One of Jojo's ears popped up yesterday. We took a picture of it. Immediately after this she peed on our comforter. I have a small washer, so laundering was no easy task. The lesson I learned here; standing ears has zero correlation with not peeing on comforters.

Hey! Do you like prose poems? Then check out this new (free) anthology of poets working in that medium. I'm one, and there are others. Hopefully, it will be here.

Also, Carl had this to say about my pamphlet. I still don't have too many details, so I'm looking forward to what it will be. Whatever that is, at least it won't just be a .doc on my computer any more...that will be real nice.

School start back up tomorrow and I'm kind of excited. With no vacation plans, spring break wound up being more work than school could ever be. I did write a review for Heather Christle's book, "The Difficult Farm." Someone actually asked me to do it, so it won't show up here, unless they reject my effort, than it may...if I'm not totally embarrassed by it. AND, I knocked 4 more books of my to-read list which was both fun and functional. But, yeah, school and its routine will be pretty sweet.

I heard once that Brandi Homan (who is also featured in the anthology) was reading this Thursday and UNI, but have not heard much in a while, so I can't say for certain if it is happening, but if it is, you should be there. I'll throw up more details as I discover them.

This is what it's like to be me today -laundry. Laundry is boring. I don't take pictures of boring things. That's not true, actually.

I wrote some poems with DG last night; 4 poems in just one pitcher of beer. None of them are all good. Most of them are a little good. One is pretty much all good. We have decided it's something. Something, like how Easter is something. It's because of Easter.

Baus book sales have slowed. Stopped, really. Fight the good fight here.

Remember how I said I was going to not buy more books until I'd read all unread, bought books? Yeah...

Yeah.

This is new puppy (along with old puppy, just to ease you in). Her name is Jojo. She likes sleeping, being super cute and the R&B group Jodeci, though, if you asked her today she'd tell you Salt n' Pepa.

This has nothing to do with puppies, which was nice after the last few days, but tonight I went and watched Joshua Marie Wilkinson and GC Waldrep. It was an outrageous entertainment. I bought GC's book, "Archicembalo." One thing you may not know about GC Waldrep is that he once had an aunt that lived in the town I grew up in. Also, I did not know her.

Have you ever read Max Jacob? He's French. He hung out with Picasso. He wrote funny poems that all have secrets...I didn't tell you, but the secret is that they break your heart. Here is one of them translated by Elisa Gabbert and Kathleen Rooney:

Poem of the Moon

There are on the night sky three mushrooms, which are the moon. As abruptly as sings the cuckoo from a clock, they rearrange themselves each month at midnight. There are in the garden some rare flowers which are little men at rest that wake up every morning. There is in my dark room a luminous shuttle that roves, then two … phosphorescent aerostats, they’re the reflections of a mirror. There is in my head a bee that talks.

There are also some of new translations of Raul Zurita up at the spankin' new Action Yes. It was at a Daniel Borzutzky reading that I first heard of Zurita. It was at a Daniel Borzutzky reading that I first heard Daniel Borzutzky read these translations. I was smitten during these firsts.

Have gotten the chance to see Zach Schomburg's poem films? They are amazing with a capital a. Get them here. Really.

It's March. I have a shit-ton of stuff on my plate. I got a new puppy. When you have a shit-ton of stuff on your plate, puppies are like gravy...it gets on everything, but you're always glad it's there. I once ate a gravy-topped omelet. It was pretty great.

Have you heard the Carolina Chocolate Drops? A heard them on the radio yesterday and when she came home we downloaded their new record (Genuine Negro Jig). I know it's almost a right of passage these days for folk bands to cover hip-hop tunes, but CCD's version of "Hit'em Up Style," is sick. Vocals-beatbox-and-violin-only sick...

I've been reading everything Oppen these days, it started as class assignments, but has since become something else...that truth is possible in Language, not necessarily in it's representations, but in that liminal space between speaker and receptor...plus, I'm pretty sure George Oppen would have been the greatest uncle ever.

Don't forget to order the brand-new and totally amazing Eric Baus chapbook, "Bee-Stung Aviary," here.

JMW is reading with GC Waldrep tomorrow night at Prairie Lights (7pm). Did you know Waldrep was Amish? I had no idea...how stoked to you suppose he was to be published in DIAGRAM...or Blackbird, for that matter.

