Thanks to Mark Young, publisher of Otoliths Books,
who had this to say about our new book *Free Fall* on
Gamma Ways
Distribution Automatique
Thursday, June 28
Breaking News: Rachel Maddow Live and In Person
When Toni and I, on vacation, were walking into town yesterday, Toni decided to pet a puppy walking by. The owner warned Toni that the little thing liked to bite, and in fact the puppy tried to go for Toni's pearl necklace. As we were leaving Toni noticed that this person looked a lot like Rachel Maddow. She, in fact, was Rachel Maddow, and we got to tell her we are major fans, watching and listening to her with great pleasure and admiration on tv on the Keith Olbermann show , the Tucker Carlson show and recently with Paula Zahn. Rachel, of course has a nightly show on Air America: Rachel Maddow on wikipedia She is just as friendly, warm and easy to talk to as she seems to be on radio and tv. She was with her girlfriend Susan and seemed a bit skeptical that she could, as Toni and I hoped she might. soon have a network tv show of her own. She did claim we made her day and she certainly made ours.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
a kari edwards memorial was held at the Zinc bar on 6/25/07
Check out Tim Peterson's excellent piece on kari edwards on: mappemunde
When Toni and I, on vacation, were walking into town yesterday, Toni decided to pet a puppy walking by. The owner warned Toni that the little thing liked to bite, and in fact the puppy tried to go for Toni's pearl necklace. As we were leaving Toni noticed that this person looked a lot like Rachel Maddow. She, in fact, was Rachel Maddow, and we got to tell her we are major fans, watching and listening to her with great pleasure and admiration on tv on the Keith Olbermann show , the Tucker Carlson show and recently with Paula Zahn. Rachel, of course has a nightly show on Air America: Rachel Maddow on wikipedia She is just as friendly, warm and easy to talk to as she seems to be on radio and tv. She was with her girlfriend Susan and seemed a bit skeptical that she could, as Toni and I hoped she might. soon have a network tv show of her own. She did claim we made her day and she certainly made ours.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
a kari edwards memorial was held at the Zinc bar on 6/25/07
Check out Tim Peterson's excellent piece on kari edwards on: mappemunde
Wednesday, June 27
Contradicta
Feelings are not the threat, or shouldn't be. To the extent that at times I feel gratitude and affection, I should expect to feel outrage and antipathy at other times. Indifference is the true threat, the outcome of deadening.
**
Someone responds, I respond. If you ignore me, how can I fail, eventually, to ignore you? Nevertheless, each of us is aware the other is out there, somewhere.
Feelings are not the threat, or shouldn't be. To the extent that at times I feel gratitude and affection, I should expect to feel outrage and antipathy at other times. Indifference is the true threat, the outcome of deadening.
**
Someone responds, I respond. If you ignore me, how can I fail, eventually, to ignore you? Nevertheless, each of us is aware the other is out there, somewhere.
Sunday, June 24
Kate meets Katie: Degentesh on *Every Other Day*
The ongoing first book interview series features The Anger Scale
The ongoing first book interview series features The Anger Scale
Saturday, June 23
On My Desk
*the tiny*, issue 3, edited by Gina Myers and Gabriella Torres. Contact thetiny@gmail.com
[Additional info on ordering *the tiny* from paypal at the end of today's post-plus list of contributors, upcoming reading &&
the tiny]
The third issue of this popular and admired poetry journal features a cover by Andrew Mister (issues 1 and 2 featured covers by James Meetz and David Shapiro). This one isn't tiny, in fact it is the largest issue yet, 159 pages with about 50 contributors. Interspersed among the poems by poets who are decidedly not the "usual suspects", at least in the lineups I am used to looking at, are a few quite witty and lively essays and interviews about writing and the poetry scene, made all the more appealing by coming from voices not so often heard before. Given all this, *fait acccompli* is extremely honored to announce that a selection of our *contradicta* is here handsomely included in a poetry magazine for the first time.
from *P(r)etty Sonnets* by Anthony Hawley:
"XVL
they came swaggering, not knowing just how fast
i wish I could write what was said
caterpillar, junebug towards the graveled surface
of every article in the closet
are there any coats like a dalmatian's
bandonian in the desert we are lost each other in
oh cabelleros
when will it be done
when the laundry
seedpods whirled to give the impression of having whorls"
from Mike Hauser and Dustin Williamson *Talking Shop*
"MH: I do think that to write poetry (assuming one has spent time reading and processing the poetry of others) is to create a piece of culture. Speaking anthropo-something- ly the instinct to share would have come with the act of creating then, right? Not that I want to show you everything I write. That's not necessarily what creating an audience means. To me it's sort of like giving something to another person as a gift, so it exists as an entity apart from your own peception of it. But still part of your "receipts for existence."....And maybe then, paradoxically there has to be some level of isolation. I remember a Phillip Whalen poem (I think one to Bill Berkson) where he is basically saying how there are so many people around that one can't get anything done. But that's funcitionalty, or the lack thereof when one is surrounded by distractions. I mean a sort of maybe self-imposed isolation. Maybe an isolation that the poem imposes on itself."
from Jill Magi *My Penelope/Uraveling as Writing (notes on recent writings and visual works)*
"Even poetry drafts become too stable as I open up the computer document, noticing that it already resembles a printed page. Again, I thnk of H.D."....I know, I feel/the meaning that words hide...." When language is too much, I want something to actually touch and reshape. So I push old, nearly discarded book pages and maps away from their bindings and frames, arranging the markers of the written word into something illegible, visual. Noticeably incomplete, with signs of wear and tear, personal use, and distress."
from Kristy Bowen, *In the night theatre*
"there are far too many entrances
and exits. The girls who love
black shoes and vodka come and go
in the blue light, hiking up their skirts
and running their fingers along the edge
of the butter dish.They are easily subdued,
seduced by surgical pins and bottle glass.
Now we'd call them *nervy, a piece*"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Gary Sullivan, *elsewhere* no. 3, $3.95 contact garypsullivan@gmail.com
Whap! Blam! Smash! This is the greatest issue yet in this terrific series of comics by the man who is bringing contemporary poetry and poetry culture the kind of humor it has long been desperately in need of. This issue features a selection from Gary's ongoing comic *The New Life* which has been appearing for ten years in *Rain Taxi Review of Books*. The mag opens with a useful and able introduction by Eric Lorberer, the editor of Rain Taxi. Included are comic potraits of such greats as Keats, Bernadette Mayer, Diane Di Prima, Paul Blackburn, WCW, Jackson Mac Low, and Robert Creeley. Less known geniuses are also featured in cameos, such as Jerome Sala, Rodney Koeneke, Sheila Murphy, Drew Gardner and Ernst Herbeck, I luciously enjoyed and laughed at loud reading the histories and spoofs of flarf, the language school and possibly most of all the saga of *Swoon*, Gary's legendary courtship of contemporary poetry'superstar Nada Gordon, who on Gary's pages emerges as a glamorous and zany composite of, let us say, Gracie Allen and Marlene Dietrich. There are serious strips too, including those on 9/11 and the bombing of Iraq. In these timely comics, which transcend into the timeless zone that Mallarme termied "pure poetry", Gary combines a razor edged observational wit with huge humanity and affectionate humor, a rare combination in an era where comedy swings wildly between, let us say, the ham and the hamster. And finally, frankly, I advise you to quickly buy this issue. It is incredibly collectible.
more...Gary Sullivan's play *Mozart and Salieri*, and a play by Simon Pettet are being performed this weekend at Medicine Show. Check Elsewhere; also paypal info for *Elsewhere #3*
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Yesterday evening John Coletti (who, by the way opens the issue of *the tiny* discussed above ("i miss you with tomatoes/over your eyes tatooed valentines/on your trachea zippering/each of my ungainly comments"), (and who, I am told, is the new editor of the PP Newsletter-something tells me he will be great at this- as were, say, Jerome Sala and Nada and Gary- I already want to get some stuff in there) read with Simon Pettet. Coletti, of course, is not the first poet to appear to be inhabited by the spirit of Ted Berrigan (Anselm, the former and now retired head of the Project for many years, was present)-did we also feel the presence of the ghost of Jim Brody, I heard it whispered? Who cares, he immediately won me over by talking affectionately about his three times a week therapy, and seemed to admire his therapist, who apparently insisted that JC talk about his reading, much to the poet's chagrin. Anyway, I like the guy fine, as apparently do many others, to wit the packed house at the BPC. But let's face it, the star of the show was Simon Pettet whose reading mesmerized me. And although I am a long standing denizen and citizen of the L=A school of poetry, I cut my poetic teeth in two workshops given by Ted Berrigan and one by Bernadette Mayer. I will not say I escaped unscathed, but I will admit I beamed throughout this reading lit up inside with tons of nostalgia. This was boosted by the presence in the room of the likes of Michael Lally, Marshall Reese and Nora Ligorano, and Basil and Martha King. Simon read from his lovely *Selected Poetry* and his latest contribution, *More Winnowed Fragments*. Simon gets away marvelously with reading his poems twice, and, as I said to him afterwards, you listen to 'em the first time but you feel 'em the second. Simon claims his poems are eternal and no doubt his instinct is correct. He's loveable and generous and as addictive and sweet as Haagen Daz in the summertime.
