Thursday, April 30, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #30
Well thank goodness this is over. I mailed it in today with a draft commemorating the fact that my month of no restaurant food is also over. I stole the title from the comic strip Pearls Before Swine. The full line (spoken by a stupid voracious crocodile) is "Me no wear pants. It feel guuuuud."
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Craig Arnold Missing
From Jill Alexander Essbaum:
There's a group on Facebook as well, which you've probably already been invited to join if you're on there. I just had drinks with Craig at AWP, where he teased me again about not going to Wyoming when I had the chance. This has not been a good month for poets. I hope Craig's okay.
I'm writing because a dear friend of mine and an exceptionally talented poet, Craig Arnold, whom some of you know, has gone missing on a small volcanic island in Japan while on a creative exchange fellowship. Craig, an experienced explorer of volcanoes, never returned to his inn after leaving alone to research the island's active volcano for the afternoon. The authorities are on the third day of searching for Craig, and are scouring the small island (of only 160 inhabitants) with dogs and helicopters. If he is not found by the end of the day, the authorities will call off the search.
We need your help to insure that the search will continue. The island and areas surrounding the volcano are small enough that an extended search will surely lead to Craig's discovery.WE NEED PEOPLE TO CONTACT THEIR LOCAL CONGRESSPEOPLE AND SENATORS TO PRESSURE THE JAPANESE STATE DEPARTMENT TO CONTINUE THE SEARCH. WE ALSO NEED HELP SPARKING MEDIA ATTENTION FOR THIS STORY, WHICH WE ALSO HOPE MIGHT INCREASE PRESSURE ON JAPANESE AUTHORITIES TO FIND CRAIG.
If any of you have ideas or know people who might be able to help, we'd appreciate hearing from you. You can contact Rebecca Lindenberg, Craig's girlfriend, at rlindenberg@mac.com. Please, though, take a minute to contact your senator and congressperson via telephone or even email to explain this problem and insist on their help.
We are so hoping to find Craig today, God-willing not seriously injured. If so, this will not be an issue, but we must ensure that if this isn't resolved today, Craig doesn't end up an unsolved mystery. He is too important to too many people, not to mention to arts and letter generally, for this to happen.
We appreciate your help, good wishes and prayers.
There's a group on Facebook as well, which you've probably already been invited to join if you're on there. I just had drinks with Craig at AWP, where he teased me again about not going to Wyoming when I had the chance. This has not been a good month for poets. I hope Craig's okay.
30-in-30 Draft #29
I wanted to give this one at least one more polish before it went up, but there are bigger things afoot. I stole the title from Futurama.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #28
I'm reading tonight at 7:30 at the Focal Point in Maplewood (tee hee), so this is a cheat draft: a not-too-old poem retooled with a new title and some new lines. I stole this title from "(465) I Heard a Fly Buzz" by Emily Dickinson, which is a better fit and helped solve a problem in line 1 versus the old Weldon Kees-derived title.
Monday, April 27, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #27
Are there any football fans in the house? Can someone explain the Broncos' draft to me?
I stole the title of this from Ron Silliman's The Chinese Notebook.
I stole the title of this from Ron Silliman's The Chinese Notebook.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #26
I stole this title from "Hold On" by Tom Waits. Since I mention pronunciation, "Gravois" is said GRA-VOY in St. Louis, and "Carondelet" is kuh-RON-deh-LET. And now I'm off to a birthday party.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #25
It became painfully obvious to me that my "How Do You Like Your Blueeyed Boy" sequence was not working as it was going, so today's cheaty draft is me boiling that poem down to its core. There are other good parts that I'll try to work into subsequent poems, but as a whole it just wasn't right. And now, off to get ready for the wedding. Byeeeee!
