Adam Deutsch

Everyone loves a new pair of boots!

2012-01-22T14:30:00.001-06:00

Back...with Machines!

2012-01-12T12:49:00.000-06:00

Change the Default Settings

2011-12-26T14:08:00.001-06:00

Though I never formally studied visual art, I'm an amateur painter (and have made a few bucks selling pieces), and was fortunate enough in my college years to study the music industry, marketing, pre-internet/digital publishing, and work for journals like Ninth Letter, which was a combined effort on the part of the Creative Writing department and Art & Design at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The longer I write poems, and the longer I work in the business of formatting poems for publication--currently doing all the interior layout design for Cooper Dillon Books--the more I think about how poems occupy physical space. From there, I wonder why we poets don't include spacial consideration in composing our work.

A painter, before beginning a piece, considers the size of the canvas that will hold the work; a woodworker will measure a space for an intended piece of furniture; a choreographer will consider practice and performance space, and adapt as necessary. Artists of these disciplines understand and consider space, but we writers seem to open our word processing programs, and do out work in 8.5 x 11, then save the file in that format, and send to journals or calls for book submissions, and keep them in 8.5 x 11, knowing full well that the poem will not be appearing in that size. We know this, and we think of our lines, spaces, letters and words so carefully in a space that simply isn't realistic real estate that will be available when we are actually able to share the work with the community.

Two quick stories:

* When I was in a workshop, one of my peers brought in a poem that was set in landscape, and in an exceptionally blocky font--something like Bank Gothic. It was visually interesting, and, as it happens, really served to help the poem's pacing. Without even giving it a read-around, the professor disregarded the work, and demanded that all poems appear in standard 8.5 x 11 portrait, and use a standard serif font like Times or Garamond. Nevermind that, pedagogically, the professor alienated that particular writer, and a decent portion of the class, effectively turning the safe intimacy of the workshop into a toxic environment. What he or she also did was completely shut down even the potential to educate us on the role of typography in our work, and how it feeds and engages the language, thus changing the experience of the poem for readers. Or, perhaps because of the aggressive shut-down and moratorium on perceived "standards," it moved some of us to think about formatting in a whole new light, if only with the initial intent to rebel against such a rigid requirement.

* Nate Pritts has a magnificent poem called "Endless Summer," which appears in The Wonderfull Yeare. He was meticulous in formatting the lines of this poem, so when we had to make the move to a book format (we do 5.5 x 8.5 in the Cooper Dillon shop), there was a decision to make. To preserve the spacing, we could have reduced the font size to fit in the 5.5 margin; this would have made it near impossible to comfortably read, and would have also undermined the original effort and care in conceiving the spacing in the first place. The other alternative, which won out, was to swivel the poems so they were landscaped. Not only did this preserve the original visual elements that Pritts intended, it also added a little something different to the book. At some point he asked, "Can we really do that?" and I replied, "If D.A. Powell can do it for an entire book, we can do it for 6 pages!"

Like I said, I was fortunate to learn about certain elements of business during my education in poetry, but I can't help but feel that I missed out on certain essential skills: book-making was not available, nor was any sort of survey in typography or text design. Therefore, I've had to make efforts to acquire these skills on my own time. While there might be comfort in perceived standards, as a community, I think we should embrace using all of the tools at our fingertips to be more artful in our craft.

I write with "invisibles" showing, so I can see design markers as I write. Just this morning, I changed the default settings of my page from 8.5 v 11 to 5.5 x 8.5. It seems reasonable that when the poems appear in a print journal, or finally in a finished book, they'll appear in either that size, or maybe in 6 x 9. Rather than go through headaches of trying to make the conversation after the fact, or to, perhaps, be a bit more considerate to whomever decided that they can stand behind my poems, I think it's the right move. We don't have to use the default, just because that's how it opens up. I know that not every writer is tech-savy, and easily able to go in and mess with settings and preferences, but in this day and age, it behooves us to extend our skills, and not only think of language, but how that language is presented.

Perhaps it's a short-coming of writing programs that there isn't more emphasis on learning about space, but I have faith in my community to be at least a little autodidactic. People get paid to know these technical elements, but that doesn't mean we can learn them, especially if it means enriching our artistic efforts.

More thoughts on what we're doing

2011-10-24T16:42:00.001-05:00

Ever the publisher (far more often than the publishee), I have some thoughts over at the latest Diode.

I hope you enjoy it, maybe with friends over tasty drinks.

Interview at Fringe!

2011-09-27T00:10:00.001-05:00

Wow. It's been really quiet around here.

Sorry. But I get a little busy with stuff--like this new interview up at Fringe Magazine. Check it out!

Remember where you're from

2011-07-18T08:17:00.000-05:00

Animals is people too.

2011-07-13T12:00:00.001-05:00

Post-AWP bits

2011-02-23T20:34:00.002-06:00

Hey hey!

Cooper Dillon had a great time at AWP DC, though we wish the people form Chicago and other could places could have made it sooner/at all. Maybe they'll start considering that winter cities in winter months don't always work so good.

Meanwhile, the good people at Rose Metal Press came by, and they talked to me about my previously posted thoughts on the NEA, public money, etc. We have some differences of opinion, but I think we agreed that we both love Gary L. McDowell, so that was a place of peace.

It got me thinking--I can't really fault the really small operations who are getting $5K, or something like that. Nobody's drawing a salary from that, and the project truly is about making a contribution to the audience, and the money they're getting is just a little something to help out.

However, the big places who claim to be "small," and are taking in 25K from contest fees alone, not to mention book sales that are huge...well, you know my thoughts on that.

Cooper Dillon Books happens to be a member of CLMP. As a result, I got an email from Steph Opitz, the Membership Director, and there are some great recordings of panels form AWP. I'm listening particular to this one, which is The Art of Nonprofit Publishing with publishers from Bellevue, Coffee House, Graywolf, Four Way, and others. It's educational. I'm fascinated by the fact that once an organization becomes a nonprofit, it's owned by the public, and held, "in trust for the public good," as Allan Kornblum says. Apparently a board can dismiss an editor/publisher, even if they've established the press and nurtured it from the start.

I thought you'd might be interested in these talks, if you don't get the email with the links. If you want, email me, and I can forward the message to you.

Coming to AWP DC, 2011

2011-01-26T20:10:00.003-06:00

Visit Bloof & No Tell at Table D7
or Cooper Dillon at B10
during the AWP Bookfair.

Every book purchased and/or 2$ gets you another ticket!
Random drawing to be held Saturday, February 5.*

*Entries accepted via bookfair tables only, but you need not be present at time of drawing to win.
Prizes will be shipped (to single winning address) after the conference. Stop by for more info
or to gaze upon the goods. We have no idea if this raffle is legal, so don't tell any cops!

*** PRIZES INCLUDE ***

From Cooper Dillon Books:

Wonderfull Yeare by Nate Pritts
Haunts by Laura Cherry
Pretty, Rooster by Clay Matthews
The Devastation by Jill Alexander Essbaum
They Speak of Fruit by Gary L. McDowell

from No Tell Books:

Shy Green Fields by Hugh Behm-Steinberg
Glass Is Really a Liquid by Bruce Covey
Elapsing Speedway Organism by Bruce Covey
Harlot by Jill Alexander Essbaum
Never Cry Woof by Shafer Hall
God Damsel by Reb Livingston
The Bedside Guide to No Tell Motel - Second Floor edited by Reb Livingston & Molly Arden
The Bedside Guide to No Tell Motel edited by Reb Livingston & Molly Arden
Wanton Textiles by Reb Livingston & Ravi Shankar
Cadaver Dogs by Rebecca Loudon
Navigate, Amelia Earhart's Letters Home by Rebecca Loudon
PERSONATIONSKIN by Karl Parker
The Attention Lesson by PF Potvin
The Myth of the Simple Machines by Laurel Snyder

From Bloof Books:

The Mystery of the Hidden Driveway by Jennifer L. Knox
Poetry! Poetry! Poetry! by Peter Davis
Good Morning Romantics by Shanna Compton
Warsaw Bikini by Sandra Simonds
For Girls (& Others) by Shanna Compton
Drunk by Noon by Jennifer L. Knox
My Zorba by Danielle Pafunda
A Gringo Like Me by Jennifer L. Knox
Down Spooky by Shanna Compton

Plus awesome swag!

NEA Talk

2011-01-26T19:27:00.004-06:00

Charles Jensen's posted a list of some literary organizations who took NEA money in 2010 over at his blog. We have a difference of opinion, and that's okay. It's worth checking out.

The list was kind of eye opening. To learn that Small Press Distribution, Inc took in $60,000 was impressive. I was under the impression they made their money from taking a large chunk (35% - 50%) of the money from the sale, and giving whatever's left back to the press, but only after over 6 months. In most cases, SPD is getting more money from the book than the press who discovered and produced the book. I've heard of numerous presses who were forced to fold or go on "hiatus" because, though sales were good, they didn't get paid in time to do another press run, and lost all the steam from their initial push of announcements, reviews, and advertising.

He also posted an open letter to the arts community, and C. Dale Young over at his blog posted a bit of it. It's a good letter. In it, he asks "Why aren't you more actively engaged in supporting federal, state, and local funding for the arts?" My answer is that I do. Most of us in the community do--we buy the books these presses publish. Some who are lucky enough to teach poetry assign books from these presses, and the press sells an additional 20 books in one shot. Maybe the schools where they teach bring in that writer, and the book store orders a few more copies. It's a great way to spread the word about a book.

