Issue #1 Faux Anthology
I would just call it-The Unbearable Lightness of Issue #1. There is something about that huge sudden ironic parody that calls for instant recognition of the non serious nature of the intervention. This is the "unbearable lightness of blogging" as I have termed it, par excellence. A poetry circus wagon blows in, warm wind and ill wind, spins a few sails, shakes a few tails and blows out: a party with real laughs, a few growls and roars and some intense conversations where you recognize a lot of people, don't know some, you figure "everybody" was there, but of course that's not literally possible. The feeling is, maybe they were out of town or something, or just couldn't make it, but not that they were deliberately excluded. I know I would have felt left out had I not been mentioned. But since I was I do get into that lightness, but it is a blue lightness while still feeling nostalgic for the more private days of the whole long stretched out thing- getting an invitation, figuring what to send, waiting to hear, then getting accepted. But in this party atmosphere it's just all so quickly thrown together, no time, so quickly check how my poem was dressed and acted, ok, did I see some friends, yeah, their poems are ok. So then it's over, and there's the hangover of- what did I do, did I actually write that thing, no way, nobody did, a computer wrote it. After all, it is the era of the machine. So what did I say- I'm not sure how I feel now. Then the party really starts and everyone talks about it for days. No, not like a reading or an opening, more like a bash, or an old fashioned happening where people were only half aware of what was going on. Maybe all the evidence has already been put away and the place has been swept up. Maybe a few people actually kept their party favors and others left and forgot them. But now there's a memory, that Godot thing that gets talked about. People have been saying that we are in a time warp in that in New York now, that we are in a repeat of the Weimar era. Maybe this Godot thing is our cabaret- rude, crude, risque, funny, a little dark, with music by Kurt Weill and a set by Kirchner, Grosz or Hannah Hoch. I had even written in the comment section of Issue 1, "There has been talk of a poetry bailout. Is this it?" It looks like the powers that be are plotting to send the whole batch of us poets and day workers out onto the streets as in *The Threepenny Opera* while "citibank" robs everybody blind. And then we'll listen to the barrel organ sound, in the city while the sun sinks low.
*****************************
On a trade basis, the "Godot team" is making hard copies of the anthology available. You send a chapbook and postage and it's yours. Here's the link:
Sending for Godot
****************************
After writing that line I had to go and reread the poem I was thinking of by Alfred Noyes:
The Barrel Organ (1938
Distribution Automatique
Monday, October 6
The Art of Prediction
It is fascinating that Nassim Nicholas Taleb the author of The Black Swan, the biggest best selling non-fiction book of 2007, who is extremely skeptical about the value of predictions, could have published this statement last year:
"As if we did not have enough problems, banks are now more vulnerable to the Black Swan and the ludic fallacy than ever before with "scientists" among their staff taking care of exposures. The giant firm J. P. Morgan put the entire world at risk by introducing in the nineties Risk Metrics, a phony method aiming at managing people's risks, causing the generalized use of the ludic fallacy...A related method called "Value at Risk" on the quantitative measurement of risk, has been spreading. Likewise, the government-sponsored institution Fanny Mae, when I look at their risks, seems to be sitting on a barrel of dynamite, vulnerable to the slightest hiccup. But not to worry, their large staff of scientists deemed these events 'unlikely.'"(p.225)
It is fascinating that Nassim Nicholas Taleb the author of The Black Swan, the biggest best selling non-fiction book of 2007, who is extremely skeptical about the value of predictions, could have published this statement last year:
"As if we did not have enough problems, banks are now more vulnerable to the Black Swan and the ludic fallacy than ever before with "scientists" among their staff taking care of exposures. The giant firm J. P. Morgan put the entire world at risk by introducing in the nineties Risk Metrics, a phony method aiming at managing people's risks, causing the generalized use of the ludic fallacy...A related method called "Value at Risk" on the quantitative measurement of risk, has been spreading. Likewise, the government-sponsored institution Fanny Mae, when I look at their risks, seems to be sitting on a barrel of dynamite, vulnerable to the slightest hiccup. But not to worry, their large staff of scientists deemed these events 'unlikely.'"(p.225)
Saturday, October 4
Friday, September 26
Between: The Art of Collaboration, by Douglas Messerli
Green Integer Blog
Some years ago, Douglas Messerli invited a group of poets to send him poems linking his work to theirs, in many instances writing through poems he had written incorporating their work into his. As part of a mammoth ongoing memoir project, each book encompassing one year of his life, Douglas here writes about the year 2000, the year in which he launched this project, that included a poem of my own, based on work of his.
