Heart's Needle

I had a rather frustrating start to my day as I lost an hour and a half waiting around for ferries and shuttles to & from Staten Island. Naturally, my deskbook copy wasn't there which means no syllabus/ no book for tomorrow's 4 hour class. I also don't have a syllabus or book for my F.I.T. class, but that's only an hourish so no problem there.

I came home from Staten Island and ate plantains and picked up W.D. Snodgrass' Heart's Needle. I seem to recall buying this book not once but twice, yet it's never on my bookshelf. Anyways, here's to you Snodgrass.

There's a great reading at Stain Bar tomorrow, but I'll still be on Staten Island.

I think the latest copy of Zoland Poetry is out or is soon to be out. I just got my contributor copies in the mail. I feel pretty lucky to be amongst this collection of awesome poets:

ZOLAND POETRY No. 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Jared Stanley

Nuno Júdice (from Portuguese by paulo da costa)

Chris Glomski

Laura Madeline Wiseman

Gary Fincke

Nick Twemlow

Matthew Shenoda

Zhai Yongming

Nathaniel Tarn

Jean-Paul Auxéméry (from French by Nathaniel Tarn)

Tsering Wangmo Dhompa

Brent Cunningham

Noah Eli Gordon

Lê Pham Lê (from Vietnamese by Nancy Arbuthnot and Lê Pham Lê)

Andrew Kozma

Chris Pusateri

Raquel Chalfi (from Hebrew by Tsipi Keller)

John Harper

Susan Baran

Iana Boukova (from Bulgarian by Jonathan Dunne)

María Banda (from Spanish by Joshua Edwards)

Alex Cigale

Liliana Ursu (from Romanian by Sean Cotter)

Alice Miller

Albert Goldbarth

Joshua Marie Wilkinson

Roxanne Halpine

Knuts Skujenieks (from Latvian by Bitite Vinklers)

Nathanaël (Nathalie Stephens)

Lynn Xu

Marc Cohen

Chen Li (from Chinese by Arthur Sze)

Elizabeth Hughey

Major Jackson

Steven Karl

Rafael Felipe Oteriño (from Spanish by Lisa Rose Bradford)

Ron Horning

Ed Barrett

Menna Elfyn

Philip Jenks & Simone Muench

Oles Ilchenko (from Ukrainian by Michael Naydan)

Tsvetanka Elenkova (from Bulgarian by Jonathan Dunne)

D. A. Powell

Deborah Woodward

William Corbett

Jac Jemc

Ron Padgett

Andrei Sen-Senkov (from Russian by Peter Golub)

Peter Shippy

Julie Marie Wade

Derek Pollard

Jason Zuzga

Édouard Glissant (from French by Nathalie Stephens)

They are still accepting submissions for the 4th edition so get on it!

& now for the readings:

Sarah Gambito and Patrick Rosal tonight at McNally Jackson 7pm Prince between Lafayette and Mulberry
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Join us for an excellent new spring season at Stain! The first reading is next Friday with Bill Berkson, Cindy Cruz, Aaron Fagan, Jennifer Fortin, Jean-Paul Pecqueur and Bill Rasmovicz. Wine, great crowd + hugs from hosts an added perk! xo A & A

Stain of Poetry
A Reading Series Spring 2009

January 30
Bill Berkson, Cindy Cruz, Aaron Fagan, Jennifer Fortin, Jean-Paul Pecqueur, Bill Rasmovicz
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Katie Fowley & others
In celebration of football and the lunisolar ox year, I will be
reading poetry this Sunday, February 1st at The Stain Bar in
Williamsburg.
I will be reading with the people in my writing group--lovely people all.
Also, the Stain Bar has good microbrews, comfy seating, and allows small dogs.

The Stain Bar is at 766 Grand street near the Grand stop on the L
train. The reading is from 3:30, so you can still catch the Super
Pooper Bowl...

Hope you can make it!
Katie
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Matthew Zapruder will read at the Polestar Reading Series with Rebecca Keith and Idra Novey

Sunday, February 1st, 5 pm
Polestar Reading Series Cakeshop Downstairs, 152 Ludlow (between Stanton & Rivington), L.E.S.
http://polestarpoetry.blogspot.com

He will also read at Poems and Pints with Dana Goodyear

Tuesday, February 3rd, 6:30 pm
Fraunces Tavern, 54 Pearl Street (at Broad Street)
http://www.lmcc.net/art/programs/2008/poemsandpints/index.html

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How about checking this out on Saturday??

