I found a John Wayne paper doll book at my in-laws house. I'm not allowed to cut them out and play with them, which is a real bummer, because playing with John Wayne paper dolls is a life long dream of mine.
John Wayne wore cowboy boots all the time...apparently, and long underwear. All the John Wayne's in the book are wearing that exact same outfit. The strangest thing, though, is that if John Wayne had facial hair in the movie, the paper outfit is an entire John Wayne minus the eyes. I was going to put that here for you, but it was just too scary.
You'll thank me later, I promise you.

There is a secret about Iowans.

The secret isn't bad teeth, but kinda is.

The secret isn't holes in your socks,
but it does remind you of them.

The secret is Iowans love Iowa.

Especially Iowans living
in non-Iowan states.

But when they come home
to Iowa, they love everything.

To be in love with everything
is to be in love with Iowa (Logic
will bother you with that for months).

That time you walked into the ballpark
you were walking into Iowa.

That time you wrote about the moon
and how it smells, you were writing
about Iowa.

That time you were talking about sleeping bags
you were talking about Iowa.

And there are tons more.

It's fun telling secrets...

Cheap visual joke disguised as e-mail inbox

1. My 5 second thought continuum
2. The order in which I wash in the shower
3. It turns out I've only got two real friends
4. "I am not just thinking about myself"
5. Plot points on the narrative arc of my next short story

Rabbit Light Live

If I could be a musician, I would be a Roy Orbison impersonator. I would wear big black prescription sunglasses. I would wear them all the time, only, not to bed. Big black prescription sunglasses break in bed, silly. I would become a master impersonator. There are those that would consider me a ghost. There are others that would forget Roy Orbison is dead. After some time on the road I would take my Roy money and commission myself a time machine (I would have done this myself, but mastering Roy's mannerisms was a real eater of hours). I would then take this time machine (after the proper tests had been done to ensure its safety) and travel back to the 50's. I would do this for two reasons. One, it's what one does with a time machine, apparently, and two, I would become Roy Orbison. I would "write" and sing all his songs. I would become a hero to both country AND rock singers. I would have a brief period of obscurity. After that brief period of obscurity I would sing in a band with Bob Dylan and George Harrison and a couple of other guys who really wanted to be in a band with Roy Orbison. I would play a show with Elvis Costello and Tom Waits that would become the #1 money raiser in PBS history. I would win a Grammy and then drink Diet Coke from it. I would make my friends watch me drink Diet Coke from it. I would then say, "would anyone else like to drink Diet Coke from Roy Orbison's Grammy?" Then I would die without abusing the fact that I still owned a time machine, thus giving up the opportunity to live as Roy Orbison forever. I would do this because one lifetime as Roy Orbison should be just the right amount of time to be anything, but especially to be Roy Orbison.

But then again, I might do this:

Rabbit Light Live

Sara Veglahn / Arda Collins \ Hoa Nguyen / Srikanth Reddy \ Noah Eli Gordon / Sarah Gridley \ Lily Brown \ Christopher Stackhouse / Lisa Fishman \ Abraham Smith / Richard Meier \

Rabbit Light Live

Saturday February 14th. 9pm.

New Wave Coffee.

2557 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Chicago

Free.

There are two things I want you to remember. Well, two things I want you to remember right now. One, Mathias Svalina has some more game objectives and directions poems up here: http://www.laminationcolony.com/. Read other poems there too. They are like bows on presents. Second, go and read Ryo Yamaguchi poems at Word For/ Word: http://www.wordforword.info/vol14/Yamaguchi.htm. Then when you're done with that tell your friends that you just read some poems by this totally awesome poet. Maybe you've heard of him, you'll say. His name's Ryo Yamaguchi. Oh, you haven't heard, you'll say. He's the next big thing, you'll say.

I dare you...

Me and my numb fingers are going to bed. I will tell them I love them, but they won't saying anything in return. They are unfeeling fingers.

Tonight, the biggest full moon of the year reared its' ugly head. I took a walk to see if I could find it. For awhile, I had no luck. I walked to the park...no moon. I walked to the church...no moon. Finally, when I got home, I found it. My mom was right, you don't need to roam very far to find what you're looking for. Lesson learned: the moon will always come to you...

