Pastiche

I should probably be going to bed right now, but we have a lot to do tomorrow since I've been in Pennsylvania for about the last ten days, so I'm going to get everything down "on paper" right now I guess.

One thing I've been known to do from time to time is walk home from long distances, due to many different sets of circumstances. After paths got crossed at a bar last weekend, and I couldn't find the key to my friend's apartment, I did it again, and it was a pretty bizarre experience. I walked close to three miles in flip-flops, but I guess it was so late everyone was home, since it was pretty long after last call. I only saw maybe three cars the whole walk.

I think since there's so much Greenville in Ghost Lights (even though much of that won't be evident to folks who actually buy the book who are from Greenville), it was interesting to see it under the moonlight, and I saw things I never paid attention to before. Nothing crazy. Mostly small things. That's how it works.

*

While I was in Pennsylvania the massively beautiful new double issue of Sonora Review arrived in my mailbox in the form of two plastic-wrapped contributor copies.

And good God did they probably scratch their eyes out while making this thing. There's so much I don't even know how or where to start. Plus there's all the David Foster Wallace tribute material and an uncollected short story.

Tons of good contributors. I'm excited to see what's happening within once I have the time.

My poem's called, "Alternate Featurette, Little Monsters," about one of the best movies you may laugh at me for loving, but it's become one of my legitimate favorites over the last few years. I could talk about it for hours probably. I just need to find the person as nuts as I am who shares the affinity for it.

Thanks to Jamison and Zach and everyone else involved. All of you outdid yourselves... even if my name was spelled Montesanto instead of Montesano. :)

*

Over the last few weeks I've gotten encouraging rejections from AGNI, Quarterly West, and Shenandoah, three journals I still would love to get into and hope to eventually.

I've said it before, but often people take the whole, "Damn, I was so close, screw them," approach instead of realizing that usually after so many close-but-no-cigar rejections, that's going to mean they're strong enough for an editor to really like one, or two, or three.

Usually, folks, that's the case. But you can't send to five journals and expect that.

Still, that makes me happy, and hopefully it means that some of them will get snagged soon enough. And if not, well, I'll be sending them out again in the fall, ya'll.

*

And speaking of acceptances and publication, I was struck by something Luke said maybe a few weeks ago, about wanting to have more of a presence online, or not having enough work online, or something like that.

And when I look at the poems in Ghost Lights, folks can only view five of the poems in the book:

"Elegy for What Survives Inside the Body" in 42opus
"Two Halves: Elegy for One Summer's Dawn" in 42opus
"The Dog Has Since Come Home" in Diode
"Elegy Ending with the Voice of Edward Van Dyk" in Diode
"Meditation at Pymatuning Lake" in storySouth

(And some of the forms and titles have of course changed a bit too)

It's not a big deal or anything, but I think that's another small thing online journals can do: get your work to a wider audience.

I say that because already four online journals have published or will publish tentative poems from manuscript number two, giving more people a chance to say, "This guy blows," or "If these were in a book I may buy it." That's if this thing ever becomes a book, of course, but I've bought books based on a poem or poems by an author in both online and print journals. The more work readily available, though, the better possibility that someone may become interested.

Anyway, thumbs up for online journals. The good ones. With great editors and smart designs, and above all, great work you want to read.

*

Even though I'm fairly certain he rejected my Facebook friend request, you have to visit Sean Kirby's website. If you don't know by now, I'm obsessed with cinematography, and I probably would've pursued that if I found out I wasn't any good at poetry, though I'm still not positive of that either.

The second to last poem in Ghost Lights, probably the longest in the book, is dedicated to one of my favorite documentaries, Zoo. This is a movie that needs to be seen in an IMAX, and it has some of the most astounding and jaw-dropping lense work you'll ever see in a film. He even somehow gets more amazing than Police Beat.

Look at the montages. I didn't realize Cthulhu was out on DVD yet, which I'm pursuing as we speak. But tell me you look at these and don't immediately want to put all of Sean Kirby's photographed films on your Netflix queue, or in your shopping cart...

*

Has anyone seen Eden Lake? I still think it's one of the most disturbing movies I've ever seen. I feel like I should watch it again, but I was so taken aback the first time I saw it, I'm not sure if I can do it.

Irréversible, though an entirely different animal, is the only other film that's affected me that much.

*

And though I can't attest to the actual tomatoes growing yet, since we only have a baby green one sprouting, our plant from the Topsy Turvy is growing like I've never seen a tomato plant grow before.

Though the website shows clearly what you wouldn't get, our plant last year, in a regular pot, wasn't even half the size of this one so far by the time summer was over.

Also, the Debbie Meyer Green Bags are worth getting. Again, they don't keep stuff for more than a few days extra, but that's all most people really need to finish extra fruits and vegetables.

And finally, believe it, Mighty Mendit actually works too. I had holes in my jeans, and the stuff actually bonded. After washes, it's holding.

I'm finishing up the post with this because I always got sucked into infomercials as a kid. My mom was nice enough to buy a lot of it for me, and much, if not all of it, was bunk. I used a food dehydrator once, but maybe that was due to laziness. I think we may have made some banana chips. The Super Slicer couldn't even cut a damn tomato. And I got this automatic coin roller at some point, and that sucker broke after a few weeks.

The above three, though, I've been impressed by. And we got everything for $10 a piece at Target. Anyone else using anything worth noting, infomercial-wise?

*

Clearly I need to go to bed.

ACM Etc.

Got my contributor copies of Another Chicago Magazine the other day. I have to say that it was worth the wait. It's honestly one of the best designed journals I've ever seen, which is surprising initially because it seems so compact, which it is, if that makes sense. There's just a lot to look at too, including the art around all the reading. And there's a lot of good stuff so far. Mira Bartok's essay kicks it off amazingly well, and I'll be looking for her work wherever I can find it now. Another reason why journals are so damn good to keep reading all the time. Looking forward to reading what else is within the pages soon.

*

Right now there are only four journals who still have to publish poems from Ghost Lights (meaning the issues are still in the works for the printers), and I'm pretty sure by the fall all of the poems will be officially published and out in the world.

I'm pretty sure all the contracts were, "You retain rights after we publish the poem," but I'll probably shoot a mass email to the editors to see if I need to do anything else to have full rights to the poems. Hopefully I won't. Or should I even spend the time to go about something like this? Let me know, you folks with books...

*

I've written a good amount of poems I actually like over the past few weeks, so I decided to put what I hope will be the final push for poem submissions, mostly to journals who accept over the summer. Then again, I can probably get some work to journals who have either the end of April or May 1st as their final date for considering work.

*

Was said to see that Pebble Lake Review is going to go on hiatus after their next (online) issue. Amanda Auchter was the second editor to ever publish my work, and she actually solicited me, so it was a double confidence boost in that sense during my first MFA year.

Hopefully soon enough they can start it up again. There's been a lot of great work within those pages for years.

*

Downloading Nancy looks like it's either going to be awful or really good, with no in between. I get a little skeptical when I see something like, "This is the most controversial movie you'll see all year." I'm really not sure how many folks can make a more violent and compelling movie than Irréversible, which deserves the tag line "controversial," but does so much more in so many ways. We'll see.