Resisting Poetry

NEW PUBLICATION from Hanks Orginal Loose Gravel Press

2011-07-21T13:54:00.000-07:00

RE: adios

2011-06-01T10:51:00.000-07:00

Think I am gonna end this blog. Will let stand a couple more days. Need to find new directions which I am sure will appear.

Gonna play the post card here and now! Geez, I couldda been a contender!

RE: Political Po Makes Me Sick

2011-05-23T10:13:00.000-07:00

is a real oh is a real

you better open up and see

you can bet in ti fada fada
gonna stand up over the big

fence you got

you can bet the street will swell
with that mass you cannot pre dict

you gonna as sar miss yas ar for sure when

the next round bells

net a yahoo or not it dont matter to some
some say
and isnt it true by count
on both sides that fence you got
that folk
cry peace now...

there is a lot of

GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY

going on just now

some here some there some where now

where you are

hear some advice from the humid

mid west and i quote

the old pub call

which is the last call

"hurry up please its time"

RE: Conceptual what?

2011-05-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

I remember W S Burroughs quoting someone who said: "Writing is, of course, 50 years behind painting." Or was it 30 years. Or does it matter. Cant remember who said what. Seems true enough though. Recent fuss about what happened at White House Poetry Reading recently...K G read from the Wall Street Journal did he? Humm.......not new that. If so called conceptual poetry has everyone including renowned Stanford critics declaring the latest stuff conceptual all that...humph. NOT. Come on now. NO not begrudging K G or anyone else there time in the spotlight or best sellers list...but jesus call me jaded. Or maybe call anyone jaded who has been around long enough to know that Will Rogers read the paper in public and Lenny Bruce used to read his trial transcripts on stage too...both had audience rolling in the aisle. And maybe I can say that like me, anyone who was charmed enough to swallow some Oswley acid in the 60's has known for some time know how funny anything and everything was...remember that time mid trip someone picked up a phone book and started reading outloud and next thing you know everyone is on the floor laughing. Or goddess forbid someone turned on the TV...holy fuck! Blah blah blah. Conceptual for a good friend was, while peaking on sunshine finding a plastic dog toy shaped and colored exactly like a pork chop. Whew....that was conceptual. Oh well. That was then and now is now. If bad is good than flarf is old. Ditto concept. Ditto someone trying to make poetry out of there own genes. P.S. Someone else is trying to clone W S B from a turd a Lawrence plumber swiped from his overflowing crapper one day many years ago. The'artist' even got a grant from some outfit in Kansas City. Good for him. Stay tuned and keep reading The Weekly World News for updates.

Again...I enjoy a good joke as well as next guy...and if you can keep it up...do so. Why not. I am certainly not in a race with anyone. For better or worse trying to keep up just wears me out. Just sayin.

RE: ciel ing or creep of light newsletters from portland, or

2011-05-09T09:05:00.000-07:00

Thanks to james yeary down in portland for making and sending out newsletters picd below. To me always a charge to open mailbox and find torn, crinkled, abused paper collection of poetics. A long and wonderful tradition carried thru recent years by like of ken warren at house organ, andre codrescu and laura rothenthal at exquisite corpse, chris riener at witz, st. marks poetry project...even yugan printed by amira baraka and diane di prima back in '60s. yeary keeps it going...and that indeed something to chant about hanging from a street light with a cold pbr in hand. indeed. more to say about this new pub in next issue of galatea resurrects from ms. tabios house of poetree.

RE: "Haute memoire"

2011-05-03T09:12:00.000-07:00

In the last few weeks I heard Joe Harrington, Rachael Blau DuPlessis and C D Wright (good poets all )reading what they referred to as some kind of 'memorie' stuff using archival materials including photos, newspapers etc. Like an updated Paterson...sorta. So what the hell....I'm in.

CRACKER AND SON

following a spot of cat fishing and remember happy days along the rivers of western Illinois......all white is a nice touch and bloodstains added for just the right tension....truth be told he was a violent raciest fuck. of course my expression may well be 'dont fuck with him or he will beat you down'...truth be told.

r.a. mccrary b.2/5/1901 raville, la

j.o. mccrary b.9/10/1941 geneva, il

RE: Mazel tov

2011-04-29T05:50:00.000-07:00

Will and Cat

Rockin the big house tonite

RE: I inspire Lady Ga Ga.

2011-04-16T12:36:00.000-07:00

From article on Huffington Post re Ga Ga's new video Judas.
(. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/16/lady-gaga-judas-listen_n_850015.html )

I wonder how SHE got a copy of my chapbook Oh Miss Mary. Hey, LGG, its okay....use it all!

"...The song and video are told from Mary Magdelene's perspective, with lyrics such as, "When he comes to me, I am ready/ I'll wash his feet with my hair if he needs/ Forgive him when his tongue lies through his brain/ Even after three times, he betrays me/ I'll bring him down, a king with no crown..."

RE: Here is a list

2011-04-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

Blackburn
DiPrima
Sexton
Dorn
Duncan
Kieger

yesterday, today, tomorrow. Period.

RE: the best

2011-04-12T09:47:00.000-07:00

RE: Reading at Raven in Lawrence

2011-04-04T08:10:00.000-07:00

RE: en la noche

2011-03-31T09:15:00.000-07:00

RE: Can we become more ignorant?

2011-03-31T07:31:00.000-07:00

Overheard at store yesterday. They were referring to in person advance voting now taking place in our town. . One senior to another: "Did you vote?" Yes "Did you have to show ID*?" No, they knew I was an American.

* New law in Kansas from new Sec. of State, ID required (especially if olive skinned or being chased down by heliocopter ).

RE: I am not that, so don't 'kill' me please.

2011-03-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

All this discussion...pointing to bad people who have fucked things up for others...coming round.

What is new becomes old, you do not need to extingish anything. LangPo...Flarf...Concept...VisPo....why are some many so angry at the 'old' and so abuzz to 'create' something, anything new? Bewitched I say.
In a good way perhaps. Just do it, someone once said. Just go ahead. You will be a) ignored; b) more ignored; c) spit on ; d)embraced, hugged, honored, beprized, hired, tenured and hung out. If that what you want...it is about should you.

Such energy these kids.

Here is an old saying: "Go fuck yourself." If you think that through it may not be a bad idea, eh? It may come to that you know. It may be an option to oh I dont know...opening day at the ball park?
Stay outta the rain. Anyone who goes to opening day tomorrow is nutz. Watching anything outside in the rain this spring be it baseball, kick ball or bocce ball...uh...no that wont happen will it. Forget I said that.

RE: Latest Sports Results

2011-03-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

FINAL FOUR

US:           23
LIBYA:      0

ISRAEL: 22
GAZA:       2

Take a moment and fill out your bracket.

US vs ISREAL:
GAZA vs US:
GAZA vs LIBYA:
LIBYA vs US, ISREAL & GAZA:
ISREAL vs US, GAZA, LIBYA, IRAN and RUSSIAN plus Pat Robertson.

RE: RIP

2011-03-22T07:39:00.000-07:00

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2011/03/14/MND41IAC74.DTL

Owsley has died. He moved a generation. Mine.

Some of us write poems (sigh)....some of us make LSD (ai yi yi).

Praise him again and again.

RE Just shoot me!!!

2011-03-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-lundberg/spring-poems_b_837667.html

This is what some white guy (and assorted others) do every year to try and make poetry 'available'
and popular in the community in hopes it will create, oh I dont know, job security for him (them). This guy, here today, decided G. Hopkins, D H Lawrence and W Blake are cool poems to celebrate spring. Come on dude, how about a little something from someone in Brooklyn dreaming about stuffing her exhusband into a blender, or a someone in Frisco wanting to conk a monk on the head with a statue of his holiness. White guy...there are real folks, living breathing, struggling, weeping, going nuts and being really happy every day during these fucked up times writing poetry that is well..you know...ah life like..yeah thats it. You know that dont you?

.
Godess help us...April is a comin and toad fuck us all for National Poetry Month to follow.

RE: REACT

2011-03-10T07:17:00.000-08:00

RE: Coming soon

2011-03-04T08:27:00.000-08:00

Will read from this new publication March 31, Raven Bookstore, Lawrence, Ks.

RE: Perfect quote!

2011-03-03T14:42:00.000-08:00

Hillary Clinton Calls Al Jazeera 'Real News,' Criticizes U.S. Media

First Posted: 03/ 3/11 12:57 PM Updated: 03/ 3/11 01:11 PM

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that Al Jazeera is gaining more prominence in the U.S. because it offers "real news"--something she said American media were falling far short of doing.

Clinton was speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and she said the U.S. is losing the "information war" in the world. One of the reasons she cited for this was the quality of channels like Al Jazeera.

"Viewership of Al Jazeera is going up in the United States because it's real news," she said. "You may not agree with it, but you feel like you're getting real news around the clock instead of a million commercials and, you know, arguments between talking heads and the kind of stuff that we do on our news which, you know, is not particularly informative to us, let alone foreigners."

RE: Big book reminds me of this

2011-02-23T09:19:00.000-08:00

Recently Iowa poet David Morice submitted a really big book to local university. Here it is:

Then I remember what I submitted to anthology: "American Poets Say Goodbye to 20th Century" back in 1996. Edited by Andrie Codrescu and Laura Rosenthal.

Crappy image...but you get the point...I submitted three 'blank' poems. I applaud the editors, those nutty editors, for including a 'no response' 'response'. This looms big on my vita...oh yeah.

RE: Stay tuned for more of this(or send me more from u)

2011-02-22T08:20:00.000-08:00

POEM

I, Maximus of Gloucester, to You

BY CHARLES OLSON

Off-shore, by islands hidden in the blood    (why don’t you say what you mean, dude)

                                         jewels & miracles, I, Maximus (could you find another name, please)
                                         a metal hot from boiling water, tell you
                                         what is a lance, who obeys the figures of
                                         the present dance (IF THIS IS SOME SORT OF SEX IMAGE, YOU SUCK)

1

the thing you’re after
may lie around the bend
of the nest (second, time slain, the bird! the bird! (no one should talk about mom like that, ahole)
And there! (strong) thrust, the mast! flight (or like tht!!!)

