First Book Interview #19 - Dan Albergotti

Here you go:

#19 - Dan Albergotti

First Book Interview #15 - James Allen Hall

Another First Book Interview.

#15 - James Allen Hall

Thanks for reading. More on the way, as always.

First Book Interview #14 - Alison Pelegrin

Here you go, folks:

#14 - Alison Pelegrin

Sorry again for just one this time around.

I'm hoping two weeks from now I'll be able to get back to two every two weeks.

Lots of good ones to post, and many good ones upcoming.

Fat Angel, Skinny Ghost

Arizona and Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl. As long as Philly's not in it, that works for me. It should be a good one. I'm glad not in western PA right now, as I'd have to listen to all the annoying Steelers fans, many fairweather and bandwagon also. If Cleveland had as many Super Bowl rings as Pittsburgh, you can bet there'd be more Cleveland fans in the area.

At any rate, I hope Kurt Warner gets his second ring. Gotta support the NFC (as long as it's not Philly or Dallas).

*

Five out of the eight schools I applied to got back to me about my applications being complete. Another needs payment, which somehow I forgot, so hopefully in a week or so I'll have confirmation that now all I have to do is wait.

*

Tusculum Review updated their site, and it looks good.

You can also pre-order the new Copper Nickel #11 and Barn Owl Review #2. They're both shaping up to be great issues methinks.

*

I think I'm going to gear up and edit this chapbook and wing it out there to some contests. Any suggestions for who has contests I should send to? I'm not as up to date with chapbook contests as I am with full-length manuscript contests.

*

A lot of first books I'm looking forward to in 2009. I've already been bugging some poets like crazy to do interviews. I saw work over the past years in journals from all of them, and I knew the books would soon follow. And they did.

*

Order Blake Butler's EVER. I just got my copy the other day, and it looks amazing. Derek White and Calamari Press did a great job. The design is really stunning. Now I just need some time to get in those pages.

Wednesday

I'm finally getting over the Giants loss to the Eagles. It was just an awful game. I'm sure it was said previously, but Walter Matthau in The Bad News Bears sums it up: "When we win, it's a team win. When we lose, it's a team loss." With so many players, you can't blame it on Eli, or Gilbride's play calling, or anyone or anything else. Some plays went their way. Others didn't. But damn it hurts to lose to the Eagles.

Now there's talk of giving Eli millions to seal the deal. I'm OK with that. Like many have said, he has as many rings as Favre or his brother, and he still has many seasons to go to have a shot to do what few quarterbacks have done in winning more than one.

And will Plaxico be back? Who knows? Would we have gone further and not lost four out of the last five games with him in the line-up? Maybe.

It's going to be a very interesting off-season and a very few interesting months as the NFL in 2009 unfolds.

Needless to say, I'm now a Cardinals fan for the rest of the playoffs. I'd like to see Warner throw for about 500 yards, and hopefully Boldin is healthy.

*

Got the word that three out of my eight Ph.D applications are complete, which is nice to know. I sent quick emails to the other Graduate Coordinators to see when I'll find out they're complete. I'm anxious to know a decision, of course, but before that can happen, they have to have everything, and after all the work that went into all of them, knowing that they have everything is fine for now.

*

I recently traded manuscripts with a fellow poet whose work I've been a huge fan of these last few years. It's nice to see so many poets and writers recently have been very generous about showing their work to pretty much a complete stranger.

But his manuscript's an ass-kicker, it's been a finalist a bunch in the last few months for contests, and it's a manuscript I hope to see come out soon. There are many people who would flip over this book.

This has happened a few times in the last year or so, and everyone either has since found out their book is coming out, or I know they will be soon.

I almost find it more rewarding to delve into a "book" that may not be finalized with its full-color cover and ISBN on the back. There's something about poetic purgatory that's inspiring to me, and it makes the process much more interesting, knowing all of these poets (and hopefully myself) are getting closer and closer to their books getting the word that publication is happening imminently.

*

Two records that I've been enjoying lately: Tim Hecker's An Imaginary Country and Loney Dear's Dear John. Entirely different styles for different moods, but it seems that each artist has produced their most focused album to date. Tim Hecker's doing amazing, amazing things.

*

New issues in the mail lately that I'm excited to read:

- Ninth Letter
- Hayden's Ferry Review
- Zone 3
- The Journal

There's not enough time in a day.

Sure Thing, Joe Mayo

A few days ago I decided to suck it up and spend maybe way too many hours trying to assemble a chapbook of newer poems from the last couple of months. A few have been published, and every single one of the others is currently out in the world for consideration. If I didn't like the work, I probably wouldn't be doing this. I think.

I'm not sure of the project, where it'll go, if it'll turn into anything, etc., but I wanted to keep moving. It seems like there are enough reasons not to keep writing and working on poems and projects, and so many of those I don't, thankfully, have at this juncture.

I put together a chapbook once, a few years ago, and miraculously it was somehow a finalist for Poetry West. But I'm still not sure how much one has to sustain the work, if there can be bigger gaps of logic between poems, if the dynamic is changed since it's more of a sprint than any kind of distance-running.

Like a full-length manuscript, I'm just going, and hoping for some eventual destination.

Most importantly, though, is the move on doctrine. I'm not the kind of fool or egotist who says, "I'm working on my second book." I don't have a book. A book is something tangible, and if it's a .doc file or a pile of papers most likely imminently ready for the post-reader-"no"-"way" trash, then it's a manuscript. Which is why I don't know if this chapbook project will ever turn into something. I do like the poems, though, and most of them, at least to me, seem different than what's projected throughout Ghost Lights.

But while Ghost Lights is still making the rounds, I want to make sure I'm doing something productive on my end as far as my own work is concerned. I plan to be at this for the rest of my life, and that's a lot of time for too many excuses to come up with why I shouldn't be doing any of it.

And, welcomingly (which I don't think is a word, but should be), I just got a nice note from the Samuel Morse Poetry Prize. I wasn't a finalist or anything, but apparently I made it to the round just before, even though they only announced the finalists. Again, either way, it's encouraging for all the ink and paper to still snake its way through the hands of postal workers to states and states and states.

First Book Interview #13 - Sarah Vap

There's only one today, but it's a good one.

#13 - Sarah Vap

I have many more to get out over the next few weeks, so once I get those going I can get back to doing two at a time.

My apologies to those of you who may have been expecting two.

New First Book Interviews and More

It's finally Ladies Night with the First Book Interviews:

#9 - Susan Settlemyre Williams

#10 - Suzanne Frischkorn

More in a couple weeks...

*

I'm now super disappointed I'm not going to AWP. I was asked to read with the folks below, but since I won't be there, I unfortunately won't be reading. Should be great. Make sure you're there if you're going to AWP.