"EVERGREEN
I come to you
as an eternal person
and tho' I am loathe to go
Here is the calling card of my
immense proximity
and here is *your* calling card
and here is a pine cone
so redolent
You left it
over at my place"
(Selected Poems, Talisman House)
**
"There is a cruel, messianic, dim, tribal instransigence
That gains you nothing.
There is a bull-headed childish baby-tantrum
That can unleash untold consequences
I am appalled by the darkening of the sky"
*More Winnowed Fragments*, Talsman House
**
more...Michael Lally reviews the reading on lally's alley
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Fuhgetaboud a Condo, Buy some Property on The Moon!
Lunar Luxury
*If you lived here, you'd be home by now"
A lunar development from Eldritch Brothers, a Palmer Subsidiary
by Ligorano/Reese 2007
The New Moon
"the odyssey is just beginning
for the discerning few,
who yearn to leave the Earth Behind...."
"If you lived here, you'd be home by now," DVD, 2007
Keep the Change
curated by Meridith McNeal
Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation
Nathan Cummings Foundation
475 Tenth Avenue, 14th Floor
New York, New York 10018
June 21, 2007 - September 14, 2007
Opening Thursday, June 28, 2007, 6- 8 PM
RSVP for this event by Monday, June 25
tel 646 485-1284
AND
New Prints 2007/Summer-SILKSCREEN
International Print Center New York
526 West 26th Street, Room 824
New York, NY 10001
June 29, 2007 - August 3, 2007
Opening Thursday, June 28, 2007, 6- 8 PM
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Addional info on The Tiny
the tiny #3 features work by Andrea Baker, Ellen Baxt, Edmund
Berrigan, Mark Bibbins, Daniel Borzutzky, Kristy Bowen, Joseph
Bradshaw, John Coletti, Rachel Conrad, Crystal Curry, Michelle
Detorie, Julia Drescher, Will Edmiston, Bonnie Emerick, Betsy Fagin,
Paul Fattaruso, Peter Gizzi, Scott Glassman, Sarah Goldstein, Garth
Graeper & Jason Sheridan, Eryn Green, Kristen Hanlon, Mike Hauser,
Anthony Hawley, Anne Heide, Brenda Iijima, Greg Koehler, Rodney
Koeneke, Michael Koshkin, Tim Lantz & Mark Yakich, Lauren Levin, Jill
Magi, C.J. Martin, Joseph Massey, Kristi Maxwell, Ange Mlinko, Michael
Montlack, Marci Nelligan, Nick Piombino, Billy Ramsell, F. Daniel
Rzicznek, Brandon Shimoda, Logan Ryan Smith, Maggie Smith, Chad
Sweeney, Derek White, Dustin Williamson, and Devon Wootten, with cover
art by Andrew Mister.
the tiny is available for purchase for $12.00 by clicking on the
PayPal link below, or by sending a check made out to Gina Myers or
Gabriella Torres to the tiny, 95 Verona St. #4, Brooklyn, NY 11231.
Paypal: the tiny-paypal
Also, please look for a number of upcoming tiny events, including
October 19th at the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church.
*the tiny*, issue 3, edited by Gina Myers and Gabriella Torres. Contact thetiny@gmail.com
[Additional info on ordering *the tiny* from paypal at the end of today's post-plus list of contributors, upcoming reading &&
the tiny]
The third issue of this popular and admired poetry journal features a cover by Andrew Mister (issues 1 and 2 featured covers by James Meetz and David Shapiro). This one isn't tiny, in fact it is the largest issue yet, 159 pages with about 50 contributors. Interspersed among the poems by poets who are decidedly not the "usual suspects", at least in the lineups I am used to looking at, are a few quite witty and lively essays and interviews about writing and the poetry scene, made all the more appealing by coming from voices not so often heard before. Given all this, *fait acccompli* is extremely honored to announce that a selection of our *contradicta* is here handsomely included in a poetry magazine for the first time.
from *P(r)etty Sonnets* by Anthony Hawley:
"XVL
they came swaggering, not knowing just how fast
i wish I could write what was said
caterpillar, junebug towards the graveled surface
of every article in the closet
are there any coats like a dalmatian's
bandonian in the desert we are lost each other in
oh cabelleros
when will it be done
when the laundry
seedpods whirled to give the impression of having whorls"
from Mike Hauser and Dustin Williamson *Talking Shop*
"MH: I do think that to write poetry (assuming one has spent time reading and processing the poetry of others) is to create a piece of culture. Speaking anthropo-something- ly the instinct to share would have come with the act of creating then, right? Not that I want to show you everything I write. That's not necessarily what creating an audience means. To me it's sort of like giving something to another person as a gift, so it exists as an entity apart from your own peception of it. But still part of your "receipts for existence."....And maybe then, paradoxically there has to be some level of isolation. I remember a Phillip Whalen poem (I think one to Bill Berkson) where he is basically saying how there are so many people around that one can't get anything done. But that's funcitionalty, or the lack thereof when one is surrounded by distractions. I mean a sort of maybe self-imposed isolation. Maybe an isolation that the poem imposes on itself."
from Jill Magi *My Penelope/Uraveling as Writing (notes on recent writings and visual works)*
"Even poetry drafts become too stable as I open up the computer document, noticing that it already resembles a printed page. Again, I thnk of H.D."....I know, I feel/the meaning that words hide...." When language is too much, I want something to actually touch and reshape. So I push old, nearly discarded book pages and maps away from their bindings and frames, arranging the markers of the written word into something illegible, visual. Noticeably incomplete, with signs of wear and tear, personal use, and distress."
from Kristy Bowen, *In the night theatre*
"there are far too many entrances
and exits. The girls who love
black shoes and vodka come and go
in the blue light, hiking up their skirts
and running their fingers along the edge
of the butter dish.They are easily subdued,
seduced by surgical pins and bottle glass.
Now we'd call them *nervy, a piece*"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Gary Sullivan, *elsewhere* no. 3, $3.95 contact garypsullivan@gmail.com
Whap! Blam! Smash! This is the greatest issue yet in this terrific series of comics by the man who is bringing contemporary poetry and poetry culture the kind of humor it has long been desperately in need of. This issue features a selection from Gary's ongoing comic *The New Life* which has been appearing for ten years in *Rain Taxi Review of Books*. The mag opens with a useful and able introduction by Eric Lorberer, the editor of Rain Taxi. Included are comic potraits of such greats as Keats, Bernadette Mayer, Diane Di Prima, Paul Blackburn, WCW, Jackson Mac Low, and Robert Creeley. Less known geniuses are also featured in cameos, such as Jerome Sala, Rodney Koeneke, Sheila Murphy, Drew Gardner and Ernst Herbeck, I luciously enjoyed and laughed at loud reading the histories and spoofs of flarf, the language school and possibly most of all the saga of *Swoon*, Gary's legendary courtship of contemporary poetry'superstar Nada Gordon, who on Gary's pages emerges as a glamorous and zany composite of, let us say, Gracie Allen and Marlene Dietrich. There are serious strips too, including those on 9/11 and the bombing of Iraq. In these timely comics, which transcend into the timeless zone that Mallarme termied "pure poetry", Gary combines a razor edged observational wit with huge humanity and affectionate humor, a rare combination in an era where comedy swings wildly between, let us say, the ham and the hamster. And finally, frankly, I advise you to quickly buy this issue. It is incredibly collectible.
