vowel movements

National Book Award Finalists for Poetry -- 2011

2011-10-13T14:12:00.005-05:00

Because my opinion is so ~~sought-after~~ affordable, I wrote reviews earlier in the year of Carl Phillips' Double Shadow and Yusef Komunyakaa's The Chameleon Couch for St. Louis Magazine's arts blog. This is Carl's fourth nomination, and if he gets Lucci-ed again, I'm taking it as a personal insult.

But really, thanks to my awesome minority bias, I'll be happy with pretty much anyone who wins this year. Good going, NBA jury!

AWP 2010--Denver

2010-04-07T13:46:00.003-05:00

Readings to hit:

Wednesday:

DoubleCross Press, Lame House Press, and Slash Pine Press

4:00pm - 8:30pm

Rackhouse Pub, 208 S. Kalamath St.

Ryan Browne, Anne Shaw, francine j. harris, Matthew Henriksen, Kate Greenstreet, Adam Fell, Daniela Olszewska, Patti White, Mike Sikemma, Matt Rasmussen, Claire Becker, Jeremy Hawkins, Nate Hauke, Malachi Black, Joseph Wood, Matt Hart, Farrah Field, Chris Mink, Gina Myers and Nate Pritts, Roger Reeves, MC Hyland, Cody Todd, Kyes Stevens, Abe Smith, Dolly Lemke, Jennifer Tynes, Stacy Gnall, John Dermot Woods, Sarah Blackman, and Brian Oliu

Thursday:

Wave, Canarium, Ugly Duckling, Octopus Reading

7:30-10:00 pm

Benders Tavern

314 E 14th Ave

John Beer, Heather Christle, Dorothea Lasky, Paul Killebrew, Dan Machlin, Geoffrey Nutter, Alex Stein, & Matvei Yankelevich

Friday:

Meadowlark Poetry Marathon + Disco

7:00 pm- ?

Meadowlark Bar

2701 Larimer Street

Rachel Loden, Kate Greenstreet, Amy King, Arielle Greenberg, Daniel Borzutsky, Amy Guth, Ana Bozicevic, Arielle Greenberg, Susan Schultz, Chad Parmenter, Katie Degentesh, Geoffrey Gatza, Janet Holmes, Tony Trigilio, Jorn Ake, Julie Dill, Steven Schroeder, Shanna Compton, and more: http://meadowlarkpoetry.com/

One Packed Night

2010-01-24T18:04:00.005-06:00

An outstanding turn out last night for Cannibal Books' reading "One Hot Night," held at Stirrup Pants Chapbook Store in St. Louis. http://bit.ly/8MF1EP:

Fiery Furnaces Will Have to Wait

2010-01-07T09:20:00.003-06:00

Come see Stephanie Anderson, Tom Andes, Adam Clay, MC Hyland, Alison Palmer, Nate Slawson, Joseph Wood, and oh yeah, Julie Dill on Saturday the 23rd at Stirrup Pants on Cherokee. And Matt and Katy and Adele Henriksen. Because you like nice people.

Common Projectors

2009-10-29T16:01:00.008-05:00

Mercy, mean week is almost over.

"When younger," said he, "I believed myself destined for some great enterprise. My feelings are profound, but I possessed a coolness of judgment that fitted me for illustrious achievements. This sentiment of the worth of my nature supported me when others would have been oppressed, for I deemed it criminal to throw away in useless grief those talents that might be useful to my fellow creatures. When I reflected on the work I had completed, no less a one than the creation of a sensitive and rational animal, I could not rank myself with the herd of common projectors. But this thought, which supported me in the commencement of my career, now serves only to plunge me lower in the dust."

from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, p. 233, Vol II, Chapter 18.

2009-09-11T07:49:00.001-05:00

Riding an Elevator into the Sky
Anne Sexton

As the fireman said:
Don't book a room over the fifth floor
in any hotel in New York.
They have ladders that will reach further
but no one will climb them.
As the New York Times said:
The elevator always seeks out
the floor of the fire
and automatically opens
and won't shut.
These are the warnings
that you must forget
if you're climbing out of yourself
If you're going to smash into the sky.

Many times I've gone past
the fifth floor,
cranking upward,
but only once
have I gone all the way up.
Sixtieth floor:
small plants and swans bending
into their grave.
Floor two hundred:
mountains with the patience of a cat,
silence wearing its sneakers.
Floor five hundered:
messages and letters centuries old,
birds to drink,
a kitchen of clouds.
Floor six thousand:
the stars,
skeletons on fire,
their arms singing.
And a key,
a very large key,
that opens something-
some useful door-
somewhere-
up there.

malicious gossip and talking nonsense

2009-08-23T09:37:00.002-05:00

My friend Byron showed this to me: the best Tumblr site I've ever been exposed to. The authors pair screenshots from current and/or iconic American TV shows and movies (the Buffy musical episode, for instance) with appropriate literary quotes from freakishly diverse authors--Margaret Atwood, Sarah Vowell, Ray Bradbury and Miranda July, just to name a few.

As a quick for instance, this quote appears:

“It was SHE. Whoever has loved knows all the radiant meaning contained in the three letters of this word ‘she.’”
— Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

beneath a screenshot of Stan from Southpark approached by a girl on whom he harbors a painful crush, but whose mere presence makes him vomit.

And this Jane Austen quote:

"From all that I can collect by your manner of talking, you must be two of the silliest girls in the country. I have suspected it some time, but I am now convinced.”
— Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

appears beneath a screencap of a news story about ex governor Sarah Palin and some blonde whose name and importance, it gives me great pleasure to announce, I have completely forgotten.

The quotes are enlightening, the images are fun, but the interplay between the two offers a succinct and entertaining shortcut into the authors' personalities and opinions on art, literature, pop culture, and politics.

HYP 2009 Wrap Up

2009-08-18T09:52:00.002-05:00

Duff's was stuffed by 7:15 last night. I kicked off the event, the last HYP of the season, with a reading from Mathias Svalina's chapbook, "Creation Myth" (the one with the knock knock joke). Get that book; I've made 3 people read it so far and everyone agrees it's the smartest silliness out there. A slideshow of images from all three readings is in the works, so check back later in the week.

I'm crazy-proud of everyone who read this summer. If you or someone you know wants to be considered for the 2010 season, I just need an e-mail with a 3 line bio, 3 sample poems, and one embarrassing or unusual fact about yourself.

Photog Excursion, summer 2009

2009-08-18T09:23:00.003-05:00

I got shot in the thigh by a one-eyed carnie with a BB gun, but it was totally worth it for Laine to capture these pictures.

Jesus recommends the sugar free black walnut taffy.

Butter young Abe Lincoln sat near the butter cow, who was kept company by an anatomically correct butter cat, complete with butter anus.

Innocuous as it may be, you just don't want to see President Obama hanging by his neck across the midway from the booth selling confederate flags.

The GOD MOBILE.

NYC Missed Connections Poegle #227

2009-08-14T11:59:00.003-05:00

Lemon tree, very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet, but the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.---Peter, Paul and Mary

for Les Paul

You were wearing the blue
and white checked toga
at the Queens Museum.

I begged a second audience
but you were going back to Scotland,
and now you're on my floor.

Six doors down and I don't
have the energy to call you
on your less-unlearned lie.

O Queen of Scandals
with your Frieda Kahlo tattoo,
stop wishing, long shot:

I will go to Julie and Julia
with you if you pay.

Grody Boys and Giggly Girls in the ERA of Poetry

2009-08-12T15:50:00.005-05:00

Had an entertaining Twitter conversation (I know, right?) regarding male:female publishing records in online and print lit mags. Nate Pritts, Anne Boyer, Elisa Gabbert, Jessica Smith, Reb Livingston and Katy Henriksen talked seriously about gender neutrality in publication while I provided provocative innuendo and lascivious snorting. Maybe it was because the girls outnumbered the boys six to one, but the debate stayed lively and cordial and no one had a cow and stormed off to cry in the ladies. Hearts and minds were changed, life-long dreams were rescued, and Nate is going to publish every female who submits to H_ngm_n from now on.

[update: In which Nate crunches numbers, Reb Livingston offers comment, and Daniel Nester crosses Reb Livingston like he doesn't know she carries a switchblade in her apron pocket.]

In other news:

A well-done poem about hangovers.

And Shane Jones' Light Boxes is picked up by Penguin.

I'm off to archivally-shrink wrap my first edition copy of the book and then huddle in a corner with the anxious notion that everything obscure and awesome will get optioned for film and widely distributed. On second thought, I have a lot more shrink wrapping to do.

chapbooks never let your lips go naked

2009-08-07T15:14:00.003-05:00

Chapbook Saturday tomorrow and I'm running down to Stirrup Pants to get my monthly haul. My pal Aimee Leavitt's RFT write-up on the store here. I wish Maggie G. could let us know what will be there, for planning purposes, but I suppose that might keep me from buying every book I touched. They are so nice to touch.

Tonight (Friday, August 7th) on Cherokee, from 7-11 p.m., Cranky Yellow, the host of popular shows "Crap Glued to Crap" and the Kitten Circus, features "Meth and Hot Dogs" for your viewing pleasure.

Also, Monday, the 17th is the August Hungry Young Poets--the last one of the summer. This season has been phenomenal so far, and there's no doubt August will kick ass, too. We've got Travis Mossotti, Lauren Keefer, Heath Luster, Julie Goldberg, Laura Dempsey and Annah Browning. Plus, our musical guest star, Prune! I like to think their name is a verb and not a noun, but they're pretty moving, either way. Duff's, 7:30, $3.00.

