
The refractory period of my excitable membrane
Got back home early Friday A.M. Spent most of yesterday zombielike or napping! That drive from Fargo to Milwaukee in sideways rain was a beeyotch, y'all. Pictures, reports, recordings and other goodies here, with more to come.
But the tour's not actually quite over.
Jen & I go to Binghamton, NY on Thursday.
Danielle comes to Brooklyn on Friday.
And you can catch me reading unpublished, unexpurgated flarf (so, like, the opposite of For Girls) with the Drew Gardner Flarfestra at the Flarf Festival on Saturday 4/26 in Manhattan. (Catch the whole festival if you want your poetry nerve singed and tickled. It's gonna RAWK.)
Details here.
Other than getting ready for that stuff, I'm preparing the review copy mailing for My Zorba and looking forward to starting work on Sandra's book for fall.
I fell behind on NaPoWriMo while on the road, but am hoping to catch up by doing 2 a day for a while. UPDATE:Three today, so I'm getting there. Gonna keep posting them on the Bloof blog, because that's what people have linked in their NaPoWriMoBloRos. But since I'm back at my computer they'll be expiring in 24 hrs like previous years.
But the tour's not actually quite over.
Jen & I go to Binghamton, NY on Thursday.
Danielle comes to Brooklyn on Friday.
And you can catch me reading unpublished, unexpurgated flarf (so, like, the opposite of For Girls) with the Drew Gardner Flarfestra at the Flarf Festival on Saturday 4/26 in Manhattan. (Catch the whole festival if you want your poetry nerve singed and tickled. It's gonna RAWK.)
Details here.
Other than getting ready for that stuff, I'm preparing the review copy mailing for My Zorba and looking forward to starting work on Sandra's book for fall.
I fell behind on NaPoWriMo while on the road, but am hoping to catch up by doing 2 a day for a while. UPDATE:Three today, so I'm getting there. Gonna keep posting them on the Bloof blog, because that's what people have linked in their NaPoWriMoBloRos. But since I'm back at my computer they'll be expiring in 24 hrs like previous years.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
NaPoWriMo begins...
Erm, Happy National Poetry Month to everyone except Amazon.
I'll be posting my daily poems, along with Jennifer L. Knox and Danielle Pafunda, over at the Bloof blog.
We're also going to be posting reading reports, pics, video and audio from the road, starting tomorrow.
Didi Menendez suggests another great way to celebrate. I'll try that when I get back. (I can't read in a car, I get motion sickness.)
Anne Boyer's The Romance of Happy Workers is just released today and one of the best books you'll read all year, promise.
See you at Flarffest.
I'll be posting my daily poems, along with Jennifer L. Knox and Danielle Pafunda, over at the Bloof blog.
We're also going to be posting reading reports, pics, video and audio from the road, starting tomorrow.
Didi Menendez suggests another great way to celebrate. I'll try that when I get back. (I can't read in a car, I get motion sickness.)
Anne Boyer's The Romance of Happy Workers is just released today and one of the best books you'll read all year, promise.
See you at Flarffest.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Something to do with your NaPoWriMo poems?
...if they happen to be about Portland, OR...
One of the prize books being offered is For Girls (& Others).
Entrance info here.
Powells.com celebrates National Poetry Month with an invitation to write a poem of your own. Before midnight on April 30, 2008, submit an original poem — under 20 lines and in some way about Portland, Oregon — to poetrycontest[at]powells[dot]com for a chance to win 26 books of poetry (from small press poets to contemporary prizewinners to classics) and a handy Powell's rucksack!
One of the prize books being offered is For Girls (& Others).
Entrance info here.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
It lives!
Click image to go to Bloof store.
(Powell's, Amazon, and other retailers to follow in about a month.
Or, if you catch us on the booktour, we'll have early copies too.)
Sunday, March 23, 2008
We may not be perfect...
...but we certainly are lucky.
Today is our 6th wedding anniversary. And the 14th anniversary of our first date.
Today is our 6th wedding anniversary. And the 14th anniversary of our first date.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Are you ready to NaPoWriMo?
I look forward to the collective insanity.
Even though we'll be on the tour the first 2 weeks of April, I'm still gonna do it.
To make the challenge a little more challenging, I'll be posting my daily poems to the Bloof Blog and probably also reading them on the tour stops.
Maybe I can talk Jen & Danielle into doing that too? UPDATE: Jennifer L. Knox is in. Woohoo. (Not sure about D yet.)
Click the tag below for some history, etc. Thanks as always, Maureen!
Even though we'll be on the tour the first 2 weeks of April, I'm still gonna do it.
To make the challenge a little more challenging, I'll be posting my daily poems to the Bloof Blog and probably also reading them on the tour stops.