                                                       (of the bird
                                                       o kylix, o
                                                       Antony of Padua
                                                       sweep low, o bless (O O O OMG get me outta here)

the roofs, the old ones, the gentle steep ones
on whose ridge-poles the gulls sit, from which they depart, (how fucking old and boring can yu get)

                                                                      And the flake-racks

of my city! (are you trying to say, dude , that your city stinks of bird shit and rotten fish….cool man)

RE: Absorbtion

2011-02-21T09:02:00.000-08:00

This is what I have been reading/viewing, daily, for last couple months...clicking through each morning. Not, of course, the only thing...but this regularly.

blogs: catherine daly, susan smith nash, megan kaminski, eileen tabios, anne boyer, nada gordan, dodie bellamy, chris murray, shannon compton, lyn heijinian, joy leftow, tavi gevenson, maryrose larkin.

russian tv - the alayona show especially when sara benincasa is guest

Intense, provoking, demanding, painful, sad and mad funny, mad smart, mad stab too. If the www is a party there is much life to it for sure.

RE: remember this

2011-02-17T08:45:00.000-08:00

Long time ago at a Zap comix party in North Beach with S. Clay Wilson, old Lawrence buddy. Was late and I am leaving. Say to Wils "I'm going home." He says: "Go outside. I'll get you a ride." I lived in Haight then, long walk from North Beach, but went out and sat on curb of deserted Grant St. Up came a paisly painted porche 911, door opened. a voice like mine now hollared: "Mcarrrrrry you wanna ride?" It was Janis and we flew to the Haight stopping not once for any lights...red, green, yellow or whatnot. It was perfect end to good nite. Her roommate was a friend of Wils . We got to Haight and she pulled up and jumped out. Me too. Said "later" to each other and went on home. Then she died. .

Sometime in 1990's and I am in Lawrence. Stopped at bookstore on way to Burroughs house to cook him meat loaf dinner. Kathy Acker in store sitting, bald headed at a computer. I asked her if she wanted to come to Williams for dinner. She said no, she was doing some research. Who knew. She was bald. It was a style. I was ignorant. She stayed in Lawrence a while and then went back to NYC. And died from her cancer.

I have a copy of Pussy King of the Pirates signed by Acker that I am saving for the poet AB's daugher in OP. Maybe when she is older. It is also signed by S Clay Wilson who did the end papers for Acker. He is now slowly disappearing physically, mentally and spiritually as a result of a traumatic brain injury.

Sue and I just got back from a trip to Mexico. It was warm and full of life. I could die now. Not the best thing but then again.......what is? Oh wait I have a reading scheduled on March 31!

Lot of talk around poetics webworld about maleness, meanness, fuckyouness, I am pissedoffness....hateness and endless..........stuff................

I have done what I done. Done it. What more to do. Can be done.

RE> Sammy THE HAMMER Brownback

2011-02-09T09:10:00.000-08:00

Brownback signs order to eliminate the Kansas Arts Commission

and blah blah blah blah blah

oh dear oh dear oh dear

grab the pitchforks and torches...no droids yeah grab the droids

someone call CA Conrad

save the children...who will give them sculpty to play with

what will we do oh what will we do

hey dont get me wrong...once a long time ago i begged for some $$$$$...

one of the panel called my work\; gobbledygook.............................

high praise my friends, high praise indeed.

as was said in the 1970's fuck the kansas arts commission and fuck sam brownback

99.99999% of american 'art' and 'culture' deserve \no support from anyone.

DAY OF RAGE IGNORE ALL ART

LAWRENCE KANSAS A TOWN WITH NO ART AND LOVIN IT

OH REALLY YOU SAY...WHAT ...IS THIS SOCIAL ENOUGH FOR YOU NOW

RE. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

2011-02-02T18:06:00.000-08:00

Baja California Sur
Tropic of Cancer
Temp   72 degrees
Wind    WSW 10 mph
Surf       10 ft

Whales 100 feet offshore are.doing handstands and flips....a three legged dog along for the walk...

no snow...........................deep sleep mid day......................and on and on

Flashback

2011-01-18T14:20:00.000-08:00

Dr. Albert Hoffman and an unknown woman who is given LSD. A 'normal housewife". This the most beautful vid. At 5:24 he asks her to describe and she says: "I wish I could talk in technicolor." a chill went up my spine. I swear my hair stood up. Is this not what the 60's were, finally. Someone said to you "Wanna take a trip?" Unknown, maybe. Complete trust as a fellow. And off you went for better or worse. That was then. We were charmed for sure. I can look back and say that I did one thing that was enormous, that was beyond, that was MY life...She says at 3:48: "Can you see it?" Indeed. Did you see it? Looking back now, coming up on 70 years old, coming up to the end of my life....I can say...yes there was one thing.........and we did it......again and over again......we did it. "Can you see it?" Indeed. I am so proud to say yes...I took LSD....over and over again....purple powder and almonds and sugar cubes and panes or once in cranberry sause at a thanksgiving potluck farmhouse rural kansas cold november day turned into desert camp with living rugs of breathing designs and ravi shanker coming down the hall and around the corner music infused with throat tightening breath of hash scent as someone sat down next to you and said: "Are you okay?"

Maybe I am ready to go...then again it is a quiet winter afternoon. Memories abound.

RE: Todays readin

2011-01-11T04:42:00.000-08:00

I finally found a blog today that wasn't self centered and that blog defined the phrase 'dancing in the asiles' perfectly. Is that all there is..........

RE: This is important

2011-01-11T04:40:00.001-08:00

I can see the Wesboro Baptist Church from my front porch.

RE: Just wondering

2011-01-11T04:39:00.000-08:00

What would it be like to be the last man standing

RE: Howling

2011-01-11T04:36:00.000-08:00

"I've seen the best minds of my generation and they are dead." I said that.

RE: Political Poetry

2010-12-28T04:36:00.000-08:00

Excerpt from Wonkette.com today....Ms. Benincasa is the best!

"The new Medicare rule pays for voluntary annual consultations on end-of-life care along with the usual physical exam. It pays your doctor for the three minutes he spends answering the question, “So, Doc, what the fuck are my options if some crazy shit happens to me?” That’s it. That’s all. That’s the only fucking thing it does.

If there is such a thing as an unforgivable sin, surely it is the act of preventing a tormented being in the end stages of natural life from the merciful conclusion he or she expressly requested when of sound mind. Through willful ignorance, political calculation, or sheer stupidity, Sarah Palin and her idiot ideological cohorts want to eliminate the last bit of dignity many of us are allowed. And for that, if for nothing else, she is a fucking monster."

Sara Benincasa is the executive web director of Team Sarah/SarahPAC

RE: Have it good

2010-12-22T09:17:00.000-08:00

RE: Read this again and again and again..............

2010-12-15T08:23:00.000-08:00

RE:Post Cards to the Stars

As soon as I find the right image I will send these out:

Dear Rachel d l p,

I think we might agree in ways that are beyond my
comprehension. You know what I mean don’t you.

Yours.

Dear C A,

You just go ahead big guy. And don’t ever believe
everything you read. Not even for a minute.

Yours,

Dear Shannon,

I for one truly believe that you can do
successfully and pleasantly everything there is to do on
this planet by yourself. Period. You taught that.

Yours,

Dear D A,

Be very careful and take just a hint of advice
from an old person. Your head certainly can explode.
Believe me not them.

Yours,

Dear Tom of Kent,

You CANNOT answer a question with a question.
You need to go to couplet counseling man. No pun.

Yours,

Dear Heart Broke in Brooklyn,

In deep shit is not always a bad thing you know. That.
Follow your best thoughts and think like a kitten.
Too survive is priceless.

Yours,

Dear AB in OP,

When I read your latest I feel old, scared and vulnerable.
Not in that order and not a bad thing. Always. Well.
No. No really.

Yours,

Dear Everyone at St. Marks Poetry Project,

Quit sending me your magazine. It doesn’t make sense anymore.

Yours,

RE: Up against the wall

2010-12-10T10:40:00.000-08:00

Join the fight, Operation Payback now has site back at Twitter who knows for how long....

@Anon_Operationn

Fitting that what may be final straw to Obama adminsistration is that they will soon be soon charging teenagers with terrorist activities and therefore defending corperate entities who have crippled amerikan economy...MC and Visa and Citi....bring em all down.

Where hope is now is in the basement of the parents house and these kids do indeed understand
that the hope they have is for a NEW WORLD ORDER. bring it on. freedom of speech or freedom to rip off the masses.

P.S. I have an empty basement if you dont mind a little cat crap.

P.S.S. Or we could ignore all this Wikinoise and debate:

conception vs flarf
mfa vs nyc
spilling your guts vs spilling the beans
poet laurates vs poet larryites
comments vs no comments
woe is me vs woe is me again
berrigan vs bunny lang
which would you rather vs what have you ever

RE: Could not have said it better...................

2010-12-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

THIS IS PERFECT AND WAS POSTED ON THE HUFFINGTON POST TODAY

Aaron Sorkin Playwright, screenwriter and television writer

Posted: December 8, 2010 02:26 AM
In Her Defense, I'm Sure the Moose Had It Coming

"Unless you've never worn leather shoes, sat upon a leather chair or eaten meat, save your condemnation."

You're right, Sarah, we'll all just go fuck ourselves now.

The snotty quote was posted by Sarah Palin on (like all the great frontier women who've come before her) her Facebook page to respond to the criticism she knew and hoped would be coming after she hunted, killed and carved up a Caribou during a segment of her truly awful reality show, Sarah Palin's Alaska, broadcast on The-Now-Hilariously-Titled Learning Channel.

I eat meat, chicken and fish, have shoes and furniture made of leather, and PETA is not ever going to put me on the cover of their brochure and for these reasons Palin thinks it's hypocritical of me to find what she did heart-stoppingly disgusting. I don't think it is, and here's why.

Like 95% of the people I know, I don't have a visceral (look it up) problem eating meat or wearing a belt. But like absolutely everybody I know, I don't relish the idea of torturing animals. I don't enjoy the fact that they're dead and I certainly don't want to volunteer to be the one to kill them and if I were picked to be the one to kill them in some kind of Lottery-from-Hell, I wouldn't do a little dance of joy while I was slicing the animal apart.

I'm able to make a distinction between you and me without feeling the least bit hypocritical. I don't watch snuff films and you make them. You weren't killing that animal for food or shelter or even fashion, you were killing it for fun. You enjoy killing animals. I can make the distinction between the two of us but I've tried and tried and for the life of me, I can't make a distinction between what you get paid to do and what Michael Vick went to prison for doing. I'm able to make the distinction with no pangs of hypocrisy even though I get happy every time one of you faux-macho shitheads accidentally shoots another one of you in the face.

