Quencher

I read Joe Wenderoth's superb introduction to Graham Foust's Ahsahta Press collection of 03, Leave the Room to Itself, out in the world this early afternoon before work at Launderland launderlanding.

I want to buy Joe Wenderoth a soda.

Jai Guru Dev

Commissioned to edit a poetry anthology, His Divinity contemplates the Impermanence of the World and the Importance of Harmonious Action lunch.

When Poetry Stopped Being Cool

I didn't know. I hadn't heard the bell.

But it stopped being cool and turned into chicken.

Hey

  Bitch is 10.

 Go to New Yipes tonight.

"I read Tao Lin's book and put it down; I ate mashed potatoes." — Clay Banes

changes

Laura Sims/Geraldine Kim reading date has been changed to Sunday, April 9th, at 7:30 PM (eyes right).

Your attendance is still compulsory.

And Behrle is moving around again, as usual. He does it he says because he wants to discourage fans and readers; meanwhile, bloggers all over the world publish new posts about "crazy Jimmy's crazy new URL."

I mean, whatever.

No Eight Arms to Hold You

Sadly, Zachary Schomburg posts that due to high combustion, his girders have snapped, and Octopus Magazine will remain offline and unavailable until Feb. 1.

Meantime, you can score a fix—as long as you don't type "TienAnMien" or "human rights" or this—here.

Or you can just listen to the coming Speech from the Throne, I mean the State of the Union Address. And wait.

Joshua Beckman, Noelle Kocot, Anthony McCann, Karel Hynek Mácha & Linh Dinh

I was at SPD this morning picking up books for the store and was delighted to see the first three Wave Books titles had just arrived: Shake by Joshua Beckman, Poem for the End of Time and Other Poems by Noelle Kocot, and Moongarden by Anthony McCann.

   

Also just in: Borderless Bodies by Linh Dinh from Factory School.

The whole visit made me dizzy.

I got them all, plus Twisted Spoon's May by Karel Hynek Mácha, which I'd come for, and restocks of Graham Foust, Brent Cunningham, Aaron Kiely, and Geraldine Kim.

Jamboree tonight.
New Yipes Sunday.

HOT WHISKEY MAGAZINE

Wait at your peril.

Beauty, Structural and Natural ™

  My thoughts arc back
  unstoppably to Reston.

Bedside Companion Arrives!

Come check it out.

PEGASUS BOOKS DOWNTOWN
2349 Shattuck Ave.
Berkeley


(across the street from Barnes Ignoble)

Flesh-Eating Poems

New print magazine, Cannibal, looking for work.

Nostalgie

"We were in love with Ray Davies. One afternoon in my room we listened to his demo of 'I Go To Sleep' ten times straight. Clay used to play Mick Avory's part to 'You Really Got Me' precisely. He was very fussy about this. We didn't want to sound like Van fucking Halen."

Innovative Swedish-Language Poetry +

E.g., Tomas Tranströmer

Thanks to this I got this, then this.

I Thank

Thank you Ilya Kaminsky, Margaret Kaufman, Robert Thomas, Joseph Massey, Graham Foust, Derek Fenner, Ryan Gallagher, Anthony Hawley, Joshua Beckman, Matthew Rohrer, Michelle Tea, Ada Limón, Kaya Oakes, Cate Marvin, D. A. Powell, Tessa Rumsey, Juliana Spahr, Brian Teare, C. Dale Young, Noah Eli Gordon, Sara Veglahn, Laura Sims, Danielle Pafunda, and Geraldine Kim.

And Gawker.

Mon., Feb. 20, 7:30 PM

Last-minute ink-in: Poets Ryan Gallagher and Derek Fenner, editors and founders of Bookstrap Productions, are coming to visit Monday, February 20 at 7:30 p.m.

Come to hear them, greet them, meet them, and salt them with questions.

From Bootstrap's site:

About

Bootstrap Productions is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit publishing company that promotes the integration of multi-dimensional art forms and experiments into fine press publishing.

The organization seeks to introduce the general public to experimental and contemporary art and writing; to stimulate public interest in the work of new, struggling and relatively unknown artists; and to benefit the community generally by promoting the appreciation of contemporary art and writing.

The organization’s goal is to provide a venue that affords the benefits and aesthetics of a quality small press to committed and brilliant writers, visual artists, and musicians who may not otherwise have the opportunity and freedom to display their work as they envision it.

The organization creates the opportunity for the public to experience and learn about such art and writing that might otherwise never have a public forum.

Personal Statement

Due to the time we both spend publishing and promoting other people’s work, we do not often find the time or energy to promote our own work. For those of you who do, you know what a time consuming endeavor and often frustrating experience this can be. We miss submission deadlines, calls for work, and reading opportunities while searching for the monetary means to keep our non-profit alive and well. However, we both have multiple unpublished manuscripts and enough visual art to fill a large gallery space. Please peruse our following bios and solicit anything that may interest you, even if it is just for personal use. Almost everything can either be sampled online or easily emailed as attachments.