Jenson writes in the open letter that "While federal or state funding should never be considered a crutch or an essential income stream, it is important." But I can't help but think that these grants and these funds, and the donations that are given above and beyond what they've charged for the books they publish, are being used as crutches, and they have become essential to the presses and journals. It just doesn't seem like they're making money from selling what they're making, and, like I've said, that's a flaw in operations.

Some of these presses are fantastic--like Ugly Duckling & BOA & Rose Metal (who published The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Prose Poetry, edited by Cooper Dillon's own Gary McDowell). They're putting out great work, and I encourage you to buy books from them!

I don't know a single writer or artist who will only make art if they're going to get a grant for it, or win an award from an organization funded by a grant. If the intention is to make art to cater to these organizations, that's not a healthy way to go about it. I like to think that art comes from a stronger necessity on the part of the individual to create something from themselves, and put some sort of beauty into the world.

There are far more artists who create without the help of anyone. They buy their own paint and canvas, and they lick their own stamps to send out work, and they travel long distances to do readings in bookstores in hopes of selling a few copies of their books, and hoping someone will have a couch and a beer for them when they show up.

I don't know the answer, so I'll ask: is the real innovative work--whether it be visual or literary--really coming from the recipients of these funds, or is it coming from the people making the art simply because it comes out of them?

More Money for Nothing

2011-01-08T09:59:00.005-06:00

I really like Alice James Books. They've published Christina Davis' Fourth a Raven, Brian Turner's collections, as well as B.H. Fairchild's books, and The Far Mosque by Kazim Ali (one of my favorite books!). They have a lot of other notable authors with great titles. You can get them by visiting their website. A number of these books spend time on the Poetry Foundations' Best Seller list. You can buy them, or you could submit your own manuscript to their contest with a $28 reading fee, and if you put an envelope with $2.50 of postage on it, you can get one of these books for yourself--and you should, by all means, be familiar with the books on a press you send your own work to, and support...through buying the books.

Alice James Books is also asking for your donations on a facebook page. I paid for each one of their books I've gotten over the years, and I'm glad I did. I could have asked for a desk copy of Here, Bullet, but I felt like they deserved the money. They won't be getting a donation from me...because I already gave them money, and happily received what they were selling.

I was talking to Dan Hegarty, The Jedi Drummer, about this. He takes donations, too. If you head over to his website, and enjoy the video performance he's put together, you can give him some money. Whether you do or not, you get the entertainment for free.

It seems a number of people in the larger poetry community also listen to NPR, and everyone loves a good week-long fundraiser campaign. Maybe you tough through it, or maybe you turn away for the week, but you can enjoy that service (news, classical, jazz, funny shows, interesting interviews) for free if you want. You can also donate.

The point is this: if a company produces something you want, and you pay for it, that's that. The transaction is over. You have the thing you wanted, and you enjoy it; the business has the money they set as the price, and they continue to make things they hope you'll want. When a poetry press is selling books, then asking for donations, what they're saying is, "Give us money and we'll give you this book, and if you like the book, you can give us more money which we'll then use to make more books which hopefully you'll give us more money for later."

If a press--or any business or organization--has the mission to make a product, and sell that product, but they can't afford to stay in business by making those products and selling them, there is a problem with their business model. There is too much money going out, and not enough coming in. The solution is to either A) charge more money for your product (which customers don't like), or B) find a way to cut costs so you can continue to provide your product at a reasonable price.

Again, if a press has a book you want to read, please purchase it. If you can, do so from the publisher's site, so they don't get a huge cut taken by the distributor. If they are hosting an event, get down there, and pay the cover. Maybe bring a few friends. Order a beverage, and tip your waitress. If you thumb through the journal at the newsstand, get a subscription.

Just don't let them think they deserve something for nothing.

Same goes for you: don't steal. It ain't right.

I'm Confused

2011-01-03T21:51:00.005-06:00

So, as you might be aware, I run a small press out of San Diego. We currently have 5 titles, and we do okay for a brand-new endeavor. Our books are in print, available, and our authors seem to like what we're doing with the art they've created. Those who have provided art for covers also seem to really love what we've done with their images.

Cooper Dillon Books is not raking in the big bucks, but we're resolved in our intention to stand behind the poems we feel maintain the values which make poems timeless.

That being said, why is Copper Canyon Press, "the preeminent independent publisher of poetry" asking for donations? Why are they asking for a "gift" of $50 on their facebook page, and telling you that you'll get a copy of Jean Valentine's book in exchange, and also talking about how they "rel[y] on the good will of hundreds of donors to keep [their] books in print"?

Shouldn't the sale of books keep their books in print?

It reminds me of something Gandhi said in Gandhi: An Autobiography. The Story of My Experiments with Truth, on page 198 of the Beacon Press Edition, he writes:

"A public institution means an institution conducted with the approval, and from the funds, of the public. When such an institution ceases to have public support, it forfeits its right to exist. Institutions maintained on permanent funds are often found to ignore public opinion, and are frequently responsible for acts contrary to it...The institution that fails to win public support has no right to exist as such. The subscriptions that an institution annually receives are a test of its popularity and the honesty of its management; and I am of the opinion that every institution should submit to that test."

Translated from the original Gujarati by Mahadev Desai.

If a book publisher is asking for money for something other than a book, what should that mean to us? I've never walked into my barbershop and heard them asking me for money because they give other people good haircuts, without offering to cut my own head. Walking into a bar, the tender never asks me to put money down unless they're pouring a drink that's worth what everyone else is paying for that drink.

Pay for your books. If you like Cooper Dillon's publications, purchase them--but only pay the price that we ask anyone else to pay. We don't need your extra, earned, money to keep our lights on, or to keep food in the fridge. If you want to give us more money--if you share our perception of what great poems are--feel free to order more books. We'll happily pack them up, and put a few things you didn't even know we had into the package for you.

UPDATE:

Copper Canyon has 3 of the 30 books on the Poetry Foundation: Best Sellers list:

The Shadow of Sirius (paperback) by W. S. Merwin

One With Others by C. D. Wright

Migration: New & Selected Poems (paperback) by W. S. Merwin

That means people are buying lots of books from that press. Do they really need donations?

A Quick Mini-Review of Knox' Latest

2010-11-21T17:44:00.002-06:00

The book is The Mystery of the Hidden Driveway from Jennifer L. Knox on Bloof.

If you've got this blog in your reader, you know I've raved about Knox for years. She's like Wonder Woman, only with blond hair, and an invisible cocktail glass.

I've been digging into her latest book, and it's unexpected. It's like you've been at a party for hours, and everyone's been drinking and having barbecue, and the keg is kicked, but that's okay because someone brought over a case of two-buck Chuck, so it just kept on going. The kids are doing whip-its in the garage. There's one person there cracking the whole place up, and everyone loves her/him. Then everyone leaves or passes out, and it's just you and this person, and they pour a fresh drink for you.

It's intimate, and s/he starts telling stories from war--every painful trauma you only get when you're alone with a person like that, and there's been so much laughter, that now it's got to be balanced out because that's just how we do things. Some people would be looking to get the hell out of the place, but it's terrifying but safe.

That's a quick review.

If that sounds like something you'd be into, click on the link above, buy it, and check it out.

Life in the cube.

2010-11-10T10:38:00.000-06:00

New stuff is brewing...

2010-10-15T11:57:00.001-05:00

Commute

2010-09-28T08:36:00.000-05:00

Nearly lost you.

2010-09-11T23:17:00.001-05:00

A pile of house across the street

2010-08-27T21:04:00.000-05:00

The sink at the shop where I play with motorcycles

2010-08-25T15:21:00.001-05:00

I have a new poem up!

2010-08-02T08:32:00.002-05:00

Hey Everybody!

Sorry I'm a slacker with this space. But I've been busy with Cooper Dillon, and love all of you for your support of us, as well as other small presses.

I have a poem up at The Nepotist.

Peace,

Sometimes plants get sad

2010-06-14T16:05:00.000-05:00

My new work-friend

2010-06-03T13:36:00.001-05:00

Spotted while having a milkshake for lunch.

2010-05-18T14:41:00.000-05:00

The Rolltop Work Bench

2010-05-16T23:52:00.000-05:00

And We Will Ride Again

2010-04-19T11:59:00.000-05:00

Interview with this goof

2010-04-14T20:29:00.003-05:00

Dig us Cooper Dillon peeps at the Bloof/Cooper Dillon/Noemi event at Green Spaces in Denver.

The lovely Carrie Olivia Adams just posted up an interview with me at Constant Conversation. Check it out, and keep going back for more interviews with the small press community.

And check back here--I might have a few things to say about the AWP in Denver, now that my body has returned to a reasonable height above sea level.

Small Press Party in Denver!

2010-04-09T08:37:00.000-05:00

Mark your AWP calendar for Thursday night!

7-10 PM
Green Spaces Colorado
1368 26th Street

We're throwing a small press party in Denver, featuring Bloof Books, Cooper Dillon Books & Noemi Press.

