To create is to make a pact with nothingness.
The void exacts its tribute. What price do
I daily pay for maintaining sufficient
ignorance to accept forms when they emerge?
Writing, I sometimes feel I am working with
nothing. Where are the words? Certainly not
here on the page. Their only firmness seems in
sorts of motion. I am constantly emptied
by their infernal obduration! Cursed forever
to listen to voices inside there is no
steeping back from. Where silence is a
blessed hell.


Clark Coolidge

saps

saps saps saps
saps saps saps
saps spas saps
and me
sap too

trio

The worst danger for an artist's work:
assimilation. And this is a country of
highly refined assimilation mechanisms.
To make like (how I hate that trait),
to leaven, make digestible, democratize,
ultimately strip of individuation.
Art is isolate. Its obduration is
unacceptable. At its deepest levels, art is
an atrribute of nothing else. It may not be
defused in attribution to. I would prefer
hatred, obscurity, misunderstaning. In fact
it is my right to be ignored, maltreated,
discomfited.




I am jealous of my own doubt.
To say noto everything, what a wonder!
To set in motion, contains its own stopping
point. I glare in at myself to start it all
turning again. I have often opened my doors
to find the small flame of my doubt my only
light. Sometimes I shelter it with the mass
of all my works. I cup it with my acceptance,
blow upon it with satisfaction. I am vitalized
by all it has killed.




What I want from the world is the freedom to
need what can't be given but must be taken.
I want to stay in motion. I want the first thing
to be the last, every time.


Clark Coolidge

Bill James Handbook

Sox projections:

Julio Lugo:
Avg. HRs RBIs Runs SB
.277 11 55 85 26

Kevin Youkilis
Avg. HRs RBIs Runs BB
.283 14 77 101 103

David Ortiz
Avg. HRs RBIs Runs OPS
.285 47 138 110 .983

Manny Ramirez
Avg. HRs RBIs Runs OBP
.305 37 118 94 .414

J.D. Drew
Avg. HRs RBIs Runs G
.283 24 82 92 138

Mike Lowell
Avg. HRs RBIs Runs Slg.
.273 18 77 66 .452

Jason Varitek
Avg. HRs RBIs Runs SO
.259 17 69 60 118

Coco Crisp
Avg. HRs RBIs Runs G
.284 11 54 74 136

Dustin Pedroia
Avg. HRs RBIs Runs SO
.284 10 72 79 43

Willy Mo Pena
Avg. HRs RBIs Runs SO
.277 23 68 57 127



Those Pedroia numbers seem wishful. Lugo will score more runs. The rest seems like it is in the ballpark. Thoughts?

Spring and All

Two separate recent correspondences referenced Spring and All.

Warm afternoon yesterday. Took a hot tub, the moon was visible, the garlic beds were beginning to peek through the melting snow, Archie was lounging next to me. Snow last night, big wads of flakes. Snowball fights and my arm is rag this morning.

Be very excited, I sent Clark Coolidge the mock for his Counting on Planet Zero yesterday. It looks terrific, I hope he agrees.

OK, time to work.

...it collapsed
even though
we were so
clever
look it up
its sad at
least we had
if not what's
right: a song...

Really?!

CHAPBOOK RELEASE

Hello All,

We're excited to announce that our collaborative work, FULL ON JABBER, has just been released by The Martian Press. As with many small press publications, this uniquely designed edition is limited in number.

Copies are available directly from the editor of TMP, Jonathan Ball: jonathan@jonathanball.com


In the US the chapbooks run $5+2, $5+1 in Canada.

CB & JM

how many shirts do you own that have a chain?

Phil Ochs

I'm Tired

Sometime's I feel that the world isn't mine
It feeds on my hunger and tears on my time
And I'm tired,
Yes, I'm tired
Every face on the street is as cold the air
As hard as the pavement moves 'neath my feet
And I'm tired,
Yes, I'm tired

Sometimes I stop and ask to myself
Oh why should I be so alone
It comes and it goes
and nobody knows
For they're blind with a pain all their own
So I start out again with a smile on my face
To hide all the empty and search for a friend
And I'm tired
Yes, I'm tired

Sometimes I stop and ask to myself
Oh why should I be so alone
It comes and it goes
and nobody knows
For they're blind with a pain all their own
So I start out again with a smile on my face
To hide all the empty and search for a friend
And I'm tired
Yes, I'm tired
And I'm tired
Yes, I'm tired


This may be the saddest song I've ever heard. What is the saddest song you've ever heard? If you haven't heard it, you have to hear it.