Here's the post from Steve Schroeder's blog:

AWP Offsite Reading

Anti- and diode are happy to announce the co-sponsoring of an offsite reading at the 2009 AWP Conference in Chicago. The reading will be Friday, February 13th at 7 PM in Curtiss Hall on the 10th floor of the Fine Arts Building at 410 S. Michigan Avenue (just a couple blocks from the conference hotel).

Readers include:

Jake Adam York
Joshua Ware
G. C. Waldrep
Steven D. Schroeder
Lee Ann Roripaugh
Ada Limon
Patrick Lawler
Bob Hicok
Paul Guest
Matthew Guenette
Brent Goodman
Noah Falck
Adam Clay
Mary Biddinger

Food and wine of some kind will be provided. Much gratitude to Patty Paine for doing most of the heavy lifting to organize this event, to the Fine Arts Building for providing space, and to the readers.

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Huge congratulations to Nicky Beer, whose first book, The Diminishing House, will be published by Carnegie Mellon University Press in early 2010.

I've been a fan of Nicky's work for a while now, and anticipated great things happening for her.

Now she has a Ruth Lilly fellowship and a first book on the way.

Sometimes I do actually know what I'm talking about...

*

I've been on a documentary kick lately, and I plan to keep devouring them.

I don't feel like writing much about each one, but all of these are more than worth seeing: The Gits, Man on Wire, and American Teen.

*

Applications are almost done. I can't believe it.

Also I can't believe that applying to 8 schools will end up costing around $1000 when all is said and done.

Hopefully it'll all be worth it in the end.

Birth

I turn 27 today.

It may be weird or seemingly narcissistic or nonsensical or egotistical, but I find all I keep saying to myself is, "I have 3 years to get my first book into the world." Yes, my goal, like many of the folks under 30 who have a first manuscript floating around, is the age of 30.

But considering the state of the world, I'm lucky to have lived this long thus far. And now that I'm hopefully onto the second manuscript, or at least the seeds of it, there are many other things I should probably be worrying about or at the very least concerned with at this point in my life.

*

Speaking of first books, I received Sean Nevin's Oblivio Gate in the mail today.

He's doing a first book interview in the future, and I'm very glad he agreed. He won the 2007 Crab Orchard First Book Award, for which I was also a finalist the first time I ever sent out my "book."

Learning of Sean Nevin as the winner, I immediately started Googling his name and checking out his work, and from what I could find, I was pretty blown away. And I'm flattered and flabbergasted my book, as it was then, was thought to be good enough to be in his company.

Not only that, but there's a reason (probably many, actually) why my book wasn't picked. It wasn't ready. It had a different title. Many different poems. I think the idea and structure's guts and circuits haven't changed much, but it was in a very early and rough stage.

Maybe I'll be saying the same thing in a year or two, but I don't think so. I hope not at least.

Without entering the contest, I'm not sure I would've known about his book. I think it will be getting its due in the future. I've started reading through it already, and it's making me want to sit down and write: always a sign that I need to trust that instinct. And not all first books bring that kind of magic through first reads.

Anyway, be sure to check it out.

SIU Press not only does beautiful books, but they're consistent with quality also. I think they'll be an important press as long as people are still reading contemporary poetry.

*

Regarding this post a week ago, it looks like the faux pas has been fixed.

There's no reason to mention the journal, since it was of course an honest mistake, but the interesting thing is the next day I received an email from the Web Editor of another journal, who saw my post and contact the aforementioned journal about their security issues.

It looks like the problem has been fixed, thankfully, as I said. I was more worried about another email address getting out there and spammed more than anything else.

I did, however, take it upon myself to put the link in and grab all the other submissions that I could get that got through to Google. Many of the poets have books out and / or have been published in pretty prominent journals. It's funny how you never know who's sending work, and you never know what you're up against, since so many journals publish from the transom or slush pile and take around 2%-5% of the work submitted that isn't solicited.

Almost Halloween

Thanks to Carolyn Kellogg for the shout out in the Jacket Copy blog from the LA Times about the first book interviews.

As I said from the beginning, I'm hoping there's enough interest in this for the word to spread as more people find out about it, both at Kate's site and my continuation of it, without me having to spam people or make a Facebook group and bombard people that way for others to go to it.

Not only that, but I found out about Kate's interviews when she had already conducted around forty or so. You can image how thrilled I was when I had all that reading material to go back to in the archives.

*

Took the GRE Lit Subject Test finally last Saturday. I always find the process and the dynamic so interesting and weird with these tests. We were in a room I've probably taught in before in the new VCU Business Building, and there were maybe 20-25 of us. Most were taking tests like Biology or Physics, and only a few were taking the Lit Subject Test. I wondered how everyone's future would go, how far some of them drove for a test, what everyone's reasons were for taking it, whatever the subject was.

There were a decent amount of questions I knew. Per the ETS policy, I shall not speak of such specifics regarding those questions here, but many of the everyone-talks-about-this-writer-or-this-poem-being-on-the-test folks were indeed on the test in some fashion. Either way, now I can focus on applications and the rest of the application process. High five for no more standardized tests. Borat style.

*

The new Helios record, Caesura, and the new Near the Parenthesis record, L'Eixample, may just end up being at the top of my year-end best-of list.

Beautiful stuff all around, and perfect for the fall. Both of these guys have such a knack for writing gorgeous music, and though sometimes (in the best possible way) a band like Hammock can be sleep-inducing, there's usually more bass and background keyboards and computerized drums and drum machines and percussion sounds like that to make it listenable in so many environments. Reading, writing, road trip. But I think these records coming out in the fall months are melding into some ineffably perfect soundtrack for me.

They'll be getting a ton of plays as the months go on, and you should do your favor and check them out.

*

There are a few manuscript contests coming up that call for about ten more pages than I have for the minimum to be considered. It's weird to beef it up for contests now that I trimmed so much off. Like putting deleted scenes back into a movie once you've already cut what you deem as the final print.

But I'm trying to figure out what I can put back in, since I really haven't written or published much new stuff that would fit with the first manuscript. Many poems have come and gone, as they do with the manuscript process, so I don't feel like the poems necessarily don't belong again, but it's just an odd feeling: putting poems back in when you haven't seen them for so long. Maybe some of them will make a case for a permanent stay. I'm not sure yet.

Ballast

When I saw a still from Ballast as one of the Sundance movies a year or two ago, I thought it was striking. When I found out more about it, I was even more excited.

The trailer was finally put up a few days ago, and immediately after seeing it, just the trailer, my thought was, "I really can't see how this won't be making an appearance on my favorite 100 movies list once the next one is constructed."

Immediately many directors came to mind: The Dardenne Brothers, David Gordon Green, Terrence Malick, Charles Burnett, Ed Radtke, and Lynne Ramsay. If that's not worthy of jaw-dropping awe, then I don't know what is.