Friday, April 24, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #24
I stole the title from "A Pilgrim's Progress, or Lack Thereof" by Clay Matthews. I'm going to a wedding tomorrow, so there will berry berry much be a cheat for that draft.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #23
Whew, we're in the home stretch. I stole the title from poker great Amarillo Slim Preston. The full quote is "Look around the table. If you don't see a sucker, get up, because you're the sucker." The line also appeared in the movie Rounders.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #22
Okay, this one is only for people who played roleplaying games as kids. I'm going to try to fix that later, but for now it's just an inside-jokey list that made me giggle a couple times. I stole the title from Gene Hackman in Get Shorty, which has nothing to do with RPGs.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #21
Yeah, yeah, yeah. This poem definitely needs to get weirder. I stole the title from "Unholy Sonnet 12" by Mark Jarman. I think I picked the single least representative line in his work. Which is why, of course.
Monday, April 20, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #20
Just back from the River Styx reading by Stacey Lynn Brown and Brian Turner. Excellent reading, good company, etc. While I was there, I managed to revise a bad draft into a slightly less bad draft. I stole the title from John Berryman's "Dream Song 22: Of 1826."
Sunday, April 19, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #19
I stole the title of this one from Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Anti- Featured Poet #25
Anti-'s Featured Poet #25 is Denise Duhamel with selections from her Help (In 47 Languages), parts of which you can find elsewhere on the web as well. Enjoy!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #18
Dinner and date tonight, so here's a quick entry in the ongoing long "How Do You Like Your Blueeyed Boy" piece.
Holy Jesus Fuckball
Brent Goodman, accomplished poet, AWP roommate, and editor extraordinaire, apparently had a motherfucking heart attack and he motherfucking wrote his poem-a-day poem about it. Holy motherfucking shit. Get well soon, Brent. Everyone else, please go wish him the best.
Friday, April 17, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #17
I think we can safely say that none of these April drafts is close to done, but this is a fun one of a type I'd been wanting to write again. There are a couple poems of this sort in Torched Verse Ends, notably "Sturgeon's Law." I stole the title of this new draft from "Cuckoo" by Larissa Szporluk.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Boring Dream You Don't Care
Last night I dreamed that I was back at Vanderbilt, as were several members of my college quiz bowl team, and we were all going to see James Tate read, but things kept coming up (including some sort of problem with my living arrangements), and we never made it there--this went on for a lot longer than things normally do (at least coherently) in my dreams. I find dreams where I'm back at college to be quite stressful, so it's good that I've been having fewer of them. Which reminds me, Vanderbilt e-mailed a couple days ago to confirm that I didn't get in off the waiting list, so that's officially it for my attempt to get an MFA. I'll only go back now if someone asks me.
30-in-30 Draft #16
This needs a lot of work, but it's been a lot funner and is a lot closer than yesterday's to being something I like. I stole the title from "Woo Hah!! Got You All in Check" by Busta Rhymes.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #15
Thank you to Sandra for mentioning Anti- (and me!) in this article.
Halfway done, thank goodness. This one is a splat that seemed a lot better when I first thought of it. I can't see any part of it lasting right now. I stole the title from "Evolution" by Sherman Alexie.
Halfway done, thank goodness. This one is a splat that seemed a lot better when I first thought of it. I can't see any part of it lasting right now. I stole the title from "Evolution" by Sherman Alexie.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #14
Today is a very busy day, so here's segment #4 from my longer prose-poem draft (still tentatively) titled "How Do You Like Your Blueeyed Boy."
Monday, April 13, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #13
Whew, regained my drafting momentum just in time for my favorite number. The writing of this one engaged me a lot more. I stole the title from baseball great Satchel Paige and his rules for staying young. The full quotation is "Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you."
Sunday, April 12, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #12
A combination of finishing taxes and being utterly unmotivated to write today has led me to retool an old poem for today's draft. I'm just about done with this junk now (the process, not the poem). We'll see how I feel tomorrow. I stole the title of this one from Jake Adam York's "South of Knoxville."