Massey-ed Mynes

marker


you're the ruin
I need to be
a forum for

this phantom-bled
trouble

a pronoun
in the middle of

winter

         the sky's
     a twig

there's
distance
in these lips

a halo
for preening

my uncle

My uncle Wesley died today. Wesley was a West Virginia hillbilly to a T. A total sweetheart. Here's to you Wesley! Send your good thoughts to my aunt Pauline. She can use them.

Yma Sumac

If you're unfamiliar, you should give her a listen.

"basement galaxy"

better get better

It gets better, right? Please tell me it gets better.

weekend

What a weekend.

The Brooklyn Poetry Bizarre was something else. How often do you get to hear Anselm Berrigan, Rod Smith, and Fanny Howe read on the same bill? Plus an earful of some really terrific poetry from folks whose work I do and don't know. How come I've never heard of Karen Weiser? When ordering a wine, Fanny Howe looked at Andrew Hughes and myself and said, "what I really want is potato chips." So I ran to the nearest store and bought her a bag of potato chips. What? Was I not going to go get her chips? It was the least I can do for Fanny Howe after all she's done for me.

How Matt Henriksen et al pulled this together is a testament.

Mark Lamoureux handed me yet another gorgeous Cy Gist Press book. The green cover is stunning. I'm a sucker for green, but the design of this book makes it a must have.

Got to see and talk with good friends: Farid Matuk, Brenda Iijima. Two of the sweetest people on the planet. I hadn't seen Farid since Austin. & it was the first time I heard him read, he read my favorite poem from his Is it the King?

Here's a question, who was Wedge in the Empire Strikes Back? This was the subject of much discussion between John Colleti, Andrew Hughes, Dustin Williamson, myself, Pabst, and Brooklyn Lager. Gina missed this discussion when she left early to recover from an inspired previous evening. Andrew also attempted to cajole Dustin into a return to blogging and reviews. I second this motion. Dustin's critical voice is sorely missed.

The night before I finally got to hear John Coletti read. Is there any more charming reader than John? & it is one thing to be charming, & another to be charming and writing poems that pop your ears. I'd like to have a recording of Coletti reading, cause I find I want to hear the line again, or I find that a line knocks me out and I'm often not recovered in time to keep pace.

Just recovering from another bout of insomnia that lead to the inevitable migraine.

Today it is snowing in earnest. Spent an hour in the hot tub, my head caked in ice from the storm.

Also received my seed order from FEDCO today. This is some needed optimism. Here is what I received:

winterbor kale
sugarsnap peas
sugar ann peas
jade bush green beans
black valentine bush green beans
tatsoi
graffiti purple cauliflower
gonzales cabbage
oliver brussel sprouts
red giant mustard
tuscana kale
pung pop mustard
chinese cabbage
green wave mustard
watercress
collards
pac choi
toraziroh
red salad bowl lettuce
butter lettuce
mustard mix
bright lights chard
salad mix
basil
chives
arugula
sylvetta arugula
spinach
perpetal spinach/leaf beet
tyee spinach
dward sunflower
mokum carrot
schnittgold sunflower
tall top beet
joker sunflower
climbing nasturtium
alaska nasturtium
sunrise morning glory
scarlett o'hara morning glory
purple morning glory
cilantro
heavenly blue morning glory
moon lilly
love-lies-bleeding

Peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, squash, other flowers and herbs, etc. I'll buy as starts rather than grow from seed. Also I didn't find a good variety of broccoli, so I need to keep looking.

Brooklyn Poetry Bazaar

Full On Jabber

A collaboration between Christopher Rizzo and Jess Mynes is available from Martian Press. You can get a copy by emailing Jonathan, jonathanATjonathanball.com. Full On Jabber is printed in an edition of a soon-to-disappear 60 copies. The cost is $7, $5, plus $2 for shipping.

The Can does

Now available:

The Can
issue #1

$4


The Can is a magazine of essays on poetry. The first issue includes
these pieces:

- Aaron Tieger on Ryan Murphy
- Guillermo Parra on Edward Upward
- Gina Myers on Kate Greenstreet
- Michael Slosek on Eric Unger
- Brenda Iijima on Akilah Oliver
- Mark Lamoureux on Gertrude Stein
- Dorothea Lasky on Recycling
- Cedar Sigo on Narration & Figure


Buy one through this link with paypal:
http://katalanchepress2.blogspot.com/

or send a check for $4 (payable to Michael Carr) to:

The Can
c/o Carr
9 Malcolm Rd, #1
Cambridge, MA 02138


Thanks!
Michael

The movie last night was excellent.