*
Some months ago, Geof Huth courageously blogged about his open heart surgery, a post that included photos of the event. Here Douglas MesserIil writes about his recent prostate surgery, an operation that strangely followed his writing a beautiful piece about his father's death of that disease.
Green Integer Blog
Some years ago, Douglas Messerli invited a group of poets to send him poems linking his work to theirs, in many instances writing through poems he had written incorporating their work into his. As part of a mammoth ongoing memoir project, each book encompassing one year of his life, Douglas here writes about the year 2000, the year in which he launched this project, that included a poem of my own, based on work of his.
*
Some months ago, Geof Huth courageously blogged about his open heart surgery, a post that included photos of the event. Here Douglas MesserIil writes about his recent prostate surgery, an operation that strangely followed his writing a beautiful piece about his father's death of that disease.
Wednesday, September 24
Saturday, September 20
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Blogger: Sharon Mesmer on Poetry and Theory in The Brooklyn Rail
"Poetry has become an overscheduled toddler run ragged by ambitious, bickering parents, its very existence a compromised simulacrum of their disharmonious projections and expectations". In this article, Sharon Mesmer identifies an issue that has also been troubling me for a very long time. The causes have been argued and discussed by poets and others for years. Mesmer focusses on the addiction to "debate" as one of the problems, a topic I have taken up on *fait accompli* countless times. The last time I wrote about this during the presidential debates of 2004 it was becoming very clear to me that the "debate" model was failing to inspire and sputtering to a halt.(Time March's On, 3/2/04) This year Obama and Biden are likely to impress and the other team to depress. But in the poetry world, it's getting tiresome. Don't get me wrong. The 70's poetry debates, following the breath of expressive freedom of the 60's, were invaluable, even, at times, beautiful to contemplate. But after more than 25 years of echoes, the model is wearing thin. If there ever was indeed a "politics of poetic form" that political point has been more than made. It has been paddled around to death and is now choking off the poetry, or at least focus on the poetry. The assumption is that creating controversy creates interest. In the case of contemporary poetry, the reverse is happening. Instead of making the poetry scene vibrant, it is making it soggy. The arguments are not snappy, they are stale. Although Sharon doesn't say this, and may not even be thinking this, to me this debate form in poetry is a masculine, tennis or racket ball oriented adaptation of dealing with issues of concern to poets. Game over. What would I substitute? Responding to the work of specific poets thoroughly, carefully, lovingly, angrily, lightly, whatever. Making observations and arriving at conclusions based on actual poems, not the strategies of your "team" with the endless arguments about the dynamics, the advantages and disadvantages, the importance and unimportance of "types" of poetry. Let's give it a break, guys.
"Poetry has become an overscheduled toddler run ragged by ambitious, bickering parents, its very existence a compromised simulacrum of their disharmonious projections and expectations". In this article, Sharon Mesmer identifies an issue that has also been troubling me for a very long time. The causes have been argued and discussed by poets and others for years. Mesmer focusses on the addiction to "debate" as one of the problems, a topic I have taken up on *fait accompli* countless times. The last time I wrote about this during the presidential debates of 2004 it was becoming very clear to me that the "debate" model was failing to inspire and sputtering to a halt.(Time March's On, 3/2/04) This year Obama and Biden are likely to impress and the other team to depress. But in the poetry world, it's getting tiresome. Don't get me wrong. The 70's poetry debates, following the breath of expressive freedom of the 60's, were invaluable, even, at times, beautiful to contemplate. But after more than 25 years of echoes, the model is wearing thin. If there ever was indeed a "politics of poetic form" that political point has been more than made. It has been paddled around to death and is now choking off the poetry, or at least focus on the poetry. The assumption is that creating controversy creates interest. In the case of contemporary poetry, the reverse is happening. Instead of making the poetry scene vibrant, it is making it soggy. The arguments are not snappy, they are stale. Although Sharon doesn't say this, and may not even be thinking this, to me this debate form in poetry is a masculine, tennis or racket ball oriented adaptation of dealing with issues of concern to poets. Game over. What would I substitute? Responding to the work of specific poets thoroughly, carefully, lovingly, angrily, lightly, whatever. Making observations and arriving at conclusions based on actual poems, not the strategies of your "team" with the endless arguments about the dynamics, the advantages and disadvantages, the importance and unimportance of "types" of poetry. Let's give it a break, guys.