Finally, for anyone interested in starting your own press (especially emerging artists and writers), we have found this to be an invaluable experience. Contact us and we would be happy to provide you with helpful contacts, information, our many past mistakes (or learning experiences), and time saving advice. We have over six years of experience in starting a press and a non-profit, and know many more interesting artists and writers than we can financially support.

What Baites One, Banes Another

A number of you have written in and asked me to never publish any photos of my family.

Some of you are in my family.

Chagrin

I was dismayed tonight to read on Gabriel Gudding's blog that his Dalkey Archive Press collection, RHODE ISLAND NOTEBOOK—originally expected this year—has been now pushed back to fall 2008.

EYEBALL HATRED

I did it my way, which was the wrong way.


I'm happy, pleased, delighted, excited, psyched, blown up, and set astir by, about, for, and with the lineup so far. And eager to finalize dates with a couple of poets more.

Also my eyeballs hurt.

If you live anywhere within 10 or 20 miles of the Bay Area and you're not too cool, please consider linking, attending, and passing the word around.

I ♥ The Berkeley Daily Planet

Contact the Planet here.

Bedside Companion

Mine finally arrived today. Store copies are expected to arrive next Wednesday.

Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria

• The People's Front of Judea called. They hate your anthology.
• I suck, suck for missing Stephanie Young, Neil Alger, and Liz Young at The Artifact Reading Series last Saturday night. I suck.
• My head still hurts. I've got blisters on my eyeballs.

Rupert Murdoch's New Poetry Blog

Media conglomerate News Corporation—aka Rupert Murdoch, aka Harper Collins—has launched a new fake poetry blog hosted by TypePad—which it still doesn't own, not yet—named CruelestMonth.com.

Harper's imprints include Ecco, fair-weather friend to Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Zbigniew Herbert, Aleksander Wat, Tomaž Šalamun and Yannis Ritsos, among others.

As my best mate during my consignment in the Bundeswehr, Jo, used to say—ever often and always aptly: Zum Kotzen.


Aleksander Wat explains to a young boy what crap HarperCollins is.

Brad Bunkers' New HoboEye

Don't click any links for best blonde jokes.

Octopus #7 is here—free, and for the people.

Poetry by Sara Smith, Tina Celona, Bill Cassidy, Anna Moschovakis, Timothy Liu, Genya Turovskaya, Anne Boyer, Amanda Nadelberg, Brandon Downing, Julia Cohen, Michael Robins, Bruna Mori, Anthony Hawley, Paul Guest, Day Hoy, Peter Davis, Ken Rumble, Christian Peet, Erica Fiedler, Jim Goar, Alex Smith, Emma Ramey, Jonah Winter, Nathan Parker, Matthea Harvey, Noah Eli Gordon, Sabrina Orah Mark, Lara Glenum, Hank Lazer and Dean Young.

Translations of Daniil Kharms by Eugene Ostashevsky, and Saburo Kuroda by Marianne Tarcov.

Reviews of Pieces of Air in the Epic by Brenda Hillman, Sundays on the Phone by Mark Rudman, Like Wind Loves a Window by Andrea Baker, Natural History by Dan Chiasson, My Kafka Century by Arielle Greenberg, The Thorn by David Larsen, Pretty Young Thing by Danielle Pafunda, Crush by Richard Siken, The Last Clear Narrative by Rachel Zucker, The Book of a Hundred Hands by Cole Swensen, Antidotes for an Alibi by Amy King, Free Again by Joseph Lease, Iowa by Travis Nichols, The Hatmaker’s Wife by Dorothea Lasky, Secret Architecture by Aaron Kunin, and Iterature by Eugene Ostashevsky.

An interview with Brenda Hillman by Jen Tynes.

Recovery Projects of Bad Boats (1977) by Laura Jensen and Idea (1987) by Paul Hoover.

The second volume of Matvei Yankelevich’s essay “The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!: Field Notes on Russian-American Poets”.

Twenty Thousand Thousand

If you haven't already, for god's sake check out Brent Cunningham's drawings.

"Most poet blogs are big bubbling clots of gutless shit."

I'm running low tonight on soul coal, if I may bust out a dB's allusion without having my head bitten off.

What the fuck is up with the Pushcart Prizes?

Five reasons Tao Lin will die before he's thirty.

Unordnung

This is one stump I made from the floor of one odd corner of our small apartment. Something like a need for so-called spring cleaning. I'd sell off half of it, but the crap I collect has no resale value. K. is patient and just as guilty, so not any crashing vibes between us. Yet. And maybe I'll find something. How wicked cool.

Johannes Göransson's blog. I wish he posted oftener.

"60% of what you say is crap"

Here's a link to the Bill-O'Reilly-on-David-Letterman thing.

I've liked Dave since I was a kid.

Park Chan-Wook