Maybe I can talk Jen & Danielle into doing that too? UPDATE: Jennifer L. Knox is in. Woohoo. (Not sure about D yet.)
Click the tag below for some history, etc. Thanks as always, Maureen!
If only William Shatner could ride shotgun
If you're ever planning a book tour, go with Priceline for the motels. The name-your-own-price, not the regular search.I scored decent* rooms in 4 cities for $50-60 each. Including breakfast. Free food is nothing to scoff at, kids. Not when gas is $4 a gallon, especially. (It was $3.19 in KY in October 2005 during the last Knox/Compton/Pafunda tour, because I remember distinctly thinking that was insane.)
*So, like, no repeats of Nashville 2005, i.e. broken beds, jacked cable, nondraining sink, thick layer of dust, and complimentary near-death pittbull experience. Ewwww.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Book design on the DIY blog
Just gathers some of the threads of the conversation sparked by Gary, in case you've not seen it, and includes some additional thoughts of my own with examples.
Yo, Buffalo
Flarf comes to town 3/21. (That's tomorrow.) Don't miss it or you will be simultaneously crying, kicking yourself, and choking on a flaccid tentacle of regret shortly thereafter. Not only will the show be terrific (100% money-back guarantee), but the people rawq.
Happy Equinox
Somebody told the bulbs, because I can see allium poking through the potting mix in the big purple pot on the front porch, and the purple shamrocks from last year in the kitchen window have woken up again too. This weekend, I might just plant some things on purpose. Hoping the spikes (an ornamental grass) will come in strong in the back garden too because those are cool. The gnome has been bored with nothing to tend.
The house next door is for rent. The one across the street is finally being prepped to sell.
Wrapping up the Bloof tour details. We were shut out of Minneapolis by the Alex Lemon mafia. (I kid, I kid.) So though we'll probably stop there on the way to Far(to)go, we won't be reading, unless somebody wants us in their living room!
Marvin (that'd be my cat) had surgery yesterday but it hasn't slowed him a bit. If anything, he seems to be more energetic than before, despite the stitches. The vet shaved M's foreleg for the IV so he looks a bit poodly.
Still have a bunch of vacation-lag emails to get through. Patience is a smurf juice.
The house next door is for rent. The one across the street is finally being prepped to sell.
Wrapping up the Bloof tour details. We were shut out of Minneapolis by the Alex Lemon mafia. (I kid, I kid.) So though we'll probably stop there on the way to Far(to)go, we won't be reading, unless somebody wants us in their living room!
Marvin (that'd be my cat) had surgery yesterday but it hasn't slowed him a bit. If anything, he seems to be more energetic than before, despite the stitches. The vet shaved M's foreleg for the IV so he looks a bit poodly.
Still have a bunch of vacation-lag emails to get through. Patience is a smurf juice.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Gee, I wonder what provoked this one?
I stood at the podium under the stage lighting looking out into a dark expanse, probably filled with faces, but I couldn't make them out. The next time I looked up from my paper shuffling, the auditorium was a bar or cafe, with railroad-style rooms, two or three of them, maybe like the Ear Inn. I shuffled some more, made some humming, hawing remarks to smattered laughter. I found what I thought was Down Spooky, a dark-covered thin book, and opened it, flipping through to find a poem with which to begin. But it turned out to be an anthology I wasn't in. I stopped on a page containing a poem by _______ (an exciting find, if puzzling in the context, though now I can't remember whose it was). More shuffling. Finally I found For Girls and thought, well that's fine, I'll start with those. But I opened to the first poem and the letters swam around on the page. I attempted to recite from memory and made it through the first three poems pretending to read, concealing my trouble with the swimming pages, but by the fourth poem couldn't go on. I looked up to address a confession to the audience, which I spoke aloud. It woke us both, but I'd already forgotten it. I lay awake for 2 hours or so.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
The hero(ine) returns
...insofar as I am the hero(ine) of my own story, & I certainly feel like it after submitting to the emotional buffeting that is V. Woolf's Day & Night--what fun that book was. I also read The Third Policeman (F. O'Brien), and The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque (J. Ford). Oh how I love the vacation-within-the-vacation of novels, how could I forget them so often?
What I mean to say is, I am back! But I am still reading novels. Now it's The Divided Kingdom (R. Thomson). In denial, obviously.
It will probably take me a few days to get through my email, etc.
I also have some photographs.
But get this: FOR A WHOLE WEEK, WE KNEW NOTHING ABOUT THE TIME CHANGE. It did not occur to us until we got home. The clocks were flashing (the power'd gone out in a storm, also evidenced by a good thrashing of our backyard trees' missing limbs, etc.) and when we went to set them against a wired clock we were all like, WTF, how can it be that time?! Are we in a time warp? (me) A wormhole? (him). Yeah, we are funny. 'Twas a very odd sensation for several minutes--as if the minutes themselves were sentient or alien & somehow plotting against us. We "took some time" to hide out in the woods, came prancing back in at our leisure, and Time was all like "nuh uh, you don't!"
