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"A note to Pound in heaven: Only one mistake, Ezra! You should have talked to women"
--George Oppen, _Twenty Six Fragments_
Archives:
xoxo Hey, E-Mail Me! xoxo
ManY PoETiKaL HaTs LisT:
Holly's Pirate-girl Hat,
chrismurray in a straw hat,
Michael Helsem's Gray Wyvern NOLA Fedora.
Duchamp's Rrose Selavy's flirting hat.
Max Ernst's Hats of The Hat Makes the Man.
Jordan Davis' The Hat!
poetry. hks' smelly head baseball cap.
Samuel Beckett's Lucky's
Black bowler hat,
giving his oration
on what's questionable in mankind,
in *Waiting for 'God-ot'*.
my friend John Phillips's 1969
dove gray fedora w/ wild feather.
Bob Dylan's mystery lover's Panama Hat.
Bob Creeley's Black Mountain Felt Boater Hat.
Duke Ellington's Satin
Top Hat. Acorn Hats of Tree.
Freud's 1950 City Fedora.
Joseph Brodsky's Sailor Cap.
Harry K Stammer's Copper Hat
Hell. Lewis LaCook's bowler hat(s).
Tom Beckett's Bad Hair Day
Furry Pimp Hat. Daughter Holly's black beret.
harry k stammer's fez. Cat
in the Hat's Hat & best
hat, Googling Texfiles:
crocheted hat with flames.
Harry K Stammer's tinseled berets.
Tex's 10 gallon Gary Cooper felt Stetson cowboy hat.
Jordan Davis's fedora.
Dali's High-heel Shoe Hat. Harry K Stammer's en-blog LAPD Hat
& aluminum baseball cap. cap'n caps. NY-Yankees caps. the HKS-in-person-caps
are blue or green no logos nor captions.
Ma Skanky Possum 10's nighttime cap.
moose antler hat. propeller beenie hat.
doo rag. knit face mask hat. Bob Dylan's & photographer Laziz
Hamani's panama hats. Mark Weiss's Publisher's Hat.
Rebecca Loudon's Seattle-TX-Hats'n'boots.
Ever-Evolving Links:
Silliman's Links
Dominic Rivron
Unidentified
Br Tom @ One & Plainer
Dan Waber: ars poetica anthology
Dan Waber: altered books anthology
chris daniels: Notes to a Fellow Traveller
Chris Daniels: Toward an Anti-Capitalist Poetry
David Daniels: The Gates Of Paradise
subterranean poets: Beijing Poetry Group
Charles Alexander/Chax Press: Chaxblog
Headlines Poetry: the latest weblog entries
Henry Gould's AlephoeBooks
Julie Choffel's Understory
Tom Murphy's former one
Jean Vengua's New Okir
Roger Pao's Asian-American Poetry
Tom Lisk: Oilcloth and Linoleum
Kevin Doran
Reb Livingston's Cackling Jackal Blog
Janet Holmes: Humanophone
Lorna Dee Cervantes
Mark Young's gamma ways
Brian Campbell: Out of the Woodwork
Shanna's DIY Publishing Blog
Galatea Resurrects: a Poetry Review
Tom Beckett
John Sakkis: BOTH BOTH
New Francois Luong:Voices in Utter Dark, KaBlow!sm is...
Old Francois Luong: Voices in Utter Dark
Margin Walker: Andrew Lundwall
Free Space Comix: the latest BK Stefans blog
Adam Lockhart, Experimentalist Composer
Antic View: Alan Bramhall & Jeff Harrison
lookouchblog: Jessica Smith
MiPOradio
Web Log -- Charles Bernstein
Google Poem Generator: Leevi Lehto
Marie Mutsuki Mockett
Feral Scholar: Stan Goff
worderos: Tom Beckett
In Galatea's Purse
Japundit
Quiet Desperation: Jim Ryal
Luca Antara: Martin Edmond
Brief Epigrams: Ryan Alexander MacDonald
Radio My Vocabulary: 4 pm Sunday Poetry Streams
Mark Lamoreaux: [[[0{:}0]]]
Hot Whiskey Blog
louder
Nick Bruno: They Shoot Poets Don't They?
Joe Massey: Rooted Fool
Kate Greenstreet: every other day
heuriskein: Tom Orange
Chiaroscuro Metropoli: Tom Beckett
Behrle's latest spout!