Friday, September 19
Wednesday, September 17
The 2cd Annual Welcome to Boog City Festival Complete Listings
I will be reading on Sunday, September 21st
Unnameable Books
456 Bergen St.
Brooklyn
Free
1:00 p.m.-Julia Cohen
1:15 p.m.-Tisa Bryant
1:30 p.m.-Ana Božičević
1:45 p.m.-Yoko Kikuchi (music)
2:05 p.m.-Corrine Fitzpatrick
2:20 p.m.-Nick Piombino
2:35 p.m.-Stacy Szymaszek
I will be reading on Sunday, September 21st
Unnameable Books
456 Bergen St.
Brooklyn
Free
1:00 p.m.-Julia Cohen
1:15 p.m.-Tisa Bryant
1:30 p.m.-Ana Božičević
1:45 p.m.-Yoko Kikuchi (music)
2:05 p.m.-Corrine Fitzpatrick
2:20 p.m.-Nick Piombino
2:35 p.m.-Stacy Szymaszek
Friday, September 12
Free Fall/A.I.R. Gallery History Show/Nicholas Manning reviews Mark Young's Selected In Jacket/New Books from Otoliths
The video of my collage novel Free Fall-video and music by Mike Burakoff- is now up on Nicholas Manning’s poet's video blog, The Continental Review
Nicholas Manning has also posted a short announcement and appreciative comment on his weblog: The Newer Metaphysicals
Thanks to Nicholas Manning for posting the video and to Mark Young for publishing the book under his Otoliths Press imprint.
***********************
A.I.R. GALLERY: The History Show
Archival materials from 1972 to the present
Curated by Kat Griefen & Dena Muller
at Tracey/Barry Gallery, Bobst LIbrary,
Open Monday - Friday 10am-5pm
70 Washington Sq. South, 3rd Fl.
September 16 - December 12, 2008
Opening & Panel at Tracey/Barry Gallery
Tuesday, Sept. 16, 6pm – 8pm
“How A.I.R. Changed the Art World: Feminist Intervention Over 37 Years”
Panelists: Dotty Attie, Carey Lovelace, Carolee Schneemann, Corinne Robins & Joan Snitzer
**************
Nicholas Manning reviews Mark Young's Pelican Dreaming: Selected Poems in
Jacket
*************
When the original emailout for this September septet of new books from Otoliths reached four pages, I decided it was time to compromise, to send just the basic details out, & post the extended play with full blurbs & jpegs of the front covers to my blog, gamma ways . The direct URLs for the books are given below. The full catalog can be found at The Otoliths Storefront Otoliths .
Mark Young
E-X-C-H-A-N-G-E-V-A-L-U-E-S: The Final XIV Interviews + One
Tom Beckett (curator)
372 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9805096-1-8
$19.95 + p&h
URL: Final XIV Interviews
The Evolution of Mirrors
Martin Edmond
108 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9805096-6-3
$12.50 + p&h
URL: Evolution of Mirrors
When You Bit...
Adam Fieled
72 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9805096-3-2
$12.50 + p&h
URL:When You Bit
Longfellow Memoranda
Geof Huth
148 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9804541-9-2
$13.50 + p&h
URL: Longfellow Memoranda
Novaless
Nicholas Manning
160 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9805096-2-5
$13.50 + p&h
URL: Novaless
Tales From The Hinterland
Caleb Puckett
60 pages
Cover design by Mary Ellen Derwis & Joe Balaz
ISBN: 978-0-9805096-4-9
$10.00 + p&h
URL:Tales from the Hinterland
RED
Marilyn R. Rosenberg
56 pages, full color, 9" wide x 7" high, coil bound
ISBN: 978-0-9805096-5-6
$19.95 + p&h
URL:Red
The video of my collage novel Free Fall-video and music by Mike Burakoff- is now up on Nicholas Manning’s poet's video blog, The Continental Review
Nicholas Manning has also posted a short announcement and appreciative comment on his weblog: The Newer Metaphysicals
Thanks to Nicholas Manning for posting the video and to Mark Young for publishing the book under his Otoliths Press imprint.