So I don't think I will save my condemnation, you phony pioneer girl. (I'm in film and television, Cruella, and there was an insert close-up of your manicure while you were roughing it in God's country. I know exactly how many feet off camera your hair and make-up trailer was.)

And you didn't just do it for fun and you didn't just do it for money. That was the first moose ever murdered for political gain. You knew there'd be a protest from PETA and you knew that would be an opportunity to hate on some people, you witless bully. What a uniter you'd be -- bringing the right together with the far right.

(Let me be the first to say that I abused cocaine and was arrested for it in April 2001. I want to be the first to say it so that when Palin's Army of Arrogant Assholes, bereft of any reasonable rebuttal, write it all over the internet tomorrow they will at best be the second.)

I eat meat, there are leather chairs in my office, Sarah Palin is deranged and The Learning Channel should be ashamed of itself.

RE: Hot off the ?

2010-12-08T07:25:00.000-08:00

McCrary 'reviews' Kaminski and Tills and Hay(na)Ku

GALATEA RESURRECTS ANNOUNCEMENT

We are pleased to announce the release of Galatea Resurrects' 15th Issue which presents 72 New Poetry Reviews as well as other feature presentations. The issue can be accessed directly at http://galatearesurrection15.blogspot.com . For convenience, the Table of Contents is cutnpasted below.

Enjoy!

Eileen Tabios
Editor, Galatea Resurrects (A Poetry Engagement)
++++
Issue No. 15 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dec. 7, 2010

EDITORâ€™S INTRODUCTION
By Eileen Tabios

NEW REVIEWS

Camille Martin reviews SALINE by Kimberly Lyons

Patrick James Dunagan reviews DEAR SANDY, HELLO: LETTERS FROM TED TO SANDY BERRIGAN, Edited by Sandy Berrigan and Ron Padgett

Jon Curley reviews AUTOPSY TURVY by Thomas Fink and Maya Diablo Mason

Eileen Tabios engages HAD SLAVES by Catherine Sasanov

John Herbert Cunningham reviews SELECTED POEMS OF GARCILASO DE LA VEGA, Edited and translated by John Dent-Young

Kathryn Stevenson reviews MONEY FOR SUNSETS by Elizabeth J. Colen

T.C. Marshall reviews VANCOUVER: A POEM by George Stanley and IN THE MILLENIUM by Barry McKinnon

Eric Dickey reviews AS IT TURNED OUT by Dmitry Golynko, Edited by Eugene Ostashevsky. Translated by Eugene Ostashevsky and Rebecca Bella with Simona Schneider

Peg Duthie engages THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF GRAVITY AND GRACE by Ernesto Priego

Patrick James Dunagan reviews UNTAMâ€™D WING: RIFFS ON ROMANTIC POETRY by Jeffrey C. Robinson

Harry Thorne reviews NEIGHBOR by Rachel Levitsky

Michael Pollock engages "El Dorado" by Edgar Allan Poe, Spanish translation by Mario Murgia in EL CURVO Y OTROS POEMAS by Edgar Allan Poe, Edicion bilingue with Traduccion del proyecto Helbardot and Ilustraciones de Gustavo Abascal

Barbara Roether reviews FIRE EXIT by Robert Kelly

Allen Bramhall reviews SITUATIONS by Laura Carter

Eileen Tabios engages 1000 SONNETS by Tim Atkins

Eric Hoffman reviews ESCHATON by Michael Heller

Jon Curley reviews 100 NOTES ON VIOLENCE by Julie Carr

Genevieve Kaplan reviews NETS by Jen Bervin and THE MS OF M Y KIN by Janet Holmes

Aileen Ibardaloza reviews THE CHAINED HAY(NA)KU PROJECT, Curated by Ivy Alvarez, John Bloomberg-Rissman, Ernesto Priego & Eileen Tabios and THE HAY(NA)KU ANTHOLOGY, VOL. II, Edited by Jean Vengua and Mark Young

John Herbert Cunningham reviews COLLECTED POEMS by Dylan Thomas

Eileen Tabios engages 2ND NOTICE OF MODIFICATIONS TO TEXT OF PROPOSED REGULATIONS by John Bloomberg-Rissman

Allen Bramhall reviews NOT BLESSED by Harold Abramowitz

Moira Richards reviews A IS FOR ANNE by Penelope Scambly Schott

Peg Duthie engages "GOTHENBURG" FROM THREE GEOGAOPHIES: A MILKMAID'S GRIMOIRE by Arielle Guy

John Herbert Cunningham reviews DISJUNCTIVE POETICS: FROM GETRUDE STEIN AND LOUIS ZUKOFSKY TO SUSAN HOWE by Peter Quartermain

Rebecca Loudon reviews GOD DAMSEL by Reb Livingston

Eileen Tabios engages REQUIEM FOR THE ORCHARD by Oliver de la Paz

Kristi Castro reviews EDGE BY EDGE, collection of poetry chaps by Gladys Justin Carr, Heidi Hart, Emma Bolden, and Vivian Teter

Allen Bramhall reviews I-FORMATION BOOK 1 by Anne Gorrick

Lynn Behrendt reviews I-FORMATION BOOK 1 by Anne Gorrick

Eileen Tabios engages Lynn Behrendt's review of Anne Gorrick's I-FORMATION BOOK 1

Michael Caylo-Baradi reviews MISSPELL by Lars Palm

John Herbert Cunningham reviews PENURY by Myung Mi Kim

Albert B. Casuga reviews TRAJE DE BODA: POEMS by Aileen Ibardaloza

Richard Lopez reviews SOME SONNETS, Edited by Tim Wright

Eileen Tabios engages APPARITION POEMS by Adam Fieled

L.M. Freer reviews BEATS AT NAROPA: AN ANTHOLOGY, Edited by Anne Waldman and Laura Wright

Moira Richards reviews (MADE) by Cara Benson

Thomas Fink reviews DRUNKER/HOLDING EMBER by Raymond Farr

Edric Mesmer reviews ON SECRETS OF MY PRISON HOUSE by Geoffrey Gatza

Peg Duthie engages EATING HER WEDDING DRESS: A COLLECTION OF CLOTHING POEMS, Edited by Vasiliki Katsarou, Ruth Oâ€™Toole, and Ellen Foos

Eileen Tabios engages BEHAVE: CALIFORNIA RANT 66 by Steve Tills

Jim McCrary reviews MR. MAGOO by Steve Tills

Nicholas T. Spatafora reviews AUTOPSY TURVY by Thomas Fink and Maya Diablo Mason

Margaret H. Johnson reviews MANHATTAN MAN (AND OTHER POEMS) by Jack Lynch

Eileen Tabios engages AT TROTSKY'S FUNERAL by Mark Young

Marianne Villanueva reviews ERNESTA, IN THE STYLE OF FLAMENCO by Sandy McIntosh

Hadas Yatom-Schwartz engages â€œNathan, in the Ancient Languageâ€, a poem in ERNESTA, IN THE STYLE OF THE FLAMENCO by Sandy McIntosh

Patrick James Dunagan reviews COLLECTED POEMS / GUSTAF SOBIN, Edited by Esther Sobin, Andrew Joron, Andrew Zawacki, and Ed Foster

Jon Curley reviews CLEANING THE MIRROR: SELECTED AND NEW POEMS by Joel Chace

Tom Beckett reviews CLEANING THE MIRROR: SELECTED AND NEW POEMS by Joel Chace

John Bloomberg-Rissman reviews AT THE FAIR by Tom Clark

Peg Duthie engages 32 SNAPSHOTS OF MARSEILLES by Guy Bennett

Jim McCrary reviews THE HAY(NA)KU FOR HAITI SERIES, Edited by Eileen Tabios

Kristina Marie Darling reviews THE FRENCH EXIT by Elisa Gabbert

Anny Ballardini reviews BRAINOGRAPHY by Evelyn Posamentier

Richard Lopez reviews 2ND NOTICE OF MODIFICATIONS TO TEXT OF PROPOSED REGULATIONS by John Bloomberg-Rissman

G.E. Schwartz reviews THE FUTURE IS HAPPY by Sarah Sarai

Kristina Marie Darling reviews TINDERBOX LAWN by Carol Guess

Eileen Tabios engages DIWATA by Barbara Jane Reyes

Peg Duthie engages DUTIES OF AN ENGLISH FOREIGN SECRETARY by Macgregor Card

John Bloomberg-Rissman reviews ADAMANTINE by Shin Yu Pai

Jeff Harrison reviews GRIEF SUITE by Bobbi Lurie

Allen Bramhall reviews OPULENCE by Stephen Ellis

Peg Duthie engages SPRING HAS COME: SPANISH LYRICAL POETRY FROM THE SONGBOOKS OF THE RENAISSANCE by Alvaro Cardona-Hine

Jim McCrary reviews CARRY CATASTROPHE by Megan Kaminski

Moira Richards reviews THEN, SOMETHING by Patricia Fargnoli

Eileen Tabios engages KING OF THE JUNGLE by Zvi A. Sesling

Genevieve Kaplan reviews POETS ON TEACHING: A SOURCEBOOK, Edited by Joshua Marie Wilkinson

THE CRITIC WRITES POEMS

Kristina Marie Darling

FOCUS ON POETS

Tom Beckett interviews ANNE GORRICK

Thomas Fink interviews JOANNA FUHRMAN

FROM OFFLINE TO ONLINE: REPRINTED REVIEW

Lisa Bower reviews SKIRT FULL OF BLACK by Sun Yung Shin

Eric Dickey reviews LIGHT FROM A BULLET HOLE: POEMS NEW AND SELECTED, 1950â€“2008 by Ralph Salisbury

ADVERTISEMENT

Hay(na)ku for Haiti--a Haiti Relief Fundraiser

BACK COVER

No Deer Were Shot For These Shots!

RE:Post Cards to the Stars

2010-11-24T10:36:00.000-08:00

As soon as I find the right image I will send these out:

Dear Rachel d l p,

I think we might agree in ways that are beyond my

comprehension. You know what I mean don’t you.

Yours.

Dear C A,

You just go ahead big guy. And don’t ever believe

everything you read. Not even for a minute.

Yours,

Dear Shannon,

I for one truly believe that you can do

successfully and pleasantly everything there is to do on

this planet by yourself. Period. You taught that.