Fluffy Dollars: Michelle Detorie
Jane Dark's Sugar High!
The Katherine Anne Porter Literary Center
(Charles) Olson Now: Michael Kellaher & Ammiel Alcalay
kari edwards' TranssubMUTATION
Notes on the Revival: Jeremy Hawkins
PurPur: Petrus Pokus
Snapper Missives: Scott Pierce
A Sad Day for Sad Birds II: Gina Meyers
Great Works: Peter Philpot
zafusy: experimental poetry journal
Writeboard: a collaborative writing tool
John Latta: Rue Hazard
KP Harris: Croissant Factory
Stephanie Young's New Site
Stephen Vincent's New Site
Portable Press@Yo~Yo Labs
Square America
Amy King's blog
Robert: Peyoetry Hut
Muisti Kirja: Karri Kokko
Karri Kokko's Blonde on Blonde
Yummeee Blog (recipes)
Nice Guy Syndrome: Tim Botta
Left Hook
Del Ray Cross: anachronizms
Juan Cole: Informed Comment
BuzzFlash - Daily Headlines, Breaking News, Links
Aaron McCollough
Chris Lott's Cosmopoetica
Chad Parenteau
Little Emerson
Fever, Light--by Sawako Nakayasu
Second Wish
Nomadics
Alison Croggon
Radical Druid
Ron is Ron: the Ron Silliman Cartoon by Jim Behrle
Dagzine: Positions, Poetics, Populations: Gary Norris
Shadows within Shadows: Tom Beckett
Self Similar Writing: Jukka Pekka Kervinen
The Little Workshop: Cassie Lewis
Sky Bright: Jay Rosevear
Poesy Galore: Emily Lloyd
Lisa Jarnot's Blog
Poetry Hut: Jilly Dybka (has moved here)
Pornfeld: Michael Hoerman
Seven Apples: Justin Ulmer
Hi Spirits: Andrew Burke
Bacon Bargain!: Joe Massey
Ivy is here: Ivy Alvarez
Whimsy Speaks: Jeff Bahr
Umbrella: Jeff Wietor
Chicanas! (Susana L. Gallardo)
Masters of Photography
Blog of Disquiet: Gary Norris' Teaching Blog
Suzanna Gig Jig
Bad with Titles: Jay Thomas
Spaceship Tumblers! Tony Tost
Desert City: Ken Rumble
E-Po
Zotz!
Optative Mood: Tim Morris
ecritures bleues: Laura Carter
The Ingredient: Alli Warren
Skanky Possum Pouch
Slight Publications
Jewishy-Irishy: Laurel Snyder
Sea-Camel: Alberto Romero Bermo
Growing Nations: Jordan Stempleman
Tom Raworth
Entropy and Me: Hal Johnson
Scott Pierce: Snapper's Junk
Chicano Poet: Reyes Cardenas
Semio-Karl M&M
Stephen Vincent
Hoa Nguyen/Teacher's & Writers
a New Word Placements
Narcissus Works: Anny Ballardini
Richard Lopez
Tributary: Allen Bramhall
The_Delay: Chris Vitiello
Jukka Pekka Kervinen: Nonlinear Poetry
Lanny Quarles: Phaneronoemikon
Clifford Duffy: Fictions of Deleuze & Guattari
DagZine
Carrboro Poetry Festival
Steve Evans: Third Factory
DEBORAH PATILLO
SKANKY POSSUM PRESS
Tim Peterson: Mappemunde
WOOD'S LOT
Geof Huth: DBQP
Ann Marie Eldon
Jim Behrle: The Jim Side
Ray Bianchi:Postmodern Collage Poetry
Never Mind the Beasts
Diaryo
New Broom
Flingdump Scattershot
Tony Tost: Unquiet Grave
Grapez
SB POET
Mark Young's Pelican Dreaming
|||AS/IS2|||
Li's A Private Studio
Anny Ballardini's Poet's Corner
Tom Beckett: Vanishing Points
Dumbfoundry
BadGurrrlNest
Jean Vengua's Okir
Hear-it dot org: info on hearing problems
Tim Yu's Tympan
James Yeager's Modern Lives
Tony Robinson: Geneva Convention
Daniel Nestor's Unpleasant Event
Ex-Lion Tamer
Carlos Arribas: Scriptorium
David Nemeth
Ela's Incertain Plume
Mairead Byrne's Heaven
Catherine Daly
Black Spring
Br.Tom's Finish Yr Phrase
Shin Yu Pai: makura-no-soshi
Harry K. Stammer: Downtown LA
Corina's Fledgling Wordsmith
Jilly Dybka's Poetry Hut
Ben Basan's Luminations
Katey: Chewing on Pencils
YaY!! Eileen Tabios: Chatelaine Poetics !