more...Gary Sullivan's play *Mozart and Salieri*, and a play by Simon Pettet are being performed this weekend at Medicine Show. Check Elsewhere; also paypal info for *Elsewhere #3*
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Yesterday evening John Coletti (who, by the way opens the issue of *the tiny* discussed above ("i miss you with tomatoes/over your eyes tatooed valentines/on your trachea zippering/each of my ungainly comments"), (and who, I am told, is the new editor of the PP Newsletter-something tells me he will be great at this- as were, say, Jerome Sala and Nada and Gary- I already want to get some stuff in there) read with Simon Pettet. Coletti, of course, is not the first poet to appear to be inhabited by the spirit of Ted Berrigan (Anselm, the former and now retired head of the Project for many years, was present)-did we also feel the presence of the ghost of Jim Brody, I heard it whispered? Who cares, he immediately won me over by talking affectionately about his three times a week therapy, and seemed to admire his therapist, who apparently insisted that JC talk about his reading, much to the poet's chagrin. Anyway, I like the guy fine, as apparently do many others, to wit the packed house at the BPC. But let's face it, the star of the show was Simon Pettet whose reading mesmerized me. And although I am a long standing denizen and citizen of the L=A school of poetry, I cut my poetic teeth in two workshops given by Ted Berrigan and one by Bernadette Mayer. I will not say I escaped unscathed, but I will admit I beamed throughout this reading lit up inside with tons of nostalgia. This was boosted by the presence in the room of the likes of Michael Lally, Marshall Reese and Nora Ligorano, and Basil and Martha King. Simon read from his lovely *Selected Poetry* and his latest contribution, *More Winnowed Fragments*. Simon gets away marvelously with reading his poems twice, and, as I said to him afterwards, you listen to 'em the first time but you feel 'em the second. Simon claims his poems are eternal and no doubt his instinct is correct. He's loveable and generous and as addictive and sweet as Haagen Daz in the summertime.
"EVERGREEN
I come to you
as an eternal person
and tho' I am loathe to go
Here is the calling card of my
immense proximity
and here is *your* calling card
and here is a pine cone
so redolent
You left it
over at my place"
(Selected Poems, Talisman House)
**
"There is a cruel, messianic, dim, tribal instransigence
That gains you nothing.
There is a bull-headed childish baby-tantrum
That can unleash untold consequences
I am appalled by the darkening of the sky"
*More Winnowed Fragments*, Talsman House
**
more...Michael Lally reviews the reading on lally's alley
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Fuhgetaboud a Condo, Buy some Property on The Moon!
Lunar Luxury
*If you lived here, you'd be home by now"
A lunar development from Eldritch Brothers, a Palmer Subsidiary
by Ligorano/Reese 2007
The New Moon
"the odyssey is just beginning
for the discerning few,
who yearn to leave the Earth Behind...."
"If you lived here, you'd be home by now," DVD, 2007
Keep the Change
curated by Meridith McNeal
Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation
Nathan Cummings Foundation
475 Tenth Avenue, 14th Floor
New York, New York 10018
June 21, 2007 - September 14, 2007
Opening Thursday, June 28, 2007, 6- 8 PM
RSVP for this event by Monday, June 25
tel 646 485-1284
AND
New Prints 2007/Summer-SILKSCREEN
International Print Center New York
526 West 26th Street, Room 824
New York, NY 10001
June 29, 2007 - August 3, 2007
Opening Thursday, June 28, 2007, 6- 8 PM
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Addional info on The Tiny
the tiny #3 features work by Andrea Baker, Ellen Baxt, Edmund
Berrigan, Mark Bibbins, Daniel Borzutzky, Kristy Bowen, Joseph
Bradshaw, John Coletti, Rachel Conrad, Crystal Curry, Michelle
Detorie, Julia Drescher, Will Edmiston, Bonnie Emerick, Betsy Fagin,
Paul Fattaruso, Peter Gizzi, Scott Glassman, Sarah Goldstein, Garth
Graeper & Jason Sheridan, Eryn Green, Kristen Hanlon, Mike Hauser,
Anthony Hawley, Anne Heide, Brenda Iijima, Greg Koehler, Rodney
Koeneke, Michael Koshkin, Tim Lantz & Mark Yakich, Lauren Levin, Jill
Magi, C.J. Martin, Joseph Massey, Kristi Maxwell, Ange Mlinko, Michael
Montlack, Marci Nelligan, Nick Piombino, Billy Ramsell, F. Daniel
Rzicznek, Brandon Shimoda, Logan Ryan Smith, Maggie Smith, Chad
Sweeney, Derek White, Dustin Williamson, and Devon Wootten, with cover
art by Andrew Mister.
the tiny is available for purchase for $12.00 by clicking on the
PayPal link below, or by sending a check made out to Gina Myers or
Gabriella Torres to the tiny, 95 Verona St. #4, Brooklyn, NY 11231.
Paypal: the tiny-paypal
Also, please look for a number of upcoming tiny events, including
October 19th at the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church.
Friday, June 22
Mallarme: Transpositions of Reading
from Stephane Mallarme to
Georges Rodenbach 28 June, 1892
"Your human history, at times so erudite, evaporates; and the city, in the form of a vast phantom, continues, or recovers consciousness through the characters, and all that's done with a subtle certainty which instills a very pure effect. All the modern experiments in reading seek to make the poem end as a novel, and the novel as a poem, but there's no doubt the writer is hampered by too many separate items if his juxtaposition is less exact than yours is here: and if he lacks your magic."
**
from Stephane Mallarmet to
Emile Zola 18 March 1876
"A book whose special aesthetics are in absolute harmony with whatever mode of reading its readers may adopt is a masterpiece."
from Stephane Mallarme to
Georges Rodenbach 28 June, 1892
"Your human history, at times so erudite, evaporates; and the city, in the form of a vast phantom, continues, or recovers consciousness through the characters, and all that's done with a subtle certainty which instills a very pure effect. All the modern experiments in reading seek to make the poem end as a novel, and the novel as a poem, but there's no doubt the writer is hampered by too many separate items if his juxtaposition is less exact than yours is here: and if he lacks your magic."
**
from Stephane Mallarmet to
Emile Zola 18 March 1876
"A book whose special aesthetics are in absolute harmony with whatever mode of reading its readers may adopt is a masterpiece."
Thursday, June 21
Tuesday, June 19
Chelsea: Enclosures
Figuring this may be our last chance of the season, Toni and I headed out for a jaunt to Chelsea this past Saturday. We didn't expect much: the latest buzz had it that nothing much was happening this month. In fact, there were few people to be seen as we trudged the long streets between 10th and 11th avenues in quest of transcendence, or maybe just an aesthetic jolt. To my delighted surprise, we had plenty of memorable art to see. What follows is a sketch of that very satisfying day.
First off, we headed for the Pavel Zoubok Gallery, a diminutive affair at 533 West 23rd Street, the perfect scale for its mandate which is to show only collages. The show up now (which continues until August 10), is *In Context- collage & abstraction" This is a fine show- an available treat is a small catalogue for $10, with all color plates from this show. Many favorites in this show, Schwitters, Villegle, Nevelson, Amy Silliman, Tworkov and numerous surprises. A highly recommended show and gallery.
There's a fine show up at the A.I.R. Gallery (511 W. 25th Street) this month, work by an acquaintance of mine and Toni's, Joan Snitzer. The show opened on May 29 and continues until June 23, so you'll have to hurry. These are light and airy abstractions with lots of open space to move the eyes around in and not a little bit of finely delicate line drawing to guide the way. If you like Cy Twombly (who doesn't?) you'll very likely enjoy these too, but I'm not trying to say these paintings are in any way derivative. I found them delightful, sophisticated and charming and look foward to seeing wherever Joan Snitzer decides to go from here.