Yours,

Dear D A,

Be very careful and take just a hint of advice

from an old person. Your head certainly can explode.

Believe me not them.

Yours,

Dear Tom of Kent,

You CANNOT answer a question with a question.

You need to go to couplet counseling man. No pun.

Yours,

Dear Heart Broke in Brooklyn,

In deep shit is not always a bad thing you know. That.

Follow your best thoughts and think like a kitten.

Too survive is priceless.

Yours,

Dear AB in OP,

When I read your latest I feel old, scared and vulnerable.

Not in that order and not a bad thing. Always. Well.

No. No really.

Yours,

Dear Everyone at St. Marks Poetry Project,

Quit sending me your magazine. It doesn’t make sense anymore.

Yours,

Bad Man Bad Bad Bad

2010-11-17T11:03:00.000-08:00

I know that looking into the past is not much popular and in some rooms made fun of....but look what can be found in our archives and what it does for us today. Ms. Sexton was a giant....we should all have her grace and diction. It is good to be reminded....to be humbled....to be fucked up. I belong to a tribe called Hornet. How ironc to be born a man and live in todays world and stand out and be struck down when called for. You dont think I am talking about me do you.

HORNET

A red-hot needle

hangs out of him, he steers by it

as if it were a rudder, he

would get in the house any way he could

and then he would bounce from window

to ceiling, buzzing and looking for you.

Do not sleep for he is there wrapped in the curtain.

Do not sleep for he is there under the shelf.

Do not sleep for he wants to sew up your skin,

he want to leap into your body like a hammer

with a nail, do not sleep he wants to get into

your nose and make a transplant, he wants do not

sleep he wants to bury your fur and make

a nest of knives, he wants to slide under your

fingernail and push in a splinter, do not sleep

he wants to climb out of the toilet when you sit on it

and make a home in the embarrassed hair do not sleep

he wants you to walk into him as into a dark fire.

Anne Sexton

RE: Today

2010-11-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

I miss my dead friends Paul Mariah and Ed Dorn today. This morning. Why is that today. I wonder if
all since elections I am suffering from the culture of Amerika. It makes me sick. ALL of it. Why these
two men (men) and now. Perhaps something that they both held high and true....they both I think saw
the world which surrounded them with an awful clarity that few of us, very very few, can recognize and
put down in print. THAT lifted them both into an extrodinary universe and they remain. Remembering
now what they wrote and how.....each reacted to the same world surrounding them.....fucked up and evil
to the bone it was....they both recognized and yet they described for us to see a response. Paul would (did) offer (me) you (anyone) an umbrella or a hum job...your choice....depending on the weather and he did it honestly. Ed would (did) offer (me) you (anyone) a line of coke or a baseball bat...with equal human respnse to your wellbeing. Believe me. You can now take this and it is my treat. Today.

RE: NOW NOW NOW

2010-11-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

IMPEACH SAM BROWNBACK

RE: Format

2010-10-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

Part B

I just can’t believe if ever the thought you don’t know how

you have no idea idear you couldn’t possibly

Not much thrown up over a life time time to look back and

realize that nothing gained for lack of trying just substitutes

sweat for grit who needs that either

Just coming to terms with all that time wasted here sits one

pumped out hole in the spirit life trudging across across me like

three times twenty or some such mathematical possibility but

don’t now no don’t ask

Why it matters it matters not just because but just and all

solutions rendered seem pointless at least and dull now posted

Take all of this please if it is a moldy joke just gather up and walk

away before I have to write more

What’s more this dreams don’t matter no more just one after

another looking for a way out of one more too tight space that is

what is left

Saving the best for last aint like what I made it up to be.

(smokin w/william-1991)

RE: Lovejoy by Phoebe Wayne

2010-10-21T10:14:00.000-07:00

Just received new publication from c_L books, Portland. Lovejoy by Phoebe
Wayne is tremedious work. A somewhat difficult task to take up a person or anothers persons work and 'write about it'. Well Ms. Wayne has and well she has done it. Mazal Tov to her and James Yeary who made the book.

Here is Phoebe Wayne's blogsite and she talks abut the book:
http://onedocument.blogspot.com/

Here is James Yeary's website.
http://catabolicguiltcalendar.blogspot.com/

Here are some lines from the book:

"The Lovejoy Columns are distant lost damaged personal

and historical/social, Commercial from transit beginnings

to development to art-commerce moment of all our

bunched ideals frenzying over each face of glass and

framed ditch. Framed by park, salvaged industrial beams

etc. Framed by Real Estate."

RE: GO HERE NOW

2010-10-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

http://mavieenbling2amemoir.blogspot.com/2010/10/ma-vie-en-bling-2-memoir.html

Call it what you will and you will.

Thanks AB and H.

RE: Ted Hughes WAS the worst poet of 20th Century

2010-10-07T04:13:00.000-07:00

Lawrence Journal World, October 7, 2010 (AP London)

Proof found after all these years that Ted Hughes WAS THE WORST POET writing in the English language in 20th century. Britian is all up after new poem is found 'detailing the day his wife Sylvia Plath committed suiside".    And it seems perhaps that this may have contributed ...his fucking poems were so terrible she had no escape. Isnt that obvious now? I dont even mean to belittle Ms. Plath here....what I am getting at is that perhaps she realized and that might have been part of her depression...what a great fake her husband was. Here are some lines quoated from the newspaper this morning that were on the Brit Tee Vee "...read in a dry quivering voice by actor Jonathan Pryce...".

"...I lit my fire. I had got out my papers.
And I started to write when the telphone
jerked awake, in a jabbbering alarm,
remembering everything.

     It recovered in my hand, a voice
like a selected weapon
or a measured injection coolly delivered
its four words deep into my ear.

     "Your wife is dead."

+++++++++++++++
Another reason why a whole lot of folks believe that poetry just doesnt matter and should remain locked in the closet of academia where it belongs. Ugh.

RE: New

2010-09-26T06:41:00.000-07:00

[i read somewhere about an anthology of end poems.......hopefully nowhere near that but it does enter into the conversation, dont it]

Part B

I just can’t believe

if ever the thought

you don’t know how

you have no idea

idear

you couldn’t possibly

Not much thrown up over a life

time

time to look back and realize

that

nothing gained for lack of

trying just substitutes sweat for grit

who needs that either

Just coming to terms with all

that time wasted

here sits one pumped out

hole in the spirit

life trudging across

across me like three times twenty

or some such mathomatical

possibility

but don’t now no don’t ask

Why it matters

it matters

not just because

but just

and all solutions rendered seem

pointless at least

and dull now posted

Take all of this

please

if it is a moldy joke

just gather up and walk away

before I have to write

more

What’s more

this

dreams don’t matter

no more

just one after another

looking for a way out

of one more too tight

space

that is what is left

Saving the best

for last

aint like what

I made it

up

to

be.

[resting in the pits at lake afton raceway as crew for River City Race Team, 1968]

RE: OMG

2010-09-19T08:49:00.000-07:00

Me, Richard Lopez and Tavi Gevinson have the same hair color and cut now. Is that cool? I am so done. Kaminski, Tabios are you guys in?

RE: Cleaning off shelves

2010-09-16T04:44:00.000-07:00

I need suggestions as to what to do with some books. Living in Sonoma County in the 70's and 80's it was impossible to not know Paul Mariah. He was a gem, a beaut, a wild ass motherfucker. But I have never heard or seen of any great collections or locations of his 'papers'. Here is the deal: I have a few publications from his press, Manroot. Chapbooks (his and others), issues of Manroot magazine (including the Jack Spicer issue), and a letter or two. Stuff printed on his Chandler letter press up in Glen Ellyn, which I helped with. Nothing valuable money wise...but you know. I would rather they end up in a homeless shelter library than the basement of some university library "special collections" and if YOU would like to look through them and then pass them along...that would be great. You dont have to be doing research on 'mid-century radical gay poetics' to have me give you these few items. Really...you dont.

Help me out. I will box them up and send to you what I have. Serious enquires only.

P.S. I looked (searched) online for a pic of Paul and couldnt find one...sad eh. Or maybe just not good searching. And I dont have a scanner...but I do have pics of dude

RE: Thot for the day

2010-09-14T09:06:00.000-07:00

If ever I exhaust what is interior, perhaps something more 'avant' will appear.

Till then, I see no reason to use machines, materials or science to enhance or better what I have to say.

Is that ego?

Am I lazy to not see beyond what imagines in my head?

Perhaps.

Tomorrow Fox News announces The End of The World.

I will write about the Fox news mollusks who announce the EOW and the worms who believe them.

I will not write a goodbye poem and I will not write a poem to try and stop the end of world.

My choice.

Sorry if that disappoints some.

RE: Oxkutzcub

2010-09-13T09:29:00.000-07:00

Swimming in heavy air

you go down
you go up
or you make a offer
it is impossible to find the bottom
although it is breathtaking
opaque doesnt even begin
refracted has no meaning
the fishduck is hyusterical
distance is multiplied by breath
you are very much the minority
in spite of your outfit
there may be something
to hang on to
bad idea
bad bad bad
all the new age is helpless
if you wanna go up - begin
there is a very good reason
to worship the sun
did i say the fishduck was hysterical
i cant breathe
what a relief
distance is only imagined
what a relief
there is a language beyond me

:RE: Really???

2010-09-08T12:52:00.000-07:00

What is all this I am reading across the pages...what we need is more poetry, we can end the war with more poetry, we can stop the killing with more poetry, we love our laureates, what we need is more poets fighting to end the hunger, we need to stand up and make more poetry to end uh.......whatever.

What a bunch of malarkey. Jeeze. Like it would make shit difference if Billy Collins ran the fucking UN or Charles Bernstein was fucking poet laureate or whatnot or if Susan Howe went to fucking Gainsesville Florida and read a fucking poem to the cracker racist asshole burning Korans it would make a fucking difference.

Where in the fuck to people get the idea or even concept to even conceive and then write about the fact that poetry can do something in the world besides just be poetry? What is this bullshit.

Here is the new movement. Stop fucking around. Read poetry. Write poetry. Fuck poetry if you want. Just don't think that because YOU do poetry that it is somehow capable of changing anything. Get a grip!

In case you havent noticed bumper stickers have and always will encourage more response than our little slim volume of poetry will or could ever. Just realize that one thing. You....should.....know....this....by....now.