What I mean to say is, I am back! But I am still reading novels. Now it's The Divided Kingdom (R. Thomson). In denial, obviously.
It will probably take me a few days to get through my email, etc.
I also have some photographs.
But get this: FOR A WHOLE WEEK, WE KNEW NOTHING ABOUT THE TIME CHANGE. It did not occur to us until we got home. The clocks were flashing (the power'd gone out in a storm, also evidenced by a good thrashing of our backyard trees' missing limbs, etc.) and when we went to set them against a wired clock we were all like, WTF, how can it be that time?! Are we in a time warp? (me) A wormhole? (him). Yeah, we are funny. 'Twas a very odd sensation for several minutes--as if the minutes themselves were sentient or alien & somehow plotting against us. We "took some time" to hide out in the woods, came prancing back in at our leisure, and Time was all like "nuh uh, you don't!"
Thursday, March 6, 2008
A week away
Starting tomorrow, I'll be there. Though that's a representation of the area circa 1900. What my trip will have in common with 1900 is the lack of internet or electronic media of any kind. Ahhhhhhhh.
While I'm away, keep your eyes peeled for the new issue of Galatea Resurrects. I just turned in my review of Cathy Park Hong's Dance Dance Revolution.
Update: So, yeah, I won't be at this, due to a scheduling mix up. (I'd confirmed for the Feb 6 panel, and when it got switched had already made travel plans, bummer.) But Reb Livingston will be taking my place, so that's even better if you've never met her. She's really great at these panel things. It's open to the public.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
What better place to confess...
...you like watching your pets masturbate than the Best American Poetry Blog? Don't miss Jennifer L. Knox's blogging debut, today, tomorrow & Friday.
"Birds Do Do It"
Update:Today's entry expresses love for Burt Reynolds, naturally.
"Birds Do Do It"
Update:Today's entry expresses love for Burt Reynolds, naturally.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Three guesses
The second volume of Poet's Bookshelf, edited by Peter "Funcie from Muncie" Davis & Tom Koontz is now available from Barnwood Press.
My essay from the book featured in the spanking-new issue of >DMQ Review, along with 3 newish poems.
But before you look, allow me to propose a game: the first person to correctly guess 3 of the influences I list--without peeking please--in the comment box below will win a free copy of For Girls (& Others).
I haven't actually received my copy yet, but if it's even half as fascinating as volume one, you gotta run right out. The book contains 101 essays by Sandra Alcosser, Jack Anderson, Philip Appleman, Ivan Argüelles, Rane Arroyo, Mary Jo Bang, Ellen Bass, Luis BenÃtez, Robert Bly, Marianne Boruch, Daniel Bourne, Andrea Hollander Budy, Mairéad Byrne, Nick Carbó, Maxine Chernoff, Tom Clark, Joshua Clover, Andrei Codrescu, Martha Collins, Shanna Compton, Stephen Corey, Alfred Corn, Barbara Crooker, James Cushing, Catherine Daly, Linh Dinh, Edward Field, Forrest Gander, Robert Gibb, Sandra Gilbert, Diane Glancy, Kenneth Goldsmith, Noah Eli Gordon, Stephen Herz, H. L. Hix, Anselm Hollo, Janet Holmes, Cathy Park Hong, Kent Johnson, Marilyn Kallet, Ilya Kaminsky, Robert Kelly, Amy King, Jennifer L. Knox, Ted Kooser, Greg Kuzma, Ben Lerner, Haki R. Madhubuti, David Mason, Gail Mazur, Joyelle McSweeney, Robert Mezey, Leslie Adrienne Miller, Roger Mitchell, Judith Moffett, K. Silem Mohammad, William Mohr, Carol Moldaw, Jennifer Moxley, Lisel Mueller, Eileen Myles, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Charles North, Kate Northrop, Mwatabu Okantah, Carole Simmons Oles, Jena Osma, Alicia Ostriker, Linda Pastan, Simon Perchik, Bob Perelman, Roger Pfingston, Marge Piercy, Katha Pollitt, David Ray, Judy Ray, Alberto RÃos, Jane Robinson, Robert Ronnow, Jerome Rothenberg, Jerome Sala, Dennis Schmitz, Grace Schulman, Lloyd Schwartz, Purvi Shah, David Shapiro, Reginald Shepherd, Dale Smith, Thomas R. Smith, Kevin Stein, Carolyn Stoloff, Eileen Tabios, Thom Tammaro, Tony Tost, Diane Wakoski, Diane Ward, Barrett Watten, Miller Williams, A. D. Winans, Mark Wisniewski & Carolyne Wright.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
uGH
I had that upper respiratory thing a few weeks ago...but this? This stomach thing? If you've got it, my sympathies.