Moving on, as they so often say these days, and with Toni as my guide I have to because she covers a lot of ground quickly on a visit to Chelsea. In a day of very fine shows this one at the Betty Cunningham Gallery (541 W. 25th Street) was a knockout. Titled "It's All Spiritual: Art from Tribal Cultures", the show consists of pieces that originate from tribal cultures in the Americas, Africa, Indonesia, Polynesia, Melanesia and China, dating from 1100 BC to the early 20th Century. The show was curated by Alan Steele. The excellence of the curating was obvious in noting how incredibly interesting and engaging each and every piece was, very much including the 19th and early 20th Century pieces. Toni remarked how you can see in this show where so much contemporary art derives from; this and the sheer spiritual magic of the show was palpable the minute you starting examining the pieces closely. This is a show that should be the envy of museum curators everywhere. One of the standouts was a group of tiny figures reminiscent of Giacometti, dating from the 12th to 16th Century Djenne culture. The show closes on July 27th and is a must see.
I learned about the book parties at the Cue Art Foundation (511 W. 25th Street) only this year, to the surprise of my friend Charles North, but at least and at last enjoyed quite a few this year. This month at the gallery I liked nearly all the work I saw but particularly the work of Andrew Scott Ross, which, like the 12th to 16th Century piece at Betty Cunningham discussed above was a work consisting of tiny upright figures but these were placed in a miniature mountain landscape constructed out of gray cardstock. Especially after the Djenne piece mentioned above, this piece was haunting and revelatory. But there are other excellent works in this group show as well, including a fantastical painting of two figures in golden flowing robes that open out into biomorphic forms (Shalini Bhat) and some lovely abstractions by Emmy Cho and Maya Onada. Believe it or not, these are MFA award winners (the Joan Mitchell Foundation)- and you can pick up a nicely printed free catalogue at the show. Very satisfying!
Two more shows that follow today's theme of "enclosures." There's Dustin Yellin's impressive, biomorphic "Suspended Animations" at the Robert Miller Gallery (524 W. 26th Street). From the show notes: "For his second exhibition at the gallery, Yellin presents large scale, cast resin sculptures. Some tower over eight feet in height. His works, reminiscent of insects and plants captured in amber, are a fusion of sculpture and drawing. The illusion of encapsulated specimens in suspension is achieved by layering drawings in acrylic or India ink on resin. Yellin builds his drawings, sometimes as many as two hundred, one on top of the next, in precise orientations. The overlap and transparency of each layer reult in an astounding effect of three dimensionality."
I also enjoyed, at the George Adams Gallery (525 West 26th Street) new paintings by Sandy Winters. These are figurative paintings of a fantastical nature, that reminded me slightly of the work of Susan Bee. Hanging from trees are plastic bubbles that enclose strange unidentifiable, yet somehow recognizable drawings of creatures: a familiar landscape is thus converted into a kind of animated dramscape that is cartoonlike yet eerie in a through-the-lookinglass way.
All in all, Toni's Saturday Chelsea tour reminded me that even when your friends tell you nothing is happening in Chelsea right now, if you look closely-and have an artist as a super guide- you may still find yourself astounded.
Figuring this may be our last chance of the season, Toni and I headed out for a jaunt to Chelsea this past Saturday. We didn't expect much: the latest buzz had it that nothing much was happening this month. In fact, there were few people to be seen as we trudged the long streets between 10th and 11th avenues in quest of transcendence, or maybe just an aesthetic jolt. To my delighted surprise, we had plenty of memorable art to see. What follows is a sketch of that very satisfying day.
First off, we headed for the Pavel Zoubok Gallery, a diminutive affair at 533 West 23rd Street, the perfect scale for its mandate which is to show only collages. The show up now (which continues until August 10), is *In Context- collage & abstraction" This is a fine show- an available treat is a small catalogue for $10, with all color plates from this show. Many favorites in this show, Schwitters, Villegle, Nevelson, Amy Silliman, Tworkov and numerous surprises. A highly recommended show and gallery.
There's a fine show up at the A.I.R. Gallery (511 W. 25th Street) this month, work by an acquaintance of mine and Toni's, Joan Snitzer. The show opened on May 29 and continues until June 23, so you'll have to hurry. These are light and airy abstractions with lots of open space to move the eyes around in and not a little bit of finely delicate line drawing to guide the way. If you like Cy Twombly (who doesn't?) you'll very likely enjoy these too, but I'm not trying to say these paintings are in any way derivative. I found them delightful, sophisticated and charming and look foward to seeing wherever Joan Snitzer decides to go from here.
Moving on, as they so often say these days, and with Toni as my guide I have to because she covers a lot of ground quickly on a visit to Chelsea. In a day of very fine shows this one at the Betty Cunningham Gallery (541 W. 25th Street) was a knockout. Titled "It's All Spiritual: Art from Tribal Cultures", the show consists of pieces that originate from tribal cultures in the Americas, Africa, Indonesia, Polynesia, Melanesia and China, dating from 1100 BC to the early 20th Century. The show was curated by Alan Steele. The excellence of the curating was obvious in noting how incredibly interesting and engaging each and every piece was, very much including the 19th and early 20th Century pieces. Toni remarked how you can see in this show where so much contemporary art derives from; this and the sheer spiritual magic of the show was palpable the minute you starting examining the pieces closely. This is a show that should be the envy of museum curators everywhere. One of the standouts was a group of tiny figures reminiscent of Giacometti, dating from the 12th to 16th Century Djenne culture. The show closes on July 27th and is a must see.
I learned about the book parties at the Cue Art Foundation (511 W. 25th Street) only this year, to the surprise of my friend Charles North, but at least and at last enjoyed quite a few this year. This month at the gallery I liked nearly all the work I saw but particularly the work of Andrew Scott Ross, which, like the 12th to 16th Century piece at Betty Cunningham discussed above was a work consisting of tiny upright figures but these were placed in a miniature mountain landscape constructed out of gray cardstock. Especially after the Djenne piece mentioned above, this piece was haunting and revelatory. But there are other excellent works in this group show as well, including a fantastical painting of two figures in golden flowing robes that open out into biomorphic forms (Shalini Bhat) and some lovely abstractions by Emmy Cho and Maya Onada. Believe it or not, these are MFA award winners (the Joan Mitchell Foundation)- and you can pick up a nicely printed free catalogue at the show. Very satisfying!
Two more shows that follow today's theme of "enclosures." There's Dustin Yellin's impressive, biomorphic "Suspended Animations" at the Robert Miller Gallery (524 W. 26th Street). From the show notes: "For his second exhibition at the gallery, Yellin presents large scale, cast resin sculptures. Some tower over eight feet in height. His works, reminiscent of insects and plants captured in amber, are a fusion of sculpture and drawing. The illusion of encapsulated specimens in suspension is achieved by layering drawings in acrylic or India ink on resin. Yellin builds his drawings, sometimes as many as two hundred, one on top of the next, in precise orientations. The overlap and transparency of each layer reult in an astounding effect of three dimensionality."
I also enjoyed, at the George Adams Gallery (525 West 26th Street) new paintings by Sandy Winters. These are figurative paintings of a fantastical nature, that reminded me slightly of the work of Susan Bee. Hanging from trees are plastic bubbles that enclose strange unidentifiable, yet somehow recognizable drawings of creatures: a familiar landscape is thus converted into a kind of animated dramscape that is cartoonlike yet eerie in a through-the-lookinglass way.
All in all, Toni's Saturday Chelsea tour reminded me that even when your friends tell you nothing is happening in Chelsea right now, if you look closely-and have an artist as a super guide- you may still find yourself astounded.
Saturday, June 16
Two Summer Recommendations
Toni and I are off to Chelsea today, but last night's jaunts are worth telling you about. We saw
The Shapes of Space at the Guggenheim and Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare Theater in Central Park. Total cost: $2 with $7 more for the chicken sandwich we ate during the en'tracte at the play.
Both events were very enjoyable. They led to a lively discussion regarding Ontology. The R & J is the first in 40 years in the park. Mercutio and Juliet were terrific and all the parts were played well.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
An Invitation from Simon Pettet
Friday June 22 at 7.00 pm.
You are cordially invited...