...and now back to pondering the concept of absence in 21st Century America.

OMG Poems!

2009-07-07T12:37:00.002-05:00

Stirrup Pants, Your Saturday Chapbook Store, opens at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, July 18th at their devastatingly awesomesauce storefront, 2122 Cherokee Street. Live local music, saddle-stapled poems, never-before seen art. It's like the holy trilogy of indie street cred.

Don't remember where this came from

2009-06-19T10:15:00.000-05:00

topical

2009-06-19T10:13:00.000-05:00

The Gentleman Auction House

2009-06-19T10:07:00.000-05:00

Shane Jones, Light Boxes

2009-05-28T10:48:00.003-05:00

Buy this book and read it, and protect yourself by reading it all in one sitting. I read it over a couple of weeks, reading a few pages a night right before bed, and it threw me into an impenetrable funk. Until now, I have never read a book that I immediately wanted to make 3 people read, and actually gone through with it. It's beautiful and wicked sad and it makes me feel like falling asleep in a coffin-full of dead butterflies. I don't want to give anything away. Read it, and we'll talk about it.

No on Prop 8 Moves to Federal Court System

2009-05-28T10:29:00.002-05:00

"What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom to and freedom from."--Fellow St. Louisan, Marilyn vos Savant.

Birdseed and Books

2009-04-23T09:35:00.002-05:00

Steven Felicelli (fellow parenthetical afficionado, and look: writer, no blog!) posted this list on critical mass this morning, as an antidote to an Oprah-fied great books list. In other news, the Buder Branch library is becoming my Cheers.

TOP 100 NOVELS OF ALL TIME (book-length fiction - SS collections DQ, for the most part - Borges notable exception)

1. The Molloy Trilogy Samuel Beckett
2. To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf
3. Ulysses James Joyce
4. Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes
5. Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy
6. The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner
7. Invisible Man Ralph Ellison
8. Tristram Shandy Laurence Sterne
9. Lolita Vladimir Nabokov
10. In Search of Lost Time Marcel Proust
11. The Waves Virginia Woolf
12. V. Thomas Pynchon
13. The Recognitions William Gaddis
14. Under the Volcano Malcolm Lowry
15. The Possessed Fyodor Dostoyevsky
16. Moby Dick Herman Melville
17. Ficciones Jorge Luis Borges
18. One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez
19. The Fall Albert Camus
20. The New York Trilogy Paul Auster
21. Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad
22. Beloved Toni Morrison
23. Pale Fire Vladimir Nabokov
24. Death in Venice Thomas Mann
25. Women in Love D.H. Lawrence
26. Blindness Jose Saramago
27. The Invention of Morel Adolfo Bioy Casares
28. The Woman in the Dunes Kobo Abe
29. Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoyevsky
30. American Pastoral Philip Roth
31. Correction Thomas Bernhard
32. Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte
33. Dead Souls Nikolai Gogol
34. The Trial Franz Kafka
35. Ada Vladimir Nabokov
36. Doctor Faustus Thomas Mann
37. Petersburg Andrei Bely
38. The Sheltering Sky Paul Bowles
39. Bleak House Charles Dickens
40. Monsieur Teste Paul Valery
41. The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea Yukio Mishima
42. Fathers and Sons Ivan Turgenev
43. Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys
44. The Sufferings of Young Werther Johann von Goethe
45. The Man without Qualities Robert Musil
46. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami
47. Middlemarch George Eliot
48. The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoyevsky
49. The Mayor of Casterbridge Thomas Hardy
50. The Voyeur Alberto Moravia
51. The Alexandria Quartet Lawrence Durrell
52. Absalom, Absalom William Faulkner
53. Journey to the End of the Night Louis-Ferdinand Celine
54. Mulligan Stew Gilbert Sorrentino
55. Nothing Like the Sun Anthony Burgess
56. The Counterfeiters Andre Gide
57. Ethan Frome Edith Wharton
58. Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert
59. Turn of the Screw Henry James
60. Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter Mario Vargas Llosa
61. Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace
62. If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler Italo Calvino
63. Memoirs of Hadrian Marguerite Yourcenar
64. The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway
65. The Death of Virgil Hermann Broch
66. House of the Seven Gables Nathaniel Hawthorne
67. Hopscotch Julio Cortazar
68. The Book of Disquiet Fernando Pessoa
69. The Charterhouse of Parma Stendhal
70. Hunger Knut Hamsun
71. Frankenstein Mary Shelley
72. Zeno’s Conscience Italo Svevo
73. The Violent Bear it Away Flannery O’Connor
74. Too Loud a Solitude Bohumil Hrabal
75. Rat Man of Paris Paul West
76. The Great Gatsby F. Scot Fitzgerald
77. The Mustache Emmanuel Carrere
78. Men of Maize Miguel Asturias
79. The Satanic Verses Salman Rushdie
80. Murphy Samuel Beckett
81. Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf
82. Ocean, Sea Alessandro Baricco
83. Christ on the Rue Jacob Severo Sarduy
84. Locus Solus Raymond Roussel
85. Pussy, King of the Pirates Kathy Acker
86. War and Peace Leo Tolstoy
87. The Man Who Loved Children Christina Stead
88. The Stream of Life Clarice Lispector
89. The English Patient Michael Ondaatje
90. This is not a Novel David Markson
91. Do You Hear Them? Nathalie Sarraute
92. How Late it was, How Late James Kelman
93. Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy
94. Mansfield Park Jane Austen
95. The Shipyard Juan Carlos Onetti
96. Moll Flanders Daniel Defoe
97. Thomas the Obscure Maurice Blanchot
98. The Elementary Particles Michel Houellebecq
99. Vertigo W.G. Sebald
100. The Age of Wire and String Ben Marcus

HONORABLE MENTION (under consideration)
Locos: A Comedy of Gestures Felipe Alfau
Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter Cesar Aira
Blue Voyage Conrad Aiken
Epitaph for a Small Winner Machado de Assis
Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen
Persuasion Jane Austen
Awaiting Oblivion Maurice Blanchot
The Castle Franz Kafka
Amerika Franz Kafka
Cousin Bette Honore de Balzac
Pere Goriot Honore de Balzac
Seraphita Honore de Balzac
Snow White Donald Barthelme
Watt Samuel Beckett
Mercier and Camier Samuel Beckett
Dream of Fair to Middling Women Samuel Beckett
How it is Samuel Beckett
Herzog Saul Bellow
The Train was on Time Heinrich Boll
Last Evenings on Earth Roberto Bolano
Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
The Master and Margharita Mikhail Bulgakov
A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess
A Change of Heart Michel Butor
The Way of All Flesh Samuel Butler
Erewhon Samuel Butler
The Non-existent Knight Italo Calvino
Mr. Palomar Italo Calvino
The Plague Albert Camus
The Stranger Albert Camus
The Fear of Losing Eurydice Julieta Campos
The Book of Promethea Helene Cixous
The Awakening Kate Chopin
Briar Rose Robert Coover
Disgrace J.M. Coetzee
The Lyre of Orpheus Robertson Davies
The Body Artist Don Delillo
White Noise Don Delillo
Dombey and Son Charles Dickens
Our Mutual Friend Charles Dickens
Great Expectations Charles Dickens
Gould: A Novel in Three Novels Stephen Dixon
Notes from Underground Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Idiot Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Sister Carrie Theodore Dreiser
Foucault’s Pendulum Umberto Eco
The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco
The Mill on the Floss George Eliot
Silas Marner George Eliot
A Fan’s Notes Fred Exley
As I Lay Dying William Faulkner
Light in August William Faulkner
Point and Line Thalia Field
The Good Soldier Ford Madox Ford
Tender is the Night F. Scot Fitzgerald
The Blue Flower Penelope Fitzgerald
Salammbo Gustave Flaubert
I Served the King of England Bohumil Hrabal
A Passage to India E.M. Forster
Inez Carlos Fuentes
A Frolic of his Own William Gaddis
Carpenter’s Gothic William Gaddis
The Tunnel William Gass
The Immoralist Andre Gide
Pornografia Witold Gombrowicz
Under the Greenwood Tree Thomas Hardy
The Well-beloved Thomas Hardy
The Return of the Native Thomas Hardy
The Woodlanders Thomas Hardy
Tess of the D’urbevilles Thomas Hardy
Far from the Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy
The Shunra and the Schmetterling Yoel Hoffman
The Blood Oranges John Hawkes
The Old Man & the Sea Ernest Hemingway
For Whom the Bell Tolls Ernest Hemingway
Steppenwolfe Herman Hesse
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner James Hogg
Brave New World Aldous Huxley
Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro
Beasts of no Nation Uzodinma Iweala
The Ambassadors Henry James
The Golden Bowl Henry James
Tree of Smoke Denis Johnson
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man James Joyce
The File on H. Ismail Kadare
The Old Man and the Wolves Julia Kristeva
Slowness Milan Kundera
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Milan Kundera
The Leopard Lampedusa
Sons and Lovers D.H. Lawrence
Lady Chatterley’s Lover D.H. Lawrence
The Rainbow D.H. Lawrence
Babbit Sinclair Lewis
Hero of Our Time Lermontov
Ultramarine Malcolm Lowry
Lunar Caustic Malcolm Lowry
Palace Walk Naguib Mahfouz
Magic Mountain Thomas Mann
A Heart so White Javier Marias
Vanishing Point David Markson
Reader’s Block David Markson
Going Down David Markson
The Giant O’Brien Hilary Mantel
Of Love and Other Demons Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Ava Carole Maso
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers
The Moon and Sixpence Somerset Maugham
Of Human Bondage Somerset Maugham
Tropic of Cancer Henry Miller
Sexus Henry Miller
Genoa: A Tale of Wonders Paul Metcalf
1934 Alberto Moravia
Song of Solomon Toni Morrison
Sula Toni Morrison
The Red and the Green Iris Murdoch
The Bell Iris Murdoch
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight Vladimir Nabokov
Bend Sinister Vladimir Nabokov
Invitation to a Beheading Vladimir Nabokov
Giraffe Marie Nimier
Nothing Grows by Moonlight Torborg Nedreaas
The Following Story Cees Nooteboom
At Swim, Two Birds Flan O’Brien
17 Kenzaburo Oe
1984 George Orwell
Cry the Beloved Country Alan Paton
A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia Viktor Pelevin
The Lives of Insects Viktor Pelevin
Nightmare Abbey Thomas Love Peacock
A Void Georges Perec
Life: A User's Manual Georges Perec
People of Paper Salvador Plascencia
Narrative of A. Gordon Pym Edgar Allan Poe
Dance to the Music of Time Anthony Powell
The Crying of Lot 49 Thomas Pynchon
Against the Day Thomas Pynchon
Gravity’s Rainbow Thomas Pynchon
Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh
Pierrot Mon Ami Raymond Queneau
The Echo Maker Richard Powers
Mumbo-Jumbo Ishmael Reed
Project for a Revolution in New York Alain Robbe-Grillet
Call it Sleep Henry Roth
Sabbath’s Theatre Philip Roth
Impressions of Africa Raymond Roussel
The God of Small Things Arundthati Roy
The Ground Beneath her Feet Salman Rushdie
Midnight’s Children Salman Rushdie
The Tunnel Ernesto Sabato
Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger
Nausea Jean Paul Sartre
Tale of the Unknown Island Jose Saramago
The Cave Jose Saramago
The Street of Crocodiles Bruno Schulz
What Waiting Really Means June Akers Seese
A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth
An Equal Music Vikram Seth
The Flanders Road Claude Simon
I’m Dying Laughing Christina Stead
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Gertrude Stein
Event Philippe Sollers
Death Kit Susan Sontag
Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
The Death of the Novel Ronald Sukenick
The Death of Vishnu Manil Suri
The Hoax Italo Svevo
Gulliver’s Travels Jonathan Swift
Anihilation Piotr Szewc
Naomi Junichiro Tanizaki
The White Hotel D.M. Thomas
Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy
A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole
Friday Michel Tournier
The Way We Live Now Anthony Trollope
The Warden Anthony Trollope
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain
The Ice Shirt William Vollmann
Candide Voltaire
The Color Purple Alice Walker
The Day of the Locust Nathanael West
Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde
The House of Mirth Edith Wharton
Written on the Body Jeanette Winterson
Between the Acts Virginia Woolf
Orlando Virginia Woolf
Day and Night Virginia Woolf
Jacob’s Room Virginia Woolf
The Years Virginia Woolf
Native Son Richard Wright
Germinal Emile Zola
The Masterpiece Emile Zola