Readings by:

Shanna Compton
Peter Davis
Jill Alexander Essbaum
Jennifer L. Knox
Gary L. McDowell
Danielle Pafunda
Nate Pritts
Sandra Simonds

& more TDB

RSVP at the Facebook page here .

Update:

This event will also now include Ada Limón!

Your Philip Graham Fix

2010-04-05T11:50:00.003-05:00

I meant to post this up a few weeks ago, but you know how it goes...

There's an interview with Philip Graham, of U of Illinois-fame in The Morning News.

Drink you juice.

from Hunger Moutain

2010-04-05T10:29:00.001-05:00

Hunger Mountain, the Vermont College of Fine Arts journal of the arts, is now accepting submissions for the new "Stage and Screen" section of its (relatively) new online journal. I'm writing to pass along the call for submissions, and ask that you consider sending us work. If you know anyone whose work might be a good fit for this section, please let them know about us. Also, I would greatly appreciate it if any of you with related blogs, or who are part of communities of writers/filmmakers/

theaterfolk/puppeteers/animators/video artists/etc., might post our call to help us spread the word. You can find Hunger Mountain here: http://www.hungermtn.org/ and the Stage and Screen section here: http://www.hungermtn.org/stage-and-screen/.

Thank you so much for your time!

The call:

Hunger Mountain is now accepting submissions for the Stage and Screen portion of our journal. Please submit a print submission consisting of a a typed, double-spaced manuscript no more than 10,000 words, or a video submission, consisting of a description of your project and a link to the video (we cannot accept files over 500KB). We welcome an array of examples of and responses to work on “stage” or on “screen”: film, theater, performance art, dance, dance film, animation, television, etc. We’re looking for both traditional and experimental work, including, but not limited to, video art/short film/recorded performances; excerpts from plays/screenplays; interviews of artists working in the field; critical reviews; and lyrical, personal or critical meditations about the genre/s. We like work that demonstrates an engagement with the world beyond its borders, clear stakes, and a beating heart. Please see submission guidelines to learn how to submit using our online submission manager.

Thanks for sending us your work and helping spread the word!

All best,

Megan Savage
Stage and Screen Editor, Hunger Mountain

Now Open

2010-04-01T08:26:00.002-05:00

I was having the most wonderful dream as the rain sounds where coming through the window and walls that I was going to a deli with Amy Guth. Then I woke, and Ada Limón reminded us all that it's National Poetry Month.

Happy happy poems.

Cooper Dillon Books is now taking submissions of Full Length and Chapbooks. All the details are here for you.

Will I be seeing your lovely face in Denver?

My friend Alfred

2010-03-16T23:08:00.000-05:00

Work work work

2010-03-08T16:09:00.000-06:00

If you're in NYC Tonight and on the 29th

2010-03-04T07:44:00.001-06:00

Thursday, March 4 at 7PM at Pacific Standard
Ada Limón with John Burnside & Lindsay Turner
Pacific Standard Bar
82 Fourth Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
(between St. Marks and Bergen Streets)
http://chinmusicpoetry.blogspot.com/

Monday, March 29 at 7PM at KGB Bar
Ada Limón with Meghan O'Rourke
85 East 4th street
between Second Avenue and Bowery
http://kgbbar.com/calendar/events/kgb_poetry35/

And here are two new poems in Eleven Eleven Journal (From California College of the Arts)
http://elevenelevenjournal.com/Poetry/ada_limon.html

This Just In: If you're in NYC tonight!

2010-02-12T15:38:00.001-06:00

Friday, February 12 // 7:30pm

Poetry by Duane Esposito (9pm)

Duane Esposito is an Associate Professor of English at Nassau Community College in Garden City, New York. He has an M.A. from SUNY Brockport and an M.F.A. from the University of Arizona. In 1994, Diane Glancy selected his work for an Academy of American Poets Award. In 2003, he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His poems have appeared in dozens of journals, magazines, newspapers, and one or two anthologies/textbooks. New poems are on the way. He has published two books of poetry: The Book of Bubba (Brown Dog Press,1998) and Cadillac Battleship (brokenTribe Press, 2005). He lives on Long Island with his wife & children.

Open Mic from 8pm-9pm

RankingIY DJs throughout the night

Fort Useless is at 36 Ditmars Street in Brooklyn, one block from the Myrtle Avenue/Broadway stop on the JMZ trains

Stay

2010-02-11T23:26:00.002-06:00

I wanted to pass on to you this article by Jennifer Michael Hecht. She posted a variation of it, 1/11/2010 on Best American Poetry, and it's been getting around.

Her poems are fantastic. My personal spiritual beliefs differ from her's, but there's really no denying she's on to something with the whole "Don't kill yourself" thing.

Give it a read, and consider some of the wonders we have.

Here's a poem from her second collection, Funny:

Prosody on Comedy

Tragedy is when all the stage is all good will

and all will wrongly, like too many winter coats

in too few seats on the subway, no one will

give up a thing yet all feel a remote

and stinging sorrow for the standers. Still,

tragedy is the ship sunk, bobbing heads afloat

together in the drink, all happy now to fill

their lungs with air and dream of lifeboats.

No bouts now. All their coveted papers and pills

as wet as once were their eyes, dry as ghost's

now, a low slung. Comedy is why they're still

together, in an ocean wide as wind and sky her host.

As we float, the deepness of the ocean tugs our bones.

In comedy we rush the crowded stage and act alone.

****

The poem originally appeared in Poetry, and Funny was a winner of The Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry from the University of Wisconsin Press.

If you're in NYC this weekend...

2010-02-09T08:02:00.003-06:00

I kinda love Kazim Ali. He's a magnificent writer and has been incredibly kind on the few occasions I've been fortunate enough to hang out where he happens to be. I got to see him on a panel at AWP '08 where he read just a little bit and brought down Midtown. He's reading twice in NYC this weekend.

Details:

Friday, February 12th, 5:00pm:

Kazim Ali, Tao Lin, Maaza Mengiste

At the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House

58 W 10th St., New York, NY,

Sponsored by New York University Creative Writing Program.

Saturday, February 13th, 2:00pm:

Kazim at the Four-Faced Liar

165 W 4th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues)

He'll also be at Squaw Valley this summer, and hopes you think about applying.

Bookslut & The Wonderfull Yeare

2010-02-04T22:44:00.002-06:00

Nate Pritts is interviewed over at Bookslut. Check out the whole piece where he gets into some nitty-gritty about The Wonderfull Yeare.

Cooper Dillon is taking orders for the book right this minute. They will ship by Feb. 16th, fo' sho'.

As if there wasn't enough to love...

2010-01-23T21:50:00.006-06:00

Gary L. McDowell (of They Speak of Fruit fame, now available at Cooper Dillon Books) has won the Orphic Prize for his full-length collection, American Amen!

Full story over at his blog RIGHT HERE.

If you'd like a taste of what's to come from Dream Horse Press, head to Cooper Dillon and get your chap on!

If You're in St. Louis on January 23rd...

2010-01-08T08:24:00.001-06:00

A good reading with some good people. Flyer's above, and more details are over at this lovely blog right here.

An Essay (& reading if you're in NYC on the 17th)

2010-01-06T22:58:00.005-06:00

Ada Limón has a courageous essay of affirmation up at InDigest. It's called Listen. Give it a read.

She's also reading with a whole bunch of wonderful people in NYC on 1/17. The details:

Boog City presents

Launch Party for

The Portable Boog Reader 4

annual poetry anthology

with 72 NYC poets and now D.C. Metro area poets

all new to The Portable Boog Reader

Sun., Jan. 17, 7:00 p.m.

Zinc Bar

82 W. 3rd St. (Sullivan/Thompson sts.)

NYC

WITH READINGS FROM PBR4 CONTRIBUTORS

N.Y.C. poets:

Ivy Johnson * Boni Joi

Steven Karl * Ada Limón

D.C. poets:

Lynne Dreyer * Phyllis Rosenzweig

Curated and hosted by Portable Boog Reader 4 N.Y.C. editors

Sommer Browning, Joanna Fuhrman, David Kirschenbaum, and Urayoán Noel,

and D.C. editors Cathy Eisenhower and Maureen Thorson.

Directions: A/B/C/D/E/F/V to W. 4th St.

For further information:
212-842-BOOG (2664), editor@boogcity.com

PBR4 (BC61) features the work of 48 New York City and 24 D.C. Metro area poets.

The physical issue will be available 12.30.09, and the online pdf that same day at:

http://welcometoboogcity.com/boogpdfs/bc61.pdf

The Devastation by Jill Alexander Essbaum is Now Available

2010-01-04T22:56:00.004-06:00

Cooper Dillon Books is happy to bring you Jill Alexander Essbaum's long-poem chapbook, The Devastation.

Head on over to the Cooper Dillon Bookstore and start 2010 off right!

PS - Expect this blog to have a name other than my own soon. Ms. Rachel Dacus was kind enough to plug it and link it up, and it seems goofy that I never named this space. More to come as it comes.

Peace, babies!

Welcome to the New Year

2010-01-03T09:10:00.004-06:00

Kick it off by reading Jason Schneiderman over at the Best American Poetry Blog.

My brother asked me the other day what my resolutions were. He got annoyed when I told him I don't make them because I don't think we need to wait for a day-to-come to make our lives better. Why should our resolve be waivering until the new year?

Just saying.