***********************
A.I.R. GALLERY: The History Show
Archival materials from 1972 to the present
Curated by Kat Griefen & Dena Muller
at Tracey/Barry Gallery, Bobst LIbrary,
Open Monday - Friday 10am-5pm
70 Washington Sq. South, 3rd Fl.
September 16 - December 12, 2008
Opening & Panel at Tracey/Barry Gallery
Tuesday, Sept. 16, 6pm – 8pm
“How A.I.R. Changed the Art World: Feminist Intervention Over 37 Years”
Panelists: Dotty Attie, Carey Lovelace, Carolee Schneemann, Corinne Robins & Joan Snitzer
**************
Nicholas Manning reviews Mark Young's Pelican Dreaming: Selected Poems in
Jacket
*************
When the original emailout for this September septet of new books from Otoliths reached four pages, I decided it was time to compromise, to send just the basic details out, & post the extended play with full blurbs & jpegs of the front covers to my blog, gamma ways . The direct URLs for the books are given below. The full catalog can be found at The Otoliths Storefront Otoliths .
Mark Young
E-X-C-H-A-N-G-E-V-A-L-U-E-S: The Final XIV Interviews + One
Tom Beckett (curator)
372 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9805096-1-8
$19.95 + p&h
URL: Final XIV Interviews
The Evolution of Mirrors
Martin Edmond
108 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9805096-6-3
$12.50 + p&h
URL: Evolution of Mirrors
When You Bit...
Adam Fieled
72 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9805096-3-2
$12.50 + p&h
URL:When You Bit
Longfellow Memoranda
Geof Huth
148 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9804541-9-2
$13.50 + p&h
URL: Longfellow Memoranda
Novaless
Nicholas Manning
160 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9805096-2-5
$13.50 + p&h
URL: Novaless
Tales From The Hinterland
Caleb Puckett
60 pages
Cover design by Mary Ellen Derwis & Joe Balaz
ISBN: 978-0-9805096-4-9
$10.00 + p&h
URL:Tales from the Hinterland
RED
Marilyn R. Rosenberg
56 pages, full color, 9" wide x 7" high, coil bound
ISBN: 978-0-9805096-5-6
$19.95 + p&h
URL:Red
Wednesday, September 10
Contradicta
Those long accustomed to unqualified success-- or to unquestionable failure--tend to share one quality in common: an air of indifference.
*******
We are nothing more or less than the sum of our enthusiasms.
******************
Mark Young's Pelican Dreaming Selected Poems 1959-2008 (Meritage Press)
$24 at Lulu
These poems, read together in this excellently selected book, speak and sing to and of and with each other. Their humor and humanity, frankness and wealth of example and reference work together to create an appetite of readerly curiosity to want to keep reading and thinking, laughing, and connecting, and with this a desire to get to know the poet more, to come back to particular poems more and more.
Mark Young is the editor of Otoliths and Otoliths Books and lives in Rockhampton, Australia
"Chaos Theory Does Hollywood"
"Have just watched Blade Runner
on DVD, enjoyed it as I
always do even though
a small part of me sits there
running a reality check. It's
the risk you take when
writing about the future:
having it reviewed at a
point that is closer than the
conception. Pan-Am
didn't even make it to 2001
let alone the time this movie
is set. The arse has fallen out
of the yen & though Sony
still owns Columbia not everytone
speaks Japanese & most of the
noodle bars are owned by
immigrants from Vietnam or
Mainland China. Two days ago
I bought an album by Youssou
N'Dour & the next day
Senegal surprised by beating
France in the opening round
of soccer's World Cup. Maybe
that's the way to influence
the universe. Don't just
make the movie, change
something small in the
real world & eventually
the film may be seen
as cinima verite by the time
its time has come. Forgo
those fastfood franchised
tie-ins. Instead give
everyone a butterfly to kill."
Those long accustomed to unqualified success-- or to unquestionable failure--tend to share one quality in common: an air of indifference.
*******
We are nothing more or less than the sum of our enthusiasms.
