Immortalized in Song

A one and a two and
Jonathan Mayhew Is In Town [click here]

Words by Nick Piombino; Song by Joe Massey

"My Vocabulary did this to me"

is a famous quote from Jack Spicer,
purportedly uttered on his deathbed.

My Vocabulary {click here} is a new
blog sponsored by Matthew Shindell and
James Meetze, offering readings on
the UCSD college radio station at 4pm
Pacific Standard Time on Sundays.
This coming Sunday, April 24,
as announced here yesterday, we have been
asked to read, as has Ron Silliman.

Our sincere apologies for the shameless
self-promotion; we were unable to
post this link earlier due to blogger posting
problems.

I will mostly be
reading works originally
published on blogs and webzines,
including poems from my Chax chapbook,
*Hegelian Honeymoon*;
you may also be hearing some poems
from the PennSound website.

Hope you can tune in!

On The Radio

We are excited and delighted to
announce that we'll be reading,
with Ron Silliman, on Sunday,
April 24 at 4 P.M. on KSDT Radio {click here}


The show, hosted by Matthew Shindell
and James Meetze, has recently featured
Keith Waldrop and Rosemarie Waldrop
as well as the late great Robert Creeley.

"The image persists
Of a childhood
Filled with happiness.

Don't ask why..."

Mike Keller
*To Be Sung*

BlazeVox [books]

Forever Yours

One of the greatest pleasures of poetry is this art's
tendency to sustain or revive earlier forms. Although
poets everywhere are mourning the passing on of the
master lyric poet Robert Creeley, there is no need to be concerned about the death of the lyric form he so ably represented. Poets
like Elaine Equi and Mike Kelleher sing on.

Mike Keller's *To Be Sung* (BlazeVox [books], 2005) arrives on
the scene at a welcome moment. These compressed, short,
singing lyrics will be enjoyed by many Creeley fans. Creeley
himself wrote on the blurb: "Michael Kelleher's deft poems
have often a wry poignance and sing the old songs with
fresh particulars. So it's as ever where we are that
counts, and that's where these poems are, always."

Recalling another 20th century master of the short form,
Paul Celan, Kelleher writes:

"The glacial
Center
Radiates

Outward
Preserving
A few

Footprints
Frozen
In retreat."

Well, it's Spring, the weather's warm and
we're heading for Brighton Beach.
Think
I'l take
Kelleher's little
book
with
me.

Jonathan Mayhew, whose blog Bemsha Swing
a favorite, is in town. Toni and me met him for coffee with
Gary Sullivan (Elsewhere) at the Mozart Cafe
(cool place with live piano music) on
West 70th St yesterday afternoon.
Jonathan lives in St Louis Mo,
and commutes to his teaching job in Kansas. Right
new he is on a sabbatical. He had his arms full
of books he bought at the Gotham Book Mart and
gifts he received from David Shapiro. Then we
all went to Central Park and had sandwiches
(bought from *Big Nick's* Burger Joint) at
Strawberry Fields. Julia Mayhew {click here},
also a poet-blogger,
was unable to join her father due to a busy schedule at
home. Next stop for Jonathan: a reading by blogger
Jordan Davis (Equanimity)
today, and back home on Tuesday.
It was a delight to meet Jonathan, whose blog
we read daily. Jonathan and me go back a long
way: he taught me (by email) how to post links! Jonathan,
come back soon!
************************************************
Excellent report from Robert Adamson on a visit to Sydney, Australia by Robert Creeley in 1976 in Jacket {click here}
************************************************
Hundreds of
Fragments of Classical Literature Deciphered {click here}