Matthew Shindell & Sara Sowers: Bowery Poetry Club: NYC: November 29, 2008

Feel sorry for me

This was my Thanksgiving dinner. I ate alone. Sad, no? I ate at a diner in Union Square. The food was terrible. The turkey was so dry I asked the waiter if my mom was in the kitchen.

First Book Interviews: Jon Pineda & Morgan Lucas Schuldt

After finishing the MFA, I felt a great freedom in generating new work beyond what was included in the thesis. I went back into many of the “finished” poems and found different rhythms at work, broke the lines in different ways. There was a certain amount of irreverence with which I approached the “thesis.” I wanted to tear it apart.

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...the phenomenon of rating one’s own book(s) on websites like Goodreads. Or, worse, reviewing one’s own book on Amazon. It’s the kind of shameless self-promotion that would be laughable if it weren’t so tacky. Don’t be that person

He speaks

Deborah Ager is not a blogger. She's a gossip columnist:

In other news, I was going to blab that I’ll be a writer’s residency at the same time as _____, a fellow blogger, and then I realize he (yes, a ‘he’ is all I’ll reveal at this point) might not want to blab about his good fortune just now. So, I’ll blab about mine. I was accepted to a residency. Whee!

He is I. I am he.

I will be spending about two months this winter at The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. I've never been to this colony. I'm looking forward to my time there. And it will be cool to be there with another blogger.

I'm so lucky.

A writing studio. A comfy bed. An indoor pool. Fields. Breakfast and dinner
prepared for me. Lunch delivered to my studio. Nothing to do but read and write.

Correction: I'm blessed.

NYC pics

I'm spending the week in NYC. Here's some random pics from the Village and SoHo.

I took a pic of my Pinkberry treat but the pic came out blurry. Sorry, Corn Shake.

Mary Biddinger's meme

1. When was the last time you wrote a poem?

Today. In Central Park. In the cold. Romantic, no?

2. What was its title?

"Socorro"

3. What was one image from the poem (if applicable)?

Rain piercing a womb. The rain burning the child's skin. The burn marks turning into beauty marks.

4. Do you currently have a poem percolating in your brain?

Yes!

5. If you answered "yes" to number four, what is one image from that poem?

Sunlight as gold curves, gold scarves.

SMALL PRESS SPOTLIGHT: KAREN AN-HWEI LEE

Although linguistically intricate, Ardor's internal fugues--prayers, meditations, dreams, letters, jottings--hover transparently, I hope, between the earthly and ecstatic. The language blends an awareness of intimate minutiae with universal desires, such as yearning to love and be loved, to give meaningful names and to inherit one, to seek God and be known, intimately, by God.

Call for Submissions: BORDER SENSES

The Butt Bandit has been caught!

Beginning in spring of 2007, a mystery vandal visited businesses at night, pressing his naked behind — sometimes his groin, sometimes both — on windows. The marks were made with lotion or petroleum jelly...

An early Xmas gift

Ha. This is so cool. The Hives and Cyndi Lauper have recoreded a Xmas duet. I'm digging Cyndi's vocals. Reminds me of her early stuff with Blue Angel.

Here's some of the naughty lyrics:

That's all ok hunny cause see I burned the tree this year
and I slept with your brother, I wrecked your daddies car
and went down on your mother.
I set your record collection on fire and said I never knew
felt kind of bad about that and I know you did too
So whatever you say, it’s all fine by me
Who the fuck anyway wants a Christmas tree

bits

Instant mashed potatoes suck.
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I made a snow angel this morning. I threw myself onto the snow and did that wing-like motion a few times and presto: a chunky snow angel was born!
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Pandora is my favorite new website. Well, my favorite non-adult website. You nasty!
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I gutted one of my oldest poems today. I love the ending of the poem but the first few stanzas are too sentimental. I cut off those stanzas and wrote some hipster lines: brooding, cynical, above-it-all attitude.
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Love the new disc by The Killers.
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Another great Harriet blog post by Javier.
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Hottie of the Week: Jonathan Capehart

Jonathan Capehart

Snow

Snow Bits

It's snowing!
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C. Dale wants to make me beautiful.
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I've been reading Ronald Johnson's Ark these past few weeks. Amazing stuff. I've already stolen a line to use as an epigraph. Here's the short but oh so sweet line: unconscionable musics.
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Man, the snow is really coming down.
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I will be in NYC all next week. Yes!
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I wish this blog were more interesting. These bits are boring me. I say bring back the snark!
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Jordan Davis on Gregory Pardlo

Gregory Pardlo’s first book, Totem, is a masterpiece of subjectivity, all qualia and stunning epithets, big feelings shaded with doubts, regrets, hesitations and guilt. It is a book with its headphones on, narrating the most amazing music, almost never letting you hear it. Where objectivist poetry vaporizes its big feelings in people-free landscapes, Pardlo’s subjectivist poetry feels all its feelings right up to the border of the interpersonal, and no further.

Joan Houlihan remembers Reginald Shepherd

In 2001, I was one of two finalists for the Black Warrior Review’s chapbook competition; the other was Reginald Shepherd, someone I hadn’t heard of. When I looked him up and saw his poems and his publication history, I was immediately impressed and honored to have been considered a contender of his, even briefly. Did I then write to him and tell him so? No. He wrote to me, to tell me so. What winner bothers to write such gracious things to the loser?