SIMON PETTET and
JOHN COLETTI
will be reading
at the Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery, NYC 10012 (212.614.050)
between. Bleecker & Houston,
(F or V to 2nd Ave / 6 to Bleecker Street )
For Farfalla Press Free Broadsides for the first 50 attendees! -
Toni and I are off to Chelsea today, but last night's jaunts are worth telling you about. We saw
The Shapes of Space at the Guggenheim and Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare Theater in Central Park. Total cost: $2 with $7 more for the chicken sandwich we ate during the en'tracte at the play.
Both events were very enjoyable. They led to a lively discussion regarding Ontology. The R & J is the first in 40 years in the park. Mercutio and Juliet were terrific and all the parts were played well.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
An Invitation from Simon Pettet
Friday June 22 at 7.00 pm.
You are cordially invited...
SIMON PETTET and
JOHN COLETTI
will be reading
at the Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery, NYC 10012 (212.614.050)
between. Bleecker & Houston,
(F or V to 2nd Ave / 6 to Bleecker Street )
For Farfalla Press Free Broadsides for the first 50 attendees! -
Friday, June 15
Blogkatie Blog
Another Katie Degentesh type subway experience. Heading for Manhattan on the #3 train I kept trying to read my book and getting interrupted by these long spiels by the conductor over the loudspeaker system. Just as I began getting bored with his cloying and cheerful "have a nice day" he added: "As the hotdog man said to the Zen Master, 'make me one with everything.'
Another Katie Degentesh type subway experience. Heading for Manhattan on the #3 train I kept trying to read my book and getting interrupted by these long spiels by the conductor over the loudspeaker system. Just as I began getting bored with his cloying and cheerful "have a nice day" he added: "As the hotdog man said to the Zen Master, 'make me one with everything.'
Tuesday, June 12
New review of *fait accompli* (Factory School)
venepoetics
I am deeply grateful to Guillermo Parra for the work he has put into this special review.
venepoetics
I am deeply grateful to Guillermo Parra for the work he has put into this special review.
Monday, June 11
Sunday, June 10
Contradicta
The novice plays to the invited guests, the master plays to the gallery.
****************
Listen well to the disputes of the philosophers within yourself, but never sit at their feet.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Thanks to Jordan Stempleman for the link to
Otoliths new releases including *Free Fall*
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
to Lally's Alley for Another quote
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
to This cruellest month for the link to James Sherry's classic "She''ll be comin' round
and to
Limetree for the same.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Something Worth Fighting For
Taking on Alzheimer's
The novice plays to the invited guests, the master plays to the gallery.
****************
Listen well to the disputes of the philosophers within yourself, but never sit at their feet.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Thanks to Jordan Stempleman for the link to
Otoliths new releases including *Free Fall*
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
to Lally's Alley for Another quote
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
to This cruellest month for the link to James Sherry's classic "She''ll be comin' round
and to
Limetree for the same.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Something Worth Fighting For
Taking on Alzheimer's
Saturday, June 9
*Free Fall* is now available through the
Otoliths storefront
Some images from *Free Fall*
E-ratio #4
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Sheila Murphy interviews Peter Ganick on Ex-Val
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Brooklyn's, In Fact, New York's Best Bookstore Now Has A Blog
Adam's Books
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Otoliths storefront
Some images from *Free Fall*
E-ratio #4
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Sheila Murphy interviews Peter Ganick on Ex-Val
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Brooklyn's, In Fact, New York's Best Bookstore Now Has A Blog
Adam's Books
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
This just in from Mark Young in Rockhampton, Australia
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
They have been delayed a little by production problems, but Otoliths is pleased to announce the balance of its quarterly round of books — Nick Piombino's by now legendary "visual collage novel" Free Fall, Sheila E. Murphy's first integrated linear & visual collection The Case of the Lost Objective (Case) & Rochelle Ratner's memoir / found text / poetry journal Leads.
Free Fall
Nick Piombino
168 pages, full color
ISBN: 978-0-9803-6590-0
Otoliths 2007
$35.95 + p&h
URL: http://www.lulu.com/content/755973
"Free Fall was created in several steps beginning in July, 2001 when I collected a stack of advertising posters off buildings on the streets of Amsterdam. The serendipity of a period of rain had caused many of the ads to blur and run and to have already partially removed themselves from the walls. In a series of visits I tore down quite a number of them, and before coming back to the US, made a selection. Once back in New York I xeroxed a number of copies of the poster fragments in order to work out mock-ups of the collages, and purchased a 5"X7" artist's sketch book to paste them into. Over the years, since creating my first collages in the late 60's in Rapallo, Italy, I had begun several collage books, none of them completed, so I had some idea of what I wanted to do. I did further xeroxing in Provincetown, Mass. in August. Sitting outside a small cottage near the Wellfleet bay, I made the entire series of 154 collages in about a month. For this edition, the collages were scanned in during March and early April, 2007.
The creation of Free Fall was bookended by two tragic events. The first was the suicide of a popular musician in Holland, Herman Brood, shortly before I arrived in Amsterdam. About ten days after the completion of Free Fall came the events of 9/11.
Based on the art of its streets, Free Fall insistently invokes the celebratory character of this tolerant, life affirming city." Nick Piombino
The Case of the Lost Objective (Case)
Sheila E. Murphy
84 pages, color
ISBN: 978-0-9803-6592-4
Otoliths 2007
$20.00 + p&h
URL: http://www.lulu.com/content/840898
This vibrant collection of new work by Sheila E. Murphy encompasses both lineated and prose poems. In addition, for the first time, selected prints of Murphy's visual poetry, some included in private collections and in gallery exhibitions, are presented in book format. The range of work within these pages attests to the versatility and depth of this poet, and invites being read aloud to reveal the full range of perception and innovative use of language.
Leads
Rochelle Ratner
128 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9803-6591-7
Otoliths 2007
$12.50 + p&h
URL: http://www.lulu.com/content/830227
"The germs of this book began in 1977, when I visited friends in London. As a child, I'd been told I had a speech impediment, but I vehemently refused voice lessons. Then, in a London pub, talking with a friend from the Lancashire/Yorkshire border, it was almost as if I fitted in at last. Without realizing it, I'd probably inherited aspects of my grandmother's accent. And I'd never missed her as much as I did at that moment. That was when I began planning a trip to Leeds, where my grandmother was born and spent her childhood. I knew I had to write about it, and began a series of poems as the journey took shape. Once there, I copied from books and records I'd found in the Leeds library. I began writing down what people said. What I hadn't expected was that, as I later tried to shape the materials, I would find other peoples' words more powerful than my own. Poem? Journal? Memoir? Found text? Think of Olson's Maximus or Paul Metcalf's writings." Rochelle Ratner
They join two other books the other books brought out in this round, Tom Beckett's curation of E-X-C-H-A-N-G-E-V-A-L-U-E-S: the First XI Interviews which was launched early in response to popular demand, & Mark Young's Falsely Goethe, a collection of 101 "day poems".
The First XI Interviews .
Tom Beckett (Curator)
252 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9775604-9-3
Otoliths, 2007
$16.95 + p&h
URL: http://www.lulu.com/content/778361
Tom Beckett's E-X-C-H-A-N-G-E-V-A-L-U-E-S website has become, since its inception in 2005, an important source of information on contemporary poetry and poetics. This book brings together the first eleven interviews from the on-going series, augmented by bionotes and almost one hundred pages of self-selected examples of the interviewees' work.
The interviewees (some of whom later reappear as interviewers) are Crag Hill, Thomas Fink, Nick Piombino, Sheila E. Murphy, Eileen Tabios, Jukka-Pekka Kervinen, K. Silem Mohammad, Geof Huth, Barbara Jane Reyes, Paolo Javier, Stephen Paul Miller and Jean Vengua.The other interviewers are Tom Beckett, Ron Silliman and Mark Young.
Falsely Goethe
Mark Young
108 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9803-6593-1
Otoliths 2007
$10.00 + p&h
URL: http://www.lulu.com/content/830205
Day fifty
Today the
postman brought
me "Ventriloquism
for Dummies".
