Crappy Internet Advertising Reaches Budding Poets Everywhere.

What? You didn't know? It's true. If you can count to the third letter of the alphabet, your committee will grant you your degree.

That's how I got mine.

Borders Bookstores to Re-open in My Dreams

I was doing some spring cleaning and I found my old Borders employee handbook and the tattered Borders rewards card that was much assaulted by the other items on my key ring. The Borders I worked at closed in September of last year.

The last memory I have of the place is driving by and seeing it decked out as Halloween Mega-whatever-the-hell. Is this nostalgia?

Partly. But I was also a customer, so this is also about me trying to figure out where I'm going to get my summer reading from.

Everyone and their cat had something to say about the closings last fall, but six months later the story of the Borders chain--and what it meant for book selling in the U.S.--is not closed.

Great Poetry Reading this Tuesday: Perch Pub, 8pm

From the Painted Bride Quarterly Calendar:

Charles O'Hay is the recipient of a 1995 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship in Poetry. His work has appeared in over 100 literary publications, including The New York Quarterly, Cortland Review, West Branch, Gargoyle, The Painted Bride Quarterly, and Mudfish. His first collection of poems and photographs, "Far from Luck," was published in 2011 by Lucky Bat Books (Reno, NV) and is available both in print and Kindle formats from Amazon.com.

The author will donate 20% of the proceeds from sales of the book to Project H.O.M.E. in Philadelphia, an advocacy group whose aim is to end homelessness.

Bill Ricks (poet): a Cyberpoet who uses social media networks to express his art. He is the Author of two chap books True Lust Never Dries and Bacon Fat. Currently more collections of his poetry are in the works.

The beautiful Perch Pub is located at:
1345 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107

I hope to see you there!

What the Academy Awards Failed to Recognize, I Will.

I am also happy to report that Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles had a special airing on WHYY, Channel 12 in Philadelphia. I love this film and you should too. Here's why.

And yes, smart-guy; it's at DPG Online.

Bailey's Irish Scream

I am happy to report that my friend is using one of the roller derby names I suggested! She is Bailey's Irish Scream, and I can't wait to attend her matches.

Can we stop slogging?

Haven't we stopped slogging already? Read my post at the Drexel Publishing Group's website.

Yes, that's DPG Online.

Rhythm Method

Hello, everyone. I thought you might enjoy this weird look into an aspect of poetry too often ignored: scansion. But it's also about a moment from class.

Yes, it's at DPG Online.

Still Writing

What has it been, like five months since I've written here? I'm still writing. Thank God for that. In the fall, I was published at Press 1. That felt great.

So yes, I'm still tinkering away at poems, but I'm also currently writing weekly posts for the Drexel Publishing Group Online. It's a neat collection of professors and students writing about all things word-related (language, literature, etc.), and things going on at Drexel. The post I most enjoyed writing concerns roller derby.

I wish I had more time to spend on the site as a reader. I've enjoyed everything I've had time to read: work by Blythe Davenport, Micheal Leone, and Scott Stein. Check out their work, and the site. I'll be updating this site with the posts I make at DPG Online.

More Images from Resonance

Shouting

A recent visitor to the Resonance exhibit decided to use his or her own fat sharpie to respond to the sentence prompts on the walls. I wasn't there, but I saw the results today. It looks terrible. It looks like shouting. If I were a letterer in a comic book, this is how I would indicate a person who couldn't control the volume.

If these panels are metaphors for a public discussion about the arts, is this an indication of what can happen in a real discussion? Someone shouts? Someone, intentionally or not, makes his or her ideas louder than others? Should I simply let this go, because, hey, "This is what a discussion in real life might sound like?"Perhaps I should even feel a little bit of pride that the exhibit managed to recreate that aspect of real-life.

Or am I the director of a show? There is a significant element of performance to this show. Angela and I have talked about this. Are we not directing this space and the performance inside? Is the show called Cacophony, or is it called Resonance? Don't I have the authority to administer the hook or kill the lights if the plan begins to come apart?

I'm not asking for comments on this one readers. For me it comes down to intention. If this person intentionally wrote responses to be louder than everyone else's, than I will simply continue to wish upon them--for the next few days in which I purge this frustration--a short-lived mild flu or temporary skin rash. Petty, yes, I know. But man, that marker really hurts the aesthetic of the panels, and the world doesn't exactly need more blowhards these days. If this person made a mistake--people have been making all sorts of funny aesthetic missteps in this exhibit--I'll simply smile and hope that people still feel like buying a few of these panels anyway.

Of course, there's no reason why someone who buys a panel can't simply remove this response and replace it with another.

And, I'm also reminded of another saying that goes something like this: the arguing and the hand-writing is never so intense as when the stakes are so low.

As obnoxious as it is, I think the ugly marker stays up.

A Nice Feeling of Satisfaction

The show I'm working on with Angela Colasanti, Resonance, opened last night and it was a blast. I wrote detailed reactions over at the Resonance Artworks blog.

It's been a while since I've had writing out in the public sphere. It feels good. I had fun at the opening, and it seems as though visitors did too.


Perhaps more importantly, we achieved one of the goals of the show--to make art out of a public conversation about the arts.

Angela is the best partner a writer could ask for. She made this project great. I can't thank her enough for taking me on this ride that began in May.

Thanks to everyone who contributed last night. If you still want to interact with this exhibit--or if you just want see this for yourself--the gallery is open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. There's more information at studiobbb.org

Next stop: The Closing Reception on the 9th. Doors open at 5PM. Doors close late.

Just Six Days to the Opening of Resonance

With the exhibit less than a week away, I feel that it's time for another update.

The panels are almost complete and the marketing is done. If you receive a postcard, note that reception is listed as ending at 9PM. It won't. I think we might be there fairly late.

Here is a photo of me sanding a panel last week. And, yes, that's a decades-old Arts Expo t-shirt courtesy of Mark Stupak's artistically inclined hands. I'm dressed a little more professionally here in this television interview on BCTV.

The interview was a great way to talk about the exhibit and the arts in the public sphere. I owe thanks to Nick Lawrence and BCTV for providing us with this opportunity. The guests included Jane Stahl (representing Studio B), Jenny Hershour (representing Citizens for the Arts in Pennsylvania), and my partner on this project, Angela Colasanti.

We're really happy to have the support of Citizens for the Arts in PA. Programs like the Governor's Schools for the Arts might not return, but Hershour's organization works to support many other great arts initiatives in the public sphere.

The show opens Friday, August 26th at 5PM in Boyertown, Pennsylvania.

The gallery is open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays (other days by appointment). For more information about the exhibit, the gallery, gallery hours, and directions visit Studio B at studiobbb.org.