Jill Jones: Ruby Street
Geoffrey Gatza's BlazeVox
Bill Allegrezza's P-Ramblings
Gary Sullivan's Elsewhere
GoldenRuleJones
Poetry_Heat
Bookslut
Chickee's SuperDeluxeGoodPoems
As-Is !
John Latta's Hotel Point
Sawako Nakayasu's Ongoing Show
Shanna Compton's Brand New Insects
Crag Hill
kari edwards: transdada
Fluss
Michael Helsem's Gray Wyvern
Word Placement
Bogue's Blog
Jordan Davis: Equanimity
Robert Flach's Unadulterated Text
Michelle Bautista
Ironic Cinema
Mike Snider
Farewell Tonio!
In Through the Out Door
The Blonde Brunette
Awake at Dawn on Someone's Couch is Toast
Jukka-Pekka Kervinen:Non-Linear
Xpress(ed) !
Chris Lott's Ruminate
Venepoetics
Laura: Yellowslip
Stick Poet Super Hero
Mighty Jens!
Radio UTA: Toni's Thursday Poetry Show
Tim Morris: Lection
Gabe Gudding
Constant Critic
Sappho's Breathing
Waves of Reading
Jhananin's Insite
Fanaticus
AdvExpo
Stephen Vincent
Stephanie Young: New Well Nourished Moon
Kasey Silem Mohammad's Newest Limetree
Lanny Quarles: (solipsis)//:phaneronoemikon
States Writes
Rebecca's Pocket
Simulacro
Braincase Links
Sentence
Sor Juana
73 Urban Bus Journeys
Poeta Empirica
poetry for the people: canwehaveourballback?
Ernesto Priego's Never Neutral
Nick Piombino's Fait Accompli
Weekly Incite blogresearch
Jim Behrle's first monkey
Jim Behrle's Monkey's Gone to Heaven
David Kirschenbaum's Boog City
Not Nick Moudry
Laurable
David Hess Heathens in Heat
Jack Kimball's Pantaloons
Li Bloom's Abolone
Ron Silliman
Chris Sullivan's Bloggchaff
Chris Sullivan's Slight Publications
Chris Sullivan's Department of Culture
Kasey S. Mohammad's Old-New Limetree
Kasey's Old Limetree
James Meetze: Brutal Kittens
Cassie Lewis: The Jetty
Joseph Mosconi's Harlequin Knights
Nada Gordon's Ululate
ultimate: Stephanie Young's First Well Nourished Moon
Steve Evans: Third Factory
Noah Eli Gordon's Human Verb
Jean Vengua's Blue Kangaroo
Sawako Nakayasu: Texture Notes
Free Space Comix: BK Stefans
Crosfader
Malcolm Davidson's eeksy peeksy
Marsh Hawk Press group
Catherine Meng's Porthole Redux
Josh Corey's Cahiers de Corey
Very Nice! Shampoopoetry
UTA's Lit Mag: ZNine
Wild Honey Press
Jacket
JFK's Poetinresidence
Malcolm Davidson's Tram Spark poems
HYepez: RealiTi
HYpez: Mexperimental
Aimee Nez's Gila Monster
BestMaX: Jim Behrle's jismblog
Cori Copp's Littleshirleybean
Jordan Davis: Million Poems
Eileen Tabios: Corpsepoetics [see Chatelaine above]
YaY! Liz's Thirdwish
Ultra Linking
Henry Gould's HG Poetics
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Saturday, March 12, 2005
check out the Stimulax!
chris at
1:37 PM
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 MANY THANKS!
chris at
2:56 AM
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Friday, March 11, 2005
Spring Break is on here--it's nicely quiet. & I've lots of writing to do...