"As a matter of fact, I can't remember laughing as much reading any book of poetry before, especially not any book of putative light verse. These poems, though, are not just about joking when they joke; the jokes are, like the one above, tiny metaphysical statements. They unwrap language, reality, even pop culture (a beast a bit different from reality, even if related to it). The shortest of these joke-poems are as perfect, intellectual, and literary as the best Stephen Wright one-liners. The joke-poem is an instant of insight, a Zen koan." Geof Huth, from a post at dbqp:visualizing poetics .
These & other Otoliths books, including print copies of the e-zine are avaliable from The Otoliths Storefront .
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
They have been delayed a little by production problems, but Otoliths is pleased to announce the balance of its quarterly round of books — Nick Piombino's by now legendary "visual collage novel" Free Fall, Sheila E. Murphy's first integrated linear & visual collection The Case of the Lost Objective (Case) & Rochelle Ratner's memoir / found text / poetry journal Leads.
Free Fall
Nick Piombino
168 pages, full color
ISBN: 978-0-9803-6590-0
Otoliths 2007
$35.95 + p&h
URL: http://www.lulu.com/content/755973
"Free Fall was created in several steps beginning in July, 2001 when I collected a stack of advertising posters off buildings on the streets of Amsterdam. The serendipity of a period of rain had caused many of the ads to blur and run and to have already partially removed themselves from the walls. In a series of visits I tore down quite a number of them, and before coming back to the US, made a selection. Once back in New York I xeroxed a number of copies of the poster fragments in order to work out mock-ups of the collages, and purchased a 5"X7" artist's sketch book to paste them into. Over the years, since creating my first collages in the late 60's in Rapallo, Italy, I had begun several collage books, none of them completed, so I had some idea of what I wanted to do. I did further xeroxing in Provincetown, Mass. in August. Sitting outside a small cottage near the Wellfleet bay, I made the entire series of 154 collages in about a month. For this edition, the collages were scanned in during March and early April, 2007.
The creation of Free Fall was bookended by two tragic events. The first was the suicide of a popular musician in Holland, Herman Brood, shortly before I arrived in Amsterdam. About ten days after the completion of Free Fall came the events of 9/11.
Based on the art of its streets, Free Fall insistently invokes the celebratory character of this tolerant, life affirming city." Nick Piombino
The Case of the Lost Objective (Case)
Sheila E. Murphy
84 pages, color
ISBN: 978-0-9803-6592-4
Otoliths 2007
$20.00 + p&h
URL: http://www.lulu.com/content/840898
This vibrant collection of new work by Sheila E. Murphy encompasses both lineated and prose poems. In addition, for the first time, selected prints of Murphy's visual poetry, some included in private collections and in gallery exhibitions, are presented in book format. The range of work within these pages attests to the versatility and depth of this poet, and invites being read aloud to reveal the full range of perception and innovative use of language.
Leads
Rochelle Ratner
128 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9803-6591-7
Otoliths 2007
$12.50 + p&h
URL: http://www.lulu.com/content/830227
"The germs of this book began in 1977, when I visited friends in London. As a child, I'd been told I had a speech impediment, but I vehemently refused voice lessons. Then, in a London pub, talking with a friend from the Lancashire/Yorkshire border, it was almost as if I fitted in at last. Without realizing it, I'd probably inherited aspects of my grandmother's accent. And I'd never missed her as much as I did at that moment. That was when I began planning a trip to Leeds, where my grandmother was born and spent her childhood. I knew I had to write about it, and began a series of poems as the journey took shape. Once there, I copied from books and records I'd found in the Leeds library. I began writing down what people said. What I hadn't expected was that, as I later tried to shape the materials, I would find other peoples' words more powerful than my own. Poem? Journal? Memoir? Found text? Think of Olson's Maximus or Paul Metcalf's writings." Rochelle Ratner
They join two other books the other books brought out in this round, Tom Beckett's curation of E-X-C-H-A-N-G-E-V-A-L-U-E-S: the First XI Interviews which was launched early in response to popular demand, & Mark Young's Falsely Goethe, a collection of 101 "day poems".
The First XI Interviews .
Tom Beckett (Curator)
252 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9775604-9-3
Otoliths, 2007
$16.95 + p&h
URL: http://www.lulu.com/content/778361
Tom Beckett's E-X-C-H-A-N-G-E-V-A-L-U-E-S website has become, since its inception in 2005, an important source of information on contemporary poetry and poetics. This book brings together the first eleven interviews from the on-going series, augmented by bionotes and almost one hundred pages of self-selected examples of the interviewees' work.
The interviewees (some of whom later reappear as interviewers) are Crag Hill, Thomas Fink, Nick Piombino, Sheila E. Murphy, Eileen Tabios, Jukka-Pekka Kervinen, K. Silem Mohammad, Geof Huth, Barbara Jane Reyes, Paolo Javier, Stephen Paul Miller and Jean Vengua.The other interviewers are Tom Beckett, Ron Silliman and Mark Young.
Falsely Goethe
Mark Young
108 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9803-6593-1
Otoliths 2007
$10.00 + p&h
URL: http://www.lulu.com/content/830205
Day fifty
Today the
postman brought
me "Ventriloquism
for Dummies".
"As a matter of fact, I can't remember laughing as much reading any book of poetry before, especially not any book of putative light verse. These poems, though, are not just about joking when they joke; the jokes are, like the one above, tiny metaphysical statements. They unwrap language, reality, even pop culture (a beast a bit different from reality, even if related to it). The shortest of these joke-poems are as perfect, intellectual, and literary as the best Stephen Wright one-liners. The joke-poem is an instant of insight, a Zen koan." Geof Huth, from a post at dbqp:visualizing poetics
These & other Otoliths books, including print copies of the e-zine are avaliable from The Otoliths Storefront
Monday, June 4
On My Desk
Michael Lally's *March 18, 2003*
(a couple of brief quotes}
"...Is that why now it's life I'm obsessed with?
Or is that because when I watched
the second plane crash into the second tower on TV
a thin blue tube hung from my urethra,
attached to a clear plastic bag, the remnant of a
cancer operation the week before,
unaware an old friend was on that flight,
at that moment incinerated,
a woman who was kind to me when
she didn't need to be?
How many people have died
before you got a chance to tell them what you meant to?
Does it seem there's
not enough
sometimes because it is
too much?
Haven't I said and written more than once
that poetry saved my life?
Did it for you?
Wasn't it the only thing that could stop the war
in my heart and head
over where I thought I was being led
by the clan and neighborhood
and extended family of cops
I was born into a the beginning of another war
when the prognosis was bleak for *our* side?....
Did anyone ever discuss how we obliterated
Dresden,for no strategic reason, or caused
more civilian death and devastation there and
in the fire bombing of Tokyo than with
the atom bombs we dropped?
Why didn't I know that General Electric
got off with a fine and hand slaps
for colluding with the Nazis or that IBM set up
the Nazi record keeping or that we refused
to bomb the railroad tracks that carried the
freight cars full of Jews to their destruction?"
from *March 18, 2003*
a poem for peace
Drawings by Alex Katz
59 pages
Edizione Charta, Milano, 2006
first published by Libellum Books
Michael Lally had some kind words to say recently about the book version of *fait accompli* on his blog
Lally's Alley.
It was also an occasion for a, classic Lally riff- well worth reading- on his ideas and personal experiences concerning poetry, poetics and poetry communities.
Michael Lally's *March 18, 2003*
(a couple of brief quotes}
"...Is that why now it's life I'm obsessed with?
Or is that because when I watched
the second plane crash into the second tower on TV
a thin blue tube hung from my urethra,
attached to a clear plastic bag, the remnant of a
cancer operation the week before,
unaware an old friend was on that flight,
at that moment incinerated,
a woman who was kind to me when
she didn't need to be?
How many people have died
before you got a chance to tell them what you meant to?
Does it seem there's
not enough
sometimes because it is
too much?
Haven't I said and written more than once
that poetry saved my life?
Did it for you?
Wasn't it the only thing that could stop the war
in my heart and head
over where I thought I was being led
by the clan and neighborhood
and extended family of cops
I was born into a the beginning of another war
when the prognosis was bleak for *our* side?....
Did anyone ever discuss how we obliterated
Dresden,for no strategic reason, or caused
more civilian death and devastation there and
in the fire bombing of Tokyo than with
the atom bombs we dropped?