I have 20+ books I must read before I'm allowing myself to buy any more books. Will it get done by AWP...stay tuned.

These are many copies of Eric Baus' latest chapbook, "Bee-Stung Aviary" (further adventures). Everyone of them are ready for you.

This is how you can order one. This is how you can order another one.

And this is how you can use Eric Baus' latest chapbook, "Bee-Stung Aviary," to remove an actual bee-sting:

These are all handy things to know, I think.

I read tonight. Then this happened. I don't know for sure what that means, but it looks like my little pamphlet might be next.

I'm drinking Hamm's and watching WWE. What does that say about me? Probably something weird.

Have you ever Nick Flynn? Apparently I did once...and then forgot. He was in town last week reading from a memoir and I had little interest; then I grabbed an old anthology (American Poetry: The Next Generation) and realized that 10 years ago I wrote, what I assume, is a real shitty paper about his 10 year old poems and I got real bummed that I skipped his reading.

According to Jim Galvin his IWW story works like this: he was student a in the non-fiction program and was having a shit time...then he applied to the poetry IWW program based on a few lyric prose pieces and got in. SO, he was accepted here as a poet...having really written no poetry before (but how different is that from so many others). That said, ten years ago, I was totally in love with his poems, and now, I'm totally in love with his poems.

This might be my favorite:

Emptying Town
after Provincetown

Each fall this town empties, leaving me
drained, standing on the dock, waving
bye bye, the white handerkerchief
stuck in my throat. You know the way Jesus

rips open his shirt
to show us his heart, all flaming & thorny,
the way he points to it. I'm afraid
the way I miss you

will be this obvious. I have

a friend who everyone warns me
is dangerous, he hides
bloody images of Jesus around my house

for me to find when I come home--Jesus
behind the cupboard door, Jesus tucked

into the mirror. He wants to save me

but we disagree from what. My version of Hell
is someone ripping open his
shirt & saying,

look what I did for you.

I think that's pretty rad, don't you?

I know this has become my standard excuse for not blogging, but we've been without internet...again. And once again, there was nothing I could do because it wasn't my internet. But no more! I'm officially a due-paying member of the internet society.

Anyway, I'm reading tonight (TONIGHT!) as part of the Anthology series here in Iowa City. The whole thing starts at 7pm and will be housed in the Foxhead (402 East Market). You should come, but leave the kids...it's gonna get real.

People of the City:

So Winter Keeps Happening. My Feet Are Frozen. I Have Lost My Mittens. What Are We Going To Do About The Olympics, Rather, Why Aren't We Better Ice Skaters. Who Will Help Me Find My Coat. I Have No Legs. Your Hair is Pretty But I Can't Go On. Children Need Apples The Way A Wall Needs Wallpaper. The Store Is Closed And So Far Away. So We Have To Keep Going And We Will Keep Going We Will Keep Going All The Way To Friday, When You Will Be Wooed And Undone By:

Danthology

Sandra Allen
Callie Garnett
Emmalee Hunnicutt
Lisa Leaverton
BJ Love
Andrea Rosenberg
Colby Somerville
Kayla Soyer-Stein

Friday 2/19 7 pm Foxhead

Of course, I have a shit-ton more to tell you, but no time right now...

Lots of neat things happened today. This is just a few of them.

This is me reading. Or maybe fishing. Either way it sounds like this:



I think it's definitely fishing.

Thank you, Joe Fassler. Not only for letting me fish on your show, but for letting me re-fish a few days later.

Tony Tost's America. The greatest podcast ever? You decide...

I've listened to every episode. They're all great...but really catch fire around 6 and 7.

One thing I've learned; In all my liberal snobbishness, I forgot Toby Keith wrote good songs. Oh, and that I'd love to hear Sam Jackson versions of every song...ever. Can't someone code an iPhone app for that? I'd be willing to spend $18 on it...which is apparently my line between reasonably affordable and ridiculously unnecessary.

Who spends a whole twenty dollars on...anything?