The movie opens in New York October 1st, so if you live there, see it. And if you see it, you should let me know about it.

Can't wait until I do.

*

In a post titled "The Good, the bad, the numbers," Leslie Harrison talks about some interesting manuscript-related things, most which seem important, at least to me.

Here's one of the excerpts:

Number of contests this manuscript got sent to: 6.
Number of years I worked on this ms before sending it anywhere: 8.
Number of poems from this ms published in journals prior to its winning: Umm, maybe 8.

The second and third lines of that are very good to know, mainly the fact that she worked on it for eight years before it was sent out. I thought about my own, and I realized that technically it's been worked on for about two years, mainly because even the published poems -- almost every single one I think -- I wrote my first two years of my MFA either weren't good enough, or they didn't fit, or were never a part of the manuscript from the beginning.

That said, and as I've said before, I think it's ready to go now. Every unsigned "Dear Poet, this manuscript blows. Enclosed are the ashes left from the fire in the bucket we used to burn it." I'm kidding of course, and the great thing about rejections are they push you to make a better manuscript, or better poems. That's what every one did for mine. Without them, and without having sent it out to all those contests, I wouldn't have been as furious when it came to changing things.

I also feel like I could spend another X amount of years on it, and it wouldn't change much at all. Another good sign I hope that it's legitimately ready. It's a book now. It wasn't when it was getting the few placing nods it got about a year ago, and still, the fact that it was placing also made me work harder. And even though I'm sending it out, it may take another five years. I really hope it doesn't, but be that as it may, I'm still trying to work on new stuff and get away from a lot of the types of poems that comprise GHOST LIGHTS.

But I think it's important for folks like myself to look at the time Leslie spent on her manuscript. In the world of tons of new journals and MFA programs now, don't tell me that there aren't those racing to get a career and put a book out. Then again, it's probably been like that for a while. Yet there are also folks that are making sure there book is as solid as it can be before they send it out. Giving. It. Time. I did things differently, and we all do, but I always like hearing things like that -- and find them kind of fascinating, because I'm more of a nerd probably than I'd like to admit -- in blog posts from poets.

*

Since there's going to be a July wedding in 2009 for Jess and myself, we're trying to get as much clutter out of already fairly clutter-free apartment, even though Jess would probably complain that it's all my stuff comprising the clutter. Moving's going to be a bitch anyway, but trying to do some things now will save a lot of hassle.

One of the most contributing factors is the amount of paper journals and magazines I have.

When I first got to Richmond I decided that if I was going to try to publish poems, I should buy some subscriptions to journals. This was a great idea, and a very helpful and instructional one. However, after a few years, they added up, since most of them are thicker and wider than actual books. Not to mention the small stack I have going of issues I'm appearing in. I'm not Bob Hicok, so I don't have many to speak of, but hopefully the list keeps growing as the years go on.

My question is: What's the proper way to get rid of them? I don't want to throw them out, but there are too many to keep and have around, especially since I won't be returning to almost all of them. I think they could help folks who are curious about publishing, since the reason I did get all the subscriptions was to not only read them, but to see what they looked like, how they felt in my hand, what kind of covers they had, and of course what they were publishing to see if I had a chance to get in there with my own work.

Like I said: I don't want to throw them away, but I want to make sure they're going to go somewhere people will have access to them, either by reading them or taking them for free. I'm done with them, and even though they're a few years old, they're still good for reference at the very least I'd imagine, and in many cases the journals have the same editors and aesthetic.

Let me know if you know what would be a good idea, or if you have experience with this. I don't need money for them and don't expect it, but "donating" doesn't always translate into something that makes people happy. Meaning: I want them to be used, for whatever reason, by people. Not get taken as a donation and thrown in the back alley for the garbage truck to collect, when I could've done that myself.

*

It was Finland's second school massacre in less than a year and the two attacks had eerie similarities. Both gunmen posted violent clips on YouTube prior to the massacres, both were fascinated by the 1999 Columbine school shootings in Colorado, both attacked their own schools and both died after shooting themselves in the head.

I still can't believe things happen like this. I almost can't comprehend it. Like everything occurred in a language I will never understand.

Sunday

The Pineapple Express was great. Sean informed me after we got out of the theater that, "They give more tickets away than they have seats for," since he's been to advance screenings before. I'm glad that happened after we saw the movie, even though there were still a decent amount of seats left. And funnily enough we couldn't take our cell phones in. Mine's so old I can't even take video. Is it really going to help the movie to not leak? And a clip that's a minute and a half on YouTube? People will still see it.

There were nods to Knocked Up, Ding-A-Ling-Less (and a quick Robert Longstreet cameo at the beginning), George Washington ("You gotta be the dumbest motherfucker in captivity," though in the aforementioned it's sans curse), and probably a few others. Admittedly, it was much weirder than I thought it was going to be. Yes, much of it seemed improvised. It's Seth Rogan, so he kind of plays the same deadbeat type of character too. James Franco's pretty hilarious, and Craig Robinson has a pretty hilarious supporting role. Danny McBride, a la the All the Real Girls deleted scenes, really gets to have his moments, and I imagine people may get a bit tired of it, but so much was ridiculous and hilarious. But you have to live in the world. The story pretty much couldn't happen in real life, so you're either along for the ride or you're not. I found myself laughing out loud at some stuff and being pretty much the only person in the theater laughing, which I oddly find welcoming when such a thing happens.

I'll see it again probably when my brothers are down here next weekend, depending on how we feel I suppose, but I'm sure it'll happen at some point.

Speaking of David Gordon Green, Snow Angels finally has a DVD release date of September 16th. The bad news is it seems ludicrously bare-bones. Three commentaries for his previous films, and now they have nothing? No featurette? Not even one deleted scene? I don't care too much since it'll be my first time actually seeing the movie. But I expected more. It's still pre-order city for me though.

*

Over 20 poets with first books (and some with more) have volunteered to participate in the continuation of the first book interviews. Many have been nice enough to send their books also, for those poets whose books I don't already own. Unfortunately I don't have the extra few hundred bones to purchase as many first books as I'd like to compensate for all the poets deciding to do this. And I don't think everyone wants to see the exact same questions answered, though many will be repeated in each interview of course.

Hopefully the first one will be posted by the end of August, but I might wait until September. It works both ways, meaning I can send all I want, but if folks are busy and need some time to get the interviews back, I want to already have a good amount before I post so I can post them semi-regularly and have some kind of schedule. I'll keep interested parties updated.

