Poeta en deserto: Anne Waldman

It seems that there is a trend emerging---how to entertain visiting poets? Hmmm. I know, we’ll drag them into the desert! So far it’s worked pretty well (see "Desert Lease" below).

Jacqueline and I, along with or faithful poet-loving canine companion Macchia ventured into the Valley of Fire with uber-poet-goddess Anne Waldman. It was a gorgeous day, hovering in the low 80s and of course sunny sunny sunny and without a trace of spleen.



Valley of Fire is a hidden gem here near Vegas. It’s about 50 minutes away via highway and feels like another planet. Jacqueline and I have camped there---the car sites are swell---and have much enjoyed ourselves.

The night before our hike, Anne gave a great talk about how she uses her work to battle those in power and then gave an exuberant reading. One of my favorites (aside from some oldies but goodies like “Stereo”) was a poem in progress called “Manatee/Humanity”---an ecological treatise/homage to dear Ms. Stein.

And of course, Anne is very photogenic and knows how to work it!

Macchia knows how to work it too!

From my luke-warm, half-asleep fingers...

A sweet poet that I was talking to expressed concern about the motif and promotion of handguns and related armaments on this site, and I felt that I should respond to this. I, too, am concerned about pervasive violence, the absurd war in the Middle East, youth violence, etc. That is why from now on I am instituting this policy on my blog: I call it the "If you don't fucking like it, don't fucking read it" policy. It should solve all of the world's seemingly endless and unsolvable problems.

Since I've been scolded innumerable times...

I figured I'd better write a new goddamn post. I've been busy. So shoot me. Not for real---just pretend-like with your finger.

So here it is---what's new: I'm still working on the fun with vanity plates, so quit buggin me about it. The new Interim is out. Buy the damn thing. It's really frickin' good. There's a link to the right.

My new book, In the archives, is out, but not officially. You'll be able to order it by regular means (i.e. your local independent book store [if it's still in business, that is] or Amazon.com, etc) on April Fool's Day---nah, I'll leave that one alone; it's way too easy. So buy it---I read it and rather enjoyed it. It tickled me in a naughty why, i.e. with a long black feather of spleen.

I'll be posting Anne Waldman in the desert with me, Jacqueline, and Macchia the Poet-licking Dog.

I'm still working on a fun with handguns section. I'm considering shooting the Ally Sheedy book. Plenty of photos. If anyone has any other (legal) suggestions of what to shoot, let me know.

Also, I finally got my Skin certificate. Those of you who don't know about the project, visit Shelley Jackson's super-swell site:http://www.ineradicablestain.com/skindex.html. This is one of those, "I wish I had thought of that!" sorta projects (except with a poem instead, because, well, poetry's just better than short fiction. But I must admit, Shelley's top-notch yo).

Big hugs blog friends and enemies.

Desert Lease

Jacqueline and I spent a bunch of time over the last coupla days with Bay Area poet Joseph Lease. He was in town to read at UNLV and promote his stellar new collection Broken World. Read this book! It's a helluva follow-up to his previous collection Human Rights---I love the unapologetically ambitious and massive titles of his works. The book was just released, but I have been fortunate enough to have had a copy of the MS for the last coupla months. Thanks for the sneak preview! Rock on Joseph!

As part of the Nevada Humanities grant stipulations, each author must also give a talk on a subject (chosen by our intrepid leader Claudia Keelan). This year the subject was "Power." Joseph's talk was erudite and lyrical. Look for it in next year's Interim, along with those of Anne Waldman and Nathaniel Mackey (that is, if they say yes). Also, Joseph’s whole reading will be available at the UNLV English Dept. website as a podcast. Here is where it will be posted: http://liberalarts.unlv.edu/English/

Today, though, we spent the midday in Red Rocks---a beautiful oasis of Navaho sandstone only a few miles outta Vegas. Of course, development has crept up on the place, but it is still a lovely place to visit. Here are some pics:



Jacqueline and Joseph standing in the old sandstone quarry. It closed around 1912 if I remember correctly.



The abovementioned humanoids with Macchia. Notice her adventuress pose. She liked to sniff Joseph's face (he did wear a lovely cologne).



Poet wild in the desert.

Thanks for sharing your stuff, Joseph!

The world is an amazing place---especially when you build it off of the coast of Dubai

It's true. A student told me about this: http://www.theworld.ae/

I don't even know where to begin... So is this a post-post-post-modern world? My head hurts just thinking about all of the doctoral dissertations this little project's gonna spawn.

But it gives me an idea: all of the poets in the world should chip in a few bucks---then we could buy, say, New Hampshire and establish "Verselandia"!* Now that's nationalism.

E-mail me for more details about donating or if you have ideas for a cool flag---I'm imagining something in azure with many intricate designs.

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*Prose poets would be welcome.

I am the luckiest sunuvabitch in the world!

