Orr Reviews Books from Matthew Zapruder and Rachel Wetzsteon

I don't have much to say here; Orr compliments their work and gives praise where praise is deserved. From the poetry section, April 22nd: "How Poets Achieve Their Styles"

the Lost Entry of March 18th

While spring-cleaning my phone last night, I found these notes (typed in 3/18 apparently). It was St. Patty's Day. I had taken the afternoon off to catch-up with a cousin I hadn't seen in a while. We had a few beers, traded stories, it was good. I typed parts of this into my phone while we were hanging out, and I typed the rest the next morning on the train.



Frontier Psychiatrist--
My cousin and I took an afternoon off to catch up. It's been awhile. He showed me the video for Frontier Psychiatrist (the MTV version is still floating around youtube). It brought back memories of how much fun it was to be pop-music lover during the crazy sampling days of the 90s and 00s. Pandora has a "Frontier Psychiatrist" station--not that one would ever catch that song on Pandora, but hey, the songs are fairly relevant. "You've got Maelstrom" by BlockHead on Music by Cavelight. The samples here include voice-work from a comic-book record--one of the Marvel or DC super-hero stories by a Power Records released in the 70s. I'm sure of it.

You know what, let's just do a running list of what I'm listening to. Bees on Mars now. Good stuff from TM Juke's album Forward. Then again, heroin can be good stuff too. So is a bottle of scotch. A pitcher of White Russian is good stuff too. DJ Shadow now.

There is a firm new way of being in the world now--the personal movie soundtrack. After 35 years (let's begin with the sony walk-man), it's easy now, almost expected that at certain times, all of us will want to have a clear helmet of music descend around our heads, and the sidewalks and streets turn into a backdrop--a landscape of faces only inches from us, but filtered through the soundscape of another planet.

I've been living this way for about two months now. I'm not sure there's anything wrong with this. Unless, of course, one doesn't know when to turn off the music and live more presently in the world.

Yes.

Deltron 3030.

Our Story Begins

I'm reading Tobias Wolff's 2008 collectionOur Story Begins. It opens with "In the Garden of the North American Martyrs." What a great story. The metaphor about higher education's glass ceiling's ability to cut/to hurt/to destroy is brilliantly delivered. It should be required reading for those in academe. Considering how I was exposed to it, perhaps it already is. And, considering the recent gains of women in academia, perhaps the use of the word Garden to describe academia is no longer a darkly ironic symbol. Or at least, not as dark.

"Bullet in the Brain" is also in here. Perhaps the most innovative way to develop a character, ever.

Eight Weeks

The past eight weeks have been some of the most exhausting of my life. So this post will be short. A thank you to the Band. You all were tremendously supportive with insightful criticism and suggestions on the draft of my chapbook. Hats off to you.

More from AWP: the poems of Morton Marcus

I thought I should share with you--to review, in a away--these excerpts from poems by Morton Marcus. Marcus died last year, and in his honor there was a memorial panel for the man and his work. I was not familiar with Marcus's work until this session. I was glad I went. White Pine Press was there (a good press recognizing good work), along with other poets (Gary Young for one), and Brian Clements was there representing the journal Sentence. Marcus's wife and other friends were also in attendance.

Before I begin, I must say that I found Marcus's work rich and deep in a transcendent way. For as easy as it is to enter (and be in) his poems, leaving the poem behind is not easy. His poems acquire that resonant frequency that hums in my mind after I have finished reading. And this also happened for me while listening to his poems--as it should. Many poets spoke to Marcus's ability to mentor and respect them as they grew into poetry. Clements had the funniest story. He explained how, as an editor, he had at first rejected a submission of Marcus's work. Marcus resubmitted a few weeks later with a note, that, according to Clements read, "That's ok. You'll come around." Many attested to his warmth and generosity, and I've found that in his work.

Here's a bit from Marcus's last book--something he worked on during the last years of his life. Not a collection of previously published work, the book is, as several on the panel attested, his best work. Here is an excerpt from the title poem to The Dark Figure in the Doorway. Marcus has focused on a single figure in the background of Diego Velazquez's painting Las Meninas.

...
the Spanish Golden Age
will sink into oblivion.
But like the figure
in the doorway,
we hesitate today,
caught between yesterday
and tomorrow, aware
as never before
that we stand with one foot
in the painting
and one foot out,
sure only of this moment
when we look into the room
where the king and queen
pose for the painter
who stands with his back
toward us,

Here we have a poem that, at first glance might be making some amateur moves--using a universal we, writing about a painting, centering a poem in the middle of a page--but it actually needs these moves help an audience think about what is comfortable and familiar--and to perhaps wake them from that trance. Marcus aids the audience in meditating on the dichotomies that we prescribe to our lives. Throughout the poem, in lines beyond the scope of this post, the reader is asked to examine near/far, public/private, powerful/weak, alive/dead, artist/non, our perspective/the other, doing/being, and on and on. A person in a doorway. Leaving? Entering? Being? All of those possibilities and their implications unfold in Marcus's poem. Spiritual? Yes. Boring? No.

Ok, here's one for Valentine's Day. Excerpts from "3 Poems that Make You Beautiful"

1.
Something--your hands
rummaging for dishes beneath the foam
while the white enameled stove
outlines the slope of your butt
...
That moment, that something,
when you raise your arms
and lift, shiny from the foam,
the dazzling edge of a plate.