And yes, you can take your temperature with a meat thermometer.
And yes, you can take your temperature with a meat thermometer.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Feed me
I've decided to abandon the blogroll, which has recently crossed the smudgy threshhold between new-fangled and old school. I can't update it easily, or not easily enough to keep up with all the moving around and new additions. So I'm gonna delete it on the next site update (really hoping to get to that soon; it's musty in here).
Instead, I am finally succumbing to the subscription model. I eat your feeds.
Which means, if you have a blog on a private domain and haven't set up a feed (Reen!) or have a blogspot blog without the feed turned on (check your settings in your dashboard), you are leaving me hungry.
I get cranky when I'm hungry.
What else? Reading Cathy Park Hong's <i>Dance, Dance, Revolution</i> (review to come in <i>Galatea Resurrects</i>), doing the final proofreading on <i>My Zorba</i>, hammering out the last few details of Bloof Invades the Midwest for April, and really really really really looking forward to a little cabin in the woods for a week, beginning next Friday. Internetlessness, here I come. Planning to emerge on the other side with new poems, or die trying.
What are you up to? I've had my head down. Missing ya.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The wrong impression
For Girls (& Others) is not a collection of collaged poems, found poems, or appropriated poems, and it certainly doesn't contain 80% flarf.
The "Preface" is ripped off verbatim from the original "For Girls," an antique etiquette manual. That's noted in the, um, notes. It's a lie though, like most of the rest of the book.
Some of the poems themselves, particularly in the first section, do contain borrowed language, sometimes phrases, sometimes single words, often period metaphors or imagery, but these are generally gathered from more than one source and any lifted bits are remixed/recontextualized to such a degree that I doubt they could be traced exactly. The only exception would be the titles in the first section, which are indeed phrases mostly lifted from the original "For Girls."
A few of the poems near the back are flarfy, which is not to say I'd call them flarf. As Nada likes to remind, flarf is not a technique (i.e. google results collage does not make a piece flarf, though some flarf uses that technique)--it's an attitude. The attitude in For Girls is prissy and satirical in the first section, and less consistent and more contemporary in the second.
OK. I just felt like clearing that up.
The "Preface" is ripped off verbatim from the original "For Girls," an antique etiquette manual. That's noted in the, um, notes. It's a lie though, like most of the rest of the book.
Some of the poems themselves, particularly in the first section, do contain borrowed language, sometimes phrases, sometimes single words, often period metaphors or imagery, but these are generally gathered from more than one source and any lifted bits are remixed/recontextualized to such a degree that I doubt they could be traced exactly. The only exception would be the titles in the first section, which are indeed phrases mostly lifted from the original "For Girls."
A few of the poems near the back are flarfy, which is not to say I'd call them flarf. As Nada likes to remind, flarf is not a technique (i.e. google results collage does not make a piece flarf, though some flarf uses that technique)--it's an attitude. The attitude in For Girls is prissy and satirical in the first section, and less consistent and more contemporary in the second.
OK. I just felt like clearing that up.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Touch ring
Not sure what that means exactly. I dreamed it. It had a red stone.*
Built a foot-high snowman near the bridge in the park, but a kid stomped it. Maybe cuz I made him frowning and with a beret.
Philly this afternoon, here I come.
Otherwise, quiet.
* Update: A garnet, I remember now. (I used to have a ring with a small garnet, and also an pair of earrings, now lost.) But it's the birthstone of Aquarius (my husband) and a traditional gift on the 6th wedding anniversary (um, that'd be one month from yesterday). Freaky.
Built a foot-high snowman near the bridge in the park, but a kid stomped it. Maybe cuz I made him frowning and with a beret.
Philly this afternoon, here I come.
Otherwise, quiet.
* Update: A garnet, I remember now. (I used to have a ring with a small garnet, and also an pair of earrings, now lost.) But it's the birthstone of Aquarius (my husband) and a traditional gift on the 6th wedding anniversary (um, that'd be one month from yesterday). Freaky.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
The end of February happened so fast.
Sunday, February 24th at 4:00 PM in Philadelphia
Shanna Compton, Teresa Leon & Elizabeth Scanlon
Hosted by CAConrad
Robin's Bookstore
108 S. 13th Street
FREE
Monday, February 25 at 7:00 PM in NYC
Bloof Books kicks off Spring's Monday Night Poetry Series at KGB
Shanna Compton & Jennifer L. Knox
Hosted by Laura Cronk & Michael Quattrone
KGB Bar
85 E. 4th Street
Between 2nd and 3rd Aves.