*

I didn't start this blog to bitch or enter into arguments or anything, but there are a few things that have not been leaving my head lately, and I want to enter into this conversation. A few weeks ago Eduardo posted about having some pet peeves about poet bios: one being Pushcart nominations, and the other with "prize-winning poet" attached. Then Steve Schroeder chimed in with poets talking about where their books have placed as either a finalist or semi-finalist in contests.

I agree with the fact that "prize-winning poet" is a bit lame, since the prize could be something you won only within your MFA program, with you and four others. However, I'm fine with the other two points of interest in a bio. Here's why.

As far as the Pushcart nominations go, for a beginning poet like myself (I've been writing seriously for only about two years, if that), I think it's something that can make editors take a second look at your work. Am I asking that they spend hours upon hours pouring over my work? No. But as long as you're semi-humbling on your cover letter, that could something that they may be interested to know. Again, you're probably not shouting it from the rooftops, but on a blog or cover letter? Sure, why not?

And yes, with so many online journals, it's easiER to get nominated, but it still isn't necessarily easy (unless you have an "in" with the editor that actually helps get you nominated). You have to get published for one. Secondly they're probably going to pick some fiction in there too, out of, I think six total? But to be among the crop of work they liked the most and, ideally, have the most faith in it as far as it being picked in a pool of thousands of pieces of writing (meaning the actual Pushcart judging), I think that's a nice thing to be a part of. Both of my nominations were from online journals. I knew I didn't have a chance in hell, and they probably thought I didn't either, but for someone who had really just started taking writing and publishing seriously, and to have them be some of the first poems I published, again, I was pretty honored to be among their choices.

I've since taken the nominations off my bio and cover letter, but I don't see the problem with it on there if you choose to go that route. Some writers have been nominated over twenty times, some probably over fifty. And some will die with multiple books out without a Pushcart. I've never read or have even seen a physical Pushcart anthology anyway. So why gripe about such a harmless inclusion on someone's bio in the first place?

As far as the book length manuscript contest placings go, I also think that's good information to know, whether you're an editor or a general reader. That may be something editors want to know. If they don't: fine. If they want to shred my submission on general principle because they think I'm trying to sound like a badass (which, laughably, I'm not, and I don't think anyone else is assuming such by placing that within their bio or cover letter either): fine. If they could give two shits but still end up liking the work: fine. But for me, if I like the said poet's work and read where they've placed in a manuscript contest in their contributor notes, and / or if I think I have something in common with them as far as their writing goes, I'd be more apt to send to that contest if I had a first book I'm sending out, and I currently do. The same screeners may like my work also. Plus, there are some contests I've initially found out about through seeing those bios.

Now Steve's been an editor at a few places, and he's seeing many submissions I imagine, so I'm sure he's not the only one with those gripes. Also, I imagine there are some folks with needlessly and hysterically ostentatious 25-line bios, and that may be where all the pet peeves stem from.

But again, I just don't get all the hostility, and I see this bitching from people on different blogs, at different times, continually -- enough to have me sit down and write about it, as long as I've taken to do it -- whether it's all in good fun or not.

I guess I could go into a rant on how annoying it is to see how many residencies people have gotten. Why do I care about that? Many people get them, tons of those fellows and scholars still never publish books, and tons of people who don't deserve to go end up going. It's all about the folks reading the applications. And for the record, I've never applied for one and don't plan on applying soon. But if I had a recent residency at Yaddo would I mention it on my bio? Sure. Do we need to know, however, that after fifteen residences you still don't have a book out? Nope.

Again, I'm not trying to start some big altercation, or any semblance of an altercation, and I don't think anyone reads this in the first place, but I wanted to say my peace since it's been in my head for a long time. I think if more people concentrated on the work, though, both with reading others' and writing their own, there would be less attention toward bios in the first place, since we all know they are -- or should be -- of little importance on a cover letter or blog or website.

I'm not an "editor," (though that's becoming more of a stock footage term these days anyway) and I've never been, but I always hope if I get something published -- whether it's from an online journal hosted by Geocities or the New Yorker -- that it's from the opinion of that editor that they like it and want to publish it. And if somehow a Pushcart nomination comes from it, then thank you very much.

First Book Interviews a Go / Pineapple Express

The First Book Interviews are a go. I'm going to start a blog and continue Kate's tradition. I'm in the process of contacting poets right now to see if they want to participate. I'm also going to be asking poets with either two or three books (depending on where they are in their careers) to get more of a rounded perspective, to see what's happened in the last few years versus one or two. I'm excited to continue this, especially since there are so many great poets writing out there with books. Inquiring minds want to know about your experience.

Once the interviews start getting gathered and I have enough to keep it updated regularly, all the info will be out. Keep checking here. I hope to get it up and started by mid-August, but if not it'll hopefully be ready for the beginning of the fall semester.

*

My friend Sean got advance tickets to The Pineapple Express for a week from today, July 30th, at 7:30 P.M. Holy shit I'm psyched.

This will also be my first advance screening ever. I'll be driving, so there will be no smoking before, not that I do that anyway, or have ever done it. Marijuana's illegal, people, come on.

*

Chorus of the year goes to Ra Ra Riot for their beautifully 80s synth-pop oriented tune, "Too Too Too Fast."

*

"When I look in your eyes, what am I supposed to do?"

Ra Ra Riot

The new Ra Ra Riot record leaked, and though I always say it and never do it, I hope to actually purchase it, because it's great. The most unfortunate thing that I have to get used to is the production, as the rawness from the EP seems to be absent, and "Each Year" doesn't have the beautiful string flourishes in the end like it used to.

Also, most of the tracks from the EP are on the record, so there aren't as many new cuts as I'd hoped.

Handsome is publishing my poem later in the year (or at the beginning of next year?) of the weird elegy I wrote for John Pike, their drummer who died last summer. I still find it weird that I had to see an article about his death on Pitchfork to find out about the band, which guilted me into writing the initial draft of the poem.

It's a solid record, though. I don't know if I'd quite call them chamber punk, since they don't shy away from melody, but the strings add so much that an extra guitar couldn't.

*

Season 3 of Entourage is On Demand via Comcast, and I devoured most of the season last night (and have spent much time rewatching On Demand episodes from all the seasons). I can't wait for Season 5. I suck and read some spoilers, and if they're right, it's going to be a pretty wild season.

Thank God it's returning. Can you really leave Medillin to the one-dollar purchase of Harvey, while Drama's banging some Viking Quest obsessed fan on the beach?

*

Since none of my students came to visit me in my office yesterday, I spent about three hours searching for more contests to send to. I made a good dent, and there are many I was unsure of, since I didn't recognize the names of winners or published books. But the list is growing. I'm ready for the fall and winter, and I started my 2009 list of contests already too.

*

I already got in touch with some folks about the first book interviews, and it seems like they're down. I hope to talk to some people on their second or third books in addition to those who have only first books. I think it'd be interesting to gain some perspective on how things have changed at least over the last few years. More on this later.