NaPoMo, 3/30

2009-04-06T13:17:00.007-05:00

Missed Connections, NYC #14

I haven’t eaten since Friday
when your car almost hit me,
and you yelled, If you were
skinnier, I would have stopped.
That’s okay, I said at the time,
but now my mouth is too full
of l’esprit to fit pie or chips:
If you weren’t bald as baby,
I would drain you like a cold
Coke on a hot summer’s day.
Or if you were smart, I'd wax
your Ford Probe. Or if you
weren't so evil, I'd call you back.

NaPoMo 2/30

2009-04-02T10:50:00.001-05:00

If Fernando Pessoa was Alive
and Wanted a Twitter Account

He could not be @FernandoPessoaHimself
because Fernando Pessoa-Himself was not
The Real Fernando Pessoa, which is not
to say that anyone with such boundary
issues would ever be interested in Twitter.

April Fools Day, 1/30

2009-04-01T10:54:00.003-05:00

Poem for Spring by Canadian Cultural Deathless Ideals
Comedy Hour's Non-Communist Host, Svetlana Pupkina

In Ukraine, we have no time
for silly poems. We spend it
all on vodka, smoking,
bribing the government,
and pysanky, pysanky, pysanky.

four, three, two, one...

2009-03-31T10:54:00.004-05:00

Following on the heels of November's exciting failure of a novel writing marathon, I'm jumping into a poetry writing marathon. 30 poems in 30 days? Psh. In my sleep. Between my serious novel project (serious!) and this, I'm holding off on any serious (serious?) blog posts between now and the beginning of May. But I'll be posting a metric ass ton of embarrassing poetry, so there's that.

Snark away. Enjoy feeling superior. Savor it. It's what I'd do if I weren't me.

and now--
I know what you're
thinking:
maybe he should have
trashed this
misbegotten one
also.

ha, ha, ha,
ha.

St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Preview

2009-03-28T10:00:00.007-05:00

Chris King of Confluence City with primary violoncellist, Danny Lee

Every time I think blogging about poetry can't get any more tiresome and ridiculous, something like this happens and it totally redeems itself. The SLSO contacted me through my blog (thank you, again Eddie Silva!) and in return for blogging about the experience, I was offered two tickets to Friday night's performance, two drink tickets, a chance to meet with a symphony musician before the show, and a meet-up with other bloggers at a gastropub across the street after. I said heck yes, of course.

So last night, Laine and I met up in the second floor Met bar at Powell Hall with Eddie, who runs the SLSO blog, among other things, and four other local bloggers, one from Euclid Records, one from the Pulitzer Foundation, one from St. Louis Magazine, and one from the eclectic St. Louis blog Confluence City. And we awkwardly drank wine and cocktails with the thoroughly awesomesauce principal violoncellist Daniel Lee.

And that wasn't even the cool part.

I was wary of blogging about a symphony performance. My introduction to classical music came at an early age, but it was similar to being introduced to Chaucer before you learn how to read, by a teacher who doesn't know how to read either, but thought you should probably know the stuff, just in case. My younger sister was, let's call it "spirited," as a child, and to keep her out of trouble, my grandma would let her hold onto the little transistor radio she kept in the kitchen, which was always tuned to the classical music station. Grandma would tell my sister to listen to the music really closely and try to pick out all the individual instruments. It was one of my favorite early memories, and I've always avoided intellectualizing classical music because any hint of polysyllabic educated talk caused my sister to scream, "Nobody cares about your stupid brain! Speak English!" at me, and would leave in a huff, and our love of music was one of the few things we had in common. Could I even write intelligently about classical music with zero experience in it?

Turns out, it isn't a problem at all. While my apprehension grew stronger during Wagner's Good Friday Music from Parsifal, a very corporate sounding, simultaneously polished and dull piece, I was totally relieved when I realized it was just a neutral backdrop for the killer second piece, the German composer Zimmermann's Canto di speranza (Song of Hope), for cello and orchestra. It was the best Modern art/Jazz cartoon soundtrack ever. I was practically hopping up and down in my seat because I'd found an in! I've been watching the comments on this argument on the New York Times blog all week. It's essentially a throw back to the blog-fighting of yore over the value of "avant garde" poetry (replace with post avant, flarf, experimental, "difficult" whatever).

The SLSO's performance of the Zimmermann piece was a perfect musical representation of an avant garde poem, and while it seemed at times that a mistake had been made and each member of the orchestra was playing from the wrong sheet of music, it totally worked together when watched from above.

And *that still* was a prim and proper backdrop to the even wilder craziness of the contemporary Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, whose 2007 piece "Mirage," as we knew from Eddie Silva, was inspired by a chant written by Mazatec medicine woman, Maria Sabina Garcia, who was tripping on psilocybin mushrooms when she wrote it. You're interested now, aren't ya?

The soprano soloist, Karita Mattila, came out in a yellow, gauzy confection of a drapey nightdress, backlit with no slip. For those who might go see this performance at Carnegie Hall next week, I hope she doesn't change up the wardrobe. I've never heard a soprano soloist in person before, so what a treat that was. She was riveting, and I thought any minute she was going to beat the cello soloist, Anssi Karttunen, in a tripped out fit of woman-powered rage.

The two Sebelius pieces, Luonnotar, op. 70 and Symphony No. 5 in E-Flat major, op. 82, rather suffered by comparison, in my opinion.

Which segues into my original erm, segue: The appreciation for experimental art, be it visual, musical, poetry or prose, is vital for art as a whole. Tangential work like Matthew Henriksen's chapbook Is Holy and Jen Tyne's book Heron/Girlfriend are monumental in their un-self conscious connection to the human imagination, unhindered by the dampening filter of linear thought. And no one could listen to the SLSO's performance of Mirage and say that the composer was lazy or undisciplined or intentionally obscure. She's merely working for her audience, and if you're not getting it, then that doesn't include you, sister.

D.A. Powell Reading @ Left Bank Books Downtown Grand Opening

2009-03-23T13:00:00.000-05:00

I have a massive, stinging crush on the last two poems D.A. Powell read Saturday night. As he said, one poem undoes the other, but they both undid me. You can go read corydon & alexis, and corydon & alexis redux, but you've also got to hear him read them. He's the best reader of his own work I've ever heard.

Cranky Yellow Publishing

2009-03-22T20:53:00.005-05:00

I tried to give 15 skeins of yarn away at the Green with Indie Craft Show, but nobody wanted it because it was synthetic and not wool. These people are supposed to take your garbage off your hands and make wearable and decorative art out of it. I was mildly irritated that they were being picky (it was very soft, and even in pretty colors!) so we didn't buy anything. We carted our yarn down to Cherokee Street instead. Cranky Yellow runs a resale shop of sorts alongside their publishing biz, and they're really cool about taking interesting things off your hands. Angelo immediately & gleefully took my box of yarn and stuffed a few skeins in the display case. That's what I'm talking about.