2.
There is a loveliness
that goes as it comes:
water shadows, for one,
or your smile, darling,
...

3.
All over the apartment,
...
the looping pencil-lines of hair:
on desk, bathtub, dresser drawer--
...
so that your presence
would be with me
when I bathed, ate,
or wrote a poem.

If you're interested in more of Morton Marcus's work, go to White Pine Press.

The best-laid schemes...

Yes, astute reader, you may have noticed that I did not have those daily updates. The conference was more helpful and productive than I imagined--time to blog about it vanished. More on that soon. For now, dear readers, I will say this:

One can never have too large of a gathering of literary journals and small presses. Really. It just seems to get bigger ever year, and somehow they all still fit. It's like the Tardis.

and

Favorite Panel: The Essayist in the 21st Century. I felt this was incredibly relevant coming on the heels of Lapham's recent retirement of the Notebook section--and the final essay that occupied that last spot. Organizer: Randon Noble. If you get a chance to hear her/read her, do it.

I'm Off to AWP's Conference in Washington Tomorrow

These east coast meetings are a blast. New York in 2008 was insanely fun. I picked up Tracy K. Smith's second book, listened to Jan Beatty, heard an incredible panel on the writings of military service personnel, was enthralled by a panel on the writings of Mexican-Americans, and on and on. The book fair featured plenty of small presses from around the country, but there was a huge turn-out from innovative and creative presses around New York (especially in Brooklyn). All that, and I got a chance to see many of my friends from the writing programs at Carnegie Mellon and Pitt.

This year the schedule is packed with exciting presentations and panels--I still haven't decided what I will be attending. That said, I will spend some time at book fair. There are several small presses here in Philly that I haven't had the chance to talk to, and there are several journals that might like my work (I like their work, so we'll see, won't we?). I'll be updating the blog at least once a day with my notes from throughout the day.

If you're there, please stop by the Painted Bride Quarterly event on Thursday night. I'll be promoting other small presses tomorrow.

Stay tuned.

David Mills, Poet Extraordinaire!

Wow--I got a chance to see David Mills read some of his work yesterday at events in Philadelphia. It was a blast. Mills's work is engaging, full of energy, honest directness, compassion, and stunning imagery. One of his short poems even had a story that was mythical in its dimensions--amazing stuff. And, it's time to be honest with ourselves, it's not every writer who knows how to hold a live audience. Mills has extensive training as an actor, and he understands the difference between performance poetry and being able to perform poetry. His latest book is The Dream Detective. Fun stuff.

Messages from the Future!

Many of us have this feeling that the way we experience time is not the way time actually exists. And now here's an experiment--two actually--that have produced some almost sci-fi (or is that psy-fi?) results about time-traveling information. Here's more from Radiolab's Robert Krulwich.

Weird, huh? Well, I can't let this go untested, can I?

Every morning I talk to myself about the previous day, or I should say that I talk to my yesterday morning-self. My past self has a heads-up and an encouraging message about the day ahead. My present self is upbeat and, at some level, prepared for what will happen during the day about to unfold. And, my future self is getting out of bed and leaving me a message.

I do not believe that I am crazy.

Things You Need to Write

Freeman tells you what you need to write a play. It has an uncanny resemblance to what one needs to write poetry.

The Eagles 2010 Season Comes to a Close

Yes, I care. Sue me. This season--where, back in September everyone called this season a "rebuilding year," where the fans believed that the team wouldn't do more than have a few more wins than losses, where (in the pre-season) the team saw its best quarterback move to a rival team and then lost to that rival and then whupped that rival, where the team relied on a third string ex-con quarterback who took more punishment week after week than a boy at a British boarding school to keep winning game after game and place the team as NFC East Champs--was one of the greatest narratives in Eagles season history. Now it's over. My dreams of an all-Pennsylvania Superbowl fade yet again.

And yes, it ended in a familiar way. The team wasn't crushed by a superior defense. A superior opponent didn't take the team down. In the last minute of the game, our quarterback threw an interception instead of a game-winning touchdown. It's called choking. Like sometimes happens at wedding receptions--you know, weddings. Where there are bridesmaids. Bridesmaids who feel like they will always be bridesmaids, never...

My Phone Company Rocks

I've been with a phone company known as Working Assets for about 10 years now. I love them and I want to praise them. Working Assets is a phone company with progressive values. Back in 2000, when many companies were still on the fence about same-sex domestic partner benefits, Working Assets was fully committed to the practice. Fast forward to this past year: Working Assets donated over two million dollars to progressive charities.

It boils down to this: I love the fact that my phone company takes an active role in fighting for what I believe in. Unlike AT&T and Verizon, Working Assets does not donate money to politicians who are pro-war, anti-environment, anti-pro-choice, anti-universal health care. Working Assets prints their bills on recycled paper using soy-based ink. Yes.

Some details about the structure: Working Assets does long distance, but the mobile phone service part of its business is known as CREDO. There's also a credit card arm, and there's an arm known as the action network (a blog, facebook page, etc.).

Some details about the charitable giving: In addition to the money regularly donated by this corporation, whenever one pays a bill from Working Asetts or CREDO he or she can choose to round-up the payment to the nearest dollar, five-dollar, or ten dollar mark. That portion will be donated to a charity pool. At the end of the year, all working Assets customers vote on where the money in that pool goes. It's fun.

It feels good to crow about this company. Working Assets is not afraid to inform, write letters, and organize petition drives. The company has a commitment to democracy that's invigorating. If corporations have even more power these days, this is a corporation using its power for good causes. This is a corporation I can do business with.