Just terrible

Some 691,000 children went hungry in America sometime in 2007, while close to one in eight Americans struggled to feed themselves adequately even before this year's sharp economic downtown, the Agriculture Department reported Monday.

Pitt Pics

Bits

The old template is back.
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I had a wonderful time with Matthew. On Friday we drove to Pittsburgh. He had to interview someone for his dissertation. I didn't want to be a third wheel so I made him drop me off close to downtown Pitt. I had a nice time walking around. Drank some coffee. Stared at some cute guys.
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Bought: Narrative of the Life of the Brown Boy and the White Man by Ronaldo Wilson.
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It's supposed to snow a bit today!
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To all of you who stood up for GLBT rights this weekend: BRAVO!! THANK YOU!!
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I went through the galley proofs of the winter issue of Ploughshares this weekend. A big shout out to Ashley Capps for taking the time to email me to point out a typo in my poem.
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Wow: The Cathedral of Learning.
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It was so nice seeing Matthew again. He's happy and productive. He gave a wonderful reading on Thursday.
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SMALL PRESS SPOTLIGHT: JERICHO BROWN

I am, by the way, about sick of hearing people say that they don't see someone's race. Why not see it? I think this is part of what Langston Hughes' essay "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" critiques. Lately, very well-meaning liberals (black, white, Latino, and other) tell me that when they see the man for whom they voted in the recent election, they don't see a black man. Instead, they say they see an intelligent man or a family man. First of all, this is a lie; everyone who sees him sees that he's black. Secondly, the statement suggests that, in their minds, one cannot be intelligent or love one's family and be black at the same time. Finally--and this is what bothers me most of all--the comment seeks to erase one of the things that may be a virtue to him given the great task he must do.

Matthew Shindell

Tonight I'm hosting a reading for Matthew Shindell. Here he is cooking us dinner.

Here's a display of In Another Castle, his first book of poems.

Hottie of the Week: Neel Kashkari

Neel Kashkari

Tayari Jones has won a USA Fellowship in Literature. Congrats, Tayari! Have fun spending that $50, 000!!

Other winners include:

Forrest Gander
A. Van Jordan
Harryette Mullen
Laura Kasischke
Barry Hannah
Joy Harjo
Lê Thi Diem Thúy

Tayari took some pics at the awards gala in Chicago. I must say that Forrest Gander is looking good.

Rejection Bits

These past two weeks have been filled with one rejection after another.
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You Shall Serve: Ray Gonzalez.
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Got a rejection letter from the MacDowell Colony.
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I will be hosting a reading this Thursday for Matthew Shindell. Please come if you're in the area. Copies of In Another Castle, Matthew's first book, will be available for purchase.
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I bought something from the Home Shopping Network last week. And no, I won't reveal what I bought. I'm so embarassed!
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Got a rejection letter from the NEA.
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Review: Spring by Oni Buchanan.
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Don't you hate pity parties?

Untitled (Madonna): Crayon and pencil on pieced paper: Martín Ramírez: 1968

Ramírez, who created the roughly 300 drawings that make up his known work between 1948 and 1963 while confined to a mental hospital in Northern California, is simply one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He belongs to the group of accessible, irresistible genius draftsmen that includes Paul Klee, Saul Steinberg and Charles Schulz.

How to Succeed in Po Biz: Kim Addonizio

It is crucial not to win the major award, because then you might feel too great a sense of achievement. Be a finalist, but not a winner. This will keep you forever unsure of the scope of your talent, and you will be able to continue the habits of excruciating self-doubt and misery that stood you in such good stead during the many years you received no recognition at all.

The Men & Women Who Made 2008 a Year to Remember

Photograph by Greg Lotus

It's not everyday that one of your friends is featured in the pages of Out Magazine. Yes, that's Rigoberto González dressed up as Truman Capote.

Check out some of the other folks featured:
RACHEL MADDOW
CHRISTIAN SIRIANO
R. ZAMORA LINMARK

Fall

I love these red leaves across the street from me.

Wanna rake the leaves in front of my apartment?

Hottie of the Week: Nate Silver

538

President Barack Obama

Thank you, America.

Review: Men Without Bliss by Rigoberto González

...what these stories do offer, in generous measure, is a potent reminder that ethnic groups are not monolithic. Like all other groups, we Chicanos have our fervidly politicized, our apolitical, our long-suffering, our on-the-make. González's fiction underscores for us the fact that Chicano identity is a many-splendored, sometimes-splintered thing.

sunday bits

I can't read. I can't write. I wish this election were over NOW.
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Fragment from a Nonexistent Yiddish Poet: Jehanne Dubrow.
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Just roasted a Cornish game hen. Stuffed the little birdy with cornbread dressing. Served the little birdy on a bed of lentils. Yummy.
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Loved the Jesse Ball short story in the new Paris Review.
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The Home Video Review of Books is now live. Check out the reviews. Ha!
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I'm from Arizona. We don't change our clocks. Daylight savings time is strange to me. It threw me off all day today.
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John got married yesterday! John wore white. He's very traditional.
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