As for this blog, the resolve is the same as it ever was: expect announcements regarding other artists around the entire community whom I'm excited to support. The links to the right bring you to people who are making magical stuff, and I hope you enjoy it.

Jason Schneiderman's Next Book

2009-12-24T10:31:00.003-06:00

Jason Schneiderman's won the Snyder Prize from Ashland Poetry Press for Striking Surface. Find all the details here.

You can get his debut title, Sublimation Point, from Four Way Books.

Jason's one of the first people I met when I started writing, and he's always been so supportive of others around him. He's one of the kindest and most hard working guys out there. Keep an eye out for the new one, and pick up his first if you don't already have it.

Another Giveaway from Nate Pritts

2009-12-21T08:14:00.005-06:00

Nate Pritts is giving away another one of his previous books on Goodreads. Check it out by clicking right here.

Enter to win a copy or you can order it from Main Street Rag Press via the H_NGM_N site.

This is all in anticipation for the next full-length book of poems by Nate Pritts, The Wonderfull Yeare, coming in January from Cooper Dillon Books.

But before that, Jill Alexander Essbaum's Devastation is heating up the printers as well speak, and should be available any minute now.

Year & a Day

2009-12-16T08:25:00.002-06:00

It's been one year and a day since I arrived in San Diego after three years of living in Illinois, and a few months stumbling around all over New York State and wandering around Florida for a couple of days.

Thank you all for keeping up and supporting. I with I could see you more often. Feel free to get in touch if you're planning on being in Southern California. And please keep up here, on the facebook, and over at Cooper Dillon Books.

Peace.

Win a book by Nate Pritts

2009-12-07T08:56:00.001-06:00

Win a copy of Sensational Spectacular by Nate Pritts by clicking on this link to Goodreads!

Catch The Wonderfull Yeare from Cooper Dillon in January of 2010.

Listen to Jill!

2009-12-03T08:18:00.002-06:00

Jill Alexander Essbaum is featured in the December edition of the Poetry Magazine Podcast. Tune in around the 9th minute to hear her read poems, and catch the mention of Cooper Dillon Books by the fine gentlemen.

Get Gary's Book from CooperDillon

2009-11-14T14:20:00.003-06:00

Gary L. McDowell's They Speak of Fruit is now for sale at Cooper Dillon Books!

Get your copy today!

more from Cooper Dillon

2009-11-11T08:36:00.004-06:00

Hello!

Not so much blogging happening because all the work's been going into CooperDillon.com

Head on over and check things out. We've tweaked the look, and will be bringing you Gary L. McDowell's They Speak of Fruit before you sit down to make your Thanksgiving feast.

If you want to learn a bit about Polish, check out Russell Evatt, the Krakow Migrant.

As always, please take a look though the blogroll, and make a new friend.

If you're not where I am...

2009-11-03T07:49:00.003-06:00

On Wednesday in Chicago (from Lady Guth):

Please join us from 7-9 p.m. on Wednesday, November 4 for readings by Chicago authors Kathie Bergquist (curator of Sappho's Salon and co-author of A Field Guide to Gay and Lesbian Chicago) and Geoff Hyatt (whose dark fantasy novel, Malagon Rising, is forthcoming in 2010 from Leucrota Press), local poet Andrew Lewellen and Minnesota poet Wendy Brown-Baez.

Since it's one year to the day of the Presidential elections, this month's theme is "Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes." Trivia questions may range from politics to transgenderism to yes, maybe David Bowie.

As always, we're in the back room at Sheffield's, 3258 N. Sheffield Ave. There's a $3 cover. Grab a seat, a cocktail and a bite to eat at 7 p.m. Readings begin at 7:30 p.m. You're welcome to stick around for cocktails and conversation with the authors and audience after the event.

Cheers!
Team Reading Under the Influence
www.readingundertheinfluence.com

OR, if you're near the Bronx on Nov. 7th (from Ada):

2010 Access to Artists Festival:
A Celebration of Poetry, Music, Theatre, And Dance
Produced by the NuyoRican School Poetry Jazz Ensemble, Inc.
In partnership with Bronx Hispanic Festival, the Bronx Library Center,
and The Bronx Council on the Arts

November Hispanic Heritage Month
Libro Abierto:
Feria Literario Latino Americano Del Bronx

Saturday, November 7, 2009 1 pm - 2 pm
Bronx Library Center,
310 East Kingsbridge Road, Bronx, NY 10458

Poetry Reading:
with poets Ada Limón & Urayoan Noel
and Open Mic!! Free!

If you're on the GoodReads

2009-10-31T09:37:00.002-05:00

If you use Goodreads, you can now add Gary L. McDowell's They Speak of Fruit by clicking right here.

It'll be available from Cooper Dillon Books in just weeks!

Goodbye, Dear Friend

2009-10-22T23:08:00.002-05:00

One of the finest men I've ever known died today.

In your prayers, please keep the family of DJ Robinson in your heart in the time to come. He was an artist, a friend, a brother, and a compassionate father.

11/5/1980 - 10/22/2009

If You're in NYC on 10/21

2009-10-20T08:59:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

I'm hosting a reading this Wednesday with two great poets.
Come if you're in town. It's a chance to see an established poet
(memoirist/essayist/Esquire's darling-ist) and an exciting up-and-comer
read new work. It's the real deal kind of poetry.

Details:

Featuring Alex Dimitrov & Alex Lemon
Organized by Ada Limón

Join us for the first reading in the Center's 2009 Fall Broadside
Reading Series. Limited edition, letterpress printed broadsides
featuring the poems of both readers will be available after the
reading.

When: Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 6:30 PM

Where: The Center for Book Arts
28 West 27th Street, Third Floor (Between 6th Avenue and Broadway)

How Much: $10/$5 Members (Suggested)
Guests receive a free letterpress broadside.

Sunday Take

2009-10-18T20:17:00.002-05:00

Help me out.

Driving home in a Jets-induced sadness, I saw a yard sale at the top of Pershing. 5¢ a book, and a bunch of poetry. I took just about everything they had--and for two bucks.

Take a look at these, and let me know if you've read any. Other than Bin Ramke & Marilyn Hacker, it's a pretty esoteric take, and I'm interested if you have any insight--which one do I pick up first?

He's been there the whole time, outside my door

2009-10-15T08:56:00.000-05:00

If You're in NYC: Ada Limon & Lytton Smith (& a couple of others)

2009-09-29T08:28:00.001-05:00

Below, find the announcement of a reading I wish I could be at. If you're in NYC, get to it:

Projection: A Reading Series

Image: Zach Pace

Wednesday, September 30, 8pm

$5 Suggested Donation

Tom Healy, Ada Limon, Lytton Smith and Roy Perez

CONTACT

361 Manhattan Avenue, Unit 1

Brooklyn, NY 11211

info(at)cprnyc.org

DIRECTIONS

L Trian to Graham Avenue (3rd Stop in Brooklyn)

Exit right out of turnstyle

Left down Graham Avenue

Left on Jackson Street

Right on Manhattan Avenue

LOCATION

361 Manhattan Avenue between Jackson St. and Withers St

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Curated by Zach Pace, Projection features text projected beside the reader to produce a unique sonic and visual experience of the literary arts. This reading series, happening once month at CPR, differs from others by utilizing projections of the poems on-screen behind the reader. A great deal of kinetic energy is lost when an audience simply hears a poem. It's important for listeners to visually follow the reader. Audience will view the choices made by author on the page--including word-choice, syntax and line-length--therefore receiving the work in its complete presentation. Projection inaugurates the first performative-literary event at CPR.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Tom Healy's first book, What the Right Hand Knows is just out from Four Way Books. Once upon a time, Tom studied at Harvard and Columbia, opened one of the first galleries in Chelsea and served as president of Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, where he led efforts to rebuild the downtown arts community after 9/11. He now teaches at Pratt and the Goreé Institute in Dakar, Senegal. He is a contributing editor at BOMB and serves on the boards of Creative Time and Poets House. His poems and essays have appeared in the Paris Review, Yale Review, Tin House and Salmagundi.

“The smiles [these poems] compel are taut and tight-lipped, but the language conjuring that pleasure is at once sumptuous and cost-effective, precise and loving." -Richard Howard

Ada Limón’s first book, lucky wreck, was the winner of the Autumn House Poetry Prize and her second book, This Big Fake World, was the winner of the Pearl Poetry Prize. She’s won the Chicago Literary Award and fellowships from the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Her work has appeared in the Iowa Review, Subtropics, Barrow Street, The New Yorker, and others. She is the Creative Director, Advertising for Travel + Leisure. Her third book of poems, Sharks in the Rivers, will be published by Milkweed Editions in 2010.

“There’s no other poet that so naturally weaves story and verse, humor and sadness. The ‘familiar’ story becomes unexpectedly appetizing through Limón’s singular ability to ‘make a fire out of everyday things.’” —CUTBANK MONTANA

Lytton Smith was born in Galleywood, England, and lives in New York City, where he is a founding member of Blind Tiger Poetry, a group which aims to find innovative ways to promote contemporary poetry. His poems and reviews have appeared in American Letters & Commentary, The Atlantic, Boston Review, Tin House, Verse, and the anthologyAll That Mighty Heart: London Poems, among others. His book, The All-Purpose Magical Tent (Nightboat Books, 2009) was selected by Terrance Hayes for the Nightboat Prize. His chapbook, Monster Theory, was selected by Kevin Young for a Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship and published in 2008. He has taught creative writing, translation, and expository writing at Columbia University.