******************
Mark Young's Pelican Dreaming Selected Poems 1959-2008 (Meritage Press)
$24 at Lulu
These poems, read together in this excellently selected book, speak and sing to and of and with each other. Their humor and humanity, frankness and wealth of example and reference work together to create an appetite of readerly curiosity to want to keep reading and thinking, laughing, and connecting, and with this a desire to get to know the poet more, to come back to particular poems more and more.
Mark Young is the editor of Otoliths and Otoliths Books and lives in Rockhampton, Australia
"Chaos Theory Does Hollywood"
"Have just watched Blade Runner
on DVD, enjoyed it as I
always do even though
a small part of me sits there
running a reality check. It's
the risk you take when
writing about the future:
having it reviewed at a
point that is closer than the
conception. Pan-Am
didn't even make it to 2001
let alone the time this movie
is set. The arse has fallen out
of the yen & though Sony
still owns Columbia not everytone
speaks Japanese & most of the
noodle bars are owned by
immigrants from Vietnam or
Mainland China. Two days ago
I bought an album by Youssou
N'Dour & the next day
Senegal surprised by beating
France in the opening round
of soccer's World Cup. Maybe
that's the way to influence
the universe. Don't just
make the movie, change
something small in the
real world & eventually
the film may be seen
as cinima verite by the time
its time has come. Forgo
those fastfood franchised
tie-ins. Instead give
everyone a butterfly to kill."
Monday, September 8
Saturday, August 30
Contradicta
I've never yet read a book or a poem or seen a film or a play that truly captured what it feels like to live. If one of them did, few would read it or go. it would veer too often and too rapidly from being profound one moment and idiotic the next, mesmerizing one moment and anticlimactic the next, exhausting one moment and energizing the next, inspiring one moment and horrifying the next, etc.
***********
Not everyone likes writers or artists who try to be different, but many do. It's the ones that succeed at it that nobody likes.
I've never yet read a book or a poem or seen a film or a play that truly captured what it feels like to live. If one of them did, few would read it or go. it would veer too often and too rapidly from being profound one moment and idiotic the next, mesmerizing one moment and anticlimactic the next, exhausting one moment and energizing the next, inspiring one moment and horrifying the next, etc.
***********
Not everyone likes writers or artists who try to be different, but many do. It's the ones that succeed at it that nobody likes.
Friday, August 29
Hardy Hip-Hop
I found this poem by Thomas Hardy and couldn't help but copy it out and post it here and on the poetics listserv. Jerome Sala and others described it as rap-like, Maria Damon compared it to Iggy Pop.
Thoughts at Midnight
Mankind, you dismay me
When shadows waylay me!-
Not by your splendours
Do you affray me,
Nor as pretenders
To demonic keenness,
Nor by your meanness,
Nor by your ill-teachings
Nor your false preachings,
Nor your banalities
And immoralities,
Nor by your daring
Nor sinister bearing;
But by your madnesses
Capping cool badnesses,
Acting like puppets
Under Time's buffets;
In superstitions
And ambitions
Moved by no wisdom,
Far sight, or system,
Led by sheer senselessness
And presciencelessness
Into unreason
And hideous self-treason....
God, look he on you,
Have mercy upon you!
part written 25 May 1906
(published in Hardy's last book of poems "Winter Words in Various Moods")
I found this poem by Thomas Hardy and couldn't help but copy it out and post it here and on the poetics listserv. Jerome Sala and others described it as rap-like, Maria Damon compared it to Iggy Pop.
Thoughts at Midnight
Mankind, you dismay me
When shadows waylay me!-
Not by your splendours
Do you affray me,
Nor as pretenders
To demonic keenness,
Nor by your meanness,
Nor by your ill-teachings
Nor your false preachings,
Nor your banalities
And immoralities,
Nor by your daring
Nor sinister bearing;
But by your madnesses
Capping cool badnesses,
Acting like puppets
Under Time's buffets;
In superstitions
And ambitions
Moved by no wisdom,
Far sight, or system,
Led by sheer senselessness
And presciencelessness
Into unreason
And hideous self-treason....