Mirrorful

I'm always back and forth whether I like David Mamet's movies or not. Glengarry Glen Ross is amazing to me, and I'm one of those folks on the bandwagon. The play's amazing, and the movie's incredible just as well. But I saw a DVD screener rip of Redbelt and, well, there's a reason why DVD screeners are thrown out there. So people don't waste their money on crappy rentals. I kept wanting to really like it, and yes, you're watching a Mametian world when you watch a Mamet film. But there were so many loose ends, seemingly miraculous -- and therefore nonsensical -- and forced plot grafts, and a pretty awful ending. I feel like it would've been better at either two hours and thirty minutes, or thirty minutes. With more TLC and better writing it could have been a contender, maybe. Or at a kind of pace like fighting. Blistering and all-encompassing. But as it is, somewhere in the netherworld middle, it doesn't work. Glad I won't be paying any kind of cash to see this.

I also watched Ils (or "Them") which was the influence for The Strangers, or so they say. Maybe spoilers ahead if you haven't seen either one, so you're warned. I think all in all I liked The Strangers better, but a combination of good elements from oth would have, ideally, made the ultimate flick. The Strangers was kept in check by the claustrophobic environment, using primarily the house as the main set. But only three of the attackers was a bit weird, and you wonder if they'd have been able to cause all the trouble. In Ils, it was a pack of kids in their early teens. Disturbed. Deranged. Whatever the reason. Ils, though, had the crazy tunnel scenes through the sewers, but it took a hell of a long time to get going for a movie that was really only 70 minutes long. I don't know if I'll be watching either again, but the comparison was interesting. They're no Suspiria or Texas Chainsaw Massacre of course.

Speaking of which, I wonder if David Gordon Green will be doing the Suspira remake? I'm not sure if the movie should be remade, even if it is by one of my favorite directors. We shall see.

*

I started going through some of the discs I actually want to import into my Itunes and I found so many I haven't listened to in a long time. I may every once in a while do a revisit to an older disc that for whatever reason needs to be mentioned. This time it's the self-titled Jawbox record. It's one of my favorite rock records of all time, but even more it has some of the best drumming on it that isn't someone like Dave Weckl, Neil Peart, or Bill Bruford.

But Zachary Barocas is also a monolith in his own right. I'm not just talking about someone like Damon Che either where it gets proggy or seemingly poly-handed and furious. There's always a method to his madness, whether fast or slow, groovy or more D.C. hardcore. There's a judicous use of the higher end toms on this record and lots of groovy polyrhythms that never lose the beat. Plus the production (did J. Robbins do it?) sounds like it's from last year and this record's over 10 years old. I remember first buying it after seeing the "Mirrorful" video on 120 minutes. The song blew my mind. But I didn't get the record. That was after my punk rock phase, so I didn't get complexity yet. I wasn't used to good lyrics or discordant guitar playing.

Hilariously, I just found out that Zach also writes poetry, and has a book out. And yes, he has an interview with Kate Greenstreet. Why do I always discover this weird shit so much later? Either way. Good stuff. Chalk up another connection due to blogging.

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I keep seeing guys around Richmond that look like Joe Bolton. the big glasses, kind of scruffy hair, and just that same face. It's really odd. I get from much of the work in "The Last Nostalgia" that his ghost may have lived here. Much of the content in the poems remind me of Richmond. Maybe southern cities are interchangeable, or any cities for that matter, when it comes to the ghost of poets.

July's Already Flying

Thanks to Jay, Mary and the rest of the folks at Barn Owl Review for taking my poem, "Alternate Featurette, Keane." I worked on a kind of series of poems, what I call ekphrastic film (ekphracinema?) poems, a few months ago and beyond. I've seen poems about films in the past, and the questions in my mind was always, "If I haven't seen it, will this make sense?" I wasn't really worrying too much about my audience while writing these, though, as I didn't want to enter any kind of paralysis, so I just went for it. And I like how they turned out. And if you haven't seen Lodge Kerrigan's films, you should.

There are still some out there that I like that no one's taken, but I have faith in them, so they'll keep going out. The first issue of BOR had a ton of great contributors and an awesome cover. From the updated list of contributors it looks like I'm going to be in the company of many talented folks, and that's also my first acceptance for a 2009 publication.

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Just got my contributor copies of Fourteen Hills in the mail today. The cover's white with a ton of space on it, with a piece from the featured artist Vanessa Hampton overlapping the binding centered left. Lots of good stuff in here, with work by Lance Larsen, Matthew Zapruder, Daniel Coudriet, Onna Solomon, Randall Mann, Derek White, Rebecca Foust, and others. It's always a handsomely designed journal, and this one is no exception, so pick yourself up a copy.

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The VA Beach trip was a great time, minus the traffic there and back, what the folks in the know call the "tunnel traffic." But thankfully we were coming from and going back to Richmond, instead of Charlottesville or places beyond. There were also a lot of PA license plates and tons of families within many of the cars. I can imagine all the restless kids in mini-vans. Yikesville. Thanks to Tim and Stenia for hosting us. They have a great place about 12 blocks from the beach. We sat on the beach and watched the fireworks on the 4th, which is something I've never done. We ate hardshell Jimmies at a place by the water called Bubba's, got some beach time in, and drank a lot of beer. I was up till about 5 in the morning every night, mostly playing Wii Bowling. I don't take my vacations lightly. After the weekend before with Corey and Sarah visiting us, and last weekend visiting Tim and Stenia, I'm going to try my best to detox for two weeks, and also not eat out. I may stick to iceberg lettuce and water. I wish I could at least.

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Seth Abramson, in his always-meticulous way, breaks down, kind of, some percentages and such with smaller presses, first book contests, open reading periods, etc. on his blog. It's interesting stuff, and everyone should thank him for taking the time. But always with opinions and research, there's going to be some backlash, with some presses responding in his comments field. I understand contents and reading fees, so I have no problem there. I imagine it's hard for even the bigger publishing houses to make money to keep pressing poetry books. I didn't really learn anything I didn't know already, but again, it's interesting to see some of the breakdowns.

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About an hour ago when I was walking to school there was this mildly retarded guy walking toward me who stopped to ask me a question: "Do you know where the copy machine is?" I was immediately taken aback, as I thought it was possibly an existential inquiry. The copy machine in the sky? God, known as "the copy machine"? Was he on his way to some warehouse to try and get cloned? Then he said, "I'm sorry, not the copy machine, the copy shop on Main." I thought I knew what he was talking about, so I tried to lead him there. Then, as soon as I turned around and saw him walking, I didn't know where the hell I had led him. I'm horrendous with where I am in space. I hope he got to where he needed to go.