30-in-30 Draft #11
Wow, this shit is a mess. I was at a bachelor party all day. I played paintball and shot people and got shot. I drank things and won a poker tournament. I believe I have won every one of our poker tournaments since I moved here--no exaggeration. So fucking sue me that this draft sucks ass.
The first couple lines and last couple lines are interesting and not totally cribbed from an older poem of mine like the middle part. I stole the title from "1545 - The Bible Is an Antique Volume" by Emily Dickinson, which is just way too fucking on the nose... Jesus, now I have to go to Easter dinner tomorrow.
The first couple lines and last couple lines are interesting and not totally cribbed from an older poem of mine like the middle part. I stole the title from "1545 - The Bible Is an Antique Volume" by Emily Dickinson, which is just way too fucking on the nose... Jesus, now I have to go to Easter dinner tomorrow.
Friday, April 10, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #10
Big date night, so here's cheaty little segment #3 from "How Do You Like Your Blueeyed Boy" for your draft-reading displeasure. Something slightly completer tomorrow, I think...
Thursday, April 09, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #9
Hmm, I don't really know what to make of this one, but there are surely parts that amuse me. "Snouts and entrails" is a direct Simpsons rip, though, so I'll come up with something more original there. I stole the title from "A Wicker Basket" by Robert Creeley.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #8
I had a lot of fun writing this draft, which is good since I have basketball tonight and a hectic few days ahead: Matthea Harvey and Mairead Byrne reading tomorrow, big date Friday, friend's bachelor party Saturday. I stole the title from Sarah Lindsay's "Olduvai Gorge Thorn Tree."
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
30-in-30 Draft #7
I'm reading tonight at Dressel's Pub at 7:30 (come see me if you're in St. Louis). That means I won't have much writing time, so here's my cheaty segment #2 from my long "How Do You Like Your Blueeyed Boy" prose poem.
Monday, April 06, 2009
NaPoWriMoSte #6
I stole the title from the Konami cheat code best known from the Nintendo Contra game. I miss the days wasted on computer games. Sigh...
NaPoWriMoSteChe #5
I really have no idea what the arc of this one is going to be--right now it's just some stuff that amuses me. I stole the title from The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce, the first line from Mark Strand, a couple other bits from my Bob Hicok and William Logan lists, and the last line from Jesus (to the Wandering Jew). A lot of those lines will not end up in the final.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Anti- Featured Poet #24
Anti-'s new poet feature comes from Richard Newman. Richard also plays a mean game of hoop, but these aren't basketball poems.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
NaPoWriMoSteDri #4
Splat. I stole the title from "Westward" by Timothy Liu.
Friday, April 03, 2009
NaPoWriMoSteLaChe #3
Okay, now we get to the half-assed, cheaty portion. I'm starting a long poem in sections, each of which is like a self-contained little prose-poem. I'm going to be posting one-section drafts from the longer poem as part of the 30-in-30 effort when I don't have as much time. For example, tonight I have a date. Therefore, section. The working title is "How Do You Like Your Blueeyed Boy," stolen from "Buffalo Bill's" by E. E. Cummings. It doesn't probably make a whole lot of sense in this first section, but it may later. Or maybe not, and I'll change it.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
NaPoWriMoSte #2
So yeah, my first drafts generally involve me splattering as many ideas as I can on the page, then going back to figure out what works and how and why, and then refining to make the poem longer or shorter, more coherent or less on the nose, more organic in its meld of content and form, etc. (Alternately, they involve me splattering one idea on the page, and then figuring out what I need to add.) What you're seeing this month is the splat. I stole the title of this one from Orwell's 1984.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
NaPoWriMoSte
Here's post #1 of my National Poetry Writing Month effort. My writing style doesn't match the 30-poems-in-30-days expectation at all, but I want to force myself into new things. Besides, my participation will be in my usual half-assed, somewhat-cheating fashion. You'll see.
The second half of this draft is a fucking mess. The title I stole from Patton Oswalt.
The second half of this draft is a fucking mess. The title I stole from Patton Oswalt.