God, look he on you,
Have mercy upon you!
part written 25 May 1906
(published in Hardy's last book of poems "Winter Words in Various Moods")
Friday, August 15
Thursday, August 7
From Otoliths 10: Tom Beckett interviews Nico Vassilakis
Interview
******
Otoliths 10
******
Patti Smith: Dream of Life, NY Times Movie Review
Interview
******
Otoliths 10
******
Patti Smith: Dream of Life, NY Times Movie Review
Monday, August 4
Boog City's 5th Annual Small, Small Press Fair
(announcement from David A. Kirschenbaum):
Exhibit at Boog City’s 5th Annual Small, Small Press Fair
(with Indie Records and Crafts, too)
Sat. Sept. 20, 11:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.
at day 3 of the 2nd annual
Welcome to Boog City poetry and music festival
(complete fest info below)
Cakeshop
152 Ludlow St.
NYC
$15 for a table
The first 2.5 hours, 11:00 a.m.-1:30 p.m. will feature performances by authors from the tabling presses
(exact amount of time per press TBD when the number of exhibiting presses is set)
Door charge for attendees is $5
email editor@boogcity.com or call 212-842-BOOG (2664)
to reserve your table today
Featuring nonstop performances throughout the day
with readings from
Jen Benka
Todd Colby
Ryan Eckes
Elise Ficarra
Eric Gelsinger
Stephanie Gray
David Hadbawnik
Bill Kushner
Douglas Manson
Kristianne Meal
Sharon Mesmer
Carol Mirakove
Kathryn Pringle
Maureen Thorson
and music from
A Brief View of the Hudson
Double Deuce
Heart Parts
Phoebe Kreutz
------------------
And here’s what’s happening the other three days of the festival:
Thurs. 9/18, 6:00 p.m. sharp, free
ACA Galleries
529 W.20th St., 5th Flr.
NYC
minor/american (Durham, N.C.)
Elise Ficarra and Kathryn Pringle, eds.
With readings from minor/american authors
and a musical performance
Fri. 9/19, 7:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m., free with a two-drink minimum
Sidewalk Café
94 Ave. A
NYC
Readings from
Jim Behrle
Bob Holman
Gillian McCain
Daniel Nester
Arlo Quint
Poets’ Theater performances
curated by Rodrigo Toscano
For its 20th anniversary
Lou Reed’s New York album performed live by
Babs Soft
Liv Carrow
Dead Rabbit
Dibson T. Hoffweiler and Preston Spurlock
Prewar Yardsale
Todd Carlstrom and The Clamour
Wakey Wakey
and solo sets from
Dead Rabbit
Dibson T. Hoffweiler
Todd Carlstrom and The Clamour
Sat. 9/20
Cakeshop
(see above)
Sun. 9/21, 1:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m., free
Unnameable Books
456 Bergen St.
Brooklyn
Ana Božičević
Lee Ann Brown
Julia Cohen
John Coletti
Corrine Fitzpatrick
Edward Foster
Rachel Levitsky
Eileen Myles
Simon Pettet
Nick Piombino
Kyle Schlesinger
Stacy Szymaszek
Edward Foster and Simon Pettet in conversation
with music from
Yoko Kikuchi
and a panel on "Action Poets" curated and moderated by Kristin Prevallet. This will be a forum for people to discuss intervention, performance, conceptual street agitations, and more.
Hosted by Boog City editor David Kirschenbaum
For more info: 212-842-BOOG (2664) * editor@boogcity.com
--
David A. Kirschenbaum, editor and publisher
Boog City
330 W.28th St., Suite 6H
NY, NY 10001-4754
For event and publication information:
http://welcometoboogcity.com/
T: (212) 842-BOOG (2664)
F: (212) 842-2429
(announcement from David A. Kirschenbaum):
Exhibit at Boog City’s 5th Annual Small, Small Press Fair
(with Indie Records and Crafts, too)
Sat. Sept. 20, 11:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.
at day 3 of the 2nd annual
Welcome to Boog City poetry and music festival
(complete fest info below)
Cakeshop
152 Ludlow St.
NYC
$15 for a table
The first 2.5 hours, 11:00 a.m.-1:30 p.m. will feature performances by authors from the tabling presses
(exact amount of time per press TBD when the number of exhibiting presses is set)
Door charge for attendees is $5
email editor@boogcity.com or call 212-842-BOOG (2664)
to reserve your table today
Featuring nonstop performances throughout the day
with readings from
Jen Benka
Todd Colby
Ryan Eckes
Elise Ficarra
Eric Gelsinger
Stephanie Gray
David Hadbawnik
Bill Kushner
Douglas Manson
Kristianne Meal
Sharon Mesmer
Carol Mirakove
Kathryn Pringle
Maureen Thorson
and music from
A Brief View of the Hudson
Double Deuce
Heart Parts
Phoebe Kreutz
------------------
And here’s what’s happening the other three days of the festival:
Thurs. 9/18, 6:00 p.m. sharp, free
ACA Galleries
529 W.20th St., 5th Flr.
NYC
minor/american (Durham, N.C.)