*

A student just left my office, and I don't think I helped her at all. She closes her eyes and looks away when she's talking. And when I talk to her she just stares at me. I don't know if she has some kind of disability or what, but it's hard for me to help her. It's a situation I've never really been in before, this kind of interaction. At one point I was talking for five straight minutes. Then she said, "OK, thanks," and walked out of my office. I'm not sure what else I can do, and I hate those odd situations where I feel helpless and possibly useless.

*

All this talk of Kate Greenstreet's first book interviews has gotten me wanting to continue the project. I emailed Kate a few days ago, but haven't heard a response from her. There are so many poets whose books are coming out that I want to buy, not to mention friends, that I'd love to talk to. I just think it's such a beneficial project in so many ways. I suppose if she doesn't want to continue it through her website (I asked her if I could do all the emailing and copy-editing and whatnot and she could just post the finish products), I'm going to start an additional blog with new interviews. The people want to know. And I want to give them that information.

the usual i suppose

so amidst all the movie watching i had to talk about these, first of all. i saw shotgun stories finally after a long wait and no way to get a dvd rip off the internet. it was pretty amazing and lived up to the hype (and look at how gorgeous and 70s the poster is). especially since jeff nichols was around 28 when he completed it. there's tons of amazing arkansas scenery (shot by adam stone, who's done a.d. work with david gordon green), a great score by lucero (with some help from pyramid), and a pretty compelling story. i come from a family of 3 brothers, so i think those of us who do maybe feel more of a bond as such, but even if you're not a part of such a family, you can see the potential for a long career for jeff nichols by watching this film. if you don't know what it's about you can find out for yourself, but it was worth the wait for me. plus there's a music-only track, which i think shows how compelling the scenery is. it takes a good cinematographer, yes, but so many great landscapes could be captures by monkeys behind the lens and come out beautiful. movies with an additional main character as the landscape have always intrigued me, and this adds to the list. jeff nichols is also taking over for david gordon green as the director for goat, the memoir written by brad land. i hope they film it in south carolina. it should be in production now, at least that's what imdb says.

in bruges was a weird little flick too. saw the trailer on apple's site a while back, and it looked intriguing. it ends up being written like tarantino, the coen brothers, and bruce robinson (more withnail and i than how to get ahead in advertising) collaborated (and carter burwell also did the music), while filming the whole thing in a little town in belgium. throughout the whole movie they're also drinking great beer out of glass chalices and oversided wine glasses. tripels and belgian strong pale ales it looked like to me mostly. as the movie gets a bit over-the-top with its comedic racism and prejudice, collin ferrell's character keeps calling them "gay beers," which someone else can read into. there's a ton of twists, a ton of swearing, and a lot of accents thrown at you. it was a pretty wild ride, and i liked it a lot, mainly because i was torn between so many things to think about. am i laughing at this? am i offended? am i supposed to be offended? is this supposed to be funny? though it meshed well instead of being completely off-putting.

back to the documentary side of things. jandek on corwood was fairly mind-blowing, in that i never got into jandek's music. when i was music director at warc at allegheny, though, i'm pretty sure we had a ton of original jandek pressings in our packed little alcove behind the equipment. i could've made a ton of money had i spent more time reading about record collecting. we had so much out of print stuff, not old jazz records as much as radio issued singles, limited pressings, etc. all of it spanning back into the 80s. i can see why people like the music, but i never got into it. i just didn't know about the insane mysteries surrounding this guy, and the whole thing is utterly fascinating and engrossing. salinger-esque was his life (before, apparently, he started playing scant live sets in, i think, 2004 until the present and beyond), though many think the talent factor is a little skewed. anyone into music probably already knows a bit about jandek, but if you are and you don't, this thing's worth seeing. i spent a ton of time looking at the supplements, sans commentary, and did more research on the web after it's over. a whole psychology class could be taught on this guy, his methods, his music, his reclusive nature.

and finally, slasher blew me away. a movie about a guy who's hired to slash prices for car dealerships and get them sold and taken off the lot. thankfully, i had no idea what i was in for by just the quick description that i'd seen from the av club. but it was hilarious and humanistic in an american movie kind of way, and i feel like michael bennett's a composite character of a ton of different characters everyone's met, from movies, other documentaries, real life. it was one of those movies that almost shouldn't have been inspiring, but was by the end. plus it's filmed in memphis, and one of the best lensed movies of all time i think is jim jarmusch's mystery train. it seems like a lot hasn't changed visually since 1989. tons of southern wreckage. abandoned houses. dingy avenues. tons of train tracks. beautiful decay all over the place. people wonder why the south is such an amazing place visually. yeah, it's not greece or italy, i know that, but i have some pride in what nature does to our creation in the u.s. within the last 100 years or so. i always find that stuff fascinating. i'm off track here, but the movie blew me away. so many movies lately i want to buy. there are a ton. and this is one of them. see it if you haven't.

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sometimes i think i should've gone into film. with the time i spend watching movies -- and spent watching these movies -- i could've been writing new poems, or at least attempting to write non-horrendous drafts. but then i started thinking that if i could later teach classes in film and poetry, wherever i end up (yeah, pretty easy, i'm sure), that i'd be pretty happy. i wasn't cut out to be a filmmaker, though its fingerprints on my work are more like godzilla's.

but i've used film in my poems in other ways and continue to do so. maybe they're inseparable for me. i think that's the case.

charles bernstein, i think, was the one who said poetry needs to be at least as interesting as television, or something as such. well, i guess for me it has to be as interesting as a great movie or documentary. then again, so many movies are pure poetry too.

endeth here before i go too far into realms of non-understanding to my own understanding.

*

c. dale young has a post from a few days ago that i really like, where he talks about "god" appearing in his manuscript more than he'd thought, and wondering if it's too much. though now he's come to terms with it, knowing it isn't.

though this is his third book and he's had a lot of experience, it's good, i think, for folks who've spent a lot of time with their manuscripts -- as i have in the past year, more time than i'd like to admit -- to question and requestion that. whether it's thematic, like my elegies that seemingly run wild, or just single words. obsessions need to remain our obsessions. but where is the line drawn?

i think all of this is pretty dangerous when starting to just put together a manuscript, and i'm glad i didn't think it about it much then, as it could easily go toward paralysis and make you want to burn it. but having invested a lot of time in a manuscript, it's always good to question, and to hopefully be able to come to terms with kinds of repitition in a beneficial and positive way without convincing yourself falsely.

*

for a mere $.75 (that's cents) plus shipping, i got another copy, though this time a hardcover, from half.com, of lynda hull's the only world. it's an ex-library book (screw you phil levine -- this refers to an older post), but it's in fantastic condition. that original book's amazing, as are all the rest of hers. david wojahn and mark doty did a great job with the new-ish collected, but man, having the original is choice, tops, pinnacle -- not to mention how inspiring her work continues to be for myself and many other poets. i mean, 75 cents, people. can you even get taco bell for that much now?