One other matter, regarding my UTA email address: it's going to be out of service for the weekend, so if you're emailing me for something between now and Monday, please do so at the Yahoo address, not the UTA one.
That's cmurray88 at Yahoo dot com
Happy Spring!
chris at
10:05 PM
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 from Travis Catsull * :
tangled hounds
halls thru the asphalt
hills are surrounded
by panthers.
pandas with prey in their jaws
and the eyeball
on your wrist is covered
by a warm tea bag.
I should know,
you invited me here,
but now I'm busy
getting ready
to drag this lantern
thru the isle of panthers,
past the hills of asphalt.
I'm being honest
when I say a lizard
could blow by
like a rolled up hundred
thousand dollar bill
and I would think
of helicopters
dropping glo-sticks
instead of this.
then I could see
into the shadows
collected
under the table
like black hounds
I would untangle them
with a fork.
(5)
* Travis Catsull, isle of asphalt. effing press, 2004.
~~~~~~~~copyright of Travis Catsull~~~~~~~~~~~~ o~o/
chris at
12:04 PM
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Josef Sudek : 
--"untitled [tho looking to me more like a dialogic redux: on Rilke: on archaic torso motif & etc. ...]"
Sudek was one of the finest foto image makers: texture, texture...--
a favorite of mine, Y'all...
o~o/
chris at
2:35 AM
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... I'm a violinist and I have to practice. I practice scales. I practice Mozart, sure, but it is the daily habit of practicing scales that allows me to play Mozart. Practicing scales every day allows me to stop thinking when I actually sit down to play Mozart. My brain can get out of the way and my body takes over. My fingers know where to go. This is where joy lies, for me, in the letting go. Is writing every day going to make the crafting of poetry easier? It might and it might not. But I can guarantee that once you get used to facing a blank page or the blue hum of a computer monitor every single day, that task becomes less daunting as time goes by. ... --Rebecca Loudon, "The Writer's Craft," It's About Time Writers.
chris at
12:18 AM
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Thursday, March 10, 2005
all the trees have that buzz of color on the tips of branch, of twig, the reddish or whitish or greenish something is about to and is already happening. it's a strong runner for my favorite time of year, tho i have to say there are things about all the seasons that i really like--melty velvet of snow (even in March, when it's time to be really tired of it, too). nothing seems to have quite the excitement spring opens up, tho, cloud sky or sun. buzz, damp soil drying-warming in sun, people outdoors shouting, playing, having fun. blue frisbe, green ice-cream trucker, playground riot, wind chimes, live oak leaves waving, not a frozen but a warm wrought-iron railing. light shifting to another angle from morning to dusk, on the north patio sliding glass door.
chris at
11:03 PM
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Dept of Old Rhetoric Handbooks: Odd Relations in Exempla
Words and Their Uses, the chapter on "Misused Words" * :
CALIBRE is used with a radical perversion of its meaning of by many persons who should know better. As for instance--
"She has several other little poems of a much higher calibre than that." --_London Spectator_, February 20, 1869.
The writer of this sentence might as well have said, a broader altitude, a bulkier range, or a thinner circumference. Calibre is the measure of the mass containable in a cavity; e.g., the calibre of a bullet or a brain, and hence of a gun or a skull. Therefore its metaphorical use is for the expression of capacity, and its proper augmentatives are of expansion, not of height or depth.
* Richard Grant White, Words and Their Uses, Past and Present: a Study of the English Language. New York: Sheldon & Co. **1870**
(!)
chris at
5:56 PM
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"Hallo! my name's Bush
that's short for Bullshit..." --"A Family History," Stefan Hynen.
7:00 pm Tonight: SKANKY POSSUM READING SERIES
at 12TH STREET BOOKS, Austin, TX:
Jim Koller and Stefan Hyner
James Koller has published three novels, & numerous essays. His writing has been translated into Italian, French, German, Dutch & Swedish, & he has translated the work of others from French into English. Editor of Coyote's Journal & Coyote Books since 1964, his most recent book is Snows Gone By: New & Uncollected Poems 1964-2002 by La Alameda Press.