“…A subtle fusion of wit and whims.”—Mark Ford

Roy Pérez is a founding member of the Birdsong Collective in Brooklyn and a regular contributor to the Birdsong zine. He is a graduate of the University of Central Florida, where he was poetry editor at The Cypress Dome and a fiction reader at The Florida Review. He is currently completing a Ph.D. in American literature at NYU. Roy's first collection of poems, Inch Back, will appear as three little chapbooks to be published serially by Birdsong Press in 2010.

CPR programming made possible through generous support by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.

Denver

2009-09-17T08:48:00.002-05:00

If you'll be at AWP Denver and are kicking around sharing a room with folks, send me an email, and maybe we can work something you.

I'll be at AWP '10, in Denver, representing Cooper Dillon Books. You'll find me in the book fair chilling with Le Pink-Elephant Press--if you don't know who they are, find them on the facebook. They'd love to read your work.

All the Cooper Dillon authors will be at the event. Jill Alexander Essbaum will sign your book; Gary L. McDowell will likely buy you a drink; Nate Pritts will happily punch you, and you might be able to talk him into taking one from you.

See you around the corner!

Guth vs. Brown

2009-09-12T10:52:00.002-05:00

The ever-ambitious Amy Guth is wondering if she can get more Tweeps than Dan Brown's new book.

Help her out by Following here: @amyguth

While you're at it: @cooperdillon, @garylmcdowell, @n8pritts

Plants: My housemates.

2009-08-31T22:27:00.003-05:00

I was sifting through this blog looking for a photo from a while back, and came across this post. It reminded me of a little story a friend told me the other day about how the inventor of the polygraph also experimented with the machine on his plants, and apparently the needles jumped when he threatened to harm the plants in the same way they jump when one lies. A kinesiological response.

I can dig this, and love my plants. They can be traumatized (by being crushed, or accidently sucked into the vacuum, for example) so it stands to reason they can also be relaxed or excited.

The point is, my plants have grown a lot in 10 months since the photo in the linked post was taken. You can see them in the background here, back in March:

And this was just taken tonight:

The money tree was given to me about three years ago this last week, and it was very small--in a 2 inch pot. The aloe was knocked over by a cat many times in Illinois, and almost didn't make it. They've been with me a long time, and I've taken to getting clippings of various vines and things from around town, and placing them in water to root. I have an avacado pit on my desk at work that's cracking open with a root right now.

I'm simply impressed with how rapidly the two have grown since we (me and plants) arrived in San Diego. I live here, in North Park, with them.

If you don't have loved ones near by, in your home, nor a pet, I hope you have some plants. They're excellent listeners, and are wonderful company. Do you have any? What kind? Where do they thrive best in the house?

From the neighborhood...

2009-08-22T18:29:00.000-05:00

from Cooper Dillon Books

2009-08-19T08:16:00.002-05:00

Nate Pritts' The Wonderful Yeare will be the first full-length from Cooper Dillon Books.

Follow him on twitter: @n8pritts & the press @cooperdillon

Be a Better Person & Support a Small Press!

2009-08-06T22:59:00.002-05:00

Reb Livingston Says:

Like most small presses during these times, No Tell Books' already modest sales have turned dismal. Where the money will come from for publishing future titles is a concern. Past discounts and specials haven't encouraged many sales. So this weekend NTB is offering a free tarot reading or dream interpretation with the purchase of a book. Yes, you read that correctly.

If you or anyone you know might be interested in both a poetry book AND psychic advice, well here are the details:

http://notellpoetry.blogspot.com/2009/08/free-tarot-reading-or-dream.html

Hope you're all having a fabulous summer.

Best,
Reb

If you have a Capri...

2009-08-02T20:37:00.003-05:00

If you're like my pop, and have decided to do a whole lot of work on a Capri, and are pretty close to getting it on the road, you might find the convertible top to be a bit of a challenge to figure out. If you're like my pop, you're a pretty handy dude, but you might be pretty pissed off at not being able to get that top down.

He did, in the end, figure it out. Shortly there after, he found a lovely little card in the visor. It has detailed instructions about how to get the top down. Here it is:

It gets bigger if you click it.

Hope that helps.

Peace.

Cracked Slab

2009-08-02T17:20:00.003-05:00

In other news, Cracked Slab Books is running a huge special so they can stay alive. Garin Cycholl gives a great reading, and you can get his book from them for about $10 with shipping. Support if you've got the scratch.

From Hobart

2009-07-24T18:45:00.000-05:00

Aaron says:

Hey all,

Just a quick note that the newest issue of HOBART (#10!) is out now. If you are a subscriber or have pre-ordered the issue, it went in the mail this week and so you should be receiving it soon.

If you aren't a subscriber... consider becoming one now.

For the next month or so, we are offering to include a back issue or either minibook with all new subscriptions (as well as any subscription extensions)! Not too sound too "beg-y" but subscriptions are a huge help with funding this little journal that we spend way too much of our "free" time and basically all extra money on (and by "extra" we mean what's left after bar tabs, obviously).

http://www.hobartpulp.com/print

Many, many thanks, and we hope you are all having as super awesome summers as us.

-aaron et al.
HOBART
www.hobartpulp.com

(p.s. Also, if you haven't already noticed, we have events coming up in Chicago, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Come out and see us!)

Just So You Know

2009-07-24T08:49:00.004-05:00

John Barry, the man who brought us WD-40, has died.

Details here.

The Little Things

2009-07-24T00:34:00.003-05:00

Straight on the heels of Adam Clay's In a World of Ideas, I Feel No Particular Loyalty,

Cinematheque Press has made available for order Ada Limón's What Sucks Us In

Will Surely Swallow Us Whole.

She tells you all about it over here, at her blog. I've ordered mine, and think you

should do that same.

Speaking of little books, Big Game Books will send you a fantastic small book if you write

Maureen a little note. Her news is at the site. The poem is quite beautiful.

Peace.

New Knox

2009-07-23T18:34:00.002-05:00

Here it is, straight from Octopus Magazine.

Jennifer L. Knox has a new book coming from Bloof not nearly soon enough for me,

The Mystery of the Hidden Driveway.

Enjoy.

And Johnny-O: Good luck in prison!

What Doesn't She Do?

2009-07-22T08:27:00.002-05:00

The ever-moving/shaking Amy Guth shows some skin at Chicago Subtext:

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chicago-subtext/2009/07/literary-tattoos-typewriter.html

When I miss the midwest, she's definitely on the list of reasons why. If you're not reading Chicago Subtext, please start. It's chalk full of interesting/useful/entertaining/very smart stuff.

This just In

2009-07-19T09:23:00.001-05:00

Bloof's publishing a whole lot of new stuff--and a dude.

Dig it!

Sunday Prayer

2009-07-19T08:45:00.005-05:00

It's been a routine of interrupted routine, and that'd be all right if I was getting to everything. For example, I've cut down on coffee, but in the excitement from a craigslist search, I forgot yesterday to drink it entirely--and fumes from Liquid Wrench don't substitute. Little things like this keep moving aside other little things that happen to be a little more parts of the normal day.

One thing I've been resolved to do is read some poems daily--which is the easiest way to make sure some writing gets done almost every day. I have a tiny stack of books on the desk, and would like to share one with you. Thank Russ, the Kraków Migrant. I miss workshopping poems with him.

from Robert Hass

For Czesław Miłosz in Kraków

The fog has hovered off the coast for weeks

And given us a march of brilliant days

You wouldn't recognize--who have grumbled

So eloquently about gray days on Grizzly Peak--

Unless they put you in mind of puppet pegeants

Your poems remember from Lithuanian market towns

Just after the First World War. Here's more theater:

A mule-tail doe gave birth to a pair of fawns

A couple of weeks ago just outside your study

In the bed of oxalis by the redwood trees.

Having dropped by that evening, I saw,

Though at first I couldn't tell what I was seeing,

A fawn, wet and shivering, curled almost

In a ball under the thicket of hazel and toyon.

I've read somewhere that does hide the young

As best they can and then go off to browse

And recruit themselves. They can't graze the juices

In the leaves if they stay to protect the newborns.

It's the glitch in engineering through which chance

And terror enter on the world. I looked closer

At the fawn. It was utterly still and trembling,

Eyes closed, possibly asleep. I leaned to smell it:

There was hardly a scent. She had licked all traces

Of the rank birth-smell away. Do you remember

This fragment from Anacreon?--the context,

Of course, was probably erotic: "...her gently,

Like an unweaned fawn left alone in a forest

By it's antlered mother, frail, trembling with fright."

It's a verse--you will like this detail--found

In the papyrus that wrapped a female mummy

A museum in Cairo was examining in 1956.

I remember the time that a woman in Portland

Asked if you were a reader of Flannery O'Connor.

You winced regretfully, shook your head,

And said, "You know, I don't agree with the novel."

I think you haven't agreed, in this same sense,

With life, never accepted the cruelty in the frame

Of things, brooding on your century, and God the Monster,

And the smell of summer grasses in the world

That can hardly be named or remembered

Past the moment of our wading through them,

And the world's poor salvation in the world. Well,

Dear friend, you resisted. You were not mute.