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and now it's official congratulations (the link is to a .pdf file) to mathias svalina and allison titus, two former vcu mfa-ers (though allison switched and got her mfa in fiction from vcu, she started in poetry) in poetry whose books will be published by cleveland state university press next year. with so many recognizable names as finalists and semi-finalists, i can see why my manuscript, though it was a much older version (yes, i'm making excuses), wasn't among such esteemed folks.

i think the next few years or so are going to have some presses, contests, and judges scratching their heads about which to choose while getting so many great manuscripts, as more and more contests are filled with finalist and semi-finalists whose work i've seen in journals and have really liked. though that's my taste, i think it's pretty good.

*

i just heard outside our office / guest room windows, which looks down upon a street intersecting a few bars (even though we don't get the insane noise of living close by vcu), a woman kind of yelling, on a tuesday of all days, "i should be allowed to go! fuck!" now who knows what she was talking about, but you have to love the incessantly nightly, most-likely post-drunken and possibly pre-coital drama meandering down the streets and careening off the buildings. i don't know if it's our brick walls below or what, but we get this insane echo that bounces of every wall. it sounds freakishly like the conversations / altercations are happening right behind us, in the room. then assholes start blasting their bass as loud as it can go and honking. one of these days i'll post joe bolton's "the party," which totally reminds me of being in the fan district in richmond. it's a love / hate relationship, but more often than not, love wins.

Mondayness

I'm in my office in the Hibbs Building, which is why I'm able to use the caps lock key, which is nice. A friend who works at Richmond's local Mac store said I could switch keyboards with hopefully a working one, which I'm going to try and do tomorrow.

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Had a good weekend with Corey and Sarah visiting. Richmond's a crazy place, and I hope they enjoyed it. We hope to hit some more sites and such next time instead of just Hollywood Cemetery and in and around The Fan.

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Mary Biddinger apparently is starting some posts about first books. I have to say I'm disillusioned with everyone's opinions about it all, meaning with things like that. As I've said in a past post, I've learned more from Kate Greenstreet's interviews on her site. What better than to hear from actual poets who went through it with their own experiences? So much is hysterical, though. Using different clips, and thicker paper, and different fonts. If your book sucks monumentally, it ain't gonna get published. If it's worth publication, then hopefully you're not sending a manuscript bound with a 4x6 Clifford the Big Red Dog Clip in 16-font Palantino on a ream of paper that cost you $50. And I love advice from people who think they're "editors" because they run an online "journal" mainly filled with other poet bloggers who they became friends with so they could solicit them. OK, there are only a few of these folks, but they make me want to switch to fiction sometimes. Still, discussing this stuff I think can be a good thing, even though a lot of it leaves me confused, and annoyed, and sometimes sad.

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Sometimes when I'm teaching I picture Matthew Broderick's Jim McAllister in Election, wearing a different shirt and different tie everyday, but saying the same things, essentially: "Legislative, Executive, Judicial.." "Judicial, Executive, Legislative..." "Executive, Legislative, Judicial..." -- standing somewhere slightly different by the board. Putting a different spin on it. But essentially saying the same thing, and wondering how many students are actually listening or getting anything from it. I do like teaching, especially when someone writes a really great and original and professional argumentative essay (when involving teaching composition of course), but I do hope to try and teach creative writing, and be good at it. No offense to anyone doing such a thing, the adjunct thing, the teaching comp thing, but if I'm doing what I'm doing now in 10 years when I'm 36, I'll be thinking of ways to drive my car off a cliff and make it look like an accident. Maybe I have it too easy, but I'm hoping for big things ahead, and am pushing myself as much as possible toward those goals.

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I'm hoping, after the 4th, to start getting a kind of spreadsheet going for the Ph.D information. Most likely we'll be some place close to home, the western PA, Pittsburgh area, though this can vary I suppose if a school in the Midwest wants to give me a fellowship and a 1/1 teaching load. Doubtful, yes, but if it happens who knows what direction we'll be moving toward. I know the process is going to suck, but I'm dying without a community, without reading for pleasure amidst criticism, without writing papers and exploring the many aspects and parts of the craft I have yet to discover and learn about. It's time.

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The new Ninth Letter is out. It's a great issue. Lots of good stuff so far I've read, and still a ton to go through. I'm so happy to have been a part of the last issue, and I hope in the future I don't get as many rejections as I had anticipated by the time I got the acceptance after only one rejection. I really don't think any magazine compares to, especially solely in the graphics and design. It smells like freshly wallpapered room, it weighs a ton, most of the work is of high quality in every issue (of course no one's going to like every piece in an issue of a journal or magazine). If you put it up to The Paris Review, or anything else for that matter, it's pretty laughable how much it kicks ass. I have one more issue in my contributor subscription, but I'll most likely keep subscribing.

The Post Where the Author Thinks They Know Something About Sending First Books Out (Or: Keith Writing a Really Long Post About Such Things)

I may still not know a lot, but I've had a lot of experience over the last year. I really wanted to write this post because of Sarabande's response to the Kathryn A. Morton Prize, which I got sometime last week.

When I was writing poems and getting my MFA for three years, ending May 2007, I didn't really know I was constructing a book. There are some students that write hardly any poems for whatever reason: they're shy, uncomfortable, some kind of minority and all kinds of stigma going along with that mixed with fear of course or that no one will care, are too busy drinking, are getting used to a new city, are newly married or not newly married and can't find enough time as they'd like to write. The list of excuses goes on and on. Some write few. Some write a poem a week and end up throwing out 75% or more.

I didn't know what I was doing when I got to VCU, and I'm not sure I still do, but again, I'm learning. I always asked people how to get stuff published, how to write cover letters, what to say. All of that. I spent a few hundred dollars on journal and magazine subscriptions to hold them in my hands, write down names of authors I liked, stack them on the bookshelf, see if I'd return to them. And when I thought I had work ready, I sent out. I send out a lot when I have work. To many places. If I believe the poems are good enough to be published and I'm happy with them, off into the world they go. Blitzkrieg. Carpet bombing. Whatever you want to call it. When a rejection comes, I add the name to the ongoing list and make sure to send them different work in, say, October, or March, or both.

But again, that brings me to the first book contests. I've been sending out my manuscript officially for a year, or it will be a year in about 10 days. I've sent the manuscript out to over 40 contests, and it's already cost me at least $1000. The first time I sent it out -- and of course it's changed a lot since then, as they always do if you take them as seriously as you say you do -- I was a Finalist for the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award. I was a bit baffled because the manuscript was essentially my thesis with a few (some still included) poems I wrote in the beginning of summer / late spring after I graduated. I was encouraged by both friends and professors, had the extra cash to do it, and figured I should start, especially if I had confidence in the book, which I did, somewhat I suppose.