We first stumbled upon Cranky Yellow a couple years ago, when it was further up the street in a smaller space. I bought two Y-beaded bracelets (just like the kind I had in the fourth grade!) and vowed to return with a dumpster dived rocking armchair and lots of books. Something about the two boys running the store that day made me want to keep them swimming in cool junk.

So after all that, Laine poked around the new shop, digging a lot of weird stuff, and I perused the 'zine rack. I had $20 in my pocket and I was willing to spend every penny of it, but I didn't buy a single thing. Is it a sign of my impending old age? The 'zines were completely devoid of ideas, even anti-social psychotic ones. And I'm a supporter of the arts, but the drawings weren't even pissed off and weird enough to tempt me. What has the internet done to the underground 'zine? Is it because I'm in the midwest? Is it because I'm too old to get it? Please, prove me wrong. Point me to the kid with the answers, the one who's getting it right.

No offense meant to Cranky Yellow, by the way. I'll be the first in line for the kitty circus next month. And I have some more furniture I rescued from the alley.

P.S. The man shut down Apop Record's illegal concert venue in the basement. Now where am I supposed to go to watch people throw up on each other?

metareview

2009-03-17T13:43:00.009-05:00

Go to HTMLGIANT and read Rauan Klassnik's review of Michael Schiavo's review of Matthew Dickman's book, All American Poem, then come back here and tell me what I think. Or wait, read Matthew Dickman's book, then read Michael Schiavo's review, then read Rauan Klassnik's review of his review, and then form an opinion, then give me one, too. Then go outside and take a nap under a tree. The ground is softest where the moles live. Then write a five-page essay on how this is misogyny:

The hat resting softly with its complex history of masculine principles:
helmets and berets, stocking caps, Stetsons. Ten-gallon
Texans and Australian straws.

And then write a 12 page paper on boys who defend women by starting fights in the name of protecting the weaker sex from sloppy poets. Spin around three times. Don't forget it!

I agree with Michael Schiavo on this: his litany of young American poets who are "writing wildly interesting, vital work, who address the concerns of their country and of their generation in a myriad of intelligent and advanced styles."I have all but maybe 3 of those books. My favorite this week is Jennifer L. Knox's Drunk by Noon.

[the deleted comment was an invitation to an event on Friday.]

Safisterated

2009-03-13T20:22:00.003-05:00

I've been obsessed with this slang website today. "Safisterated" is a front runner, second only to "butt hurt" & "Mitch." Anyways, D.A. Powell is coming to St. Louis on Saturday next at the Grand Opening for the Downtown Left Bank Books. He's pretty much the gay poet Chuck Norris (D.A. Powell can look directly at the sun, and the sun looks away). You should probably plan a road trip.

Seriously

2009-03-11T13:33:00.007-05:00

What a treat, what a treat! I just got my semi-monthly-whenever-really StudioSTL newsletter. I wasn't really expecting any Earth-shattering news, but I was pleasantly surprised into having a better day:

Celebrate local literature and a local bakery March 28th!

Words On Purpose presents benefit readings by Matthew Guenette and Rockwell Gray

4 P.M., Saturday, March 28
Black Bear Bakery, 2639 Cherokee, St. Louis

Guenette, author of Sudden Anthem, a collection of funny, raucous & satirical poems, and Gray, essayist, biographer and local historian author of A Century of Enterprise: a History of St. Louis Industry, will be reading their pieces. Suggested donation of $5 goes directly to benefit StudioSTL. Words on Purpose is a committee of socially concerned writers who produce literary readings to support community-based efforts that improve quality of life and promote equality of opportunity.

I saw Matt Guenette read at the Diode/Anti- reading in Chicago and he made me laugh so hard, I pulled a muscle. I've recommended his stuff to several people since I've returned. And now he's reading here?? The decadent madness of convenience! His deadpan antics are certainly worth $5 (make it $10!) for a good cause. I didn't think he was local, but what do I know? Go, if but for no other reason than to learn how in the world these two authors were placed at the same event. [Update: Laine (the expert on all documentary texts and videos in St. Louis) tells me that Rockwell Gray is Spaulding Gray's brother, or rather, was, until, you know...]

Missed Connections Poegle, NYC, No. 5

2009-03-11T11:51:00.004-05:00

Skate Rat: Sorry I Lost You

"Delia, you are a flake. You have always been a flake. If you insist upon frightening people, do it with your sculpture."

Got off at Jay Street last night, A train.
Wildness, I miss you. You were in red
& a black coat reading Vonnegut in Equinox
Steam Room and Bowl-Mor Lanes, We
watched the launch of the hot bi married guy
at The Moth. I think he was Haitian.
Maybe I shouldn't have, but my ex
at Parsons who always makes me
shave my head said you know,
smile pretty, misery. Louisa, dear
stupid Louisa, thanks for caring anyway.

Showdown

2009-03-09T22:11:00.007-05:00

From David Bonetti's St. Louis Post Dispatch review of the Winter/Spring exhibits at the Sheldon Art Galleries, re: painter Cindy Tower.

CINDY'S SCHTICK

Cindy Tower, who has taught at Washington University, is a late Ash Can School painter. Since those urban realists flourished before World War I, that would make her a very late Ash Can School painter. And since a lot of time has passed since their heyday, you'd expect that she might have added a few tricks of her own. Well, yes, she does drip to show the influence of de Kooning; in some cases she drips a lot. But other than that, not much.

Tower's subject is the abandoned factories and slaughterhouses of East St. Louis. She has a hard time delineating form and space, however, so sometimes it is a struggle to make out what she's painting. Not a rewarding struggle like some artists make you go through to see something you weren't expecting — just a struggle.

When you figure it out, it's just a badly rendered abandoned factory in East St. Louis. And she has a terrible sense of color, using a palette of brown, beige, putty and pink.

Tower must realize that she doesn't cut it as a painter, because she insists that her painting is merely the product of a heroic performance. She breaks the law painting on site! She puts her life at risk! There are rabid dogs prowling the site — not to mention the humans! So, she hires a bodyguard — an ancient man who looks as if he wouldn't be much good if any trouble occurred — and she does her heroic thing.

Sorry, but I'm not buying her schtick. What she's doing is not performance art, not even bad performance art. It's the result of an ego out of control. She would be far better off teaching herself to paint in her studio than wasting her time hauling canvases and paints back and forth across the river.

Oh, the title of the show, "Riding the Rubble Down," refers to 9/11. Hasn't anyone told Tower that making gratuitous references to 9/11 has become the last refuge of the scoundrel?

This portion of the review has a lot of St. Louis artists at orange-level panty wad. Throwing a cow to defend someone whose paintings contain real value would be one thing, but these people are essentially saying, Sure, she sucks, we all know she sucks, but why did David Bonetti feel the need to say it out loud, where anyone could see it?? Apparently criticism is something for restroom stalls and cocktail parties, whispers behind backs and sneers and snickers as soon as one leaves a room. Ever wonder why that lady is still hauling her canvases across the river to fight off wild packs of dogs to paint crap nobody likes? You think it might be 'cause nobody told her not to? I like to believe that criticism, even nasty criticism, is intended to teach, to either improve one's work or get one to knock it the hell off and do something else. Art suffers when we're afraid to voice our honest opinions of it. One person won't like everything, and one one critic's voice is probably not all that important in the grand scheme of things, but there is value to be gleaned, even from a disemboweling like this one. Instead of wasting words defending the artist, calling for an apology, and issuing catty backhanded compliments, ask yourself why you care. Are you really sick with worry that a middle-aged woman cried herself to sleep with yesterday's Post Dispatch? Or did the reviewer's skewering of a mediocre Midwestern painter hit a little too close to home?

David Orr's essay The Greatness Game in the NYT Book Review, to which I've already linked once, illustrates what happens when art, in this case, poetry, is ignored by critics. Orr says:

When we lose sight of greatness, we cease being hard on ourselves and on one another; we begin to think of real criticism as being “mean” rather than as evidence of poetry’s health; we stop assuming that poems should be interesting to other people and begin thinking of them as being obliged only to interest our friends — and finally, not even that. Perhaps most disturbing, we stop making demands on the few artists capable of practicing the art at its highest levels. Instead, we cling to the ground in those artists’ shadows — John Ashbery’s is enormous at this point — and talk about how rich the darkness is and how lovely it is to be a mushroom. This doesn’t help anyone. What we should be doing is asking why a poet as gifted as Ashbery has written so many poems that are boring or repetitive (or both), because such questions will allow us to better understand the poems he has written that are moving and funny and beautiful. Such questions might even allow other poets — especially younger poets — to find their own ways of writing poems that are moving and funny and beautiful. Which for those of us who read them, for those of us who believe in them, would be a very great thing indeed.

If John Ashbery can take that, then so can Cindy Tower.

This is not cash cab, NO HARD QUESTIONS.*

2009-03-03T10:35:00.006-06:00

Go read Rauan Klassnik's PHP-based chapbook, Ringing, illustrated in fancy Crayola, complete with the sound of the page turning when you advance to the next page. I've been completely absorbed in eBook technology for 2 years with my day job. Thrilled to see a stellar free poem and burgeoning technological advances.

*Title of this post was a perturbed response from an incensed undergrad who was asked in an exam, "What archeologist based his experience from Homer's poems?"