Stefan Hyner was born in 1957 in Mannheim, and became a carpenter before enrolling at the Universities of Heidelberg and Taipei where he studied Sinology and East-Asian art history. Hyner, together with Joanne Kyger and Donald Guravich, publishes GATE, an international poetry journal. He also translates the work of Franco Beltrametti into English and is researching that poet/artist's archive currently for a complete text in English.
chris at
11:31 AM
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Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Stephen Vincent's reading this Friday! Sure wish I could go--if you are in the area, don't miss it, Y'all!
chris at
11:06 PM
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Ernesto on what amounts to an ongoing neo Pharmakon...
chris at
10:32 PM
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Josh Corey's response to some dangerous foolishness: now, *this* is a letter.
chris at
10:21 PM
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a new kind of feature at Texfiles:
Found: Matter & Abstraction
 --"the final segment is a heart"
(Tien Chiu) *
Mettle: a different matter
of "found" form
on Google:
on entering the abstraction
"compassion" into image
search, here is one kind of mettle ...
The following is quoted from Tien Chiu:
"The hazards of objectification--the replacement of an object by an idea--are in some ways obvious. ... [A]bstraction of mundane objects deprives us of our identity as individual creatures, of our sense of self-worth. When we lose the towering oak to the fine specimen of Quercus albans, when we lose our kneaded breads, the products of our own efforts, to an anonymous lump of processed flour and additives, we lose something of ourselves. Mass-production, fundamentally, sends the message, 'This is not important; this is a convenience, a shortcut because the route does not matter.' And thus we lose our daily bread: what we eat is worth no more than five microwave minutes, and hence does not deserve our attention, our enjoyment, our discovery. We are reduced from people who can enjoy and savor food to machines which need to be refueled periodically, as quickly as possible. We, too, become objectified.
"Refusing objectification, classification, abstraction has become an integral part of my life--perhaps, viewed negatively, an obsession. But I feel my reward for this refusal outweighs the cost in time: I know for myself that I am human, I am individual, and I cannot be abstracted. I know that things, basic things, are important, are worthy of time. I appreciate the hand-stitched skirt even as I spread it across the table and pull out the dyes." --Tien Chiu, 1991
It was a great pleasure to find Tien's site on googling the abstract term, "compassion." Thanks, Tien, for sharing all your good works!
*
all from Tien's homepage: © Tien Chiu
chris at
9:12 PM
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Hah!--check out the Possum Pouch "Blog Academy Awards"--here's a sampling :
Wood's Lot: "Best Cabinet of Wonders"
"Best Letters from a Citizen: Kristen Prevallet"
Snapper's Junk: Scott Pierce: "Best Blog for Being a Kick Ass Publisher and Book Designer and Friend"
"Best Blog for Sluts: Bookslut" & BTW, they just announced a new issue...
"Best Blog (is it a blog?) for anonymous whiners to complain and avoid book production according to their own terms: foetry"
"Best Genius Digital Agent Provocateur in need of a Blog: Kent Johnson"
"Best Blog for Best American Poetry: Unquiet Grave"
& hell-yeah! "Best blog for signs of Texas intelligence and grace" : if you're reading this, you're here, Y'all: "Texfiles"
--thanks Dale!
o~o/
chris at
12:21 PM
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Received a nice email note from Kent Johnson, extending congratulations on the second anniversary of Texfiles: "hearty and warm congrats and good wishes for the great Texfiles," he writes.
Hey, much appreciated, Kent!
chris at
12:02 PM
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Tuesday, March 08, 2005
More Thanks (and clarification) to Give Out for this Past Weekend's Poetry Successes
I've just added some clarifying notes to my poem-post of yesterday, "Red Bud Moment Not Monument," to give accuracy where it could have been (unintentionally) ambiguous.
But I want to be sure everyone understands this, too: a lot of credit for success of this past weekend, when I hosted via my Poetry_Heat series, Eileen Tabios and Sandy McIntosh, primarily goes to University of Texas at Arlington, which supports my series and funded many things.
And I want to send out a very special thanks, once again, to my assistant, James Ola, excellent student poet, who assists me with Writing Center matters, particularly with the Poetry_Heat series. Thank You, James, You Rock!
chris at
11:00 PM
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 (Arizona lichen: Navajo dye source for rug-weaving yarn) **
from Brian Clements * :
Spelunking
There's no place for illusion
where overhangs knock you senseless.
You believe it all, matter of necessity.