At what age is it appropriate for you to start telling kids to "rock on?" Is this a conscious decision, or does it just happen once accidentally, and then again, and again? Personally, I'm 31 (going on 32) and I've been telling kids to, "rock on," for some time now. I think for awhile it was generational, but then that first group of kids told to "rock on," grew up and began telling a new wave of kids to "rock on," as though it was a cultural expectation. Can David Essex take all the blame, or does he deserve to share it with others? You decide:



This video reminds of me of "Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise." The nerds were on Spring Break and staying at a hotel called the Coral Essex. After some run-ins with the non-nerds, the nerds threw a party the only way they knew how, and used nerd skill-sets to make the sign say, Oral Sex. I don't remember much else from that movie...actually, that's a total lie, I remember pretty much the whole thing (now that I'm thinking about it).

I wonder if anyone ever told the nerds to "rock on?" Probably their dads.

Greying Ghost is having a winter sale. 4 books for $21. Do it here.

Today only, Wave Books is selling their "State of the Union," for $5. You should read it when there is nothing good on TV...like during the actual State of the Union address.

Black Ocean is practically giving away (reasons to buy their) books. You should do it, then make a necklace out of them and then wear it to some sort of fundraiser, like, say, the one for the U of C Lab School that I used to work for, telling people the whole time, that you've "already donated every cent you could to a much worthier cause." It will get huge laughs.

Trust me.

Have you ever stopped, just briefly, and realized you were about to pay $100 for used boots? And then, when you try to figure out how you reached this point, found yourself actually doing more to defend the decision?

I did this today. I thought it went really well...then I found out that all people actually heard was cha-cha music. Sadly, cha-cha music is probably more appropriate for noon than poetry, especially poetry about elevators and jack-o-lanterns and stars named Jenny.

My first poetry workshop with James Galvin is in the can. I'm really not a fan of workshop (i.e. I'm blogging instead of poeming), but I think this one will be alright. So far, we're talking a lot more about poetry and not poems; our poems, your poems, my poems. That's much more interesting to me, talking about poetry, that is.

Do you own all Michael Zapruder's records? You prolly should. They contain about 5 of my favorite songs ever.

Ice storms have knocked out our (neighbors) internet. I don't pay for our (neighbors) internet and thus can't complain to Mediacom about it not working. It's been two days...sigh.

In other, and much cooler news, JMW has hung a new issue of RLM here. Kate Greenstreet is pretty amazing. So is Travis Nichols.

The first week of school has come and gone. The one thing I've learned...Dan Beachy-Quick is the most earnest and adorable lecturer ever.

An old friend of mine, Kim Groninga has a book coming out soon...now, maybe. We've shared many hours digging through each other's poems like laundry. It looks like Kim finally found an outfit...it looks like this.

Everything I've ever promised you should come this week.

You should do this...and now! Supplies, I'm told, are quite limited.

"The Concher 2 is a hand-stitched, hard-bound journal featuring poems by:

Kristin Abraham * Dan Beachy-Quick * Michelle Brown * Beth Coyote * Kirk Davis * Christopher DeWeese * Rebecca Dunham * Grace Egbert * Rae Gouirand * Matthew Henriksen * Matthew Hittinger * Alex Lemon * B.J. Love * Kristi Maxwell * Karyna McGlynn * Jennifer Metsker *Aimee Nezhukumatathil * Sean Norton * D.A. Powell & Haines Eason * Kate Schapira * Bronwen Tate * Andy Trebing * KC Trommer * Jen Tynes * Joshua Marie Wilkinson

The flavors we’ve chosen to compliment this batch of words are:

spicy cayenne * honey pistachio * lavender vanilla * peanut butter pretzel * pomegranate white chocolate * smoky orange caramel"

It all sounds delicious...no? Plus, you get me and a bunch of way better poets in a kick-ass book.

You know...besides the cold, winter is pretty awesome.

I finally registered for classes last week (I had to show proof of immunization, which is hard to do when you're 31 and haven't had that to worry about since your freshman year in college), and doing so required that I swing by the Workshop. The folks in the office were sitting amongst 1300 fiction applications and over 900 poetry applications stacked in mail tubs and columned throughout what little space they have in there. 2200 applications for next year. 40 people will get in...I hope you are one.