Deaf Poet Jam

2009-03-02T21:01:00.002-06:00

I stumbled upon this today, in the process of looking up something else. I'm dying to go to an ASL poetry performance. Anyone know where I can find one?

Rauan Klassnik interviews Rebecca Loudon

2009-03-02T20:41:00.002-06:00

Neat interview with Dame Rebecca Loudon.

Evil Genius

2009-03-02T20:01:00.004-06:00

I received Shane Jones' novel Light Boxes in the mail today, from Publishing Genius Press. After I got the Paypal receipt, I received a Blackberry e-mail directly from the business, with a quick "Thanks, Julie! This will ship tomorrow." And I thought, wow, that's pretty special. And now, mere days later, I decant the book from the envelope and it was wrapped in a piece of green paper with a Thanks, Julie! written on it. Y'know, it doesn't take much to make the American consumer sit up and say, Hey, I didn't get treated like chattel today. Maybe that's a statement about the crappy state of customer service today, maybe it's a statement about what rude, obnoxious assholes we are to each other, but regardless, sometimes businesses do that little bit that makes customer loyalty inevitable. Adam Robinson, today is your day. I'll be reading Shane Jones' novel with a light heart and a smile, at least until someone or something dies or is horribly mutilated. Not that it's likely, judging by the stark, yet serene cover. It's a really classy cover, now that I think on it. Everything about this book, from the recommendation on to Adam Robinson's thank yous, has predisposed me to like it.

I'll keep you posted.

Missed Connections Poegle, SF

2009-03-02T16:32:00.000-06:00

To Cocky and Carless

You said hi leaving the locker room,
Dimples, you're beautiful, my beloved
trustfund hippie, a nap sounds really good.
You are the tallest guy at the Endup
and you got me into Slide, I got you
a rum and Coke. The promise and tears,
your reflection, you liked my hair,
you said, you're a real down
to Mars girl. Hold your breath twice:
I want to make a collage for you.
We had butt sex in the boom boom room.
Do you know Cathy Richards?
It IS supposed to be.

Missed Connections Poegle, NYC

2009-03-02T11:54:00.003-06:00

Re: Rotten As They Come
I hope you see this, Brian.

We were in East Rutherford Court
thought I was over it, always waiting,
either way, you in your pink/black outfit,
you said you were leaving the west 90's
and you were e=mc square, but I had a crush
on yr doctor, you worked in fashion, used
to be one of the rotten ones
and I liked you for that. You were
reading The Hunger and Instinct Magazine,
and our sweet spontaneous makeout on MacDougal
made all cafeteria hookups wasted. We laughed,
you said I was chunky and delightful.
Could it be destiny?

Home Bodies

2009-03-01T11:21:00.005-06:00

I was reading Joy Williams' review of Brad Gooch's biography of Flannery O'Connor in this morning's NYTBR and followed a link to an editorial blurb mentioning, more or less, the difference between Joy Williams & Flannery O'Connor. They quote Joy Williams as saying,

“Flannery’s illness kept her put, and I’m sure she felt it was a powerful instance of grace bestowed,” Williams said. “Many writers today are wanderers. There is not only an unhousedness in language — how to convey, to say nothing of converge — but an unhousedness of place. For better or worse, I live in Tucson and Key West. Though sometimes, Maine. Currently I’m in big beautiful Wyoming, teaching at the university.”

I read no less than four critiques of MFA culture/poetry's fate in Academia, etc. over the past week alone, and none of them mentioned the nomadic life of a successful academic career.

Certainly not limited to creative writing positions, of course, but I've watched even the rolls of less-than-top-notch universities shift and change, since better or more-famous writers attract better students, and the less famous or talented are swapped out under the direction of one more-or-less static and most-famous chairperson. So much of interesting writing, historically, is tied to a strong sense of place, yet I can't name any contemporary writer whose literary work is immediately and specifically associated with the area in which they live (with the possible exception of NYC). In fact, I would go so far as saying that work that attempted that bond would be considered immature and solipsistic, not to mention the kiss of death, not widely marketable.

What takes the place of authentic attachment to geography in a culture that prides picking up and moving on after any given semester? Is abstraction a buffer against forming a home in a place that will only be taken away? Are we so stuck in the cerebral because it's the only world that moves with us? When writers stop trying to make a living teaching, will our homes return to our words? Was local color writing just a passing (though decades-long) fad and has our world now expanded exponentially, through the internet, into a place that we all can talk about without specifics and truly feel at home no matter where we are? Do we have to make pop-culture references and refer to tabloid news stories to keep a wide audience for our work? What is my record for consecutive questions?

Did you hear Denny's has announced a new special in honor of the Octo-mom? It's 8 eggs, no sausage, and everyone else in the restaurant pays the bill.

You're Going to Die

2009-02-25T12:23:00.008-06:00

Satan currently follows *me* on Twitter, and even though I'm quite proud of my atheist adulthood, I'm still afraid to follow him back. Although it is amusing that Satan follows Jesus on Twitter.

Today is my least favorite day of the year, when I am reminded, no, not of my own mortality, but of the fact that I have nothing unearthly to fear anymore. It's not like I ever felt peaceful about being Catholic (beyond feeling smugly superior to all other religions, of course). When Jesus is in your brain monitoring your every thought, you figure out you're going to rot in hell before you learn to tie your shoes. I managed to squeeze tiny bouts of okay in between panic attacks when my period was a day late, worried I was pregnant and would soon give birth to the next savior of the world.

Narcissism and Catholicism are like peanut butter and jelly.

So I've decided to give up speaking ill of others (again) for Lent this year, even though there are no consequences for failure. So if you catch me making negative comments about anyone, I'll give you a quarter. And I'll mutter a sloppy hail Mary under my breath.

The tiny Catholic part of my stubborn subconscious is delighted that I'm such a crappy atheist.

Received

2009-02-24T15:46:00.004-06:00

Julie Platt's chapbook, In the Kingdom of My Familiar, received and devoured. She's attempting to be great, sometimes E. Bishop's bitter sister with a better wardrobe and less free time.

Fall 2008 issue of 32 Poems. Hadara Bar-Nadav's "Ode to Lymph Nodes" is disgusting fun and Ken Cormier's "Poetry Doesn't Need You" is apt for the greatness generation.

Read the New York Times Book Review article on Greatness or the lack thereof.

Diode / Anti- reading slideshow

2009-02-16T10:33:00.006-06:00

Round two: Diode & Anti- reading at the Fine Arts Building, Slideshow Here.

Coconut/MILK reading slideshow

2009-02-16T10:31:00.006-06:00

Round one of photographs: Coconut & MILK mag reading at Myopic Books Slideshow Here.

AWP pictures

2009-02-15T18:53:00.005-06:00

Laine's processing the photos she took in Chicago, and my hanging over her impatiently isn't moving things along any faster. We'll probably put them up in small batches over the next week or so. She grabbed some gorgeous pictures and I don't know what took me so long to drag her with me.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I should probably tell you I didn't even pay to go to AWP. I merely escorted a professional photographer to Chicago for the off-site readings and receptions with free hooch.

elementary cadaver dissection

2009-02-15T18:01:00.010-06:00

We saw this new hotel under construction in University City before the Poetry Out Loud National recitation contest. Here's a pretty cool blog post on VanishingSTL regarding its design. The architect chose to keep the front of the original building (an old funeral home) intact, and built that modern structure on top of it. I'm reminded of this poetry blog, which is full of ghosts and smells like formaldehyde, but I'm choosing to start updating the stupid thing again, giving it a little architectural redesign, blowing out the cobwebs, but keeping the bones to show where it began.

Does anyone know how to get out the smell of formaldehyde?

New Schedule is up for 08-09 Observable Readings

2008-08-28T13:16:00.003-05:00

Lots of cool people reading in St. Louis this season, as usual! Stay cool, Observable. For the love of all that is good and right in this world, stay cool.

Hungry Young Poets: The Final Episode (this year)

2008-08-17T20:39:00.003-05:00

The Hungry Young Poets summer reading series will hold its final entry for this season on Monday night at 7:30, at Duff's. To read:

Molly Jennings

Erin Goss

Jen Green

Cassandra Howard

Steven Schroeder

Mike Rooney

There's a musical act, but I can't remember who it is right now. Sorry.

P.S. Getting a hopstart on next year, if you're under 30 and you're living within 300 miles of St. Louis, and you just happen to write killer poems, e-mail me, juliedill at gmail dot com, with three or four of your poems and we'll see about fitting you in next summer.

Missouri Loves Misery

2008-07-28T10:04:00.005-05:00

Andrea Askowitz, acclaimed author of the memoir, My Miserable, Lonely Lesbian Pregnancy, is bringing her Misery Loves Company book tour through St. Louis. She will be reading from her book at Novak's on August 11th, 2008 at 7:00. The Pips to her Gladys Knight are St. Louis writers Julie Dill and Kyle Kratky. Drag show to follow.

this wheelbarrow of cottage cheese

2008-05-19T14:41:00.003-05:00

Heath Ledger 1979-2008

2008-01-22T21:21:00.000-06:00

Do you buy those rhymes?

2007-05-16T19:56:00.000-05:00

The 2007 lineup for the Hungry Young Poets series is now up on River Styx's website. Go check it out, and if it's something you'd be interested in doing next summer, let me know. I'm taking applications for next season's lineup now.

excerpts

2007-05-08T19:21:00.000-05:00

Thursday Night

2007-04-04T10:12:00.000-05:00

Bla bla bla I never update bla bla bla I suck, yeah I know. Visit our St. Louis Blog, or the SLOG, as I affectionately refer to it, for more regular updates. April is like, cruel or whatever.