Mark tells me he has seen the fawns grazing

with their mother in the dusk. Gorging on your roses--

So it seems they made it through the night

And neither dog nor car has got to them just yet.

From Poland with Love

2009-07-12T10:14:00.004-05:00

If you happen to be interested in a Texas gentleman's immersions in Poland, you should be reading Russ Evatt's Krakow Migrant, a blog chalk full of fascinating cultural lessons, interesting language tidbits, humility, and general warmth and kind-heartedness, as is his way.

Perhaps he'll soon begin to Tweet from Adam Zagajewski's front lawn.

If You're in NYC (From Ada)

2009-07-06T22:12:00.002-05:00

Hi all,

Again, this is a bit last minute, so please don't feel obligated, but I am reading (she calls it a LIVE poetry reading...so I will try and remain so) with my dear Jason Schneiderman on Wednesday night at a gallery reception on the Upper West Side and would love to see you!

Besos,

Ada

P.S. Future reading save-the-date: Reading in Bryant Park on August 18.

Heading Home: A Summer Group Show

Home is a place we yearn for, return to and sometimes run from

July 8 – September 13, 2009

Opening Reception in the Gallery, Wednesday, July 8, 6-8 pm

Featuring a live poetry reading by award-winning poets

Susan Eley Fine Art • 46 West 90th Street, Fl 2 • 917-952-7641 •
www.susaneleyfineart.com • susie@susaneleyfineart.com

Ada Limón and Jason Schneiderman

“Make two homes for thyself... One actual home... and another spiritual home, which thou art to carry with thee always” ~ St. Catherine of Siena

Images of houses—rural and urban, plush and decrepit, imagined and real— explore individual interpretations of home.

This group exhibition of some two dozen works includes exteriors of houses and symbols of the home in the form of images incorporating family members, furniture, household objects, plants and intimate still life compositions. Artists include painters Angela A’Court, James Isherwood, Karen Jenkins, Kim Luttrell, Anne Pundyk, Barbara Strasen and Shira Toren; and photographers Robert Hite, Dick Lopez, Carolyn Monastra and Maria Passarotti.

The artists surprise us with their eclectic views and unexpected use of scale, compelling us to rethink our notion of home as not only a place of comfort and solace to which we retreat each day, but also home in the classic fairytale sense, where there may be an evil stepmother or a witch lurking behind the scenes, instilling uncertainty, loneliness and even a fear of death.

Highlights include Pundyk’s “Grand Trianon” a watery landscape with two elegant Versailles style chairs, reflecting the opulence of the French palace, Isherwood’s colorful, fragmented structures built from layers of paint, collaged and textured; and Jenkins’ romantic Hopper-esque interiors, glimpsed through portals and windows.

Among the photographs are Lopez’s Brooklyn townhouse façade with French doors, hidden behind menacing security gates, and Monastra’s “Twilight,” featuring a seemingly overgrown figure crouched in an upper window of a warmly lit, diminutive country home.

“Heading Home” has a particular relevance at the moment as the nation faces an economic downturn. People are finding themselves at home not by choice, but by circumstance, as unemployment rates rise. Home is also a place of ruin for some as they face foreclosure and are forced to move. Yet, home in the home sweet home sense will always be a beloved person or a space where we feel most at ease and can be our freest and most creative selves.

ABOUT THE POETS

Ada Limón is from Sonoma, CA., and has an MFA from the Creative Writing Program at NYU. She has received fellowships from the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center and the New York Foundation for the Arts and won the Chicago Literary Award for Poetry. Her first book, lucky wreck, was the winner of the 2005 Autumn House Poetry Prize. Her second book, this big fake world, was the winner of the 2005 Pearl Poetry Prize. She is the Creative Director of Travel + Leisure Magazine and teaches a Master Class in Poetry at Columbia University. Her third book of poems, Sharks in the Rivers, will be published by Milkweed Editions in 2010. http://adalimon.com/Site/Home.html

Jason Schneiderman is the author of Sublimation Point, a Stahlecker Selection from Four Way Books. His poems and essays have appeared in numerous anthologies and journals including Best American Poetry, Tin House, American Poetry Review, Poetry London, and The Penguin Book of the Sonnet. He has received fellowships from The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Yaddo, and the Fine Arts Work Center. The recipient of the Emily Dickinson Award from the Poetry Society of America, he is currently completing his doctorate in English at the Graduate Center, CUNY.
http://www.jasonschneiderman.net

From Hobart

2009-07-02T08:07:00.002-05:00

Thought there's a dollar store across the street, they don't have San Diego on the featherproof/Dollar Store Super Summer Tour. Still, take a second to read a message from the Burch:

Happy July, all!

We've got a lot to announce this month, but will try to be as brief
as possible. And with that, and with it being summertime and all,
here's just a little somethin' to break the monotony...

*****WEBSITE*****

The July HOBART is live now, with new stories from Damian Dressick,
Baird Harper, Stephen Graham Jones, and Jessica Piazza, and an
interview with Larry Fondation by Brian Allen Carr.
http://www.hobartpulp.com/website

*******PRINT******

HOBART #10 is done and will be shipped to subscribers and preorders
by the middle of the month, as soon as we return from The Dollar
Store Summer Tour of Awesomeness.

Everyone who hasn't already, please order the issue or a
subscription now, so we have a couple extra dollars to be able to
tour with!
http://www.hobartpulp.com/print

*******TOUR*******

Starting this Friday, I will be a part of the featherproof/Dollar
Store Super Summer Tour. Lots more info on the site, but if you live
anywhere near one of these towns, come check us out!
http://www.dollarstoreshow.com/

Nashville - Friday, July 3rd
Austin - Sunday, July 5th
Houston - Monday, July 6th
New Orleans - Tuesday, July 7th
Atlanta - Thursday, July 9th
Baltimore - Saturday, July 11th
New York - Sunday, July 12th
Philadelphia - Monday, July 13th
Boston - Tuesday, July 14th
Albany - Wednesday, July 15th
Ann Arbor - Thursday, July 16th

Also, for those on the west coast, I will be coming out that way
with Mary Miller later this summer (more details on this to come):

Seattle - Wednesday, August 5th
Portland - Thursday, August 6th
San Francisco - Saturday, August 8th
Los Angeles - Monday, August 10th

Finally, a quick announcement about some editorial changes around
here with team Hobart. Unfortunately, this month's Hobart will be
Matt Bell's last as part of the web editing team. He has been
announced as the editor of Dzanc's new online literary journal
venture, The Collagist (http://www.thecollagist.com/), and we will
obviously miss him but are excited to see what happens at his new
digs. And, with his exit, we bring a new awesome person aboard:
Andrea Kneeland! So, everyone wish Matt the best and be nice to
Andrea.

Lots and lots of summertime thanks, all.
-aaron

--
HOBART
PO BOX 1658
Ann Arbor, MI 48106
http://www.hobartpulp.com

Some Ada Limón in your life

2009-06-29T23:00:00.001-05:00

Did you read her interview in the SF Examiner?

If you're in Austin:

Tuesday, June 30 2009
6:00pm

Boog City Presents

d.a. levy lives: celebrating the renegade press

Effing Press (Austin, Texas), featuring readings from

Farrah Field, Ada Limón, Justin Marks, with music from Katie May
Hosted by Effing Press editor Scott Pierce
Curated and with an introduction by Boog City editor David Kirschenbaum

ACA Galleries
529 W. 20th Street, 5th Floor (10th/11th Avenues)
Free, incl. wine & cheese | welcometoboogcity.com |
editor@boogcity.com | 212-842-2664
Subway: C/E to 23rd Street, or 1/9 to 18th Street

Happy Birthday, Typewriters!

2009-06-23T08:49:00.004-05:00

It's the birthday of the patent of the typewriter.

I might have to pick up some ribbons today, one for each machine. I don't want any one getting jealous of the others.

Meanwhile:

Amy Guth's next big thing is happening. Click, Chicago. The rest of you too, if you want. I gave Ms.Guth a typewriter once. In fact, I might have given you a typewriter once.

And here's a paste from Wave Books. I'd considering hitting this up if the job wasn't sending me to the Midwest on the dates:

Greetings from Seattle. We are writing to you with the news of a
special THREE-DAY POETRY EVENT coming from Wave Books this August. In
association with the Henry Art Gallery at the University of
Washington, Wave Books is organizing and hosting three days of
poetry, August 14th through 16th, featuring film screenings, a book
arts presentation, art exhibitions, local bookstore discounts, and
readings by Wave authors, in both the Henry Auditorium and the James
Turrell Skyspace.

THE WEEKEND IS LIMITED TO 150 TICKETS, so if you are interested in
attending the event, we encourage you to register as soon as you can!
Full information is available on the Wave Books website here:
http://www.wavepoetry.com/catalog/79. Please pass this information on
to those who you think might be interested.