Why didn't I know that General Electric
got off with a fine and hand slaps
for colluding with the Nazis or that IBM set up
the Nazi record keeping or that we refused
to bomb the railroad tracks that carried the
freight cars full of Jews to their destruction?"
from *March 18, 2003*
a poem for peace
Drawings by Alex Katz
59 pages
Edizione Charta, Milano, 2006
first published by Libellum Books
Michael Lally had some kind words to say recently about the book version of *fait accompli* on his blog
Lally's Alley.
It was also an occasion for a, classic Lally riff- well worth reading- on his ideas and personal experiences concerning poetry, poetics and poetry communities.
Saturday, June 2
Vanishing Texts
Beckett's *Unprotected Texts* are rapidly vanshing-get 'em while you can [via Soluble Census]
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I'll be reading on Thursday, June 7th at 7:30 at the Ceres Gallery 547 West 27th Street NY NY 10001 (212) 947-6100 with Corinne Robins. The gallery is featuring the excellent work of Carol Goebel.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
On My Desk
When I received my library copy of The Selected Letters of Stephane Mallarme, I opened it to a letter to Odilon Redon. Mallarme wrote to Redon on February 2, 1885: "A highly mysterious sympathy made you depict in that delicious mad hermit the poor little man who, in the depths of my soul, I'd like to be; and I'll hang this drawing on its own on a wall of my memory so I can judge the others in a more disinterested way. The head of Dream, that marsh flower, illuminates, with a light known to herself alone and which cannot be pronounced, the whole tragic lantern of ordinary existence..."
**
Yesterday I happned to visit Mercer Street Books & records (206 Mercer Street) and walked straight into *To Myself: Notes on LIfe, Art and Letters* by Odilon Redon, Braziller, 1986. Lately I've been obsessed with the music of Robert Schumann. If you've never heard the early piano works of Schumann, like Papillons, op.2 and Davidsbundler-Tanze, op. 8, you have a major treat waiting for you. I opened the book to this passage (about Schumann): "'Be a noble artist', Schuman said, 'and all the rest will be given to you.' It is because he was noble himself if one understands by "noble" the absolute unselfishness, generosity, expansion and the vivid exuberance of a full and strong soul. Schumann has given his fruit: he has given it, as the apple-tree gives apples witout personal wishes, and without regrets. He has given his heart and his thought, his works, his life in the same way as those who suffer for others, and therein lies the supreme grace, the characteristic sign of profound genius. One cann say this about everybody; one could not say this about somebody like Berlioz, for example...(December, 1915)
By the way, Debussy wrote of Berlioz in *Monsieur Croche* his book of articles about music: "Incidentally, the work of Berlioz, through he pre-occupation with color and incident, became at once a subject for artists; one might even say without irony that Berlioz has always been the favorite musician of those who do not know much about music."
**
St,-John Perse, *On Poetry*, translated by W.H. Auden, Bollingen Series. (Nobel prize acceptance speech, December 10, 1960. "Poetry rarely received public homage. The gulf between poetic creation and the activities of a society subjected to material bondage grows ever wider,..the poet keeps us in touch with the permanance and unity of Being. And his messsage is one of optimism. To him, one law of harmony govers the whole world of things. Nothing can occur there which by its nature is incommensuable with man. The worst catastrophes of history are but seasonal rhythms in a vaster cycle of repetitions and renewals. The Furies who cross the stage, torches high, do but throw light upon one moment in the immense plot as it unfolds itself through time. Growing civilizations do not perish from the pangs of one autumn; they mrerely shed their leaves. Inertia is the only mortal dange. Poet is he who breaks for us the bonds of habit."
Beckett's *Unprotected Texts* are rapidly vanshing-get 'em while you can [via Soluble Census]
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I'll be reading on Thursday, June 7th at 7:30 at the Ceres Gallery 547 West 27th Street NY NY 10001 (212) 947-6100 with Corinne Robins. The gallery is featuring the excellent work of Carol Goebel.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
On My Desk
When I received my library copy of The Selected Letters of Stephane Mallarme, I opened it to a letter to Odilon Redon. Mallarme wrote to Redon on February 2, 1885: "A highly mysterious sympathy made you depict in that delicious mad hermit the poor little man who, in the depths of my soul, I'd like to be; and I'll hang this drawing on its own on a wall of my memory so I can judge the others in a more disinterested way. The head of Dream, that marsh flower, illuminates, with a light known to herself alone and which cannot be pronounced, the whole tragic lantern of ordinary existence..."
**
Yesterday I happned to visit Mercer Street Books & records (206 Mercer Street) and walked straight into *To Myself: Notes on LIfe, Art and Letters* by Odilon Redon, Braziller, 1986. Lately I've been obsessed with the music of Robert Schumann. If you've never heard the early piano works of Schumann, like Papillons, op.2 and Davidsbundler-Tanze, op. 8, you have a major treat waiting for you. I opened the book to this passage (about Schumann): "'Be a noble artist', Schuman said, 'and all the rest will be given to you.' It is because he was noble himself if one understands by "noble" the absolute unselfishness, generosity, expansion and the vivid exuberance of a full and strong soul. Schumann has given his fruit: he has given it, as the apple-tree gives apples witout personal wishes, and without regrets. He has given his heart and his thought, his works, his life in the same way as those who suffer for others, and therein lies the supreme grace, the characteristic sign of profound genius. One cann say this about everybody; one could not say this about somebody like Berlioz, for example...(December, 1915)
By the way, Debussy wrote of Berlioz in *Monsieur Croche* his book of articles about music: "Incidentally, the work of Berlioz, through he pre-occupation with color and incident, became at once a subject for artists; one might even say without irony that Berlioz has always been the favorite musician of those who do not know much about music."
**
St,-John Perse, *On Poetry*, translated by W.H. Auden, Bollingen Series. (Nobel prize acceptance speech, December 10, 1960. "Poetry rarely received public homage. The gulf between poetic creation and the activities of a society subjected to material bondage grows ever wider,..the poet keeps us in touch with the permanance and unity of Being. And his messsage is one of optimism. To him, one law of harmony govers the whole world of things. Nothing can occur there which by its nature is incommensuable with man. The worst catastrophes of history are but seasonal rhythms in a vaster cycle of repetitions and renewals. The Furies who cross the stage, torches high, do but throw light upon one moment in the immense plot as it unfolds itself through time. Growing civilizations do not perish from the pangs of one autumn; they mrerely shed their leaves. Inertia is the only mortal dange. Poet is he who breaks for us the bonds of habit."
Friday, June 1
Contradicta
Every moment offers its part of a nimble, affectionate melody that counters contentious disharmony.
****
But once in a while play a strong, harsh chord to discourage the bullies.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Dreamers of the World, Unite
pseudpodium
Ray Davis has some kind words to say about *fait accompli*, blog and book.
Ray: gather ye damn rosebuds, put together a book and get it published!
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
"SHE'LL BE COMING' ROUND"
by James Sherry
She'll be comin' round the mountain when the shell sometimes is empty
She'll be comin' sometimes and the shell is an evasion,
when she comes round the mountain
to put in an appearnce
and this is the introduction we're all trying' to come 'round to.
She'll be drivin' six white and well-bred young mares,
She''ll be trying' to be comin', when one of the horses slips on a curve,
but the traces hold her up
like a beautiful horse about to describe
the great vehicle she'll conduct, when she comes.
And we'll all go out to meet her when the well is dry and cracked
and the water is too neutral to hold
even a chance encounter when we're tryin' to be comin'
and breathe too much or that's what I
heard when tryin' too hard to meet her, when she comes.
And we'll all have chicken and dumplings in a context
of the human shell, water in the trough,
the gopher holds, how hot leather is in the desert mining town
except to the horses,
when she comes."
from *Part Songs* by James Sherry
Roof Books, 1978
Every moment offers its part of a nimble, affectionate melody that counters contentious disharmony.
****
But once in a while play a strong, harsh chord to discourage the bullies.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Dreamers of the World, Unite
pseudpodium
Ray Davis has some kind words to say about *fait accompli*, blog and book.
Ray: gather ye damn rosebuds, put together a book and get it published!