You learn to dodge every shadow
just to save your lamplit head.
And if you've come to love your life
you learn to value air, assess grain,
to count the blessings your senses bestow.
You move into the current and away
from dark attractions, like the Melanesian mystics
who travel into the Nether World
and come back with news and direction.
Get lost down there, you don't come back.
Getting by means hugging
the wall, kissing wet rock,
one hand always reaching.
The fingers learn to read
lichen, fissure, guano.
You come to love these, too.
And though you long to explore the alluring
drips from far below,
you haven't the luxury of wondering,
the leisure to estimate
the promises of gold, diamond, ruby,
emerald--no,
you cannot afford it. Concentration is more precious
than a vein. Better to think on your feet,
think without hope, never dare to believe
there will ever be light that deep
unless you stumble face-first into it,
or are fortunate enough
to sleepwalk
into that bright inglorious spelunking
without roadmap, tether, or crumb,
and become rich with knowing,
and remain unawakened
to your depth.
(37-38)
* Brian Clements, Essays Against Ruin. Texas Review Press, 1997.
** Flavopunctelia soredica ("powder-edged speckled greenshield") on oak bark on a mountaintop in Arizona. The Navajo use this lichen as a dye source.
Photograph copyright Stephen/Sylvia Sharnoff, @ lichen dot com.
~~~~~~~~~poem copyright of Brian Clements o~o/ ~~~~~~~~~~
chris at
9:37 PM
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on "Lies Military Recruiters Tell"
Y'all know how I stand on this, and it is very personal: I wish this much resistance had been going on when they found my son...
On January 20, 2005, several hundred students at Seattle Central Community College chased army recruiters from their spot in the Student center. On February 23, campus police arrested a woman student during a picket in front of the military's recruitment table at a job fair at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A couple days before that, several dozen students chased military recruiters off campus at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU). In September 2004, more than a hundred students protested the presence of military recruiters at the University of Pennsylvania. On February 22, 2005 several dozen students picketed recruiters at the University of Illinois campus in Chicago. At the USC Law School, recruiters were met with pickets and leafleters demanding that they leave... . --Ron Jacobs, "Lies Military Recruiters Tell," Mar 5/6, Counter Punch (article is linked below via Infoshop dot Org)
Military Recruiting Problem: some links to news of an interesting counter trend happening with the problem of military recruiters going into schools and signing kids up:
Yahoo! News: 'Counter-recruiters' shadowing the military
Infoshop News: Lies Military Recruiters Tell
Yahoo! News: "For Guard recruiters, a tough sell" [this one describes something of how recruiters think when going after you or your loved ones...]
As employment, recruiting reminds me of debt collection agencies: no self respecting person would do this kind of work that intentionally goes about messing with people's minds, and if enough people said no to it, then the system couldn't be maintained. This is where the dumb cliche 'Just Say No' really does have some value, eh?
chris at
5:30 PM
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Check out what's up at Tympan, Y'all.
I wz out of town over the poetry reading series & Austin road trip, so wasn't connected or wasn't able to read up on the latest crap coming out of Buffalo Poetics list.
But even if a little late to add my supportive two cents, i do just want to say Keep on, Tim!
chris at
11:27 AM
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 Well, this Grand experiment didn't exactly work:
NPR : Grand Canyon to Receive Massive Water Influx
According to news today (I saw it at Yahoo news but there was an obnoxious ad frame surrounding it so i'm not linking to it), there are now more than a third *fewer* fish in the Colorado River than before they did this big gig. Sheesh!
chris at
11:10 AM
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Monday, March 07, 2005
Red-bud Moment Not Monument *
There was One Being
Brief Oval
Outline or Lorca & Partially Naked **--
To Wake to a Baby Waylon
Nestling *** & a Multiple
Keaton Being
Coin Fish *** or Vanilla
Charmed Dark Chocolate Scarf-
Bird Singing Moment ****
& Then to be Seen by Me & Eileen *****
the Brief Near-Bare * Thing of Red *
& Thousands More Glancing
Above Concrete Abutments
Bumper-to-Bumper at 80
MPH: (Who Thinks Religious?)