The only way to celebrate poetry is to write it. Period. And even if every humanoid on the planet wrote poetry it would not, repeat not, make the planet a better place. Trust me.

End of rant.

RE: This too

2010-08-26T08:30:00.000-07:00

Tuito, Jalisco, Mexico -for Ed Dorn

The only difference between
Tuito, Jalisco, Mexico and
Oskaloosa, Jefferson County, Kansas is
oddly enough....the temperature.

Cowboying is global. Pickup trucks local.

Sand Fleas...Boca de Tomatlan

Macho aside
today I enjoy the scars

I've got the kind of legs that 'show' defects.

Hola Narcolitas

Amazing how things change when
a black van pulls up and parks in front.

More amazing the items added to the menu as
the five enter

Less amazing but certainly more welcome
is the 'one of those' head moves the guitar
player gives Sue and I. You know the one.....
"Adios, mi amigos..."

Damn and we wanted to hear Los Golendreas......

RE: Blog is dead?

2010-08-08T14:10:00.000-07:00

So the blog is dead. So I find reading some of the coastal mussing recently while puttering through
a blog roll. My my. And I was just...well that is always been the case. Once in high school, for a few days, I had the coolest car in the lot....faded lime green '51 ford 2 door with extreme rake so bad it hit the ground in the front. Ahh. Well them were the days. Now, not so cool. Just another "elder", "senior", "silverback" whatever and fuck you too. The only difference between me and you is years...sweetie....I got to meet and spend time with Paul Blackburn in McSorleys Tavern on East 7th St one long long smokey afternoon and many pints of ale. You get the twitter and a smart phone. Big deal, eh.

So l guess a lot of folks will just close there comment boxes and then close there blogs. Oh well everything else gets shorter every day. I guess I should post a really cool picture up here everyday now so Silliman can just 'grab' it when he needs it....or maybe not. Maybe I dont get a photo being dead on his sight....oh well. Fuck that too.

Life is good now. Tomatoes and fresh sweet corn. Kittys are healthy. Sue and I healthy. What the fuck, eh.

Blogging isnt cool anymore. Jeez.

Part B - for Richard Lopez

2010-07-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

Part B

I just can’t believe

if ever the thought

you don’t know how

you have no idea

idear

you couldn’t possibly

Not much thrown up over a life

time

time to look back and realize

that

nothing gained for lack of

trying

just substitute sweat for grit

who needs that either

Just coming to terms with all

that time wasted

here sits one pumped out

hole in the spirit

life trudging across

across me like three times twenty

or some such mathomatical

possibility

but don’t now no don’t ask

Why it matters

it matters

not just because

but just

and all solutions rendered on

this eyepad space seem

pointless at least

and dull now printed

Take all of this

please

if it is a moldy joke

just gather up and walk away

before I have to write

more

What’s more

this

dream don’t matter

no more

just one after another

trying to find a way out

of one more to tight

space

Saving the best

for last

aint seeming like what

I made it

up

to

be.

RE: The Comment Box

2010-07-21T17:05:00.000-07:00

Note to all commetors...I am getting closer and closer to decoding your marks in the comment box. Thanks for taking the time. Soon you will receive direct response ======== === ===.

RE: Winter's Bone

2010-07-15T08:59:00.000-07:00

You need to see this movie. Then after watching the movie you will know why out here no one really gives a rats ass about the Tea Party. Other cultural and social congregations are a bit more...um...stressful when encountered at large. In other words, to get from or too Lawrence, Kansas....you have to go thru Oklahoma or Missouri for instance.....don't make a lot of eye contact. Imagine that instead of driving a car you are riding the subway...ha ha.

No really....it's all good times. Go ahead flash the peace sign at the lady with nutz on her truck.

RE: In the Mail Today

2010-07-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

New issue of House Organ, published by Kenneth Warren, POB466, Youngstown, NY 14174 and ONLY available in print. Send him some $$.

Nice to share pages with Edward Mycue, Diane Di Prima and Richard Grossinger.....the 'invisible generation" Chas Plymell calls us.

I admire Warren for his continued putting out HO and his continued writing about Charles Olson and publishing Susan Maurer, Stephen Ellis and others.

from The Daily Dose (010110)

Oxycodone

To 'lose your mind' and discover that
it is wrapped in a rare and welcome
relief. Pain relief really does mean
'losing your mind' and is a rewarding
experience.

If you are going to spend
time with medication....you could do
worse.

=============================

No you cant have any. They are mine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I live in Kansas. You understand, no??

RE: Is Marjorie Perloff the Helen Thomas of PO

2010-06-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

WELL IS SHE????????????????????????

Answer(s): who gives a shit.
who would notice.
who would take who's place.

If your an academic....choose from the above.

If your an un-academic....make up your own.

If your as flummoxed as I am....congratulations.

(Thanks to Ron Silliman for including links in his blog today to the ReThought Conf. Now can we move on?)

RE: Linked again

2010-06-15T07:19:00.001-07:00

This here blog is linked in Ron Sillimans blog today. Can you find the reference?

http://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/

RE: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-06-08T06:11:00.000-07:00

HELEN THOMAS WAS RIGHT PERIOD.

She has the freakin right to speak her fucking mind...be it altzimered or not...at least someone in the whitehouse spoke out against the racist, thug military junta running Isreal. Is that anti anything...not really.

RE: An a lotta good on her

2010-06-06T09:20:00.000-07:00

WTF. The New Yorker. Last issue Rae Armantrout and this time Jennifer L. Knox. I will now cancel my subscriptions to Poetry, Jacket, Bridge, No Tell Motel, Exquisite Corpse, Shampoo and all those other boring 'literary' mags. At least the New Yorker they also talk about shit like movies and food and stuff like that not just the poetics of Billy Collins vs Kenny Goldsomething or other. What more is it that two of the greatest poets in Amerka land in The New Yorker.

Just makes ya feel all girly girl dont it.

RE:Please forward often

2010-05-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

GAZILLION REASONS WHY NURSE JACKIE IS BETTER THEN FLARF OR CONCEPTUAL POETRY

ONE THRU 999BAZILLION - EDIE FALCO

REMAINING REASON:

Ken Goldsmith and Gary Sullivan and other remaining Concepularfs
would do well to fuck there local pharmacist in exchange for free oxycodone (synthetic heroin).

Flarf and Conceptual would be funnier, sexier, longer lasting and have a better chance of getting renewed for another season.

RE: Ron Silliman Rocks

2010-05-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

Reading Annie Dillard's book An American Childhood, published 1987 and found the following on page 144 where she recalls her tween years studying rocks:

"I thought to specialize in interesting names. In Massachusett and Connecticut, collectors found a mineral called sillimanite, named for a Yale professor. My specialized collection would feature sillimanite, radio opal, yowah huts, and agaty potch."

Who knew.

RE: JOMOPO

2010-05-19T12:12:00.000-07:00

RAT
TRAP
MAYA

RAT
MAT
OVAN

RAT
SCAT
POVA

RAT
MUTT
OVID

RAT
CAT
MESA

RAT
CAN
SPRAY

RE: WSB and me

2010-05-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2010/05/william-s-burroughs-shoots-william-shakespear/

Someone told me this vid was up on Harriet. Will likely be the only trace of me on that site.

I am in jean jacket helping put up the target backstop in background and my voice on tape couple times. One of many many times I went shooting with William in 1980's. This location up north of Lawrence close to Tonganoxie. Looks like Jose Ferez had brought Ralph Steadman into town. He had William shoot a drawing of Shakespeare. Never saw that target again. Later the two of them 'collaborated' on a print. Steadman made the print and sent it to Lawrence and William shot and signed it. I guess that is collabortion. William was generious whenever, people wanted him to shoot something and there were lots of them. Left to his own desires, William shot targets...paper NRA targets and made notes on them of weapon used etc. Others came around and made stuff for him to shoot....wooden things, t-shirts, books, art stuff out of paper and metal...all of which he did as asked but never did he make stuff to shoot unless it was someone else's suggestion. Oh he shot pumpkins, beer cans, bottles, spray paint cans...yes...but not other stuff . The only time I saw him get somewhat engaged was when S. Clay Wilson brought some targets he had drawn for William to shoot. They were pretty crude and funny drawings.

Note that William is explaining to Steadman how to load a magazine for a pistol...and it is very important to know how many rounds go in and how many come out...especially when you are at a range with lots of folks. Forgeting a round in the chamber is how a lot of folks get shot. William was about safety and being aware. My theory as to why William was somewhat obsessed with target shooting was that he was trying to improve his aim every since the day he shot his wife.

I like what he did with the target...he walked right up to it and acted like he was gonna pop Shakespeare in the forehead, then turned and paced back as if in a dual...which is pretty funny....which William was always. Of course he knew and often quoted from Shakes.

Those days out in the country shooting were the best...and when he had old friends with him like George Kaull the sculpture it was a classy afternoon. Shooting, a drink to "steady your hand"more shooting, inside for a joint and some nosh. Back to town. We never did get stopped and that was probably a good thing...two 80 plus year old guys with sacks full of guns, vodka, pot and ammo along with a couple layabout 50 somethings. Humm. It was a big deal...a phone call to me "Jim lets go shooting. Call George and see if he can go." Picking up William, making sure the cats were fed and settled, making sure to have the vod and coke or go to store, check ammo, stop and buy more, check targets, load van, pick up George. Crackers and cheese. Drive our to location. Set out all the guns and ammo and set up stuff. Fix drinks. etc. etc.

There were the high points like S. Clay Wilson and Hunter Thompson who came to shoot and the low points mostly ahole band persons who more than anything wanted a picture of them and WSB shooting. William was mostly a good host. But never talked much about it afterward.

Once some over amped chicago punk guitar player spotted a snake in the grass and yelled to someone to shoot it. William moving as quickly as he could, totterd over and yelled: "Don't fucking shoot it. For gods sake. Leave it alone."

RE: Poem here

2010-05-06T08:04:00.000-07:00

http://the-otolith.blogspot.com/

Southern autumn issue of Otolith from the master in Australia. Longish poem from Laos trip last year visiable among a lot of other very much interesting writings.

