I am so out of the loop. I have no idea who is publishing what or what is good or what the new "it" book or poet or anything is any more. Lately, I don't read anything by anyone who isn't dead and/or old enough to be my grandma. Sigh.
So here's your chance to plug your darlings: what book has come out in the last year that you are evangelizing? Like, I'm talking "OMG, you must read Luke Lollaweather's verse novel, Ant Footprints, or I will have to stab you to death and then not even bother to go to the funeral" level stuff.
Let me know! Hungry minds want poems, but are paralyzed by choice!
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Whee!
In the meantime, here is everything you ever wanted to know about foam fingers.
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So, I was walking along the park when one of its myriad joggers approached me from around a bend: a woman of around 20, wearing the requisite t-shirt and wee shiny shorts. Beholding her out of the corner of my eye, I thought that her t-shirt said, in large capital letters:
GENDER GAP
"Whoa!" I thought. "That is sure some wicked social commentary for a jogging ensemble!" Then I looked at her more closely. Her shirt said "SENIOR DAY."
So yeah, my brain: it makes its own patterns.
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Maureen
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Title 19, Code of Federal Regulations.
Some CFR bibliomancy for you:
(Number of Grams Per Square Meter)
That is how to calculate the average yarn number for your invoice for cotton fabrics classifiable under headings 5208-5212 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. (See 19 CFR 141. 89(a)).
You are now INFORMED.
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So yeah, I have felt insular of late (late being, oh, a year or so). Unbloggy. I am a-traveling all the time in August. Going to a wedding this weekend, will be in Chicago next week, New York and Toronto later in the month.
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There will be photos. I have gone sailing for the past two days, and been out in the rays of the fiery ball for a combined six or seven hours and yet I am not burned. This means that, for the first time in my life, I have developed and applied a successful sunburn-prevention strategy. This is extremely good, as otherwise my skin would turn into its own crab-themed sort of attire: all red and leathery.
There have been many naps and sleeps on this vacation. Also drinks with umbrellas, small French children, and a bunny sighting. We return to DC on Sunday, where we will eat cheese and prepare for the return to the sunless everyday.
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Dost thou write poems and live in DC, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, or Delaware? Then consider sending some poems hither...
Beltway Poetry Quarterly, an online journal, seeks poems for a special themed issue celebrating museums. Poems should be about specific museums (of any kind, in any location) or specific items exhibited in museum collections. The issue will be co-edited by Kim Roberts and Maureen Thorson.
Only poets who live or work in DC, VA, MD, WV, or DE are eligible. Poems may be any length. Submit up to 4 poems by email only. Poems that have already appeared in print publications are acceptable if copyright has reverted to the author (and author secures any permissions for reprinting). Poems appearing elsewhere on the web are not eligible.
Submit poems in the body of a single email (no attachments, and please no multiple emails) to beltwaypoetryquarterly(at)gmail.com. Include your full contact information (snail mail address, phone, email) and a one-paragraph bio. Incomplete entries and those made outside the one-month reading period will not be considered.
The issue will be published in January 2009. All entries must be received during the month of August 2008.
http://www.beltwaypoetry.com
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... and here's how you know: Yankees are down by one, two guys on base, and Jason Giambi and his ridiculous mustache are at bat. Ye Olde Boyfriend has ABBA on the iTunes, hooked up through the tv speakers, and, as Giambi hits a double that scores the two guys on base, is singing "Fernando." But, get this, he has replaced the word "Fernando" in the lyrics with "Giambi."
There was something in the air that night
The stars were bright, Giambi!
They were shining there for you and me
For liberty, Giambi!
Hearing this, I hied myself off to blogland to record the moment for posterity, and as I typed this up, I heard from the living room: "IT'S A FAIR BALL! POSADA FOR A DOUBLE! HE'S GONNA SCORE GIAMBI! AND GIAMBI SCORES! 9-7 YANKEES!"
And now Jukebox Hero is playing on the stereo.
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Very into books about place right now...reading The Maximus Poems and The California Poem. I am very much a "project" writer...I don't generally get inspired to write a lone poem, and when I do, it usually comes with a suitcase labeled "Now write 25 more all with the same Elizabethan collar and Flock of Seagulls hair-do." Projects start out for me much the same as tension headeaches: a dim and nagging sense of something needing to get done. They don't usually take off into actual writing until I find some kind of book that guides me -- not directly, but in more of a funhouse mirror kind of way -- toward the form that the project needs to take. Then the ideas stop being ideas and start being notes on paper.
Earlier this spring, I was interested in pursuing a project relating to moving (both moving in the sense of moving into a new house and moving in with somebody), and the project didn't find its shape and rhythm until I attacked it with a triple whammy of Rae Armentrout, Barbara Guest, and Gabe Gudding's Rhode Island Notebook. These texts gave me a form and a method that has now led to 85 pages of work.
Now I am ready for the next thing (just in time for the Dusie chapbook project!), and poems of place are providing the impetus. Place not just as geography, but history (natural and social), culture, people, economy. The Maximus poems and The California Poem are really great stuff for this, and the fact that both are very "open field," a type of form that I am just coming to, is also very inspiring for me. Going forward, I am interested in a "poetry of everything," but in the past, I think my work has gotten its momentum from being very focused in ideas and forms. I need to expand my ideas and lines outward outward -- get them bigger -- without getting slower or more ponderous. So far, that's having me write fairly short, discreet poems, but with an open-field form and reliance on open-ended, elliptical phrasings. There are asterisks everywhere. Watch out!
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Did I tell you I've been doing a JunePoWriMo? I have. All by myself. There will probably be a JulyPoWriMo, too.
In July I am going on a snooty sailing vacation. I'm going to buy a lot of pink polo shirts and rename myself Muffy. Don't call me, call my people!
TTFN, suckas.
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DC is a silly place.
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Very exciting!
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Jes' lettin' you know.
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Available During Sea Turtle Mating Season Only; Resort Entices Couples to Conceive while Package Proceeds Benefit the Conservancy of Southwest Florida
"Marco Island, FL - June 16, 2008 - Due to the popularity of the 2007 program, Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort is happy to reintroduce the Fertile Turtle package which entices couples to conceive while on vacation. As sea turtles are known as a symbol of fertility, lovebirds have the opportunity to watch sea turtles eggs hatch, right on the resort's very own three-mile stretch of beach, while trying to fertilize an egg of their own. As protecting the natural environment of the local endangered species is important to the resort, a portion of the package proceeds will benefit the Sea Turtle Monitoring & Protection Project of the Conservancy for Southwest Florida. This grow-the-family getaway, which is only available during sea turtle mating season (now through October 31), starts at $419 per couple, per night and includes:
"Deluxe accommodations in a Gulf-view guestroom with king-size bed, private balcony and a do not disturb sign
"Red clover and raspberry tea, which have natural pregnancy-enhancing qualities
"Couples massage with Chaste berry and fertility-promoting aromatherapy
"Authentic Balinese commemorative photo album to capture the memories of this special vacation
"Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort loves to hear the pitter patter of little feet, be it turtle or infant, so as a special gift for couples who conceive during their stay, the resort will provide a complimentary three-night stay for a return visit. Proud parents only need to provide a birth certificate and proof of recent hotel stay, within eight to 10 months of baby's arrival."
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