F to 2nd Ave or 6 to Astor Place
FREE
Shanna Compton, Teresa Leon & Elizabeth Scanlon
Hosted by CAConrad
Robin's Bookstore
108 S. 13th Street
FREE
Monday, February 25 at 7:00 PM in NYC
Bloof Books kicks off Spring's Monday Night Poetry Series at KGB
Shanna Compton & Jennifer L. Knox
Hosted by Laura Cronk & Michael Quattrone
KGB Bar
85 E. 4th Street
Between 2nd and 3rd Aves.
F to 2nd Ave or 6 to Astor Place
FREE
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
One problem...
...with the Midwest is that everything's so far apart.
Madison, WI, reading series, anyone? We need an alternative to Minneapolis.
Madison, WI, reading series, anyone? We need an alternative to Minneapolis.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
UPDATE: Deliriously yours
Dim Sum: Being several & a few responses
to the trio of "Numbers Trouble" articles
in last fall's Chicago Review
Organized by Elizabeth Treadwell
With contributions by:
Esther Belin
Susan Briante
David Buuck (NEW!)
CAConrad
Michelle Detorie
Rachel Blau DuPlessis (NEW!)
Tonya Foster & Evie Shockley (NEW!)
Rachel Levitsky (NEW!)
Joyelle McSweeney
Sina Queyras
Linda Russo
Sandra Simonds
Carmen Giménez Smith
Elizabeth Treadwell
Catherine Wagner
Christine Wertheim (NEW!)
Delirious Hem is (one of) the external/public extensions of Pussipo, (after Acker, the experimental women's poetry experiment). Designed to have an open, rotating curatorship and freewheeling schedule, DH will add future features as they are created. Expect no trends, homogenous platform, or party line.
To be clear: I designed the layout of the feature and the blog, but DH is a group space, and each feature its own entity.
Please do see the sidebar welcome note for more information.
Enjoy.
UPDATE: Added in the last day or so, mostly today, NEW contributions by David Buuck, Rachel Blau DuPlessis, Tonya Foster & Evie Shockley (an AMAZING conversation/collaboration, don't
miss it, especially!!), Rachel Levitsky, and Christine Wertheim.
So even if you looked before, look again!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Sundrious & vandry
A couple of readings coming up:
Also...For Girls (& Others) is at last available via the distributors (Ingram in US, Gardners & Bertrams in UK), which means it's finally up at Amazon (including .co.uk, .de, etc.), Barnes & Noble, et al., and available to your favorite indie bookstores (they'll order it if you ask 'em), in addition to directly from Bloof and our good buddies at Powells.com.
And hey...check out this new interview with Jennifer L. Knox in the Southeast Review.
Sunday, February 24th at 4:00 PM in Philadelphia
Shanna Compton, Teresa Leon & Elizabeth Scanlon
Hosted by CAConrad
Robin's Bookstore
108 S. 13th Street
FREE
Monday, February 25 at 7:00 PM in NYC
Bloof Books kicks off Spring's Monday Night Poetry Series at KGB
Shanna Compton & Jennifer L. Knox
Hosted by Laura Cronk & Michael Quattrone
KGB Bar
85 E. 4th Street
Between 2nd and 3rd Aves.
F to 2nd Ave or 6 to Astor Place
FREE
Also...For Girls (& Others) is at last available via the distributors (Ingram in US, Gardners & Bertrams in UK), which means it's finally up at Amazon (including .co.uk, .de, etc.), Barnes & Noble, et al., and available to your favorite indie bookstores (they'll order it if you ask 'em), in addition to directly from Bloof and our good buddies at Powells.com.
And hey...check out this new interview with Jennifer L. Knox in the Southeast Review.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Ever have one of those days?
How did I get here? How do I get out of here?
Please leave maps and/or breadcrumb trails in the box below.
xo,
s
Please leave maps and/or breadcrumb trails in the box below.
xo,
s
Monday, February 4, 2008
Sunday, February 3, 2008
AWP bookfair
Yesterday was the only day I was actually allowed into the bookfair, since I didn't have a badge. Got there around noon and tried to--but didn't quite--make the rounds of all three floors. I'd had enough by 3:15 or so, and anyways was out of money. My book bag was so heavy I really couldn't manage it anymore! From top to bottom:
Got to chat with many friends--some formerly virtual only. But as is always the way, not everybody I would have liked to have seen. It's just too big and sprawling. (Heard many people still wishing aloud for a poetry-only alternative to make it easier to focus.)
This is the only other pic I have permission to post, as of yet:
Me, in the supersecret hidden women's lounge on the bottom floor of the Hilton.
Perfect for frequent breaks from the madness, since I never once saw anybody else in here.
I didn't take any bookfair shots--my hands were too full of books.
Hopefully the participants in Friday's pageant will OK a few of those pics. Though I think Reb got more than I did, so check in with her too.