Poetry reading Thursday night:

OBSERVABLE READINGS
April 5, 2007, 8 PM
Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood

David Clewell and Joy Katz (Who is not the lady who went off on her publisher at AWP that one time)

David Clewell is the author of six poetry collections, including Blessings
in Disguise (Penguin, 1991), a winner in the National Poetry Series, and Now
We're Getting Somewhere (University of Wisconsin, 1994) winner of the Felix
Pollak Prize in Poetry. Clewell teaches at Webster University in St. Louis.

Joy Katz's books are The Garden Room (Tupelo Press, 2006) and Fabulae
(Southern Illinois University Press, 2002). She is co-editor of the
soon-to-be-published anthology Dark Horses: Poets on Overlooked Poems and a
senior editor at Pleiades. When she is not visiting St. Louis, she teaches
writing workshops at The New School.

There may be some discussion afterward around the bar about the whole
Chocolate Christ debacle. You won't want to miss it.

52nd City "Sound" CD Release Party April 14th at The Royale.

go.

2007-03-08T06:57:00.000-06:00

Wherfore art thou, Kevin Prufer?

Thursday, March 8, 8 PM
Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood
Observable Readings Presents
Jon Woodward, John Gallaher, Wayne Miller

Jon Woodward was born in Wichita, Kansas. He currently lives
in the Boston area and works at the Harvard Museum of
Comparative Zoology. His first book, Mister Goodbye Easter
Island, was published by Alice James Books in 2003. His
second book, Rain, was published by Wave Books in 2006.

John Gallaher is the author of Gentlemen in Turbans, Ladies
in Cauls (Spuyten Duyvil, 2001) and Little Book of Guesses
(Four Way Books, 2007) winner of the Levis Poetry Prize. He
is an editor of The Laurel Review.

Wayne Miller is the author of Only the Senses Sleep (New
Issues, 2006) and What Night Says to the Empty Boat
(GreenTower, 2005), translator of I Don't Believe in Ghosts
(BOA), by Albanian poet Moikom Zeqo, and co-editor of the
forthcoming anthology New European Poetry (Graywolf).
Miller teaches at Central Missouri State University, where
he co-edits Pleiades.

10 Jens Recap + Junk + Reminder

2007-02-02T11:23:00.000-06:00

Last night is probably still running loose, impregnating unguarded purebreds 'cause that poetry reading was off the chain. It was a bit chaotic and plagued with audio issues (that one person would lick a 9 volt battery on stage was enough, but two battery lickers, that's just AV comedy gold), but I believe a good time was had by all.

It's nunna my nevermind, but why on Earth anyone would pay to fly from NY or CA to St. Louis to read five minutes of poems is beyond my comprehension. For whatever reason, though, it was a delicious study in stage persona perfection and I offer a huge thank you to all the out-of-state Jens who made the trip, especially the ones who made us laugh.

+++

I received an e-mail call for submissions for an erotic tattoo story contest and I followed a link and wound up on a Russian mail order bride site. Wonderfalls had an excellent Russian mail order bride episode. Man, I love that show.

+++

St. Valentine's Day is in twelve days. Have you picked out your song yet? Remember, the song doesn't have to be a breakup rant. You're perfectly welcome to serenade (embarrass) your partner with a pop song poem of love. Just print out the lyrics and practice reading them in your bestest poet voice. Demonstrative gestures are encouraged, interpretive dancing cannot be stopped.

Taken:
Love to Hate You, Erasure
Rent, Pet Shop Boys
Sara, Jefferson Starship
Total Eclipse of the Heart, Bonnie Tyler
Lady, Styx

The Ten Jens Reading

2007-01-31T14:02:00.000-06:00

Too much, or just enough, you be the judge, but don't miss this monumental poetry event, The Ten Jens Reading, Thursday night, 8:00 at the Schlafly Bottleworks.

Come on, Martha Collins never liked you anyway.

poetry reading tonight

2007-01-15T18:35:00.000-06:00

River Styx Readings @ Duff's 7:30 pm

Josh Bell and David Meltzer (not to be confused with David Peltzer)

Rockin'

2007-01-01T11:56:00.000-06:00

In a world where nobody pays attention to poetry, a brave and simple man happened upon a gimmick. It all started with Three Stephanies (or two Stephanies and a Stefene)...

Stephanie Young, Stephanie McKenzie and Stefene Russell

...then came last year's sensational, brilliant, and critically acclaimed, The Five Aarons.

McCollough, Tieger, Belz, Kunin and Kiely

...and now, this Thursday (January Fourth [happy birthday, Mom!]), Aaron Belz and his Observable Readings series presents: "Rockin' Robins," the feel good poetry reading of the month. Robyn Schiff makes a return appearance on a St. Louis stage (readings@the contemporary with Julie Dill and Nick Twemlow), while Robin Behn and Robin Schaer come to us for the very first time. Farm Team opens with an acoustic set prior to the poetry. The event starts at 8:00 at the Schlafly Bottleworks. Come on, it's Thursday. What else could you possibly have to do? Besides, you don't want to leap into the 10 Jens without a Rockin' Robins warm-up.

issues

2006-12-27T10:13:00.000-06:00

The Fall issue of Sou'wester Magazine is out. It's got some Alison Stine and Chad Parmenter. Get a subscription. It's way cheap.

This blog is lame.

2006-12-27T08:49:00.000-06:00

Alex Lemon: Not Lame. I got Mosquito for Christmas.

1. Leave the internets.

2. Go find the Books.

3. Read a thousand Poems.

4. Write one.

5. Throw it away.

6. Ridicule Enrique Iglesias.

P.S. Her (my) insufferable inability to remember that Howard Jones' name is not Howard Johnson.

quick plug

2006-12-11T11:09:00.000-06:00

For the difficult to please, dark, cynical guy/gal who has everything, this holiday season, consider purchasing functional artwork. Yes, for the low, low price of $15.99 (plus shipping), you can purchase a Laine Marschik original calendar featuring twelve stunning, digital infra-red photographs of the Bellefontaine Cemetary. I just received mine, and that puppy's going right up on the wall of my office. Who doesn't need a daily reminder that you, too, shall pass? Shop our Cafe Press store today!

small, small world

2006-11-10T08:39:00.000-06:00

I'm reading last month's Go Magazine, a NYC free monthly, because I can never seem to get a free magazine during the month it's current. I read it for the good gay bar ads and gals with good haircuts, things we just don't see here in St. Louis. But in the "Pets" section, I saw a very familiar face for the "precious pooch of the month," Amy King and her Pomeranian. Cute!

My horoscope for last month (I love reading my monthly horoscope after the month is over):

"You've got jaws like a trap, young carnivore, and this month you've snagged somebody especially sweet. Indulge your cravings for fast food and fast women, but remember to keep caution on you side. Floss diligently and thoroughly--it's better to be safe than risk getting cavities."

Wow. That's so accurate, it's creepy. Man, I love flossin'.

I heard K. Curtis Lyle perform a poem last night during his acceptance speech at the 52nd City Kick Ass Awards. I laughed for a long time over a line that I've been remembering as "Hold your uranium ass against the geiger counter of my soul," though I'm pretty sure it was better than that. Rest assured, there was definitely "uranium ass" and "geiger counter" in the line.

artificial sweetner

2006-11-03T09:15:00.000-06:00

Last night: Nightmares of Gregory Corso's genitals in a scandalized Allen Ginsberg's hand and happy memories of Laine getting wicked sloshed off a single cider.

Tonight:
1st Friday Gallery Hop downtown, where father-to-be Thomkat will betray me once again with S.G.

Then fellow StudioSTL mentor Cheree "Yes, That's Her Real Name" Berry is having a party for her book, Hurrah for the Bra at the Des Lee Gallery, 7:00 – 10:00 pm, 1627 Washington Avenue (between 16th & 17th st). I must go watch what it looks like when a Bonne Terre, MO native moves to NYC for years, works as a graphic designer for Kate Spade, then moves back to St. Louis and tries to pretend this is a real city. Yum-o.

Saturday:
CD Release party for Nashville's (and Mr. Todd Vierling's) Colleen McFarland at Cicero's.

Sunday: Vegetarian Brunch at Mokabe's.

oy, los muertos

2006-11-01T14:26:00.000-06:00

10th Annual Day of the Dead Beats

Thursday night, 8:00, Schlafly Bottleworks

Last year's gig was killer, with Stefene Russell reading Peter Orlavsky's scribbled and poorly spelled poems while wearing a vintage girl scout uniform. This year's lineup definitely has a tough act to follow:

Ann Haubrich (host of KDHX's "Literature for the Halibut") reading Jack Kerouac

Stefene Russell (poet, actress, and 52nd City editor) reading Philip Lamantia

Poet Ken Brown reading from the Yage’ Letters and other William S. Burroughs

Greg Hazleton (Wash U English instructor and poet) reading Gary Snyder

Kevin McCameron (St. Louis Poetry SLAM! master) reading Gregory Corso

Brian Jackson (Former roommate of Greg Corso and friend of many Beat poets) telling shocking stories and reading Allen Ginsberg

Bob Wilcox (theater and film critic and co-host of dhTV's "Two on the Aisle") reading Allen Ginsberg

K. Curtis Lyle (St. Louis Warrior Poet) reading Bob Kaufmann

“Bar Room” Bob Putnam (Way Out Club co-owner and KDHX personality) reading Herbert Huncke

Aaron Belz (Observable Readings organizer) reading Kenneth Rexroth

Paul Acker (poet and SLU professor) reading Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Brett Underwood (organizer of Day of the Dead Beats, bartender and host of KDHX's "The No Show") ending the night with Charles Bukowski

polo ponies

2006-10-27T09:01:00.000-05:00

"Art is moral passion married to entertainment. Moral passion without entertainment is propaganda and entertainment without moral passion is television." Rita Mae Brown

Remember when it was still cool to be snarky about television?