TICKETS GRANT YOU ACCESS TO: READINGS both large and small, by a
featured line-up of Wave authors -- including Joshua Beckman, Noelle
Kocot, Dorothea Lasky, Anthony McCann, Richard Meier, Eileen Myles,
Maggie Nelson, Geoffrey Nutter, Matthew Rohrer, Mary Ruefle, Dara
Wier, Jon Woodward, Matthew Zapruder and Rachel Zucker; SCREENINGS OF
RARE FILMS starring John Ashbery, Robin Blaser, Denise Levertov, Frank
O'Hara, James Schuyler, and others; poetry book DISCOUNTS at
participating local, independent bookstores; a BOOK ARTS PRESENTATION
by Sandra Kroupa, Book Arts and Rare Book Curator; and the Henry Art
Gallery and EXHIBITIONS, including exhibitions of work by Chio
Aoshima, Jasper Johns, Ann Lislegaard; new video from China; and
photographic work by Imogen Cunningham, Nan Goldin, Aleksandr
Rodchenko, and others, from the Henry's permanent collection.

TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE for $100/$75 for students. You can purchase
directly online, or by mailing a check to Wave Books, 1938 Fairview
Avenue East, Suite 201, Seattle, WA 98102. For complete event
details, and to purchase tickets, visit:
http://www.wavepoetry.com/catalog/79

We hope you will join us for this exciting event. If you have any
questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at Wave Books at:
wavepoetryweekend@gmail.com. Thank you very much, and we hope to see
you in August.

Sincerely,
Wave Books

1938 Fairview Avenue East, Suite 201
Seattle, Washington 98102
http://www.wavepoetry.com
http://www.wavepoetry.com/catalog/79
http://www.henryart.org/

Workbench

2009-06-22T23:33:00.002-05:00

So, I resolved to have a workbench in the kitchen. Like most things, these lovely pieces of furniture can be found on craigslist.

It fit in the van:

Alas, it did not fit through the front door...until I took the top off. Of course, after that it wouldn't fit through the kitchen door, and it's too old to take apart and put back together functionally.

So, there's a work bench outside my apartment now:

These things happen. I wanted a bench, found one cheap, and got too excited to take proper measurements, regardless of the 25' Stanley tape measures I keep in my kitchen and car.

I equate this to poetry in that it's a matter of intention. If the goal is simply to have something (a bench, a publication) then it is the wrong motivation, and will not work. If the intent is for a higher purpose (to have a functional bench/to create a quality poem that will or will not get published) requires more care and work. Some skills in spacial relations.

Horrible metaphor, I know. But now I have a surface to eat on outside my house...until it gets stolen. Plus there were a grip of craftsman tools in the drawers, and a vice on top, which is worth at least the $25. And the learning experience, as usual, is priceless.

On a night like this

2009-06-20T23:10:00.003-05:00

San Diego happens to have a wonderful Jazz/Blues station, if you ever want to listen.

A friend in the office (a fellow master of the fine art) and I seem to have a joke we bring up over and over about reading each other's work, only the joke is that we say things like "I just wrote this like, 5 minutes ago. I really think you should read it. I know I just wrote it, but it's really good." When we do this, we're being snobs. We're making fun of people who press their work on other people like that all of the time. We're also, hopefully most of the time, getting into our own processes, and trying to look at context.

This evening, I'm about 9 months behind my notebook. That is to say, I'm only reading what I jotted down back last September, and typewriting it. It'll take another few months before those typewritten lines are read again and put into a file into the computer. So, it seems, a single poem takes about a year to get from my head into something that looks like a "poem." I've come to do this partially because I'm in no hurry, but also because I like to forget. That's a different meditation--in this case, I mean I like to forget the context the original stuff in the notebook was written down in. Because I can't remember what was in my conscious mind when I read the words, they are allowed to have their own context, which seems truer than my perceptions at the time they came.

Better poems come from forgetting. As it happens, I have no ownership over any moments or events. And my ability to witness is limited--my mind moment for moment is silly and distracted.

A different co-worker found a few poems online, and asked, "What were you thinking when you wrote this?"

"I don't know."

And how could we know? What do we know while in the process of creating? It seems to be a process of listening, and it takes longer to hear than it does to have a child. Ain't that something?

From Randell Jarrell's uncollected poems:

The Forsaken Girl

(after Eduard Mörike)

Ere the cock has crowed,

The least star dwindled,

I knell here at the hearth

Till the fire has kindled.

The warm light is beautiful,

The flames soar eagerly.

I stare unseeing

Sunk in my misery.

All at once I remember:

The whole night through,

Dear one, wicked one,

I have dreamed of you.

As I remember,

The tears come one by one.

So the day begins--

If only it were done!

[1952]

Casual Friday

2009-06-19T07:57:00.002-05:00

Congrats to Bloof. What can't they do?

And a couple of event's I go to if I were in the neighborhoods:

1) Tuesday, June 30 2009
6:00pm

Boog City Presents

d.a. levy lives: celebrating the renegade press

Effing Press (Austin, Texas), featuring readings from

Farrah Field, Ada Limón, Justin Marks, with music from Katie May
Hosted by Effing Press editor Scott Pierce
Curated and with an introduction by Boog City editor David Kirschenbaum

ACA Galleries
529 W. 20th Street, 5th Floor (10th/11th Avenues)
Free, incl. wine & cheese | welcometoboogcity.com |editor@boogcity.com | 212-842-2664
Subway: C/E to 23rd Street, or 1/9 to 18th Street

AND

2) Wednesday, July 8, 2009

6-8PM

Heading Home:

Art Opening & Gallery Reading on UWS

46 W. 90th St. Fl 2

With Jason Schneiderman

AND

3) Tuesday, August 18

7:30-9PM

The Word for Word Series in Bryant Park

Robert Polito & Dana Goodyear & Ada Limón

(hope to see you!)

Kazim Ali Interview

2009-06-17T08:10:00.000-05:00

Right here.

Happy Bloomsday!

2009-06-16T08:11:00.001-05:00

Any events in San Diego on this fine Bloomsday?

Slow days

2009-06-15T22:39:00.003-05:00

I assume the few of you who read my blog also read the blogs I read--mostly they're off to the right. I could be mistaken.

If I am, here's something from Steve Schroeder--he also happens to be the editor of Anti-. They happen to have a poem just up by Sara Tracey, which I like a whole lot.

Hate-mail makes my stomach hurt, even when directed at someone else. The aggression that goes into sentiments like that in any medium, I can't help but feel, is best avoided. It's what keeps me from writing most reviews--even books I love, where the fault of a collection has nothing to do with the poetry, or the poet, or anything other than a choice by the publisher or some other post-creation entity, perhaps....

Confession: I love Lytton Smith's book, The All-Purpose Magical Tent. It's one of my top 5 favorite books I've read in years. I tried to tell you about it at No Tell. I loved his work when we took it for Ninth Letter a few years back. Terrance Hayes picked it, and I love him for picking it. The only think that I don't like is the Forward by Hayes, and only because it's simply a page and a half long blurb. I mean, I know he liked it, but just wish the forward had something deeper about poetry as a whole that he found in the book; something detailed/profound about how Smith exhibits some core value in poetry in a way that nobody's done since....you know what I mean?

But that's my critique. And it's only my opinion. Hayes is a wonderful poet, and I've enjoyed his work on paper and at a reading. And, again, I love him for holding up Smith's book.

***

Sorry it's been quiet.

I'll try and pick up the pace, keep you more in the loop.

A little more

2009-06-09T22:12:00.000-05:00

More recommendations at No Tell...

...if you need.

Pub things

2009-06-05T08:31:00.002-05:00

New Hobart's up.

Also, word on the street is that 9L is going to be a differently shaped. I'm looking forward to it! I do believe you'll be able to sneak up on them at Printers Row in Chicago this very weekend. If you see Amy Güth walking around, don't be creepy, but say hello.

NYer Ada

2009-06-02T19:27:00.002-05:00

Ada Limón is in the New Yorker.

Diggity Dig.

Over at 9L

2009-05-31T22:15:00.002-05:00

The big shots at Ninth Letter are talking about big shot Roy Kesey.

Personally, I recommend "Interview" from Kesey's All Over. I also recommend hearing him read. Hell, buy the book AND watch a video of him reading over at Dzanc.

On Business & Stuff

2009-05-30T15:35:00.004-05:00

First, the stuff:

Grist Journal is featuring Adam O. Davis. His personal site is over here. The poems are really great, and the interview is both smart and entertaining.

Meanwhile....

I've been thinking about a few things have been in the news about the economy lately--car companies, fellowship positions, journals. Things like that. The job market--academic and otherwise--is pretty horrible and small presses that rely on grant money and other not-for-profit sources are hurting.

You know all this.

Thinking on these issues, I came across a place in Gandhi: An Autobiography. The Story of My Experiments with Truth, where he directly addresses these issues in what I think is the context that is most relevant, and so I share it with you. On page 198 of the Beacon Press Edition, he writes:

Translated from the original Gujarati by Mahadev Desai.

Support the companies, presses and journals you believe in. If they are founded an operated with the intention to serve the community and provide for our world, they deserve the support.

If they exist simply for the sake of taking your money and adding it to the pool of free money which is managed by people who have no personal stake in the integrity or quality of the product or service, perhaps they do not deserve your patronage.

If You're in NYC This Weekend:

2009-05-28T08:31:00.001-05:00

Saturday May 30th 6pm at The Cornelia Street Café

29 Cornelia Street (between Bleecker St and West 4th St), New York City
$7 includes one house drink

Emotional Rescue

Lust, anger, and confusion. Four poets and performers face their audience.