Open Box by Carla Harryman (Belladonna, 2007)
The Grand Piano, Vols. 2-5, by Armantrout, Benson, Harryman, Hejinian, Mandel, Pearson, Perelman, Robinson, Silliman, and Watten (Mode A/This Press, 2007)
Anchiote Seeds: Winter 2008, anthology, edited by Craig Santos Perez & Jennifer Reimer (Anchiote, 2008)
Novaless by Nicholas Manning (Anchiote, 2007)
Across & Between the Void by Padcha Tuntha-obas & Alysha Wood (Anchiote, 2008)
Brenda Is in the Room by Craig Morgan Teicher (Colorado, 2007)
Unexplained Presence by Tisa Bryant (Leon Works, 2007)
Black Stone by Dale Smith (Effing Press, 2007)
a new quarantine will take my place by Johannes Goransson (Apostrophe, 2007)
Emptied of All Ships by Stacy Szymaszek (Litmus Press, 2005)
Notes for My Body Double by Paul Guest (Bison Books/U of Nebraska, 2007)
How to Be Perfect by Ron Padgett (Coffee House, 2007)
The Marvelous Bones of Time by Brenda Coultas (Coffee House, 2007)
A Murmuration of Starlings by Jake Adam York (Southern Illinois/Crab Orchard, 2008)
mauve sea-orchids by Lila Zemborian, translated by Rosa Alcala & Monica de la Torre (Belladonna Books, 2007)
Oh One Arrow and A Sing Economy, anthologies, (Film Forum Press, 2007 and 2008 respectively)
The Collected Fiction of Kenneth Koch edited by J. Davis, K. Koch & R. Padgett (Coffee House, 2005)
Got to chat with many friends--some formerly virtual only. But as is always the way, not everybody I would have liked to have seen. It's just too big and sprawling. (Heard many people still wishing aloud for a poetry-only alternative to make it easier to focus.)
This is the only other pic I have permission to post, as of yet:
Perfect for frequent breaks from the madness, since I never once saw anybody else in here.
I didn't take any bookfair shots--my hands were too full of books.
Hopefully the participants in Friday's pageant will OK a few of those pics. Though I think Reb got more than I did, so check in with her too.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Overheard at AWP: Saturday edition
"We're going to grab a bite to eat. [Making drinking motion with hand in front of mouth, holding invisible glass.]"
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Overheard at AWP: Wednesday edition
"I knew a girl named Bethany* and she was a total asshole!"
* Name changed to protect the asshole. So if your name is Bethany, it's not you.
* Name changed to protect the asshole. So if your name is Bethany, it's not you.
A work in progress...
BEST OF THE MICROPRESSES @/in/around AWP
Also, if you're interested in Bloof Books, we don't have a table. Look for me though. I'll be a walking bookstore--hawking copies of Drunk by Noon, A Gringo Like Me, For Girls (& Others) from my tote--special event price $10 each!--& bestowing limited advance copies of My Zorba on potential reviewers.
Danielle Pafunda will also have copies of My Zorba in her bag to show off/give to reviewers.
Also, if you're interested in Bloof Books, we don't have a table. Look for me though. I'll be a walking bookstore--hawking copies of Drunk by Noon, A Gringo Like Me, For Girls (& Others) from my tote--special event price $10 each!--& bestowing limited advance copies of My Zorba on potential reviewers.
Danielle Pafunda will also have copies of My Zorba in her bag to show off/give to reviewers.
REMINDER: Meet our lovely contestants LIVE!
MICROPRESS POETRY PAGEANT
FRIDAY FEB 1 @ 8PM
STAIN BAR
766 Grand Street
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
(L TRAIN to Grand Street, 1 block West)
FREE! PUBLIC! PRIZES!
No AWP badge required!
BLOOF BOOKS
COCONUT BOOKS
NO TELL BOOKS
Hugh Behm-Steinberg
Jenna Cardinale*
Shanna Compton
Bruce Covey
Jill Alexander Essbaum
Shafer Hall
Jennifer L. Knox
Sueyeun Juliette Lee
Reb Livingston
Danielle Pafunda
PF Potvin
Ravi Shankar
(Sponsored by Lulu.com, the place for people to publish. Empowering
anyone to create, buy, sell and control their work with the click of a mouse.)
* Unfortunately cannot attend in person, yet will be attending in spirit, which is also good company.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
"Please note that your sobriety will be challenged at many of these venues."
Did anybody else notice that on the AWP offsite event page?
Sunday, January 27, 2008
In sash of satin she sways & sashays...
Reb "Your Ten Favorite Words" Livingston's isn't quite finished. Her status requires additional bling.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
The future of our road trip depends on it.
Hey, if you're in/near Des Moines, or Iowa City, or Central Illinois, or Minneapolis, or St. Louis & feel like having your brain picked, please drop me a line? (Email at top right.)