A quick list of things I'm currently in the market for: a reading chair (preferably broken in), a new portable record player (my old non-portable one didn't survive the last move), a reading lamp, one of those old magazine racks (preferably identical to my grandma's), a large cork board/calendar, and a garbage can.

Did I ever tell you I'm reading in Minneapolis on July 1st? I am.

I've also been asked to write a book review...but what book? Help...

Today is my last day off...I've done a pretty good job of avoiding poetry for the last month, hoping to feel a bit more refreshed this semester.

I'm also hoping to take the new FA chapbook to print this week (now that I'll have a little extra scratch). Keep an ear out for that...

There is a dead bird outside our backdoor. I am scared my dog will eat it, while also hoping that something else gets to it first. In short, I don't want to touch the dead bird. In the process of avoiding the bird I built a robot. I was lucky because it came with an Android Assembly Manual. I have no idea how to build androids without proper instruction.

Check this out. It's very cool.

Have you eaten hot dogs lately? They are prolly the awesomest meat product ever...

All these pictures are from my back yard (as far as I've roamed in the last few days). One was taken at 4 o'clock in the morning when my dog (who doesn't like snow and therefore doesn't poop in snow) couldn't hold it any longer. Another one has two suns, or at least the illusion of two suns, as there really is no sun at all. The rest are various spots along the same line.

Yesterday I bought bleach. Using it, the bleach, has been the most thrilling part of my day so far. I mean, how white can the whites be? What if I get bleach on my hands and then touch something else? Where exactly is the line between not enough bleach and too much bleach? I followed the directions, but the washer in our apartment still feels the need to advertise that it is, in fact, AUTOMATIC. Do those directions, therefore, still hold? Is it that bleach is actually scary, or am I wholly under stimulated?

Anyway...

My skin is pretty dry. It's rough. It's itchy. It's so rough, it manages to itch itself. That, we call, "an upside." It's also cold, my skin, but that is mostly due to it being really cold outside. Really cold. Like, my-dog-won't-even-go-outside cold.

I've been listening to a lot of old French pop and chanson music. I love the rhythm of French, and it's only amplified when it's sung, especially in the chanson tunes, which, I read, are propelled musically by the rhythm of the language. When I first heard them, I was a little like Navin Johnson in, "The Jerk."

Also, my poem, "Michigander," was recently picked up by Greying Ghost Press to be published "sometime this year." I've been a fan of this press for a couple of years now. The aesthetic of the press has always been attractive to me; both in what they print and how they do it. Though it was an open-reading, I've imagined this poem in a GGP dress for quite some time, so it is, literally, a bit of dream come true for me. Anyway, I'll be sure to pass on the exact details as they become available.

A friend of mine, Matthew Klane, is breathing here.

Another friend, David Gorin, is telling you how your breath sounds here.

Also, Letter Machine Editions friends have a couple of new books for you to buy here. Please do think about buying those books. Noah and Joshua have great ears and buying these books is like rubbing the back of your hand against them...it's a win/win.

School starts back up soon, and I couldn't be more ready. Seriously, I'm taking pictures of my own hands...

This place is real, my friends. We drove past it. All places you drive past must be real in order for you to pass them...that's how we decided time was real. Awesome Corner used to be a gas station and snack shop. Now Awesome Corner is a goat farm that sells goat cheese, so, if you're interested you can buy Awesome Corner goat cheese.

It's things like this that make me miss Iowa when I don't live here.

Last night I made stew. It's the kind that gives your bones hugs from the inside. I've also been painting Native American figurines. They only give you 4 colors and 2 shades. One guy has a buffalo head. I like that guy the most. Sometimes I wish I had a buffalo head. I'd walk around the mall letting people touch my buffalo horns and then I'd wink at them. I'd be just as interested in the men as I would the ladies. My father would call me his bi-son.

I've been downloading tracks from this website all day today. It's Midwestern, just like me.

Today is the last day of 2009. I have two New Year Resolutions: one, never try to get my oil changed on holidays, and two, never try to get my dog's nails clipped on holidays. I have other days I can do that. Why go when everyone else needs to get it done...jeez.

Now that Christmas is over, I have a BUNCH of books to read. I've already told you what they were...most of them, anyway. I'll let you know how they are later, when I stop playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii obsessively.