I'm not sure if it was a good or bad thing that I was a Finalist so early, but it did spur me to get a little nuts about sending the book out. Researching presses and past winners and past published books. Staying away from presses like Ahsahta and Nightboat since my writing is nowhere near what they're looking for, and staying away from presses that also have journals that have never liked my work enough to give me ink, much less publish. For example: The Journal, Pleiades, Barrow Street all have contests related to their magazine. I've gotten ink from Pleiades once, and every other rejection from all 3 have been form, at best. So why would I sent my first manuscript -- poems that have since been published all crossing their paths in the past -- to a place that has rejected me every time? Chances are my work's not right for a book if single poems aren't right for the magazines. Is it a guarantee that my book's not going to be picked if that happens? No. Is it smart, however, to send to those places? Probably not the smartest idea, no. But to try it just once and see what happens? Maybe.

The second interesting thing is the judging. Now Lynn Emanuel was the judge of the Crab Orchard prize last year. She saw my manuscript. Didn't like it enough to publish it, for whatever reason, since there could only be one. And that's that. So chances are, if I see her name again as a revealed judge, knowing she already rejected my manuscript once, maybe I shouldn't send to that contest. That brings me to back to the Kathryn A. Morton Prize.

I saw that Lynn Emanuel was the judge. However, I love many of Sarabande's books, not to mention they're a quality press, with both look and content regarding their books. I found out before I got the notice that Karyna McGlynn won, which was no surprise. I think she's been a Finalist for some other contests, and she's published (a lot) in amazing places. Usually with such a ubiquitously presented writer in just a few years, the time is soon for their book to be published. So that's why I sent. I didn't place, but I did get the "Dear Poet" notice with poet crossed off in place of "Dear Keith," and at the end "Please try us again next year!" was written. That's where I'm confused.

Call me a questioner, but did they do that for everyone? Poets who've gotten rejections back from Mid-American Review (every one of my submissions) I imagine know the little smiley face that Karen Craigo puts on all the rejections. Ink does not always equal a great thing, is I guess what I'm saying. Better than nothing, yes. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's had a discussion about this.

But should I send to the Morton Prize again, I'm thinking. If they really mean they liked my work, by the little scribble of green marker, without any kind of place or bid, then sure, I'll send again. But if that was their plan to write that on every submitter's, then that just kind of sucks and is really unnecessarily misleading.

And again, with the judges, a friend of mine, who's book's finally getting published after being a finalist and semi-finalist over 10 times in contests, got the unlucky news later that Mark Doty was the later-revealed judge a few of the contests where she ended up being a Finalist. Meaning: with contests that don't announce the judge, you never know who you're getting. She was unlucky. Doty didn't pick her manuscript as the winner for the first one, which is fine. But in 3 or 4 more contests where she was a Finalist, Doty ended up being announced as the judge, and he didn't change his mind, which makes sense. I'm not griping here, but stating an interesting fact and showing yet another layer of how unlucky and weird and complicated these things can be.

The fact that I've placed 3 times in the last year makes me pretty happy, considering I think it's taken me this long to really "find" the book. 38 out of the current 41 poems in my manuscript are published. Not to mention most of the ones I've cut are published also. Does that matter? No, it doesn't, as I've seen good books with 3 or 4 published poems out of every poem in the contents. But it boosts my confidence -- maybe even naively -- and makes me think the book is there. I know the book is there. After sending it out for a year, I've learned a lot, spent a decent amount of cash, and have a much better book than I did. Had I somehow how won the Crab Orchard contest a year ago and my book was going to be imminently published, I wonder if I'd have done as much work as I have NOT knowing it's going to ever be published.

But here's the rub: of course you never know. I still have Jason Bredle's words in my head: "Don't get stuck on the first manuscript or you'll never move on." Now I know what he means, especially since I haven't been writing as much new work as I want to. But the other thing I've been able to do in the last few months is finally look at it objectively. In one of David Wojahn's essays in STRANGE GOOD FORTUNE (an essay that all folks sending out their first manuscripts should read), he says something like, "Most first books are in two parts: one's about sex, and the other is about everything else." It's funny to see how that rings true indeed with many, but mine's thankfully not one of them. At least I hope not. Not only that, but like I said before, the book's here, this is the book, but I'm also not writing poems like this much anymore. I may be wrong in assessing myself as lucky for at least thinking that I've completed a book, but fuck it, I do consider myself lucky.

I can't find it right now, but Chase Twitchell of Ausable Press had this rant about MFA theses not being first books. Something akin to, and for most of us we stop listening at the needlessly pregnant baggage-inducing first part, "When I was at Iowa none of us ever tried to send out our first books..." etc. etc. One of my favorite books of the last five years, Brian Teare's THE ROOM WHERE I WAS BORN, was mainly, at least from what Wojahn told me, Teare's thesis, of which I believe David was the director. There are more than we think, and I think the words of Twitchell -- especially these days -- need to be thrown out the window. Yes, there a ton of theses that are bad for many reasons, some laid out in the beginning of this post. But I like to consider myself, if this sucker is ever published of course, one of those writers and former MFAers.

Good God this is long. So I'll stop here. I feel this whole thing's mainly for me. Maybe I'm wrong about it all or will be. Maybe I'm still too young and clueless. But a lot of this has been on my brain, and I needed to get it out. Like I said, it's been a year. I hope it doesn't take me five more for my first manuscript to hit the publishing world, but if it does, I'm game. But seriously, I hope it's not five years.

Poetry Collections I'm Looking Forward to

Paul Guest - "My Index of Slightly Horrifying Knowledge" (Ecco Books)
Joshua Poteat - "Illustrating the Machine that Makes the World: From J.G. Heck's 1851 Pictorial Archive of Nature and Science" (University of Georgia Press/Virginia Quarterly Review)
Alison Stine - "Ohio Violence" (UNT Press)
Craig Arnold - "Made Flesh" (Ausable Press)
Adam Chiles - "The Evening Land" (Cinnamon Press)
Paul Otremba - "The Currency" (Four Way Books)
Brian Brodeur - "Other Latitudes" (University of Akron Press)
Karyna McGlynn - "I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl" (Sarabande Books)
Seth Abramson - "The Suburban Ecstasies" (Ghost Road Press)
Richard Greenfield - "Tracer"

And I'm hopeful for imminent collections by these poets:

Richard Siken
Corey Marks
Brian Teare
Mark Wunderlich
Andrew Feld
Allison Titus
Bobby C. Rogers
David Groff
Adam Clay
Leigh Stein