of Every
& Then
We Were There
Driving Again in Road Steam
& Muck
in The Every Stream Again
Convenience Store Steak
or Talking
of Import & Art
Thou Statues
Staring on Road Stripes
or Jostling Pothole Skips
from Austin or Houston
to Arlington,
Mundane Thumps
to Night Lit Core of
Granite or Macadam
Cold or Hot
or a Suddenly Marble Unsure Art
in the Mid-Nowhere
in a Gray Gathering
& Raining
Impressions Light
& Sign & Sound
of Miles
(it was)
Davis Playing
About Turning Around & We
Were Talking Out
Spoken
or Word Making a Living
Poetry
& Driven to Go On
to Dallas & Read & Live
Live & Today & Yesterday
All at Once
& So There!
this Being Appeared Then--
Stature Definitely--
No Statue for Sure:
 redbud!
* refers to a red-bud tree by the side of the road, seen from 80 mph
** These allusions to nudity refer to the red bud tree seen along the highway: naked from winter but for its glorious new blossoms.
*** These refer to the children of Dale and Hoa: at morning, Waylon crawled over to the pillowed mattress I slept on, so to give me a hug, and nestle a little. Keaton had played a game called "coin-fish" with Eric at the after-reading party.
**** I had brought a gift to Keaton of some hand-made scarves, one I crocheted, and one gifted to me a few years ago out of velvet & original dye design, the work of a hand making clothier in Santa Fe, NM.
***** Refers to the wonderful poet Eileen Tabios, who I hosted here, along with fine poet Sandy McIntosh from March 3-7 for my reading series, Poetry_Heat, via the generosity of the Writing Center I direct at University of Texas at Arlington. Additionally, I arranged a reading for Eileen and Sandy in Austin, TX with my generous friends Dale Smith and Hoa Nguyen of Skanky Possum as well as Luke Bilberry's 12th Street Books. The poem above results from a moment when, as I was driving the three hour drive in the rain on the flat&boring I-35 with Eileen (racing back from Austin because another reading was planned for Dallas that evening), I was delighted to notice one lone red-bud tree near the road in a field, and pointed it out. It is the kind of moment that is valuable because such is always better when shared, thus I was glad to have seen it when with someone such as Eileen, for whom I have great esteem.
ZaZen, Y'all : )
chris at
10:00 PM
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Thanks going out also to Steve Vincent for the emailed good wishes on the occasion of Tex's second anniversary.
chris at
7:56 PM
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BurnDenverDownPress Call for subs (for chapbooks)
via one of my favorite reads:
::: wood s lot ::: "the fitful tracing of a portal"
chris at
2:40 PM
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Mellow-Hellows to Ruby Street and Narcissus Works!
A nice note below on the Texfiles Birthday (Mar 3) comments page from Jill Jones, one of my favorite experimentalist poets (Hi Jill!) along with Anny Ballardini (currently featuring some very fine translations by Rebecca Seiferle), and then, on reading over at Jill's blog, Ruby Street, I saw that a new issue of
Foam:e is out, too--lots of admirable poets & fine poems really lookin' good, Y'all!
chris at
1:54 PM
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in the ACK News:
Texas is set to supersize highways
DEPT OF NO MAS  DE BUSHCRAP...
--a poem from Stefan Hynan,
who will be reading this Thursday in Austin, TX :
A Family History
- "Hallo! my name's Bush
- that's short for Bullshit, & I'm a
- paying member of the Order of
- SKULL & BONES.
- As executive of the Union Bank Coop. I
- financed Hitler, but no sweat
- my buddy William A. Harriman
- & his Guaranty Trust Coop
- paid for the build-up of the USSR.
- That's our philosophy: create the thesis
- & the anti-thesis, so we can profit
- from the synthesis we impose, as done by
George, Sr. '91 in Iraq
- to keep the threat alive & let
- others pick up the bill (40 bill-
- ions from
- Japan & Germany) while we
- reek in the profits."
21.IX/2002 (Rohrhof)
o~o/
chris at
1:02 PM
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a new mag, SAUCY!--is lookin' promising--just out from Jessa Crispin, editor/publisher of Bookslut.
chris at
12:58 PM
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eep... correcting an html error i just discovered in this post about the poetry reading on Friday at UTA... i cite Tom Murphy because in my introduction I had read aloud from one of his poems--his chapbooks are some of my favorite reads--hurry and get some!--but for some reason my link to tom's site didn't work out.