The Big Read

2006-10-06T11:09:00.000-05:00

Stephen J. Connell, creator of and writer for The Rockford Files, will be appearing between 1:00 and 3:30 tomorrow afternoon at The Big Read in St. Louis. Plenty of other people will be there, too. I'll be in the "Half-Baked Bakery" booth for StudioSTL. I couldn't tell if they knew the implications of "half baked", but I've decided it doesn't matter. There are too many perfectly good expressions that have fallen to the wayside because of illicit euphemisms. I for one am a huge fan of using "prophylactic" in my business dealings.

Speaking of half-baked, I've lately been bubbling with ideas for multi-media literary art projects. I think that means my brain has recovered from two years of grad school. Stay tuned.

Last night was the PROMO benefit reading. I don't think they made much money, but we all had fun. I was awesome, but only because I won a game of Uno. Nobody threw anything at me, though. And I managed to actually fill my 10 minutes for once, instead of reading 11 poems in 4 minutes like I usually do. As my nod to performance art, and the fact that I had, by far, the shortest bio line in the lineup of readers, I revealed an important but little-known fact about myself in between poems. I pass these along as a PSA, so anyone who has a similar quirk won't feel quite so alone. I'm not holding my breath for similar quirks.

1. I am afraid of biscuit cans. I hate the suspense.
2. When I was nine years old, my favorite author was Irma Bombeck.
3. I used to think sidewalks were very exotic.
4. I mess up radio reception.
5. My cat doesn't like me.
6. I love to floss.

/hiatus

citified

2006-10-01T11:18:00.000-05:00

Charlie Jensen's "LocusPoint" is up and running, as I'm sure you already know. Go read what you're missing in St. Louis, Seattle, and Boston.

hey, I've got a soldering gun...

2006-09-19T22:01:00.000-05:00

I'm suffering through numerous e-mails regarding my dork-quotient. Yes, I went to a renaissance festival. But I didn't inhale.

Weird Al's got my back.

Hiatus

2006-09-13T14:17:00.000-05:00

Working on new stuff for a reading in October for a PROMO fundraiser. Which means, yes, I have to be GAY, and POETY, in one night. I only hope they let me say bad words for this one. I work BLUE, got dammit!

If you want to know what's going on with me, e-mail me, or check Laine's Photo Blog.

p'shawshank

2006-08-25T11:36:00.000-05:00

get thee a wife

2006-08-18T09:19:00.000-05:00

I took some notes from this magazine article from the May, 1955 issue of Housekeeping Monthly, titled, "The Good Wife's Guide."

"Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it."

"Over the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift, too. After all, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction."

"Be happy to see him."

"Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him."

"Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first--remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours."

"Don't complain if he's late for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through that day."

"Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice."

"Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him."

"A good wife always knows her place."

Radical feminism folds back on itself eventually. Some of these suggestions are rather hot. I have a green gingham apron, you know. I wonder how hard it is to wash dishes while wearing high heels...

white boy blues god

2006-08-17T08:49:00.000-05:00

Upcoming Readings:

Observable Readings @ the Schlafly Bottleworks

Thursday, September 7
Michael Castro & Eugene B. Redmond

River Styx Reading Series @ Duff's Restaurant

Monday, September 15
Kerri Webster & George Bilgere

plug

2006-08-11T13:53:00.000-05:00

Testing out the new business website:
Nuclear Family Photo. Whadda ya know, it's still there. Hm.

it tolls for thee

2006-08-11T13:47:00.000-05:00

From Matt

1. A book that changed my life?

William Morris’, The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs

2. A book I've read more than once?
Wallace Stevens' Harmonium

3. What is a book I'd want with me on a desert island?
Paradise Lost, since I have to read it before I die or the uni will revoke my B.A. in English.

4. What is a book that made me giddy?
Gertrude Stein’s, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

5. What is a book that has made me sad?
The Bible

6. What is a book I wish had been written?
The Picture Book of Sexy Librarians Past and Present

7. A book I wish had never been written?
The Bourne Identity

8. What is a book I'm currently reading?
Gertrude Stein’s Paris, France

9. One book I've been meaning to read?
Paradise Lost... I should really get on that.

10. Tag bloggers:
Bertram, Lloyd, Haines

gay mafia

2006-08-07T16:04:00.000-05:00

We love what you've done with this space.

We'd hate to see anything...happen to it.

AA entendre

2006-08-07T13:37:00.000-05:00

On Thursday, August 10th, Dustin Diamond (Screech, beat, b-beat, b-b-b-beat, Go Bayside!) will headline the night by throwing out a ceremonial first pitch, signing autographs, and selling T-shirts to help raise money to save his house while the Grizzlies take on the Traverse City Beach Bums at 7:05 p.m. Don't do a google image search on Sauget, IL while you're at work.

countdown...

2006-08-07T13:17:00.000-05:00

Today at 5:43:21, the date will be 8/7/06 5:43:21.

That's Percy the mini-pig, who will soon replace the I-Pod.

if you check it, she might update

2006-08-04T07:14:00.000-05:00

Laine's Photoblog. They grow up so fast. *sniff*

oldness

2006-08-02T13:42:00.000-05:00

Some salesdude was in my office just now. He was telling me how his daughter is a camp counselor at the girl scout camp an hour south of here. He was commenting on the vile humidity and reckoning that he wouldn't take the heat of staying outdoors this time of year. Then he said, "Remember 'Cool Hand Luke'?" and proceeded to make some really dorky movie reference about prison. Dude. That movie came out in 1967. I am not *that* old!

I really need to stop dressing like an old woman at work.

In other news, this ugly ass baby elephant was born in St. Louis this morning. I was 15 when her father, Raja, was born. I guess I am *that* old.

lieb dich bis dinestag

2006-07-27T19:35:00.000-05:00

Tonight:

Pittsburgh @ State Theater Center for the Arts. 8:00 P.M.

or

The Ditty Bops

St. Louis @ Mad Art, 8:00 p.m.

Since the Ditty Bops are kind enough to bike here from California, and since, of course, I'm not in Pittsburgh (Laine is), I will be rewarding the DB's bicycle tour with my admission dollars. They should get something for riding through the state of Misery, which stands only second to Texas for being unfriendly to vegetarians. I'd bring organic produce if I thought they'd take it. What the hell is with me and giving produce to people? Gah.

after the night unglues its unknown anyway

2006-07-25T22:53:00.000-05:00

sad pandas

2006-07-24T16:48:00.000-05:00

St. Michael of Firm Pectorals

2006-07-20T15:31:00.000-05:00

My gramma gave me a laminated prayer card with a gold plastic St. Michael medallion pressed in it. On the card, the drawing of St. Michael looks kinda hot, like Bowie hot. I think he's wearing eyeliner and lipstick and his tight blue tunic is showing a little pec and nipple action.

Every time I look at the card, I catch myself trying to correct the awkward syntax of the little prayer. I mean, really--"Ever hold in your special care, most triumphant St. Michael, the forces of public order against the crimes of evil men, and defend all honest citizens in time of peril."

Gramma must think I live in an upper-crust Republican South Central, though: "Please protect us, St. Michael the Archangel, against violence, murder and robbery. In your sleepless vigilance watch over the safety and welfare of our homes and keep guard over our possessions."

The biggest thug on our block is probably God. This is the uprooted tree at the end of our block. It smashed someone's Toyota to bits. It's 137 degrees outside with 72% humidity and thousands of people are without electricity.

On an unrelated note--Farewell to Honey the Shihtzu and Roger the Maine Coon. It's been a tough month on our block for the pet world. I will miss the retired Croatian soccer star dad standing in front of his house shouting, "Honey, come here Honey!" And saying, "Hi Honey, we're home!" every time we get out of the car. And poor Roger. He was so young.

Carpet of the Sun

2006-07-17T12:15:00.000-05:00

7:30 tonight, in St. Louis
Duff's
Hungry Young Poets
featuring Dave Lucas

There are more people reading, but he's the Catholic school cool kid.

half-way to a full-blown stigmata

2006-07-17T09:25:00.000-05:00

May all your dances be lap.

jour de les cheese eating surrender monkeys

2006-07-13T11:08:00.000-05:00

Marie Antoinette

1 splash strawberry liqueur
1 splash Cointreau
1 splash calvados
1 splash fresh lemon juice
4 oz. Champagne

Combine all ingredients, except Champagne, in a shaker filled with ice. Strain into a flute and slowly add the Champagne.

Let Them Eat Trivia

2006-07-12T13:00:00.000-05:00

Superfab Bastille Day Trivia!
(Powdered wigs are optional, of course; cake is also optional; outdoor liquor is absolutely restricted).

**Groovy raffle & door prizes**
A partial list:
Gift certificates for Mimi's Subway Bar
Gift certificates for Pasta House
Gift certificates Culpepper's
Some Bob Reuter photo books.
Some Bob Reuter/Thomas Crone photo books.
Some odd STL-related books.
Pageant tix for **Reel Big Fish**
Tix to the City Museum
Tix to see the Chihuly exhibit at the Gardens
A '50s b-b-q set, with steer-head salt & pepper shakers and "chunks of meat" markers with little cow heads on them, so you can mark which cuts are roasted rare, medium & well-done, to avoid complaining guests (comes with a three-fer of Maull's)
A very peculiar set of lantern lights, to be given away with a peculiar colored-glass apertif set
possibly some goth-y severed doll head lantern lights
A big, brand-new cooler full of probably every flavor of Vess that has ever been drunk
A gold mystery box, containing something I guarantee you have never seen in all your days
You want to know what's in the box? Play the raffle!