Untitled New York: Speculations on the Expanded Field of Writing
FREE. No RSVP necessary.
Organized by Matias Viegener and Christine Wertheim

"Untitled New York" is a day-long conversation about writing which in some manner exceeds the printed page. It assembles a notable group of experimental writers to discuss the currently expanded and still-expanding field of writing that challenges assumptions about the nature of writing and the potentials of text. While we are familiar with visual artworks constituted as a set of instructions, secrets written by visitors in a book, or one artist erasing of another artist's work, what would be their equivalents in the literary world? "Untitled New York" is composed of 2 day-time panels and an evening reading where participants perform their work. The program is as follows:

1:30 Introduction

2:00 “Appropriation and Citation” – This panel looks at the many practices of appropriation so popular in the literary world in the last several years, asking questions about whose work and what material gets appropriated, cited or resurrected, who owns texts, and if there is a difference between appropriation and citation. Panel participants include Vanessa Place, Steven McCaffrey, Kenneth Goldsmith, and Julie Patton.

4:00 “Litterality” examines how writers use what we normally consider non-linguistic elements, such as symbols, diagrams, maps, or scores placed in the context of writing. We will also look at invented writing systems, and what it might mean to think about the book as an object rather than as a collection of words or sentences. Panel participants include Christine Wertheim, Latasha Diggs, Rob Fitterman, and Shanxing Wang.

8:30 Reading with all participants.

“Untitled New York” is a reprise of “Untitled: Speculations on the Expanded Field of Writing,” held in October 2008 at REDCAT in Los Angeles, organized by Matias Viegener and Christine Wertheim of the Writing Program at CalArts, and funded by the Annenberg Foundation.

3 is better than 2

My roommate & I switched roles last night. She spent part of her evening discussing poetry & I stayed out until 3 being social.

Lest you think I'm completely unproductive, I also managed to interview and get hired by F.I.T. yesterday afternoon. I still need another class but 3 is better than 2.

Book Ends

The new Octopus (#11)

New work by Julia Story, Kristin Naca, Cole Swensen, Michael Earl Craig, Andrew Rexilius, Emily Petitt, Dan Beachy-Quick, Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Dobby Gibson, Tina Celona, Lara Glenum, Brandon Downing, Eric Baus, Rebecca Guyon, Cecily Iddings, Jon Woodward, Barbara Maloutas, Noah Eli Gordon, Bob Hicok, Rob MacDonald, Elise Ficarra, Natalie Knight, Matthew Cooperman, and Brooklyn Copeland.

Reviews by Brett Price, Cara Benson, Micah Mattix, Anna Eyre, Tyler Dorholt, Dan Hoy, me, Heather Green, Katie Trostel, James Engelhardt, and Chelsea Dappen.

There is an interview with Abraham Smith by Joshua Marie Wilkinson. There are recovery pieces taken up by Andy Fitch and Mathias Svalina.

Besides, having a review in Octopus, I'll also bookend the week by having a review in Coldfront on Friday.

BEST, BESTER, BESTING

List are fun to make in & of themselves to see if we agree or more importantly disagree. Black Ocean's blog has a list of best small press releases from last year. As some of you know, I made my own brief (aprx 5 titles) list for the No Tell Blog. I was pleased to see that one of my picks, Geoffrey Olsen's End Notebook also made the Black Ocean list. I just finished reading Sampson Starkweather's City of Moths which definitely belongs on the list as well. Click here for the Black Ocean blog.
Also, tomorrow is Sampson's birthday & Sunday is Geoffrey's so make their wishes come true by buying copies of their chapbooks, okay?

Speaking of chapbooks, Julia Cohen's new chapbook is out. You can purchase it here.

& head over here to check out a clip of Sueyuen Juliette Lee reading. I think her chapbook, Perfect Villagers (Octopus Books) came out in '08 & definitely should have made the list, but don't you worry, I chose her book as one of '08's bested.

Human Heat for Winter Weeks

Thursday, January 22nd 7:30 at Solas Bar 232 E. 9th Street
With New York legends Simon Pettet and Susie Timmons!

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EARSHOT is off to a great start this year! Help us keep going strong and join us on Friday, January 23rd at 8 PM at ROSE LIVE MUSIC, on 345 Grand Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn!

Our featured readers will be X-ing Books superstars JUSTIN TAYLOR (author of More Perfect Depictions of Noise) and JEREMY SCHMALL (author of Open Correspondence from the Senator)! As usual, three MFA readers of the highest caliber will be joining them. And admission is a mere $5, which gets you a free drink! Call it the Recession Special. See you there!

Your pal,
Nicole


EARSHOT!

Join us at our new venue, ROSE LIVE MUSIC, located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn!

*Friday, January 23rd at 8 PM*
Admission: $5 + FREE DRINK!