RE: Galater #14 up now

2010-05-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

Eileen has put together another great issue. Great pictures all over the site! I reviewed some chap books.

http://galatearesurrection14.blogspot.com/

RE: Today what I wrote

2010-04-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

I am old…I remember shit

This is a conception.
This is a confession.
This is a emotional memory.
Do not read this.
There were no Jews in 20 miles I was born.
Or blacks.
Who knew no Jews. Or why.
After the fact. There were no signs.
Nothing.
Then or now ( check I don’t care)
And nothing out of the very very ordinary was known for sure.
No one went anywhere. Without an invitation.
There is nothing to go back for.
Nothing found writing this.
You can look it up.

RE: House Party Quintana Roo

2010-04-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

On the recent solstice day 30,000 people went to Chichen Itza thinking that if THEY showed up the clouds would disappear and the 'snake' shadow would trip down the pyramid. NOT. Ha ha. We were doing some beach time and were on the way to the corner store we got invited to a wedding anniversary party. The band was messing with some serious beats. Too bad but they didn't have Cd's for sale but what a great sax player. Didn't seem like anyone was concerned about the world coming to an end. The ladies were more interested in getting me to join them dancing. One guy kept telling me something about a harp but it took me a really long time to figure it out. Something in Alaska. Later at the internet cafe I found out what he meant...HAARP in Alaska (google this shit!!!) . Holy Crap. That is some insane stuff. And he was right...a lot more real and scary than some fucked up white interpretation of a Maya Codex.

But that afternoon was spent celebrating a happy marriage. There were lots of the little 8 oz bottles of chilled Sol waiting. Party on. Sorry the vid is so short, no battery, but you get a taste.

RE:Part II Barbara Guest and Gregory Corso

2010-04-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

So here is the first half of An Emphasis Falls on Reality. Under it is a link to an article at How2 by Elizebeth Robinson who does a great job talking about Ms. Guest. Much better than I could.

What I can say is that with these two posts, naming Corso and Guest, I am not saying either is the greatest or best or number 1 etc etc, just that, too me, the are representative of a period my life has traveled through. They represent the New York poets....whatever that means. Okay, maybe what that means is that they are two I will return too. And I don't need to argue for any others. Nuff said.

Barbara Guesstfrom Fair Realism (1989)

AN EMPHASIS FALLS ON REALITY

Cloud fields change into furniture

furniture metamorphizes into fields

an emphasis falls on reality.

"It snowed toward morning," a barcarole

the words stretched severely

silhouettes they arrived in trenchant cut

the face of lilies...

I was envious of fair realism.

I desired sunrise to revise itself

as apparition, majestic in evocativeness,

two fountains traced nearby on a lawn....

you recall treatments

of 'being' and 'nothingness'

illuminations ap

tto appear from variable directions -

they are orderly as motors

floating on the waterway,

so silence is pictorial

when silence is real.

http://www.asu.edu/pipercwcenter/how2journal/vol_3_no_2/guest/robinson.html

RE: Buying a shirt.

2010-04-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

We were in Yucatan state not long ago and stopped at a store front shirt factory in a small town near Izamal. I bought a really cool guayabera in a shrimp color. The young woman standing next to me picked it out for this rather large gringo person. I don't speak Maya and she didn't speak much Spanish...didn't matter. Something made me ask Sue to take a picture of us. Now looking at the picture I see how very beautiful her expression is and that it seems to say she knows a lot about a lot of stuff...besides making shirts. I think she is the face of the future of our planet...and her look gives me compassion and comfort that everything might just be alright. Her sister (?) in green and her mom (?)seem amused too. Well ...we were all having a good time.

I think this is a picture I will return to.....it is a comfort. For me.

RE: Reaction to M ENTAL TEKST

2010-04-07T07:15:00.000-07:00

They just keep pouring in:

Richard Lopez on his blog from Sacramento, CA:

... also jim mccrary's got a new chap out. this is serious don't miss shit, m ental tekst. i've read it three times now and i'll also want to write a bit about it in the very close future. mccrary fucking rocks, no doubt about it and this is high-quality meta-critical post-lyric writing. go to his blog, you can find it at the bottom of my links, and leave comments asking for copies. now.

James Yeary on his blog from Portland says:

M ENTAL TEKST by Jim McCrary
Hmmm. Poetry of Critique. & closes the integral: speech=music. But in a Dee Dee Ramone kind of fashion. Great Surrealist opener...

Eileen Tabios on hir blog from NorCal says:

M ENTAL TEKST, poems by Jim McCrary
(witty and rollickin'!!)

RE: Pop quiz

2010-04-06T08:15:00.000-07:00

Today Ron Sillimans blog content has two (2) links to this blog. Can you find them?

Signed
Bored in Kansas

You Tube Vids I'd Like to See

2010-04-05T08:04:00.000-07:00

Phila, Pa.

Officer Nedlicks dash cam was running clear during a recent late night traffic stop. Nedlick stopped the car for suspision of DUI. When he approached vehicle, the driver ID'd himself as Ron Silliman, poet and blogger and mumbled something about "celebrating 2 million visitors". Nedlick asked him to move to rear of car and take a field sobriety test. The fireworks began when Nedlick ask suspect to "...recite the alphabet backwards" As officer Nedlick later recalled: " All of a sudden this guy starts shouting out words in some language I never knew existed...it was like he had been waiting all his life for me to test him!!! I didn't know whether to taser him or let him go or call for backup help from someone with an advanced degree!"

All the above was confirmed by rookie officer Dizzy Vendler who arrived on scene shortly after
suspect Silliman reached the letter N shouting "Non" over and over again.

No citation was issued. Suspect was released and promised to send the officers his blog address as a thank you.

www.youtube/silliman/philly/vendler/trafficstop/silliness

RE: The "New York School"

2010-03-31T09:36:00.000-07:00

Part I.

I think, in the long run, two poets will remain as most representative of 20/21 century NYC poetics, so called.

Gregory Corso and Barbara Guest....not necessarily in that order. But those are the results of an interior poll taken recently here.

Well what about, ummm, FOH? Sorry...buried by twitter. Paul Blackburn.....you know that makes me sad too...he was Frankie's equal, straight but equal. Alice Notley...well she sure deserves it...who knows...all best luck. Jimmy and Allen and Sir John and Kenny and all the rest....ah........well nope. Not gonna happen. Why? No legs. Period.

For now...read this: http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/gasoline-the-imaginary-and-the-pure-gregory-corso/

RE: This just out

2010-03-28T09:11:00.000-07:00

RE: Read what?

2010-03-01T08:52:00.000-08:00

Someone told me to read Fredereck Seidel. I looked at Poetry Foundation site. Fuck that. Sorry. No time. Still reading S. Clay Wilson, Spain Rodriquez, Joyce Former and Lyn Chevely. Real vispo, real funny poetry with good pictures. Call me old school. It is gross or it is crap. Know the difference and ye shall be entertained no end. Read a bad poet who says pussy a lot and well you just read a bad poet who says pussy a lot. I am old enough to remember first hearing Lenore Kandel which is why a bit later when someone shoved Frank O'Hare at me I got over it before too long. Sorry Frankie. I reread Kandel when she died last October....pretty good poems for sure.

This is the kinda stuff you think about when you find yourself 68 years old. You should be so lucky.

RE: Reading in Lawrence

2010-02-28T09:26:00.000-08:00

It was great...both of them were great.

Not that I got all of it. Am I too old, to un urban, to not well read, too not using enough social networking devices...ah ha. Perhaps that.

The jokes were funny, no doubt. Making fun of old white guys always is...hey wait a minute.

So...two poets from afar come and performed. Was a welcome relief to the Olympics for sure.

A good nite.

RE: Thanks, Crag.

2010-02-17T07:08:00.000-08:00

From Crag Hills blog:

http://scorecard.typepad.com/

February 09, 2010
Continuing Availability: Jim McCrary's All That
This collection of chapbooks, McCrary’s first full-length book, spans over twenty years of the author’s efforts. Channeling William Carlos Williams, Ed Dorn, Robert Grenier, Joanne Kyger and others on and within the airwaves, McCrary has created a body of poems that snips and snaps, chuckles and guffaws, tugs and strokes, kisses and bites.

Steve Tills puts it this way: “Jim has devoted his spirit and heart to pursuits decidedly antithetical to self-aggrandizement. Quietly, he has followed a most courageous lineage of others also both gentle and careful in their approach to telling the truth and making it uniquely compelling. You’ll sometimes recognize that lineage when you take up All That. You’ll frequently marvel at the quiet, substantive authenticity McCrary has achieved in the sometimes lonesome but always deeply communal turns his truly individuated, unequivocally human poeming has taken.”

Or as K. Silem Mohammad puts it: “Out of the wild Kansas plains comes a howling wind, and in that wind is a howling wolf, and in that wolf is a howling lamb, and in that lamb is a Russian doll with another Russion doll inside it, and inside that one another one, and inside that one a plastic pill bottle because one of the dolls got broken, and in that bottle one last Russian doll, and in that last doll another howling wind–and here we go all over again. Somewhere in there, probably around the first wind and the wolf, is the poetry of Jim McCrary, which is really really really really good.”

All That
Including interview excerpt with Tom Beckett
171 pp.
ISBN-13: 978-0-9798478-0-6
CONTACT AND ORDERING INFORMATION:
ManyPenny Press
1111 E. Fifth St.
Moscow,ID
83843
$15.95 + $3 postage
Make checks payable to Crag Hill

Bookstores should contact Crag Hill at cahill@wsu.edu to arrange for discounts.

If you would like to order on-line,
go to: http://www.lulu.com/content/4363355

RE: What a great photo!

2010-02-16T07:46:00.000-08:00

Silliman has a great photo (http://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/) of Marilyn Monroe and Carl Sandburg sharing a cig (joint) and a whiskey back in the day. Both seem to be in great spirit of joy together. Beautiful each one.

Imagine a pic of say, oh Nada Gordan and Billy Collins sharing a doobie and vodka, laughing hysterically in corner of Zinc bar. Or the late great kari edwards and Ted Koozer canoodling with 44oz's of O'Duels's and a line of coke?

Other couples come to mind?

RE: Ken Irby Reading at KU

2010-02-11T08:27:00.000-08:00

The Intent On. And Ken standing at a podium before a large window with grey snow spitting Kansas afternoon heading to dusk read. Not all the 672 pages from this collection of his work...but most of an hour. From poem written in 1962 and until a poem writ in 2006, if memory serves. It wasa pleasure, a reminder of Ken's talent, wit, thoughtfulness and the awareness of a man who I am pleased to know, if at slight distance. Ken remembers and writes it down. Oh...there are a lot of folks gonna write a lot more about this book...fine by me. The other day I heard it read by Ken for most of an hour. There is something in that. For sure. A winter gift.