Top 5 Books of 2008

1. "My Vocabulary did this to Me" the Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer
2. "Inland Sea" by Brandon Shimoda
3. Wave Books' "State of the Union" Anthology
4. "The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You" - 2nd ed., 2008 printing with note by Forrest Gander, which is how this book is a legal addition to this list...
5. After "Battlefield" and Spicer, who the fuck has the time for a fifth book

This list was really hard to make as this year I fell off the "new" book wagon and started going back and filling in the holes in my personal canon. A few authors whose non-2008 books I read this year were: Abraham Smith, Graham Foust, Mathias Svalina, Frank O'Hara, Daniel Borzutzky, Jason Bredle.

These people are all responsible for poems that made me feel stupid, awed and inspired...

Today, Anne and I were eating lunch with a friend. Anne's phone rang and, as to not be rude, she quickly turned off the ringer and went back to her story. But then her phone rang again...and again she silenced the ringer. 2 seconds later my phone started ringing. All 3 calls had been from her sister, so, now assuming emergency I answered my phone.

Emergency?

No.

Just Anne's sister really wanting to tell us that she has a class with Tom Selleck's body double from Magnum PI.

I don't know about you, but I was totally glad she called, and I only had to harbor the idea of a dead loved one for a few seconds...

Eric Baus Reading at Pete's Candy Store: 12/05/08 from Octopus Books on Vimeo.

This is Eric Baus. He has a few new books coming out soon. It makes me giggle to say that I'm doing one of them. Spring 2009. Watch this and then watch for that...

I like Eric Baus. This is why I like Eric Baus. When the world populace is handed a connect-the-dots page, we push our pencils from dot one to dot two to dot three and so on. When Eric Baus is given a connect-the-dot page he doesn't worry so much about the order as he does the possibility. In other words, Baus is constantly challenging us to see the beauty of the unconnected dots. To wonder at the absence of the whole, the complete, to marvel in that lack of knowledge...

I celebrate Christmas. Hard. These are pictures of Christmas. They were taken recently. I think that means it's Christmas time. My apartment is steam heated. The colder it is outside, the warmer it is in our apartment. By the time I get bundled up to take the dog out, I'm sweaty. By the time I get unbundled, I'm sweaty. Outside, I wear a fleece jacket, a scarf, mittens, winter coat, hat and snow boots. Inside, I wear gym shorts and t-shirts. I took our apartment's temperature the other day. It was 84 degrees. I'm not old and so 84 degrees is really warm. When it's 84 degrees outside, I turn on the air conditioner. I sweat in my sleep. It's like summer camp. I think birds are trying to migrate to our apartment. My grandparents are wintering in here. It's hot...

I'm reading Graham Foust's Necessary Strangers. Has it ever occurred to anyone else that Mr. Foust is a much cooler Steven Wright? It has to me. I don't mean that dismissively either. Steven Wright is often boring, Foust never is. They also have similar delivery styles/speaking patterns. I think the world needs more Graham Fousts, but not so many that it gets boring. Than he'd just BE Steven Wright, and as I mentioned, Steven Wright is already boring (sometimes).

It's a glitterpony

You probably gotta see this: http://glitterponymag.com/poetry/Mathias-Svalina/Hide-Go-Seek

This poem took all of three lines to become one of my favorites this year. Svalina has a knack for capturing the simultaneous wonder, terror and violence of childhood. And this poem might be the exemplar. I think I'm going to name my battle steed Exemplar. I will say, "Exemplar, come to me!" And he will. And I will mount him. And I will grab a weapon stuck in the ground, maybe mine, maybe not. And I will ride. Just ride. Until my thighs get all hivey and swollen because of an acute allergy to horse hair (did I mention that I would ride bare back?). I will then dismount and look awkwardly around because I've got a bad rash and this weapon that I really don't know what to do with. And then I will think of this poem and fall asleep next to my steed Exemplar, but at a safe allergen distance. And it will be a good, deep sleep.

It's in cases...

Abraham Smith from joshuamarie on Vimeo.

Dear friends,

The Eighth Episode of Rabbit Light Movies is up here

http://www.rabbitlightmovies.com

Featuring: Nathalie Stephens, Ben & Sandra Doller,

Ed Roberson, Abraham Smith, Lisa Fishman,

Laura Goldstein, Nicole Wilson, Dan Beachy-Quick,

John Keene, Lily Brown, Patrick Culliton, Philip Jenks,

Eleni Sikelianos, Tim Yu, Rick Meier, and Susan Scarlata

yrs,
jmw