R. Nemo Hill, Precious Jones, Ada Limón, and Jason Schneiderman shake up the
downtown scene with this interactive reading. The audience names an emotion,
the performers react. Bliss, obsession or melancholia? You decide!

Hosted and Curated by Jane Ormerod

R. NEMO HILL lives in New York City, but travels extensively in Southeast
Asia each year, where his experiences have run the gamut from intestinal
bleeding to intellectual ecstasy. He is the author of a novel, Pilgrim¹s
Feather (Quantuck Lane Press, 2002), a book-length narrative poem, The
Strange Music of Erich Zann (Hippocampus Press, 2004), and also a chapbook,
Prolegomena To An Essay On Satire (Modern Metrics, 2006). His poetry and
fiction have appeared in such publications as Poetry, Sulfur, Smartish Pace,
The Literary Bohemian, 14 by 14, Shit Creek Review, The Chimaera, and
BigCityLit.

PRECIOUS JONES is a native Brooklynite whose work can be found in print and
online publications such as WordRiot, Gay Black Female Magazine, Coloring
Book, 1-42 Magazine, and The Brownstone Poets Anthology. She has featured at
numerous venues and events including Cornelia Street Cafe, the Fashion
Institute of Technology, and "Art Stroll", a celebration of Washington
Heights. Her writing tackles issues of race, sex, and sexuality, among other
things, with honesty and wit. She gives thanks to June Jordan, Chrystos, and
Neruda: three loving and passionate writers who fed her hunger for good
poetry.

ADA LIMÓN won the Autumn House Poetry Prize with her first book, lucky
wreck, and her second, This Big Fake World, was the winner of the Pearl
Poetry Prize. She¹s also won the Chicago Literary Award and fellowships from
the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center and the New York Foundation for the
Arts. She is the Creative Director for Travel + Leisure Magazine and teaches
a Master Class for Columbia University. Her third book of poems Sharks in
the Rivers, will be published by Milkweed Editions in 2010.

JASON SCHNEIDERMAN is the author of the poetry collection, Sublimation
Point, a Stahlecker Selection from Four Way Books. His work has also
appeared in The Best American Poetry 2005, The American Poetry Review, Tin
House, Poetry London, and The Penguin Book of the Sonnet, among many other
journals and anthologies. Jason has received fellowships from Yaddo, The
Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and the Bread Loaf Writers'
Conference. His website is www.jasonschneiderman.net

From No Tell

2009-05-25T15:22:00.002-05:00

Over at the No Tell Blog you'll find recommendations for your summer reading.

Over HERE at the No Tell Blog you'll find MY thoughts on the topic.

See you in Ocean Beach tonight.

Back Home

2009-05-24T09:43:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone. I'm back in San Diego after damn near two weeks in the Midwest. The Mississippi River is beautiful, even if small sections of it smell like dog food because of processing plants doing what they do on the banks. But I got to see my homies in Urbana. If I had to leave San Diego, I could live in Urbana for the rest of my life. I think.

Meanwhile, things that should be shared:

The Pilcrow Lit Fest just happened. Catch up at their Blog.

I have two poems in the latest Gander Press Review.

Need a business card? Like salted meat? Who says you can't have both. Dig Meat Cards!

And here's a happy little story about them: Right here.

On the list of Top 100 Poetry Blogs, I come in at 34,567,002. But Ada Limon's on there, and C. Dale Young is so nice they named him twice! Lots of good people and good resources listed over there.

Again, sorry for the absence.

Peace.

Craig Arnold in Hearts

2009-05-08T18:37:00.002-05:00

News has come in from those who have been searching for Craig Arnold.

He'll be remembered, I'm told by those who knew him, for a rare brand of love and compassion. The rest of us will remember his poetry. If you haven't read Shells, I recommend it absolutely.

Keep those close to Craig in your hearts as they mourn. His is a presence that resonates to us all.

Real Fast.

2009-05-08T08:57:00.003-05:00

Yes, you May...

2009-05-04T10:27:00.003-05:00

No Tell Motel is only open for reading two months of the year, and May happens to be one of them. Get over to No Tell Motel for their guidelines and get something over.

There's also some new stuff at The Scrambler.

And at Hobart.

Max is looking for work in NY. Dig his design creds.

And the Akron Poetry Prize is open.

Now that that's over...

2009-05-01T13:07:00.002-05:00

...it doesn't have to be.

My apologies for not keeping up with the poem a day for April. I have a hard time with "special" blocks of time like that: holidays, birthdays, 7th Inning Stretches, happy hours, and months dedicated to various things. Don't get me wrong, I think National Poetry Month is wonderful for promoting poetry to those who aren't as aware of it as some of us (I assume most of the readers of this blog are writers or artsy in some capacity). I also love the poster I get in the mail, and how it covers the burnt yellow paint of my radiator.

But I didn't write more in April than any other month. To do so would interrupt a process that seems to work just fine for me. I didn't read more either. In fact, it seems I read less poetry simply because I spent more time looking at poetry in emails, on blogs, and attending special events to celebrate the month.

It seems to me some regard the month as a special time to really hit the poems hard. Like the faithful who only remembers kindness to others one day a week or one week of the year. Like the celebration of the day one was born--what is the significance of every 365th day that makes it more important than the previous 364 or next? Can't one enjoy their life daily on more significant terms?

If we read poetry for a process of exploration into our selves, let's explore often.

If we turn to poetry to discover something in the world that shows us Love, let's do this every day.

Ordered this morning:

Lytton Smith's The All-Purpose Magical Tent (Nightboat). I've seen the first few pages, and it's awesome.

Patricia Smith's Blood Dazzler (Coffee House). Teahouse of the Almighty kicked so much ass, and I would have picked it up at AWP had I been there.

Craig Arnold is Missing

2009-04-29T23:56:00.002-05:00

If you're learning about this for the first time, catch up:

http://thebestamericanpoetry.typepad.com/the_best_american_poetry/2009/04/find-craig-arnold-facebook-group.html

There's also a facebook group with a lot of information and updates on the status of the search for Craig Arnold.

Crossed fingers, hopes.

Prayers.

What day is it?

2009-04-19T08:55:00.002-05:00

Sunday Sunday Sunday!

Head to Tattoosday, where I'm showing some skin.

Now Reading Full-Length Submissions

2009-04-18T08:55:00.003-05:00

The reading period is open.

Cooper Dillon is an independent poetry press founded on promoting and maintaining the values which make poetry a high art. Through the publication and distribution of full-length collections and chapbooks, our intention is to nurture the poet and reader who finds joy in aesthetic, beauty, honesty and intimacy.

Guidelines can be found at Cooper Dillon.com.

Tuesday, the 14th

2009-04-14T09:31:00.002-05:00

First, for the month of April, Bill of Tattoosday is featuring writer's tats. Check it out! If you back track to the 4/1, you'll see Jill Essbaum's feet.

Moving on, do you know Le Pink Elephant? Here's their call for submission for their new journal, A Trunk of Delirium:

A Trunk of Delirium is a new bi-annual publication of literary and artistic works seeking the finest available from both established and as yet known creators. A subsidiary of Le’ Pink Elephant Press, we open the lid to accept poetry, prose, flash fiction, reviews, interviews, translations, essays, plays, and artworks of all printable forms. Submissions are now giddily accepted at atrunkofdelirium@yahoo.com.
Editors: Suzanne Savickas & Cheryl Townsend
Publication will be in both web space and print, the later being perfect bound and truly a delight to behold.
Subscriptions $15.00

MISSION STATEMENT
A Trunk of Delirium seeks to hold the diverse expressions of today’s most memorable creators, preserving such evoking delights for future consumption of the masses. By offering up its collectives in both web and print spaces, it is intended to make available more avenues to delight in the pulse of our present, yet ever changing, artistic scene of delirious exudence. Let creative liberty prevail!

Now, you probably want a poem for this day. From Nin Andrews little book, Dear Professor, Do You Live in a Vacuum? (Subito Press, 2008):

Dear Professor,

I heard you complaining

about our class.

A huge class, you said.

No one is learning a darn thing.

Consider Newton's

2nd and 3rd laws.

We have a lot of mass.

The more you push us,

the more we push right back.

The Twelfth Day

2009-04-12T11:14:00.002-05:00

I'm heading to the beach to sit around in the sun for Easter. Then I'll enjoy something with ham.

From Zachery Schomburg's The Man Suit (Black Ocean, 2007):

Experiment in Invisibility

Today I held two bananas

over each of my shoulders

and presented myself

as a quotation.

I've been a cry for help mostly,

sometimes a joke.

When you stirred from

your sleep you wanted breakfast

but I was too late.

I had become the urgent

prayers of a desperate pilot.

I had become a marriage

proposal blown by a strong arctic

wind across Lake Ontario.

Day 11

2009-04-11T13:06:00.003-05:00

First, some thoughts from Jason Schneiderman--excellent poet, intelligent reader of comics.

And now:

From Christina Davis's Forth A Raven, from Alice James Books:

The Humanities

Tomorrow the man comes

to school me in the Fire.

You can lead a whole life surrounded by firemakers

and the putters out of fire

and think you have built a fire, and not have.

If the taming of blazes was the making of man,

I will have been a beast

until that hour when the man and I kneel down

with the tinder.

Also, no one has taught me how to die.

It is not listed

among the disciplines.