"Things are dying and breaking apart," he said.

Mary has another interesting post regarding the nature of publication and professionalism and a lot more. I still feel like I'm so new at this whole thing that I don't know what the deal is. It's like some shape shifting cloud, always different every second. I do think, however, that the "Let me add this one to the batch to make five poems, even though it's not my strongest of the five...and a few months later someone took that fifth poem" phenomenon is hilarious, as it's happened to me, and many people I know, on more than one occasion. There are some good comments though too, as always also.

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Thanks to Patty Paine of Diode for nomination my poem, "Elegy Ending with the Voice of Edward Van Dyk," for the 2008 Best of the Net Awards.

This is a poem I still like a lot, and it's nice to know that for the third year in a row this will be taking place. Also, with Best American Poetry and the Pushcart Prize having few (is that even fair to say?) to completely absent pieces from online journals, a venue specifically for that is a great thing, especially with some former print journals turning to the online format, which I imagine will become something more and more as time goes on.

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There are some changes in the world of journals and some lax attentiveness on the part of some too.

When did Goodfoot officially die? I think it's been a while since, but I'm not sure.

Backwards City Review seems to be done also. But will it be a web presence again? Who knows? Again, I think it's been a long time coming.

Pebble Lake Review is going to be fully online soon enough. So glad Amanda's keeping it going. She was one of the first folks to support my work, and she did amazing things (and will continue doing amazing things) with such a small operation and as a naturally great editor. I'm glad to see it'll still have the same spirit and aesthetic, though with a different spin.

I think New Hampshire Review can safely take down its site if nothing's going to happen with it. Or at least post the official notice that it's done though it will keep the already-published poems there and present. It's been way too long. That same notice has been there forever. I'm sure they still get submissions to a possible dead email address from people who can't read or choose not to read or read carefully enough. Plus, I may be wrong, because Jason Bredle's first book is not currently in my possession, but my weird brain, that should be remembering more important things, seems to recall that he had a poem in the acknowledgments attributed to the aforementioned journal. Not sure if that will ever be seeing the light of day, but who needs that publication when it's in book form now?

Speaking of which, I hope Jason didn't take down his site, which isn't working currently, for all the comments over the last month or so, some of which were started by a previous post of mine, which I didn't intend to lead to such things. But either way, you will see more of his words soon via a first book interview, most likely within the next month.

Sonora Review has a blog. We'll see if they keep it updated, but I like seeing more journals with blogs.

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One a side-related journal note, what's up with some of the out-of-date journal websites?

There are many, but one I notice that's still the same, and his been for a while, is Florida Review, which states their newest issue is fall 2006. Clearly that's not right, especially since I have a poem in the fall 2007 issue, which is great and an issue I do go back to and read sometimes.

At the very least, have a template that's the same, but update the issue's current information, current writers and pieces, and anything dealing with a contest.

I guess some of the more well-known journals figure folks in the know will continue to be in the know, meaning they'll know [Insert Journal] is still operating as it has for a while, but it's still nice to go and see updated information, which is something that has prompted me to send places I probably wouldn't have ordinarily. By seeing the names, what they were looking for, being able to click on a few pieces, etc., I sent some work, and some of them worked out. Without that information, maybe I wouldn't have. Get with the program, folks. It's an easy thing to do. Some are on top of it all the time, but many are slacking, and it seems like the slack could be rectified with a few clicks of the mouse and a few clacked keyboard keys.

Or get up-to-date and get a swanky new blog-esque site like Copper Nickel. They really have their shit together, and I love the new look.

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I'm listening to Labradford's "Mi Media Naranja," which I'm pretty sure is over ten years old now. I got into Labradford in my late teens, when I started discovering the beautiful world of Kranky Records. Oddly enough, I had to move to Richmond to discover that the band was not only from here, but recorded their records a few blocks down the road from our current apartment.

"Mi Media Naranja" is subtle and beautiful and nearingly-apocalyptic in some understated way. And it seemed to be the first record to hint at what Pan American would hint at later, though this record's almost perfect for me.

Not only that, but the beautiful piano-laden last track, "P," seemed to be getting louder, and I didn't remember rain on the track. Alas, it's raining outside -- not inside my headphones -- as the crickets are chirping and I'm about to try and get to sleep.