Ms. Knox, Ms. Pafunda & I are coming through there in April and have some spots to fill to complete our little tour, is why.
Roadside attractions & chowhound tips more than welcome too!
& how excited are we for part 2 of "Funcie in Muncie"? Oh, very. Who knew Muncie was the funnest town in the Midwest?
(The schedule so far is here. Some local stuff coming up too!)
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Publishers Weekly reviews For Girls (& Others)
"'For Girls,' the first of the two sequences that make up the book, responds to, reacts against and takes many phrases from an 1882 'health manual' with the same title: its advice on fashion, bodies and morals gives rise, in Compton's hands, to quirky but politically pointed verse. 'Comedy of Manners,' the second sequence, [...] hints of romantic narrative, frequent sarcasm, riffs on found texts and ambitious range of diction (from elaborate to vulgar) all serve Compton's consistent interest in how and whether the culture will ever let girls grow up."
Link to the full review (& thanks to C. Dale for the tip!)
Right now, you can only get the book here or via Powell's (because it's still not yet showing up in the distro system, alas).
Pretty much every page on this site is now out of date, most especially the blogroll. It's on my (very very very very) long to-do list. Sure it is.
Link to the full review (& thanks to C. Dale for the tip!)
Right now, you can only get the book here or via Powell's (because it's still not yet showing up in the distro system, alas).
Pretty much every page on this site is now out of date, most especially the blogroll. It's on my (very very very very) long to-do list. Sure it is.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Told ya it was hot
A limited number of advance copies will be available for reviewers (sorry, no sales yet!) from Danielle or me during you-know-what. (D will actually be attending the conference, so stay tuned for details.)
The official release date is April.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
2 new reviews of Drunk by Noon...
...& both terrific, naturally!
Ben Mirov in Coldfront sez, "[Drunk by Noon] is a series of beautiful failures linked together by the imaginative desire to fail again and again in highly enjoyable and creative ways."
& "Not since I first read James Tate have I encountered a poet who is able create a world that is at once so bizarrely asymmetrical to ours and yet somehow uncannily accurate in its portrayal of humanness."
& many other nice things.
Chris Purdom in PhilArt compares Drunk by Noon to a very wild ride of a careening cable car & recommends, "It's that good. Seriously. Go buy a copy. Now."
Shall I remind you that the Grand Opening Specials are available through the end of this month, at the Bloof Store? Drunk by Noon is also available via Powells.com (as well as the physical store in Portland, OR), Amazon.com, these great booksellers, or your favorite store can order it for you via Ingram.
Ben Mirov in Coldfront sez, "[Drunk by Noon] is a series of beautiful failures linked together by the imaginative desire to fail again and again in highly enjoyable and creative ways."
& "Not since I first read James Tate have I encountered a poet who is able create a world that is at once so bizarrely asymmetrical to ours and yet somehow uncannily accurate in its portrayal of humanness."
& many other nice things.
Chris Purdom in PhilArt compares Drunk by Noon to a very wild ride of a careening cable car & recommends, "It's that good. Seriously. Go buy a copy. Now."
Shall I remind you that the Grand Opening Specials are available through the end of this month, at the Bloof Store? Drunk by Noon is also available via Powells.com (as well as the physical store in Portland, OR), Amazon.com, these great booksellers, or your favorite store can order it for you via Ingram.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Busy as a certain micropress logo
Still working with D on My Zorba so that we can have a few advance copies ready by you-know-what.
To which, I am not really going. But I will be at Stain Bar, Friday Feb 1 at 8:00 PM. Like Reb said. & we're not kidding about the tiaras.
Still reading Infinite Jest (have taken many breaks) and also this behemoth, of another stripe entirely.
Bloofy updates & hopefully a big old DIY post to come by the end of this weekend, too.
To which, I am not really going. But I will be at Stain Bar, Friday Feb 1 at 8:00 PM. Like Reb said. & we're not kidding about the tiaras.
Still reading Infinite Jest (have taken many breaks) and also this behemoth, of another stripe entirely.
Bloofy updates & hopefully a big old DIY post to come by the end of this weekend, too.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Working on My Zorba
It's gonna be great. Wait'll you see.
Sent D the first-pass proofs last night.
Here are some of the previously published poems (some in earlier versions):
Sent D the first-pass proofs last night.
Here are some of the previously published poems (some in earlier versions):
--in Coconut
--in Apocryphal Text
Friday, January 11, 2008
VotePoke
Are you registered to vote? VotePoke will check for you, prepare your form if not, and let you poke your friends. It's not too late to register to vote in the primaries of New York and New Jersey (for instance, and many other states too), so get poking, pokey.
NB: The postmark deadline in NJ is Tuesday, Jan 15.