Elise Ficarra and Kathryn Pringle, eds.
With readings from minor/american authors
and a musical performance
Fri. 9/19, 7:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m., free with a two-drink minimum
Sidewalk Café
94 Ave. A
NYC
Readings from
Jim Behrle
Bob Holman
Gillian McCain
Daniel Nester
Arlo Quint
Poets’ Theater performances
curated by Rodrigo Toscano
For its 20th anniversary
Lou Reed’s New York album performed live by
Babs Soft
Liv Carrow
Dead Rabbit
Dibson T. Hoffweiler and Preston Spurlock
Prewar Yardsale
Todd Carlstrom and The Clamour
Wakey Wakey
and solo sets from
Dead Rabbit
Dibson T. Hoffweiler
Todd Carlstrom and The Clamour
Sat. 9/20
Cakeshop
(see above)
Sun. 9/21, 1:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m., free
Unnameable Books
456 Bergen St.
Brooklyn
Ana Božičević
Lee Ann Brown
Julia Cohen
John Coletti
Corrine Fitzpatrick
Edward Foster
Rachel Levitsky
Eileen Myles
Simon Pettet
Nick Piombino
Kyle Schlesinger
Stacy Szymaszek
Edward Foster and Simon Pettet in conversation
with music from
Yoko Kikuchi
and a panel on "Action Poets" curated and moderated by Kristin Prevallet. This will be a forum for people to discuss intervention, performance, conceptual street agitations, and more.
Hosted by Boog City editor David Kirschenbaum
For more info: 212-842-BOOG (2664) * editor@boogcity.com
--
David A. Kirschenbaum, editor and publisher
Boog City
330 W.28th St., Suite 6H
NY, NY 10001-4754
For event and publication information:
http://welcometoboogcity.com/
T: (212) 842-BOOG (2664)
F: (212) 842-2429
Tuesday, July 29
Walking In Circles Before Lying Down, by Merrill Markoe
My last few days in Provincetown were sad because...they were my last few days! Yet not too sad to find myself cracking up when reading, while simultaneously admiring Merrill Markoe's hilarious and absorbing Walking in Circles Before Lying Down, which I found while browsing the wonderful shelves of the Provincetown library. The main character of the book Dawn, after fleeing an impossible relationship and various impossible living situations, finds herself thinking she is talking to herself when she is actually talking to her dog. When her true love dies, that is, her dog, she finds a substitute, Chuck, who is jealous of her former dog, and the book continues with Chuck rescuing her from various weird situations, while she works in a dog day care center (while all the dogs there continuously supply Dawn with advice and barbed comments about what they smell and what they see but mostly what they'd like her to feed them). My description cannot do justice to this wacky, wonderful book, but I recommend it highly. Merrill Markoe has worked as a consultant to Sex And The City, and David Letterman, she has won tons of emmies, but broke free of her comedic tv writing career to write novels, an admirable, though no doubt stressful, while generous decision, especially for readers who love great, funny novels. This book is not only recommended, but prescribed! It is good for what ails you.Goodreads listings
My last few days in Provincetown were sad because...they were my last few days! Yet not too sad to find myself cracking up when reading, while simultaneously admiring Merrill Markoe's hilarious and absorbing Walking in Circles Before Lying Down, which I found while browsing the wonderful shelves of the Provincetown library. The main character of the book Dawn, after fleeing an impossible relationship and various impossible living situations, finds herself thinking she is talking to herself when she is actually talking to her dog. When her true love dies, that is, her dog, she finds a substitute, Chuck, who is jealous of her former dog, and the book continues with Chuck rescuing her from various weird situations, while she works in a dog day care center (while all the dogs there continuously supply Dawn with advice and barbed comments about what they smell and what they see but mostly what they'd like her to feed them). My description cannot do justice to this wacky, wonderful book, but I recommend it highly. Merrill Markoe has worked as a consultant to Sex And The City, and David Letterman, she has won tons of emmies, but broke free of her comedic tv writing career to write novels, an admirable, though no doubt stressful, while generous decision, especially for readers who love great, funny novels. This book is not only recommended, but prescribed! It is good for what ails you.Goodreads listings
