going to awp? come to these things!

Sunday, 4 April 2010

1) Thursday Afternoon Dewclaw reading! (Click image to see bigger)





2) Friday Afternoon Panel on Independent Publishing!

Noon-1:15 PM | Friday | April 9th

Room 108
Colorado Convention Center, Street Level

F150. Indie Mags: Publishing Outside of MFA Programs and Other Institutional Support. (J.W. Wang, Aaron Burch, Dave Clapper, Mike Young, Jennifer Flescher, Blake Butler) Independent journals provide an alternative to the established journals affiliated with universities and creative writing programs, and they frequently serve as pioneers in the world of literary publishing. Join editors from Tuesday; An Art Project, Hobart, NOÖ Journal, Juked, Lamination Colony and SmokeLong Quarterly for a roundtable discussion about the workings of independently-published literary journals, what it takes to keep them going, and what these journals mean to potential contributors.

comments | | Read More...

"an Afghan war vet allergic to the sun"

Friday, 2 April 2010

Couple winters ago, I was on a Greyhound back from Ashland, OR to Oroville, CA, and there was this lady talking about working at a VFW bar because her dad had been a soldier in Desert Storm (I know! But the math works: she was ten while he was over there). One of the many interesting things in her talking was her talking about this dad, who'd been discharged from the military because he kept getting sick. It turned out he was allergic to that giant and nearby star, that weird yellow thing that some worship, others buy lotion against, and kids add to everything they draw.

Shameless and attentive, I remembered everything she said. Later, in the Spring, I realized that I finally had something for a story I'd been working on for a few years. Before her, all I'd had was a cab driver and his pregnant wife, and the cab driver knocking on their landlord's door "like a hump of instant mashed potatoes." Now, for some weird reason, I had a whole story. So my thanks to her and to the whole notion of vocal strangerhood.

Luckily, that gives away pretty much nothing about the actual story, which I encourage you to read in the newest American Short Fiction, edited by the supreme Jill Meyers and Stacey Muszynski. Jill was super with edits and help. Good editing makes writing feel less lonely and insane, like the way rock salt goes into the ice cream maker. Can I hire someone to tally how many times ice cream has appeared in my life of analogy making? If you're too busy for that but not too busy for reading stories, maybe you want to check out the new ASF, which along with my story has terrific stories from Laura van den Berg, Matt Bell, Susan Steinberg, Jeff Parker, Marie-Helene Bertino, and Jamey Hecht. Jill's intro advertises "acrobats, cowboys, nuns, a mock rodeo clown, an Afghan war vet allergic to the sun, a brick-carrying babysitter, [and] a gambling giraffe with a penchant for terza rima," which sounds right up an awesome alley, right? Like an alley behind an [ice cream analogy]. Check it out!

comments | | Read More...

it's not the town, it's the humidity

Sunday, 28 March 2010

Very excited to be a part of the new IsReads, an Adam Robinson/Peter Cole/Kathryn Regina mastercook, by which poems are posted surreptitiously and scrumptiously in cities all across our fine land. Here's my poem "In Case You Were Wondering" outside of some picnic tables in Nashville, near a Hard Rock Cafe in Chicago, and in a very appropriate grocery store aisle in Louisville, Kentucky:








Other awesome folks in the new IsReads are Jason Bredle, Heather Christle, Peter Davis, A. Minetta Gould, Edward Mullany (Edward's is Adam Robinson's favorite, I think—it is really good!), AE Reiff, and Matthew Savoca. Visit the site and collect 'em all. You can even sign up to staple poems in your town! Put the peep back in people.

comments | | Read More...

a well made soda is a well made soda

Sunday, 21 March 2010

Back from California! What a time. California's making a good show of its pre-falling-in-the-ocean romp. Recapping to come.

comments | | Read More...

if you blog about the blogging episode of "House" does the stat counter on your poop go up?

Monday, 8 March 2010

Headed to the California coast with Carolyn. Driving from Humboldt County to L.A, with a stop in the Bay Area. We want to hang out with you. We want to shave redwood bark and cook it in a stew with you. We want to cash this awesome check from the class action lawsuit against CVS with you.

Working hard on Look! Look! Feathers. Here is a random sentence: "We agree with everything you said, all the wows and damn girls."

I am shaggy of late.

There’s no difference distance between connotation and denotation. All language happens in all its capacities.

Consider the difference between:

 I opened my hand to the world.

 I held a hand out.

Did you see all the new rad poetry videos?

comments | | Read More...