VotePoke.org
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
No bit...
...for yesterday. Because I went to a slam instead. T'was fun.
Robbie Q. be funny.
& speaking of slam, Cristin's Words in Your Face is finally out.
Robbie Q. be funny.
& speaking of slam, Cristin's Words in Your Face is finally out.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Happy new year
Um, hi. I'm feeling shy in front of my own blog. Funny.
Even though the daily bits I've been posting are mostly eh, I'm going to stick with it until I crack this unproductive streak. My excuse? That old saw "garbage in, garbage out."
Sina has posted the interview we did. Very interesting questions. (Thanks, Sina!) A few poems from For Girls (& Others) too.
& speaking of interviews, look to Bookslut on Thursday. Jason Jones will be posting a (really funny) interview with your friend & mine, Jennifer L. Knox.
One more thing I should probably mention here (wow, I have too many blogs): Bloof Books now has a Facebook group. Sign up for (infrequent) news and event invitations. Danke.
It's back to the writing-about-shoes factory for me...
Even though the daily bits I've been posting are mostly eh, I'm going to stick with it until I crack this unproductive streak. My excuse? That old saw "garbage in, garbage out."
Sina has posted the interview we did. Very interesting questions. (Thanks, Sina!) A few poems from For Girls (& Others) too.
& speaking of interviews, look to Bookslut on Thursday. Jason Jones will be posting a (really funny) interview with your friend & mine, Jennifer L. Knox.
One more thing I should probably mention here (wow, I have too many blogs): Bloof Books now has a Facebook group. Sign up for (infrequent) news and event invitations. Danke.
It's back to the writing-about-shoes factory for me...
Monday, January 7, 2008
And some winters
there were no snows
upon the ground.
The tawny geese
waddled about
not knowing when to begin.
The squirrels fattened
but never slept.
A faded green
lingered
on most of the lawns.
"Spring will be
less exciting, or
will we even notice?"
the man asked
of the handsome crow
rummaging through
a mound of blown leaves.
Crows know no seasons.
there were no snows
upon the ground.
The tawny geese
waddled about
not knowing when to begin.
The squirrels fattened
but never slept.
A faded green
lingered
on most of the lawns.
"Spring will be
less exciting, or
will we even notice?"
the man asked
of the handsome crow
rummaging through
a mound of blown leaves.
Crows know no seasons.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Saturday, January 5, 2008
There's a cat in my suitcase
I said to my friend A.
Somehow we were in Germany.
Or maybe like Russia.
K secretly was a rock god
on the drums but he'd never told us.
So after tipping our waitress
(a Polish model whose name I can't recall)
we went to the show. A & I danced
in vintage dresses & boots.
When I went to pee, the bathrooms
had bathtubs with millions of tiny tiles
& blond punkrock kids
sitting on their edges shooting up.
I said to my friend A.
Somehow we were in Germany.
Or maybe like Russia.
K secretly was a rock god
on the drums but he'd never told us.
So after tipping our waitress
(a Polish model whose name I can't recall)
we went to the show. A & I danced
in vintage dresses & boots.
When I went to pee, the bathrooms
had bathtubs with millions of tiny tiles
& blond punkrock kids
sitting on their edges shooting up.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
The fraction of an administered
dose unchanged. On waiver in vivo
the extent to which human. The current
understanding of the mechanisms
is no fault. A undersea environment
rich in potent generals. Who among
the nutritive company so bioavailable
so rotationally grazed. Three organizations
are superior to a million organisms
floating lonely in a watery theater.
dose unchanged. On waiver in vivo
the extent to which human. The current
understanding of the mechanisms
is no fault. A undersea environment
rich in potent generals. Who among
the nutritive company so bioavailable
so rotationally grazed. Three organizations
are superior to a million organisms
floating lonely in a watery theater.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
A raft of apple studded mawkish skins
A draft more often uttered than unloud
Which lack presents the ruddy leaf of gall
So juiced, the press a might less savor fall
& shook some puddled favors to mere dips
However earthen she did roll
A query stirring in a hill
Whose eager geyser never spilled
But quivered sharply all turmoiled
Until a loner's much regard had born
A missing lister must retard
No udder rowing purring of beloved
A pictured fuddle outfitted with a bell
As over loving as the churled mock mail
For new year's fetid unguent quelled
A draft more often uttered than unloud
Which lack presents the ruddy leaf of gall
So juiced, the press a might less savor fall
& shook some puddled favors to mere dips
However earthen she did roll
A query stirring in a hill
Whose eager geyser never spilled
But quivered sharply all turmoiled
Until a loner's much regard had born
A missing lister must retard
No udder rowing purring of beloved
A pictured fuddle outfitted with a bell
As over loving as the churled mock mail
For new year's fetid unguent quelled
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