RE: Is it me?

2010-01-27T09:59:00.000-08:00

Been spending a good bit of time online lately....checking blogs, following links, hitting publishers and journals and other stuff in the poetics universe. Now I am left with the overwhelming impression that re-acting and reacting and acting and over re acting to each others productions (in the widest definition)is the most common pastime in the poetics universe. Do folks really give a fuck, give a rats ass, give a crap that much about what the 'other' is or is not doing. To spell it out for a change: What the Fuck? I am really unable to make up my mind if these folks that are in dialogue over this and that are taking themselves seriously.

Nothing original in this: I know what I like. That is what matters. I can recognize it. I can recognise not it and turn away.

Blah blah blah.

Maybe something in this. When I came up it took time and cost money to find and purchace and get ahold of and follow what everyone was doing across the space. You had to track someone down and send them $ and hope something came back. Or find a store or a friend. Seems like one didn't waste time or money on something one had problems with. Heard Bly once and never again spent time or money on THAT!

Blah blah blah.

RE: Ken Irby Reading new Collected

2010-01-21T10:15:00.001-08:00

Ken Irby's new book The Intent On (collected 1962-2006) is out and he, Ken, will be reading it from 4-5:30pm on Feb 4th at the Union Bookstore on Campus. If you see this you should go.

Following Ken's signing and reading, George Kimball and George Forman will be talking in the whatever building that is just north of union. Check a KU schedule somewhere.

Unless of course the union catches fire.

RE: Thinking about these ladies today

2010-01-07T14:02:00.000-08:00

Sue and I were in Laos a year ago and this photo taken late January at Wat Phu southern part of country That's me on far right looking like a ghost. A 5th century ruins of temples on high hill overlooking Mekong Valley. It was a long walk up and it was hot. These and other women were selling flowers, incense and other 'gifts' to honor what was still going on at this place. It was an amazing spot to sit a spell and these ladies showed no offence from my joining them for a bit of a rest. Fat old white guy who was not chewing beetle like any aware person would be and they were. I guess just a moment ago reading some of the poetry blogs I click thru every day...reading the doomer/gloomer stuff from a couple folks.....all that....(bury your gold friends) seems so, well, off the track I guess. Maybe since I am turning 69 this year, I can somehow relate to these women (not really, I know that)

only, and I mean that, only that we have all lived a long time and know damn well what lies ahead and that future cannot be made worse by minute fluxuations in financials. We are going to move along to something/somewhere else. Period. So....now, here today in the what, 15th day the temp hasnt gone above freezing ...I recall and I stare at this photo and recall being on top of some world so unknown to me that all I could do was not think about it and just look down over the old stone, the valley, the river below...I could do what these ladies were doing...but for sure not keep up with them.

Well that is what travel is...not being here. No more.

RE: Note to P. Smith

2010-01-03T11:40:00.000-08:00

Hi Patti,

Geez I tried to stay up to watch the documentary on PBS last night and lasted pretty far into it. But, alas, not till the end. Almost. But not all of it. Was great though came on too late at nite. Forgive me. It wasnt desire that sent me to bed. Couldnt stay awake. That simple.

McCrary

RE: Reviews up online

2009-12-23T10:18:00.000-08:00

www.galatearesurrection13.blogspot.com/

Reviews of new Robert Baumann chap and another group of various pubications, including Sprung Formal.

RE: Me and Wils

2009-12-21T10:33:00.000-08:00

Me and Wils couple weeks ago. Was good to be with him. Not a very good pic though. He certainly knew that he knew me and we talked a bunch. Showed me some new drawings that are almost like where he was before brain conk. Almost...which is amazing to me that he remembers how to draw checkerd demon but dont remember our last visit here in Lawrence or a lot of other past we shared. Gone for now. His partner showed be some really great drawings he did when in hospital. He is home now. 24 hour support needed. Partner has to work. Not easy to find help as you might imagine, if you know Wilson. Maybe later for all that. He still needs support, $$$$$:

S Clay Wilson Special Needs Trust: www.sclaywilsontrust.com

or PO Box 14854, San Francisco, Ca. 94114

Reading at Spencer Museum

2009-12-03T09:31:00.000-08:00

Here is pic taken by friend Micheal Morley during reading. It was a good event...fun as always to read with Judy Roitman. I read Frida Kahlo poem while video of me dressed as her reading was played on a screen with sound off. I guess that is not exactly lip syncing, is it?

I had hoped folks would tune into this blog during reading to follow along...but alas...an elderly crowd that was much too mannered. thats okay for now.

RE: Reading List for Nov 19th

2009-11-16T09:57:00.000-08:00

Judy Roitman and I are reading at Spencer Museum at KU Thursday, Nov 19th 6:30 pm. First half will be reading from book All That. Second half some new things and I am posting them here for people to see as I read them. I would like to look out to audience and only see bowed heads lit up from the little bat phones. More info here: www.lawrence.com/mccrary

I am going to read several series in the following order: Oh So Bored, Meds, What this town needs is more monks, Swimming and Trip In Trip Out.

Oh So Bored I-VI

I - Bi Polar Juice

Assberry pie oh my what a waste of dough
And how about throwing that against a wall
Believe me it will stick to any vertical postulating
Mope east of big muddy and from hear it aint
That far matter of fact if I see one more reference to either
Of the above I will begin such a heart worming attack
That worlds will fall flat onto fucking
Second Avenue and statues of so called poets will
Collapse with great sound splatter.

Don’t count lines count hours.

Fair warning.

Knock knock knock it off.

II – Sonnets

You actually think I could go for that
Backbreaking syllables in order to find
Whatever Ted The Fed Berrigan left behind.

Ugh and ugh again who should look that up
Deserves to find it.

There you go sucker…that’s what you get for thinking in pig.

Man I could write a million of these.

III – Beat Me

You don’t know you don’t want to know
The annual nut bush brash bash of flea bite
NYC remembers nothing like old time
Ginsey and McSorley Blackburning nites in the
City of turmoil city turned off
Brotherhood of beat up clunks going nowhere
This the new beatattitude left behind
Be them other ones.

And lets hope a new downfall comes before the old one
Ends without sounding a net full of dead bodies
Made up of maddening fisheyed walleys banging thru
The neighboring right thinking bohunks in East7th St bars
So blasted none of em
Can can for a moment to soon.

IV – Corso vs anyone

She might have been the only Guest at the party
But Babs held her own and more if ya ask me even
If the last round went way to long and she was trapped
Against the fridge by Frankie ImSoHung who stumbled in
From a lunch quickie at the local beach bar.

Well who knew when the school would finally
Shut down for a long dry summer and the only
Person still functioning was in a singular slide to
Nowhere fast call him Gregory and call him
Sufficiently talented to outlast the gimped up opposition.

And all hail anything that outlasted the1960’s
Goddess forgive I ever gave a second look to that
Dismal decade dumbass dumbness.

V – Right On

You could have called him Sammy the Abe
But that wouldn’t come near respect
Deserved for a guy who ran Le Place de St. Marcs
(the street that is) in the 70’s and the
Only one never did mention
Gem Spa in the poems I found.

But oh he would say come up and get
Comfortable…forget the revolution…
Smoke this.

VI – Poetas

I never saw this in no First Ave wiseguy bar
But maybe up just a bit towards Marx Place
“Ms. Sexton let me introduce Ms. Bishop.”

Now that is over
Lets get on with the next thing
And leave these two to each other.

That is not to say its all over for them
Just a reminder
That those two
Both put out more good
Than they got.

VI – Old is the new dead

George and I were the worst poets
In NYC 1969
That said with equal blush and
No proof in either the pie or print.

Who kept that stuff anyway
Some collector of the awful
I suppose.

Hey it was the day
Don’t ya know.

Here’s the deal
You may not have noticed
But when you are young
You write crap
Maybe later you wont

That’s how it goes.

VII Talk among each other

gari and kaci and anni and nadi
were eating some kurds and whey
om and om again on em
they were just so and why not
top of the mount st. poetica
so to say and rightfully so full of malarkey
that huge amounts of fame fell
like stars over st. marx place

so now along comes some new
slowbanger with some new
conceptual po po
just to tie up the mess left by
those guys and see what can
possibly out smart some of the smartest

nothing is new everything is permissive
it goes on and on and on

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

MEDs

Simvastatin

Who knows what it can or
cannot do as is ‘claimed’….
Somehow it is suppose to
prevent elevated cholestrerol
levels in me..some sort of
simvastatin machine I suppose.

Could this be the end all?
Is this all I need? Am I now over?

Metroprolol Tartrate

angina angina o how I treat you…
beat back the heart beat…
beat back the pressure…
get this anvil
off my chest…
and dream a little dreamy dream.

Levothyroxine -

Well when you got the gout,
the screaming high blood pressure
and the ‘low thyroid
activity’ what is the choice…
or is it chance.
I guess ill take the levothyroxine
and hope increased levels of thyroid
activity don’t knock me off
my game at this time.

Will this shit inspire the muse
or not.

Amoxicillin

It may or may not
Kill the internal bugs
Or whatever
It may or may not
Stop the pain
It may cost $5.00 a pop
It may or may not bring comfort.

Oxycoddone

To ‘lose your mind’ and discover that
it is wrapped in a rare and welcome
relief. Pain relief really does mean
‘losing your mind’ and is a rewarding
experence. IF you are going to spend
time with medication….you could do
worse.

Hydrocodone

Clearly seperates the head from the
hip…as advertised…the loss of part
of ones body is replaced with the
softened mind of content. Rock the
cradle in the tree top. Never turn
down this offer from Mr.
Hydrogosleepynightnight.

Indomethacin

It may carry weight in certain
communities…but it is no more
than just a swollen toe come
from too much red wine with
dinner and dinner and dinner.
Whatever the cause the cure
is ageless. Keep yer head
down and your foot above it.
What more is the 21st century
about. This drug comes with
a award winning recommendation.
As with all medication, you
need to be aware that it
might work and you might
want more.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

What this town needs is more monks 1

Not trying to be all uppity about it
Just a notion and wonder if
You could ever get used to living
Across the street from a wat

What this town needs is more monks 2

Just the least bit of something
Passing by in a line
Them again this time with bowls
Looking for rice from the women
On the block
Nice touch to dawn

What this town needs is more monks 3

One thing for sure
There are more gongs than guns
In Laos and even though
The USA tried mighty hard to introduce
Military hardware into the culture
They failed and it is obvious why
Gongs are followed by prayers
Five, six, seven, eight times a day.