Made a collard dish for the meal, using bacon from our neighbor's pigs. I diced the pork into small pieces and browned the olive oil. This bacon is more like a smoked pork than a true bacon. It doesn't contain nitrates and because it was in a larger hunk I was able to cut away some of the fat, but not too much. Added two heads of thinly sliced garlic. Added two bunches of roughly chopped collards, Bragg's, salt, and apple cider vinegar. Excellent. Wanted it to be Southern style, minus the butter. Collards is a favorite of mine. Another personal favorite collard recipe is to roll rice and beans into the collard leaf and bake it.

rock n roll, geography style

A few weekends ago, I suggested that there has never been a rock n roll band named after a specific geographical location that has ever been any good. Gina Myers and Andy Mister considered this statement and seemed to agree. Can you refute this suggestion? For clarity, I'm thinking of: Asia, Chicago, Europe, &tc. Mentioning these bands makes me think of that wonderful scene in Hedwig..."travel exhausts me..." Boston has some merit, but really they are pretty lousy too. We determined a band like MC5 doesn't qualify because it isn't a specific geographical location. If you can convince me that this statement is incorrect, I'll send you something.

& speaking of Hedwig, my favorite song from the movie:

Asterisk

*

75 issues available, featuring poems by Shannon Tharp, Joseph Massey, and Aaron Tieger.

**

75 issues available, featuring poems by John Phillips.


Will vamp the Asterisk blog soon. For now you can order through the Fewer & Further Press page.

UPDATE: Loyal blog readers, yes both of you, will be rewarded. The first 5 people who order a copy of Asterisk 1 & 2 will receive a bonus item. You will not be disappointed.

Cannibal

From the Cannibal peeps:

The second issue of Cannibal is now available and features poems from Hadara Bar-Nadav, Jen Bervin, Julia Cohen, John Coletti, Christopher Eaton, Landis Everson, Karen Garthe, Daniela Gesundheit, Johannes Göransson, Kate Greenstreet, Jane Gregory, Shafer Hall, Janet Holmes, Dan Hoy, Amy King, Donna Kuhn, Mark Lamoureux, Kristi Maxwell, Farid Matuk, Ben Mazer, Jess Mynes, Sawako Nakayasu, Eugene Ostashevsky, Arlo Quint, Chris Salerno, Mary Ann Samyn, Frank Sherlock, Stacy Szymaszek, Maureen Thorson, Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Jake Adam York & Alex Young.

Cannibal is seventy pages, hand-sewn in signatures and screen printed.

Copies are available through Paypal for $12 at flesheatingpoems.blogspot.com.

We are also releasing the first two books in the Cannibal Chapbook Series, Jane Gregory's The Second Is Thirst and Shannon Jonas' Compathy, both available at for $7 at flesheatingpoems.blogspot.com. Chapbooks are side-stapled on quality paper.

On March 9th from 8-11, we'll be celebrating the releases at Jimmy's on 7th Street, with readings from Susan Briante, John Coletti, Jane Gregory, Farid Matuk & Eugene Ostashevsky, & with music from Chris Cuzme's Silent but Violent Arkestra & Snowblink.

Copies of the journal & chapbooks will be available at a discount.
Directions to Jimmy's:
43 East 7th Street
Between 2nd & #rd avenues
F, V at 2nd Ave; 6 at Astor Pl

The Burning Chair Readings Brooklyn Poetry Bazaar will take place the following day, Saturday March 10th, from 2;30-7 at Galapagos in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The event will feature Fanny Howe, Rod Smith, Anselm Berrigan, Karen Weiser, Christian Hawkey, Jess Mynes, Farid Matuk, Susan Briante, Anna Moschovakis, Matvei Yankelevich & Ben Mazer, with music from I Feel Tractor.

Directions to Galapagos:
70 North 6th Street
between Kent and Wythe
Detailed directions available here: http://www.galapagosartspace.com/directions.html

new Shampoo

Issue 29 is up. Good stuff. It has a few from my Rothko manuscript.

Reading

This will be big in Brooklyn.

new Anchorite

Here.