Wednesday, July 23
Nicholas Manning Reviews Gary Sullivan's PPL in a Depot (Roof):
Galatea Resurrects #10
**********
Kristina Marie Darling reviews Catherine Daly's Chantreuse/Cantatrice (Factory School) Galatea Resurrects #10
**********
Charles Bernstein reviews new book by Al Filreis in
The Boston Review
**********
Pessoa in the Rain
What a pleasure to have had The Book of Disquietude to read during a summer rain. Now that the rain is over, the words do not seem the same, but as it did, I thought of blogging a few quotes as I read and thought of Pessoa writing them, and listened to the thunder and the rain...The moment passes, always, and Pessoa kept mourning this, yet we still have his words:
"O alcohol of grand words and long phrases that raise the breathing of their rhythm like waves and then crash smiling, with the irony of twisting snakes of foam and the sad magnificence of shadows."
"To realize a dream, it's necessary to forget it, to divert our attention from it. To realize is thus to not realize. Life is full of paradoxes, as a rose is of thorns.
"I'd like to construct the apotheosis of a new incoherence which could stand as the negative synthesis of the new anarchy of soul. I've always felt that to compile a digest of my dreams might be useful to humanity, which is why I've never given up trying. The idea that what I did in the real world might be profitable offended me and left me dry and withered..."
"The rain continued to fall sadly but with less force, as if seized by a cosmic weariness. There was no lightning, and only very occasionally would a distant, short roll of thunder harshly rumble, haltingly at times, as if also weary. Suddenly, or so it seemed, the rain let up further...."
"Rain, rain, rain...
Constant groaning rain (...)"
The thunder and rain have now begun again.
Quotes from The Book of Disquietude
by Fernando Pessoa
The Sheep Meadow Press, 1996
translated by Richard Zenith
Galatea Resurrects #10
**********
Kristina Marie Darling reviews Catherine Daly's Chantreuse/Cantatrice (Factory School) Galatea Resurrects #10
**********
Charles Bernstein reviews new book by Al Filreis in
The Boston Review
**********
Pessoa in the Rain
What a pleasure to have had The Book of Disquietude to read during a summer rain. Now that the rain is over, the words do not seem the same, but as it did, I thought of blogging a few quotes as I read and thought of Pessoa writing them, and listened to the thunder and the rain...The moment passes, always, and Pessoa kept mourning this, yet we still have his words:
"O alcohol of grand words and long phrases that raise the breathing of their rhythm like waves and then crash smiling, with the irony of twisting snakes of foam and the sad magnificence of shadows."
"To realize a dream, it's necessary to forget it, to divert our attention from it. To realize is thus to not realize. Life is full of paradoxes, as a rose is of thorns.
"I'd like to construct the apotheosis of a new incoherence which could stand as the negative synthesis of the new anarchy of soul. I've always felt that to compile a digest of my dreams might be useful to humanity, which is why I've never given up trying. The idea that what I did in the real world might be profitable offended me and left me dry and withered..."
"The rain continued to fall sadly but with less force, as if seized by a cosmic weariness. There was no lightning, and only very occasionally would a distant, short roll of thunder harshly rumble, haltingly at times, as if also weary. Suddenly, or so it seemed, the rain let up further...."
"Rain, rain, rain...
Constant groaning rain (...)"
The thunder and rain have now begun again.
Quotes from The Book of Disquietude
by Fernando Pessoa
The Sheep Meadow Press, 1996
translated by Richard Zenith
Monday, July 21
Check out Didi Menendez' blog: Men and Women of the Web
and thanks to Didi Menendez for the interview:
Men of the Web
**
OCHO 14 is available online, here: OCHO 14
and thanks to Didi Menendez for the interview:
Men of the Web
**
OCHO 14 is available online, here: OCHO 14
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)