The details:
Date: Friday, July 14, 2006• Time: Doors 6:30pm / Trivia 7:00pm• Price: $100 for a table of 10. (Sorry, but no partial payments accepted. Your table must pay in full at the door. Cash/checks only.)• Place: Mad Art Gallery, 2727 S. 12th Street, St. Louis, MO 63118•

Reservations: Thomas@52ndcity.com or 314-776-6929• You can bring your own snacks, but there will be a cash bar. (No outside liquor of any kind.)

Of course, this is also the first chance to get your mitts on 52nd City's next issue, themed "Faith," with work by Patrick Landewe, Andrea Noble, K. Curtis Lyle, Randall Roberts, Eric Erfan Vickers, James Weber, Franklin Jennings, Aaron Belz, Lindsey Durway, Kerry Zimmerman, Jane Linders, Carmelita Nuñez, Andrea Day…and lots of other folks. Keep your eye on the website, that's coming soon, too. And thanks to a new printer, they've dropped the cover price. Viva #52!

snerk

2006-07-10T13:43:00.000-05:00

Heidi Lynn writes a poem about why poems aren't worth writing.

that thing about history and being doomed to repeat it

2006-07-09T20:21:00.000-05:00

Before, Last Summer

After, Last Summer

Before, This Summer

After, This Summer

why does this invoke my name?

2006-07-08T22:25:00.000-05:00

Fear change? Give it to us!

2006-07-06T11:29:00.000-05:00

Our reading series is so poor (how poor is it??) we’re petitioning to put our check box next to the electric company’s "extra dollar for the poor" section on your monthly power bill. After that, we’re moving up to the florescent pink $5 tabs at the grocery store where the cheerful checkout chick can scan the UPC and add a poetry donation to your basket of cheap wine and day-old-donuts.

Maybe, just maybe, if we get enough money we can keep our name and location the same for next year’s series. If there IS a next year’s series. If there IS a next year, for that matter. Don’t make me go all Sally Struthers on yo’ ass, ‘cause I will.

Please sir, buzz our Paypal page and send us your couch change and stale Cheetos. For the month of July, the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission will match your generosity, dollar for dollar.

We’ll take anything. Why is everything suddenly so dark, Mommy?

my country

2006-06-28T14:55:00.000-05:00

Let no one ever tell you I'm not patriotic. I spent six hours of my Saturday at the Tri-City Firecracker festival (with extra-special emphasis on cracker). Highlights: The goat ropin' fabulous version of a dunking booth, in which the victim is seated beneath a ceramic toilet bowl. The toilet flushes and dumps water on his head when the soft-ball hurling elementary school kid hits the target. Then there was the Little Miss Firecracker pageant, which sported several star spangled toddler contestants who fled in tears of embarrassment as soon as their names were called. And of course, the not-to-be-missed booth hocking porcelain dolls and confederate flags. As a drunken reveler's t-shirt proclaimed, the south will rise again, at which time, apparently, these ass clowns believe Missouri will be reclaimed.

The highlight of the St. Louis gay pride parade this year was when a mob of squealing children ran into the street to beg hugs from the furries. WTF,O? Honey, put it down, you don't know where that's been! Morgan Fairchild's appearance was rather anti-climactic after that. I did thoroughly enjoy the catty gay man behind us who kept screaming to every drag queen, "Morgan!! Over here!!!" In all, the churches outweighed the perverts and we went home before it was over.

Special shout out to the Growing American Youth group and the all-girl roller derby team. Y'all need group photos, you call us.

Mrs. Yaeber Warned You

2006-06-19T21:47:00.000-05:00

JulieDill shouldn't leave her computer logged on in the bat cave while she's not using it. Especially when I am sick, loopy, on cold medicine and tired of running people over with video game cars.

I am sorry to report that the entire household has a nasty cold, (yes, even the cat is coughing,) so we will not have any first-hand reports or photos from the Observable Readings Benefit Saturday night. Or comments on the Glass Arts Gallery Hop Friday night. Or The three-year-old's B-Day party Saturday afternoon. Or the Hungry Young Poets reading tonight. This weekend, our biggest contribution to the community was not contaminating it.

Stay tuned. I'm sure we're bound to do something silly very soon, just to make up for all this sense we're showing.
Your pirate commentator - Laine
(arg)

that Queen...

2006-06-13T14:29:00.000-05:00

"Knock knock.
Who's there?
Morrissey.
Morrissey who?
See, I told you I didn't have any friends!"

Dreams on Which I've Already Wiffed

2006-06-08T08:14:00.000-05:00

Dreams on Which I've Already Wiffed

I saw a bumper sticker yesterday. It read, "Those who give up their dreams discourage the dreams of others." Well, actually, it read, "Those who give up their dreams discourage yours." But I didn't like the persecution complex implied by the original. It got me thinking, and I have a lot of time to think on my 11 mile round-trip bicycle commute to work, (sorry about darting out in front of you at the crosswalk like that, buddy, I was thinking of something important, you understand) I realized, it is already too late to pursue some of my dreams. Since I have given up on these dreams, I guess that means I can start discouraging yours.

Whoever you are.

Dreams on Which the Taxi's Already Passed

10. I will most likely never become an accomplished piano player.

9. I will probably never start an all-girl a cappella group.

8. I won't be the guy who carries Oscar the Grouch around in his trash can on Sesame Street.

7. I'll never get into an Ivy League all-girl university, (Bryn Mawr), where I would participate in many, many pillow fighting sleepovers.

6. I will never win a trophy in debate.

5. I'll never get into my city's chapter of the Optimist Club. Think about that for a minute.

4. I will never open an outdoor Zen rock garden where I would have sold concrete Virgin Mary statues painted in garish colors, some whose eyes seeped real tears at the flip of a hidden switch.

3. I will never follow a Klezmer band on a world tour.

2. I will never get a tattoo in the shape of a pair of flower-printed panties across my whole butt. (Last night, I dreamed I did this, and I was very sore when I woke up, from all the clenching. Great toning exercise.)

1. I'll never be such a magnificent accordian player that k.d. lang would ask me to join her band.

I must go think about dreams I still have available to me, and work frantically toward attaining them, so I do not become a bitter misanthrop in my dotage.

for authenticity's sake, the allegorical window

2006-06-04T21:02:00.000-05:00

This isn't one of our pictures... I just fished for it online. You can't see it from this angle, but Chicago is holding a shiv on St. Louis, behind that wall. Things are just about to get ugly. And you know New York and SanFran are just gonna sit back and watch the carnage unfold. They don't want to get involved.

Observable Readings 2006-07 Season

2006-06-02T18:41:00.000-05:00

The list has been finalized and can be observed aqui: Observable Readings.

It occurs to me that this might be our last chance to make St. Louis cool.

There's a piece of stained glass in the Hyatt hotel lobby at Union Station downtown. It's probably eight feet long by four feet tall. It features three hot chicks in laurels and togas. One is reclining to the left, one is reclining to the right, and the one in the center is looking straight ahead at the viewer. You see, the San Francisco chick can't look at the New York chick without looking straight through the St. Louis chick. Chew on that for awhile, then spit it out, 'cause it's kinda nasty. You know the Chicago chick would beat the holy crap out of the St. Louis chick soon's look at her. Bickety bam.

I got hometown pride and all, but that Chicago chick is HARD.

Readings@

2006-05-25T14:25:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's changed its name again. The reading series formerly known as readings@city museum, then readings@ the contemporary, then readings@the tap room, is now (I think) officially, Observable Readings, to go with Observable Books, their press.

Hugh Jazz Benefit Concert June 17th at the Schlafly Bottleworks. As you may recall, last year, Aaron Belz read poems from I Can't Fight This Feeling: Timeless Poems for Lovers From the Pop Hits of the 70's and 80's in between band performances. There will be more cool bands, though I can't imagine how AB could possibly top his anti-sultry, deadpan rendition of "Like a Virgin."

$15 cover, cheap at twice the price.

If you're in the Lou, you must come shimmy with us.

books

2006-05-24T19:05:00.000-05:00

List of books I received as presents and books I purchased with graduation gift certificates:

Ratman's Notebook, Stephen Gilbert

Later, Bob Creely

copy of Fence

A book on beginning poetry writing from a famous writer, purchased out of sheer morbid curiosity. Going to stick to reading them for free while sitting on the floor of the bookstore. Stinky-poo.

Illustrated Strunk & White (I heart Maira Kalman. I wrote her a fan letter once, but she never answered.)

Edgar Alan Poe and the Juke-box: Uncollected Poems, Drafts and Fragments, Elizabeth Bishop

The Selected Letters of Marianne Moore

A few books I just found out I want, because my Amazon page knows me better than I know myself:

Sin-a-Rama: The Golden Age of Sleaze
Trash: The Graphic Genius of Xploitation Movie Posters
The Voluptuous Vegan (which will be the title of my first Lesbian mystery novel, god forbid I should ever write one)

a week from today...

2006-04-29T14:41:00.000-05:00

We'll be serving 35 pounds of real meat, 2 pounds of vegetarian substitutes and endless pitchers of sangria and mojitos, not to mention a sneak peek at my extended family. A place to see and be seen, to be sure.

Lucius Cornelius Swishington III

2006-04-25T08:42:00.000-05:00

I'm now one Emily Dickinson paper away from being finished with my career as a graduate student. Looking forward to being [an] outside[r] again.