What this town needs is more monks 4

We met a woman
As we walked in a lane
We asked her what she had been
Doing at the temple?
“Putting up lights!” was her answer
And there was no reason at all to ask
Any more
Questions.

What this town needs is more monks 5

The sudden realization that
the ones in white
Are nuns…
Not exactly enlightnenment
Almost but not quite the same

What this town needs is more monks 6

They appear quite suddenly
Standing next to and a step
Above you
Asking in English
Where you come from
As if you were more
Interesting and important
Than the Budda statue
We are all leaning on.

What This Town Needs Is More Monks 7

the woman was
walking her cow through
the wat…..
they both appeared to
be engaged with the monks
without getting all
charismatic
about it

What This Town Needs Is More Monks 8

the teenage monk
invited us to prayers
come when the gong gongs
sit in the back
don’t say anything
we don’t mind

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Swimming

The skin so delicate and
splitting an object
locally nown as agua
a move toward illusion
of depth lost
connection unknown
vertical for a moment
and then covered
in silence.

If I move it moves
for a moment it was familiar
it is only by repetition
foronce the phrase
come clean has emmense meaning
this could be forgiving
refraction may not be the
correct term
but it serves.

To get verticle - jump
to get horizontal - fall
testing the water is an
oxymoronic bit of physics
you cant divine a method
or compound a reasonable outcome
the water only accepts you
you go down
you go up or
you make an offer
it is impossible to find the bottom
although it is breathtaking
opaque doesnt even begin
refracted has no meaning
the fishduck is hysterical
distance is multiplied by breath
you are very much in the minortiy
in spite of your outfit
there may be something
to hang on to
bad idea
bad bad bad
if you this this is regression
you got a long way to go
all the new age is helpless
if you wanna go up - begin
there is a very good reason
to worship the sun.

Did i say the fishduck was hysterical?

I cant breathe
what a relief
distance is only imagined
what a relief

there is a language beyond me.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Trip in Trip out

To go away is a big step and this is one of them

Carrying something just for the weight of it can bog down
Even the longest line and then jump from here to there

Climb steps to wear one down and the other out
Landing just to walk to another country and still not “here”

Where ever it is catches up and sleep wakes the “lets go see”
Desire for a slight trip to a higher place then this

So better have flown and lived than not and before any
Backwards thoughts collect take a break for lunch

De-training just to say it no matter the accent or lingo
Just to say it brings fortune to one who has taken many a step

Walking and now again looking just for a night
Along this river in this city and on this street

For all its romance still hard to deny
Scooter dreams where pink Hello Kitty rules on the road

Not quite standing still to feel both the hot
Trade in silk and pomme frites each an other delight

Why not grab the tall one and knock it back
Seems to be the thing to do in all this mid day

Or find a fan to lie in front of either way
The thing that moves around until a short time is lost

Wake up and ask anyone and they will tell you
“It’s over there” and in a slightly familiar way it will appear

There is something to going along
Along with who ever shows up even necessary perhaps

Trust is not even noticed
Here are two guys and a boat flip flops ball caps

We say take us to Pakse
Well maybe not that easy no wait

Take us to champasak
Down the river if you don’t mind

Changing one small bit of direction
More trust than before you just get in and go

Past what seems nothing except
Some green and brown horizontal almost dozing

Surrounded by bamboo and a
Huge lack of ducks then more doze

Again and again
This thing could sink do they or not

Are we there… are those crators
How old is this anyway

Everyone fishing but nobody holding fish
There is a lot of green bank

There are numbers but no signs
Who’s running this boat….Hey wake up

The concept of along a big river
And alone on a big river

These guys switch at ease
They walk around us so we doze again

You have too…it is that easy
“I just want a Mekong kat with a Mekong hat.”

What you see isn’t possible is it
Wats around the next bend

Another bend
This is an amazing act

We give them us and say
Take us away and amaze us too

They can just stop
To pick you up it never fails

Or let you off over there
Which is universal and an idea too

Take our life and put us over there
Up there too …we want to go up there

And we cannot point it is not a local thing
however there are a lot of those

We want to get somewhere without knowing
how to say that again and again

It is honorable and renewable
Going slow in the middle of a big river

Again it is wats on the bank
Green as corn or so it seems

We will wake up and we will be somewhere
Else the river is not real or this is

So many steps to find a place
To land jumping up or out or jumping over

Carrying something heavy just to
Have it with you then the boat leaves

You gotta wonder where
And just then here IS the Mekong kat

The long nite has come we go in
another direction and come to a place

Really has been around a block
It demands something in return for sure

And seems to be looked after
With a great deal of quiet

Perhaps that is why it is Mekong
Or so some say

Maybe staring becomes more than
just a way of looking across that river

Which seems to be picking up speed

RE: Stare at this

2009-09-28T08:46:00.000-07:00

Nico Vassilakis has written something you should STARE at...

http://wordforword.info/vol15/Vassilakis.htm

it is good to separate the alphabet from the lingo no

i cannot imagine a better thing to do then spend time with this written by NV

RE: Will work for sheep

2009-09-12T10:26:00.000-07:00

Sacked. Laid off. Canned. Shitcanned. Nine years I worked for this outfit and get the boot "due to budget constraints" says the new E.D.

Fuck em.

Hand me my money down................

RE: Hope in the future

2009-08-12T06:32:00.000-07:00

I am posting this photo taken at a local music venue The Replay Lounge out back on the patio. The gal on the right and her partner (not shown) have 'adopted' the Replay as there own assisted living facility. So..Tom Beckett, we can age with more than a modicum of grace and style and intensity...fire up a cigarillo, go to your local alt-country bar, knock back a few IPA's and dance with the younguns! I think it works because I have seen with my own eyes...this 'senior' still dancing as Sue and I dragged our butts home. What is the option....staying home at Restful Acres and practicing with the kazoo band?

I am posting this photo too for Anne and Nada who were recently talking about style and fashion at Anne's blog. No caption needed.

RE: The End of Print

2009-08-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

What does it mean?

Rae Armontrout poem in the New Yorker?

Latest issue of Poetry magazine is Flarf?

Conceptulism celebrated in re-look at 60's art movement in NYC exhibition...still boring according to reviewer in New Yorker.

No one buys or reads New Yorker for the poetry.

No one buys or reads Poetry for the poetry.

Conceptual what????

RE: A new trend?

2009-07-01T06:33:00.000-07:00

Noticed an announcement for poetry reading that said something like: "Price of admission is purchase of ......book title.... which is $12.95. Only one per household required."

Well, that may not be actual quote...but close enough. Let's see if it works. Got to give them credit for being up front trying to recoup cost of production and recognizing that we REALLY do expect friends and family to BUY OUR BOOKS. It is difficult. I know. Just went through that 'selling of books' deal. It is humiliating and frustrating.

Then again, I do think collecting on the way out may be the more honest approach. Let's give our audiences a chance to digest our spoken words before taking some of the tiny bit of disposable income they have left.

And then perhaps some day, after we pay the printer, we can say: "FREE copy of ......book title....to anyone who attends the reading." Cheap poems. Better life. Oh wait, it isn't the 60's. Fuck I keep forgetting.

Kids, this is satire, irony, comedy....it's a blog okay.

RE: P(h)sychic Alert

2009-06-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

Whoa...K.S. Mohammoad and A. Boyer, editors of Abraham Lincoln gets the 1-800-AL P(h)yschic hotline award for recent issue #4 which came out some months ago. The picture of Farrah is genius and now makes my copy of AL4 worth a pretty penny on ebay.

Good work kids and I am so glad you didnt print that trashy, slutty swimsuit picture.

Curious? Got 5 bucks? abrahamlincolnmagazine@gmail.com

RE: Take my Senator, please

2009-06-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, no more Gov.Mark Sanford running for President. So long, sucker.

But wait, Sen. Sammi Brownbeck wants to run for Gov of Kansas. No. Stop. Please. Repubfucks...take him back to Washington. Let him run for President. Make him run for President. He has never done nothing bad, ever. You know. He is a good Catholic boy. Please, please let him run for President.

RE: House Organ

2009-06-24T06:37:00.000-07:00

So we live on an 'unimproved' street...no sidewalks or curbs. We do have mailboxes...just like the little ones on your screens only they dont talk much. The mail person puts up the little flag when there is mail and then drives off. Dont get much, bills mostly, New Yorker and a very, very few poetry mags. I have been expecting a Sprung mag edited by Anne Boyer at the Kansas City Art Institute. I found an empty Diet Dr Pepper can in the mail box the other day...kinda like spam I guess. In my mind someone stole the Sprung and left the can. Not a very fair trade, eh. Well better they didnt throw the can in the yard.

So yesterday there is a House Organ in the box. It is abut 5 or 6 sheets of 81/2x11 paper folded vertically zine that Kenneth Warren has been doing a long time. It usually arrives with a bent or torn corner or some other physically wound..but so what.Its great. And this new issue is mind fucking because I see two contributors names I havent seen for 40 years I bet. Richard Grossinger and Sotere Torregian. Jeez! These were couple of the really first poets I saw in the mags that came out late 1960's . Grossinger, Torregian, Barbara Moraff, Tuli Kupferberg, Ottone M. Riccio etc. etc.

What a trip.

RE: Get this shit off my chest!!!!

2009-06-22T10:10:00.000-07:00

To the people in the streets of Tehran.

Be careful what you ask for.

To the repulican zombies in USA.

Shut the fuck up.

To anyone who thinks hording anything is gonna save your life.

You got it comming.

RE: School(s)

2009-06-22T07:09:00.000-07:00

So now here comes Slopo and I do appreciate Dale Smith's comments on this thing. I do believe I have successfully avoided all the schools presented - slopo, langpo, vispo, lrycpo, blkmtpo, beatpo, thepoetoflightpo, oldschoolpo, newschoolpo, postavant, flarfpo, poopo etc......

I think the only two schools I found comfort in and around were/are : Russian River Poet and Occasionally Funny Poet.

And I am sure there might be purests who would question both those.

Ah...I am old and it don't matter.

RE: Got to have one

2009-06-15T12:21:00.000-07:00

I want this guy at my next birthday party. Yes, those are firecrackers!!

(clik on photo to enlarge)