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
"SHE'LL BE COMING' ROUND"
by James Sherry
She'll be comin' round the mountain when the shell sometimes is empty
She'll be comin' sometimes and the shell is an evasion,
when she comes round the mountain
to put in an appearnce
and this is the introduction we're all trying' to come 'round to.
She'll be drivin' six white and well-bred young mares,
She''ll be trying' to be comin', when one of the horses slips on a curve,
but the traces hold her up
like a beautiful horse about to describe
the great vehicle she'll conduct, when she comes.
And we'll all go out to meet her when the well is dry and cracked
and the water is too neutral to hold
even a chance encounter when we're tryin' to be comin'
and breathe too much or that's what I
heard when tryin' too hard to meet her, when she comes.
And we'll all have chicken and dumplings in a context
of the human shell, water in the trough,
the gopher holds, how hot leather is in the desert mining town
except to the horses,
when she comes."
from *Part Songs* by James Sherry
Roof Books, 1978
Thursday, May 31
On My Desk
Selected Letters of Stephane Mallarme, edited and translated by Rosemary LLoyd, Univ of Chicago, 1988
"Leo d'Orfer 27 June, 1884
It's a real punch, momentarily blinding, that abrupt demand of yours: "Define Poetry." Bruised,I stutter:
*Poetry is the expression, in human language restored to its essential rhythm, of the mysterious meaning of the aspects of existence: in this way it confers authenticity on our time on earth and constitutes the only perpetual task there is.*
Farewell, but you owe me an apology."
"Paul Verlaine 8 December 1884
Of course. [Verlaine had written Mallarme apologizing for not sending a free copy of his book of poems,* Jadis et naguere*, but explaining that the publisher opposed such a move on the grounds that even for a poet the cost was not too high. Verlaine asked Mallarme to explain this to their mutural friends]. Basically the poet has no other choice; and his destiny becomes too ironic by far if he has to provide free copies to the hundred readers who would otherwise allow him- I won't say to live!- but to have bread or cigars. In future this will have to become standard practice between colleagues, and, something that's tacitly understood".
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
George Burns, *Gracie, A Love Story*, GP PUtnam's Sons, 1988
"Sex is certainly a very important part of any marriage. Gracie and I had a wonderful life together, and a wonderful marriage, and sex was part of it, but not the major part. Probably the most important thing about sex is that it helps sell a lot of books. I have to be honest. I was a lousy lover. Fortunately Gracie married me for laughs, not for sex. Of course she got both of them- when we had sex, she laughed.
Gracie and I always had a nice time together, but after we'd made love she never gave me a standing ovation. In our marriage- I suspect in every marriage- the really important things became, "How do you feel?" "Is the soup hot?" "Want to see a movie tonight?" These are the things that keep a marriage together."
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Poetry on You Tube by Nico Vassilakis from the
Continental Review
and
DIPTYCHS a book of visual poetry is out from Otoliths.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
New poem by Ray DiPalma from The Harvard Review
Selected Letters of Stephane Mallarme, edited and translated by Rosemary LLoyd, Univ of Chicago, 1988
"Leo d'Orfer 27 June, 1884
It's a real punch, momentarily blinding, that abrupt demand of yours: "Define Poetry." Bruised,I stutter:
*Poetry is the expression, in human language restored to its essential rhythm, of the mysterious meaning of the aspects of existence: in this way it confers authenticity on our time on earth and constitutes the only perpetual task there is.*
Farewell, but you owe me an apology."
"Paul Verlaine 8 December 1884
Of course. [Verlaine had written Mallarme apologizing for not sending a free copy of his book of poems,* Jadis et naguere*, but explaining that the publisher opposed such a move on the grounds that even for a poet the cost was not too high. Verlaine asked Mallarme to explain this to their mutural friends]. Basically the poet has no other choice; and his destiny becomes too ironic by far if he has to provide free copies to the hundred readers who would otherwise allow him- I won't say to live!- but to have bread or cigars. In future this will have to become standard practice between colleagues, and, something that's tacitly understood".
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
George Burns, *Gracie, A Love Story*, GP PUtnam's Sons, 1988
"Sex is certainly a very important part of any marriage. Gracie and I had a wonderful life together, and a wonderful marriage, and sex was part of it, but not the major part. Probably the most important thing about sex is that it helps sell a lot of books. I have to be honest. I was a lousy lover. Fortunately Gracie married me for laughs, not for sex. Of course she got both of them- when we had sex, she laughed.
Gracie and I always had a nice time together, but after we'd made love she never gave me a standing ovation. In our marriage- I suspect in every marriage- the really important things became, "How do you feel?" "Is the soup hot?" "Want to see a movie tonight?" These are the things that keep a marriage together."
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Poetry on You Tube by Nico Vassilakis from the
Continental Review
and
DIPTYCHS a book of visual poetry is out from Otoliths.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
New poem by Ray DiPalma from The Harvard Review
Sunday, May 27
Rae Armantrout and Elaine Equi
read at the BPC on Saturday, hosted by Tim Peterson and Erika Kauffman. This was the last reading of the season. When I arrived I found standing outside at the door Michael Lally, Anne Waldman, Jerome Sala, and Elaine Equi. Soon after, Abigail Child and others arrived. Plenty of people were inside already. After a few minutes of chatting Tim Peterson came to the door and waved us in. I needed to ask Michael for his New Jersey address as he has a particularly important cameo in my book *fait accompli* and I wanted to mail him a copy. This was surely one of the best readings of the year, if not the decade. Both readers read from new books. The place was packed. Elaine and Rae are close friends and have no doubt been following each others work closely for many years. Both write gnomic, terse poems of infinite wit, shrewd social critique and verbal grace; Rae seems to draw more from irony and Elaine from pop culture but these are only surface qualities. Hearing them together, you realize how much their combined work encompasses what is most treasured and loved in contemporary poetry:aphoristic insight, humor, pungent, but not complaining, satire, compressed imagery and sophisticated, imagistic word play. And this isn't even half of it. There is also not a small amount of tough love and self mockery. I could go on and on but they don't and that is one of the things we like best about them, no? Rae is a fairly infrequent visitor so may I share with you the inscription I wrote in the copy of my new book, I brought for her? OK, I will, thanks:
Dear Rae: Listening to your reading I thought of two things I wanted to tell you about your poetry. 1) It is sharp, but it doesn't wound, so this is maybe one of the reasons why my mind allows your words to go in so deep. 2) One of your poems says that you heard a couple bickering and why not. I am married to poetry and we have plenty to bicker about- and why not? Love, Nick
Next BPC reading is in October.
read at the BPC on Saturday, hosted by Tim Peterson and Erika Kauffman. This was the last reading of the season. When I arrived I found standing outside at the door Michael Lally, Anne Waldman, Jerome Sala, and Elaine Equi. Soon after, Abigail Child and others arrived. Plenty of people were inside already. After a few minutes of chatting Tim Peterson came to the door and waved us in. I needed to ask Michael for his New Jersey address as he has a particularly important cameo in my book *fait accompli* and I wanted to mail him a copy. This was surely one of the best readings of the year, if not the decade. Both readers read from new books. The place was packed. Elaine and Rae are close friends and have no doubt been following each others work closely for many years. Both write gnomic, terse poems of infinite wit, shrewd social critique and verbal grace; Rae seems to draw more from irony and Elaine from pop culture but these are only surface qualities. Hearing them together, you realize how much their combined work encompasses what is most treasured and loved in contemporary poetry:aphoristic insight, humor, pungent, but not complaining, satire, compressed imagery and sophisticated, imagistic word play. And this isn't even half of it. There is also not a small amount of tough love and self mockery. I could go on and on but they don't and that is one of the things we like best about them, no? Rae is a fairly infrequent visitor so may I share with you the inscription I wrote in the copy of my new book, I brought for her? OK, I will, thanks:
Dear Rae: Listening to your reading I thought of two things I wanted to tell you about your poetry. 1) It is sharp, but it doesn't wound, so this is maybe one of the reasons why my mind allows your words to go in so deep. 2) One of your poems says that you heard a couple bickering and why not. I am married to poetry and we have plenty to bicker about- and why not? Love, Nick
Next BPC reading is in October.
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