Conte

The new issue of Conte is live, and I'm happy to be a part of such a fine line-up.

Thanks again to Adam and Ashley.

Nietzsche

Wedding was great. Jess described it as "perfect," and that's all that needed to be said. We had so many great people there, friends and family, that it was more of a big party and celebration than some giant spectacle with everyone sitting in the pews wondering and wandering.

Really, I know everyone says this, but we're both lucky to be surrounded by so many beautiful people.

*

I still think I look like I'm twelve years old. We both do, actually. So it's kind of funny in that way. But the fact that we've been together almost six years made the wedding go very smoothly. I really wasn't nervous, though I did cry a little when Jess's dad shook my hand and said "Take good care of her Keith," before we walked onto the altar. He was crying a little too. How can you not lose a bit of emotional control at that point?

But then I quickly got my shit together.

*

Honeymoon was great too. We were at a resort in Punta Cana. Got an all-inclusive package and did a lot of lying on the beach and at the pool.

The beaches were topless too. That's all that needs to be said about that I think.

I still felt weird about being waited-on every place we went at the resort.

And we were surrounded by so many different people which was great. German. Swedish. French. Italian. Spanish. Dominican. African. So many countries were represented, and much to our surprise, Americans seemed to make up a lower number than most of the rest.

We only had one argument also: when I spilled red wine on Jess's white skirt because I had too many vodka and cranberry's. That's what happens sometimes when the drinks are all free.

I didn't think any poems came out of out it as we were leaving last Saturday, since it was all about relaxation and we never really went into town, but then on the plane back to Charlotte from Punta Cana, all of these lines kept floating around in my head, along with titles and ideas.

It was kind of epiphanic plane ride, weirdly enough.

*

Speaking of which, I was reading Joe Bolton again, and I still can't believe how utterly gifted he was at such a young age. He killed himself when he was 28, so really my goal was to get my first book out before then, just to see if I could do it, and miraculously it worked that way.

But so many of the poems clicked for me, and it's a shame not many people know his work at all. It will always be one of my favorite collections, and it's one of my goals to teach it as soon as humanly possible.

*

Speaking of teaching, I hope to pick Spanish as my language at Binghamton. I wish I would've taken it in high school. Why didn't someone tell me that it'd be more beneficial in the long run than German?

*

A lot to do in the next three weeks.

When I was home, after I got back from New York a few weeks ago, Jess called me to tell me our IMac basically took a shit on us. The Hard-drive failed.

I had the warranty, so the fixing was completely free. But we did, in fact, lose everything. Most important, to me, were the new poems. I have them all. And the newest version of book number two. I sent it to myself, luckily, before I left to go home. Everything in Ghost Lights is published or will be published, and Bear has the copy of the final manuscript, so all's good there.

The newest version of my C.V. was lost, but all the information is around, so it shouldn't take too long to get that updated.

Music can be retrieved again. Same thing with movies.

Maybe it's good it happened. A new start and pretty much a new 500 G Hard-drive.

*

I did see Bart Got a Room and Adventureland when I was home. Both I thought were very good, and they seemed perfect, though it was unintentional, as a double-billing.

*

2009 Ruth Lilly Fellowships Winners Announced.

Even though they didn't win, congratulations to friends and former classmates Tarfia Faizullah and Jonathan Rice for being short-listed.

I'm never lying when I say I owe so much to my classmates for how much they inspired me and helped me become a better writer, which I'll always try my best to build upon.

But they're both off to do, and have done, great things already, so keep an eye out for their names in the future, as you'll be seeing more.

*

Speaking of poets, big congratulations to Marc McKee, whose great first book, Fuse, will be published by Black Lawrence Press in 2011.

We traded manuscripts around March or so, and I really didn't have much to say except, "How is this still unpublished?" He's gotten a ton of a finalist nods in contests, so it was only a matter of time.

He also has another book that's floating around that's sure to be published soon too, so keep an eye out. I'm not kidding.

I hope to try my best to get some readings going with some of these poets whose books will be released sometime around the same time as mine.

*

And Bear sent out a message on Facebook today that Mark Conway was the winner of this year's American Poetry Journal Book Prize.

His first book, Any Holy City, is one I'm a fan of, so I was pretty thrilled to find out that we'll soon be sharing a press.

And yes, watch out for Dream Horse Press. I'm more and more thrilled each day to soon become a part of the poetic family.

*

Hardly a rejection in the last few weeks. I guess it's the slowest part of the summer...

I did get a note from a journal, which is the first I've ever received like this from anyone, that my stuff made it past the first round and is going to a second round of editors. We'll see in a few weeks what their decision is.

And found out in my rejection from Ascent that, like Pebble Lake Review recently, they're going to soon be a strictly online journal starting later in the year. I imagine this will become a trend soon enough with many journals, a fresh and warranted trend at that.

*

Much more to do. Within the next few days I'll be posting two more First Book Interviews, which will probably be the last ones until September or so. With so much going on, I'm going to unfortunately have to put the attention I need to give all these great books on hold for a bit.

It may be more slowly updated in the upcoming months, but that's the way things go. I'm still doing it though, so once we're in New York and our lives are in order, hopefully I'll be able to put it on at least more of a semi-regular schedule.

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.

Balcony

I got the galleys sometime last week, but I just found out the new issue of Front Porch is up.

And it looks like a good one.

I have two new poems in there from the current project, maybe chapbook, I'm trying to work on.