After I woke up this a.m. and checked my e-mailI discovered that I had won 32 free laptops! Additionally, my penis has gained somewhere in the realm of 64" and---this is the best part---Christian singles want to meet me! Me! That could be fun and interesting.

I just know that it all has something to do with starting a blog. God bless America.

When I wake up this early, I often think to myself: Am I an American today? Or an American't? Then I realize that I am about to go teach a classroom full of hotel and casino management majors who think I am completely insane for caring about books. Yuk. Today I am an Amerambivalent.

But my ambivalence only lasted a short time because I think I had one of them what Maslow calls "peak experiences" things early this a.m.: I was bringing Jacqueline her coffee and there she was: lying on her back in bed, NPR as alarm, her hair mussed with one of those sexy/cute half-smiles on her face---the adjective should be "moemuzzily"---and I wondered, "I have some seriously damn good karma." I must've carried elderly and handicapped people on my shoulders to cross streets in a past life.

Good morning blog friends. My spleen has receded a bit today. Ouch.

More fun with celebrity po'try: an official ranking

From real bad to pleasantly darn good, interspersed with minimal commentary:



The terrible pun that is the title makes me want to stab myself in the chest repeatedly alla Eliot Smith. When Joshua Clover reviewed this book in Spin magazine, he discussed the choice of typeface. Nuf said.



While catagorically not "better" than Jewel's book, it makes me wonder what kind of fucked up things happened on the set of The Breakfast Club because Charlie Sheen has a book of poems also, and I swear this is not a joke: Peace of Mind. What's with the stupid puns? Maybe Judd Nelson's weed was the real deal.



Beam me outta here.



As narcissistic as a blog, but some neat lines.



I had read a few of these poems in Fence magazine... Some of the poems surprise with their images and language---always a good thing, yes? Obviously the problem with any critique is the context. I mean, in the company of the above "books," Jeff Tweedy's work is the Rothko among the finger paintings. I am listening to "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"---a damn swell album--- as I write this. Does this make me biased? Also, the cover manages to creep me out in a good way.

How did you get so rich, Chris? Shut up or I'll fillya fulla lead and spleen.

Here's a way to generate quick cash that does not involve embezzlement or murder, but DOES involve guns:

You send me a symbolic representation of something you hate (i.e a 8x10 glossy photo of Garrison Keillor [spleen to you, you homophobic Methodist freak!] or a copy of Ally Sheedy's book of "poems" Yesterday I Saw the Sun*) and, say, $10, and I'll shoot it full of holes!

Order today and you'll get a choice of calibers: a .40 caliber handgun or a .308 rifle!

If you're interested, just drop me an e-mail.

_______________________________________________

*I am tempted to post excerpts from this "book," but I fear bleeding from my eyes.**


**I was also tempted to list Jewell's "book of poetry" but when I think about how many copies it has sold, I cry a lot and vomit burns the back of my throat. Spleen Spleen.

Semi-public onanism and the reek of garlic

How is it that a PhD student, finishing his coursework this semester and with a deadline to get the new issue of Interim out by next week has the time to blog (blogare in Italiano) you ask? Well, not only does this blog fill the void that is not smoking, but it also allows me to procrastinate unapologetically because I can say, "But I'm writing!" Or, "It's better than smoking!" Also, I cannot work on Interim because my office printer was killed by excessive printing, so I can't work until I go home, which I cannot do until my wife, Jacqueline, saves me from the murky depths of this semi-public onanism.

Anecdote di giorno:

My Italian teacher storms into class looking very distraught. Apparently, one of her students in the period before reeked so badly of garlic that it was making her ill. This same student apparently followed her after class, thus exacerbating the nausea. This is an occurrence that is regular enough to prompt her to discuss with us the best way to tell him to not eat garlic before class. And she calls herself Italian...

Las Vegas Spleen

Well, I finally broke down and did it. After the peer pressure, the sheer pressure, and the pressure shears, I have joined the ranks of millions of self-centered and half-amusing people who have a blog (which is an ugly word, a painfully insincere and synthetic word).

Egads.

But like the fact that I drive a car and eat meat, I have resigned myself to this...lifestyle choice.

So it begins.

Since I quit smoking... FAQ

1) What can I expect to find on your blog?

(Evil laughter). Mostly anything really, though I will probably most frequently write about poetry---I mean the good stuff: no Rod McKuen bullshit here, though who knows, I may do a tribute just out of spite. In addition to poetry and po-biz, expect to see postings about guns, aboriginal survival skills, eco- and ethno- poetics, commentary about books, films, music, and cultural ephemera, Italian language and culture, poetry translation, nude hiking, particle physics, ethnobotany, life in Las Vegas, especially revolving around the homogeneous community in which I live and love---Stallion Mountain---and my dog, Macchia. BUT most importantly, you'll read about me and poetry and guns and your mom.

2) Why is there only one FAQ?

Because I am filled with spleen. Spleen. Spleen.
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