So here's some workable html for the link, with apology to all... & a note to also check his link to his other page, TJ Blug ... happy readings, Y'all!
chris at
12:42 PM
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My Thanks to Artist Philip Trussell
Very special, humble and happy thanks to painter Philip Trussell (whose work will be showing next week in Austin--i'm not certain of the location, but will try to find out and add to this post later today or tomorrow) for the beautiful gift of one of his fine works (a surprise gifted to me at the poetry reading's reception on Saturday evening in Austin, at the home of Dale Smith and Hoa Nguyen, Keaton and Waylon).
Philip: this is just a note to say how much I appreciate your kind consideration, and the terrific energy of this painting.
Thanks so much!
best,
c
ps. Hey, Y'all: as soon as I can I'll be taking a photo of this beautiful painting and then to scan it for posting to texfiles. I'm so happy to have it and to be able to share something of it with you. Yeah!
o~o/
chris at
3:53 AM
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On the (poetry) Road, Again: with Eileen Tabios and Sandy & Barbara McIntosh
HEY, AUSTIN TEXAS: POETRY_HEAT LOVES Y'ALL ...
What a super time we all had (Eileen Tabios--you rock!) (readers: *everything* you have heard about Eileen is absolutely true) on our poetry-reading-road-trip, where we met up with Skanky Possum's super-possums (hey: check out the Blog Awards list there!--go Dale) at 12th Street Books (many thanks to Luke Bilberry for graciously making available this wonderful reading space to us).
Eileen and I drove down yesterday afternoon in (shall I say ) *moi* bright red trucky thing, and Sandy McIntosh and his super-wife, Barbara (who kept us all on track in the most gracious and disarming way that I have ever seen anywhere), drove in a rental car: this drive is not a pleasant one, Y'all: flatlands, Tex, all the way, and it was dreary weather, gray-rain-gray, all the way. But who had time to notice weather?--not me--I was way too busily involved in conversations about poetry with Eileen. Everything I've always admired about her as poet, thinker, publisher, and super-blogger, was confirmed and more. Absolutely one of the warmest friends a person could ever find--I say this to acknowledge the friendship and to let Y'all know how much I really appreciate the opportunity this week to get to know Eileen in person and to share ideas. I'm so pleased!
Austin is a special place for me because the poetry and arts people there are such a fine group of supportive folk. We pulled into 12th Street Books, visited for a while in that laid-back way that all good po-folk create for their venues and when we'd all had a congenial chance to visit, began the reading. Students from Susan Briante's poetry course at UT attended as well as students from Hoa Nguyen's Saturday poetry course (where Hoa had put together a packet that included poems from Eileen Tabios' Reproductions of the Empty Flagpole, as well as some work from Stefan Hynen, who will be reading at 12th Street Books this week on Thursday evening).
For our reading, Sandy McIntosh read first, offering a sampling from his new book, The After-Death History of My Mother (Marsh Hawk, 2005). Here's one of Sandy's poems that I really:
Meeting an Old Friend at a Lecture
A small leaf settled on your shoulder,
stuck to the threads of your sweater.
I was about to pick it off, but you bent forward,
suddenly attentive to the speaker,
and your wild gray hair flapped
and rustled about your head as if in a wind.
I thought how much like an old tree you had become,
and I would not remove your only leaf.
(Between Earth and Sky--Marsh Hawk, 2002)
Eileen's read from several of her books, including the latest, I Take Thee, English, for my Beloved (Marsh Hawk Press, 2005). Here is one of my favorites:
Question
I am cognizant
my flight
relies on the ladder
of Babel
I speak
ergo, you love me
Why must speech
be one with flight--
The paradox
of writing
You away from
me away from you
while you witness
all in silence
The congenial crowd stayed for a while talking and sipping wine, then we moved over to the home of Dale Smith and Hoa Nguyen for a happy get together, with such fine poetry folk as Susan Briante, Farid Martuk, Phillip Trussell, Sharon Roos, the fabulous Keaton, Eric, Waylon, Zack, and many more good po-folk.
What I most want to say is I think we are all blessed or charmed (and both are fine with me) in this po-stuff.
More soon: the Dallas reading (Shin Yu Pai came out to hear, and is also reading next week!)
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