Hosted by Nicole Steinberg

Featuring:
Justin Taylor (More Perfect Depictions of Noise)
Jeremy Schmall (Open Correspondence from the Senator)
Monica Wendel (New York University)
Dawn Marie Knopf (Columbia University)
Barbara Sueko McGuire (Sarah Lawrence College)

ROSE LIVE MUSIC is located at 345 Grand Street in Brooklyn, between Havemeyer and Marcy. Visit their website for directions: http://liveatrose.com.
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Dear Friends,

We are very pleased to announce the launch of Triptych Readings* on Monday January 26, when we will be hosting the venerable Charles Bernstein, former editor of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E magazine and myriad anthologies, author of fifteen poetry collections and four collections of essays; Shanxing Wang, author of the enthusiastically reviewed collection, Mad Science in Imperial City; and Christopher Stackhouse, visual/performance artist, author of the chapbook Slip and generator of drawings and collaborative author (with John Keene) of a collection entitled Seismosis. We are thrilled to have these three fantastic poets with us and hope you'll come out to the 11th Street Bar and listen up!

Monday January 26, 7 PM
Charles Bernstein
Shanxing Wang
Christopher Stackhouse

510 E. 11th Street
Between Avenues A & B
Closest subway: L to 1st Avenue. Also walkable: F/V at 2nd Ave, L at 3rd Ave or 14th Street / Union Square 4/5/6/N/Q/R/W/L.
Look for a small porch and the Guinness sign outside the bar.

Check out our brand-new website: www.triptychreading.com. Click on the bar's address on our site for a google map, and click on readers' names to read their poems!

Charles Bernstein's books include Blind Witness: Three American Operas (Factory School), new in 2008; Girly Man (University of Chicago Press), now in paperback; Shadowtime (Green Integer), libretto for an opera on Benjamin; Republics of Reality: 1975-1995 (Sun & Moor Press), Content's Dream: Essays 1975-1984 (Northwestern), and Controlling Interests (Roof). He is Donald T. Regan Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania. More info: epc.buffalo.edu.

Shanxing Wang was born in Qi county, Jinzhong, Shanxi province, China in 1965. In 1991, he moved to the U.S. to pursue a PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley. He began reading and writing poetry in 2002 while teaching Engineering at Rutgers University. His first book, Mad Science in Imperial City (Futurepoem, 2005), was the winner of the 2006 Asian American Literary Award for Poetry. He lives and writes in Queens, New York.

Christopher Stackhouse is the author of poetry collected in the chapbook Slip (Corollary Press, 2005); co-author of Seismosis (1913 Press 2006), a collaboration featuring Stackhouse's drawings and John Keene's text. He holds an MFA from Bard College; is a Cave Canem Writers Fellow; and is a 2005 Fellow in Poetry, New York Foundation for the Arts. His recent essays have been published in the literary journal American Poet, and the anthology A Best of Fence: The First Nine Years. He will be a guest faculty member in the Naropa University Summer Writing Program 2009, at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics in Boulder, Colorado. Currently completing a manuscript of poetry, while also doing research for the development of a non-fiction book on poetics, Stackhouse lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Why I Like The Library

Strangely I haven't read this & I think it's about time.



I've read A LOT of Merwin, & after reading the review on Coldfront, I'm ready to fall in love with Merwin again.


I know, I couldn't find a larger "image" but this book is The Poetics of Indeterminacy Rimbaud to Cage by Marjorie Perloff- chances my memories of Rimbaud are insufficient and my knowledge of Cage less than extensive, but I think I saw this book on Geoff's (Olsen) Goodreads page & so here we are.


A somewhat "hyped" novel, which my artist friend & avid reader, Meghan Gordon, personally hyped to me over Russian Imperial Stouts. In other words, I'll prolly start reading this & the Merwin today.

Let's take it straight to the basket

I'm going to watch Obama's speech at Landmark Sunshine. Yes, I am excited.

Bon Iver -- Flume

Didn't We Say We Were Going To Tour The City Tasting Sweet Potato Fries?

Secret School 01: Language, Memory at OTO, Brooklyn.

January 17, 2009 from 7-10PM
OTO, 60 North 6th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211

Wheel In the Sky. Hong-An Truong.

Secret School is pleased to present Wheel In the Sky, a three-channel video installation by Hong-An Truong. Wheel In the Sky investigates the possibilities of media to bear witness to moments of trauma and moments of poetry when human memory fails. As the video unfolds, the artist questions her father about his interest in the band Journey, and his responses reveal a frustration and acute sensitivity to the loss of meaning in the translation from their native Vietnamese tongue into English and vice versa. The conversation also suggests what impact the years of colonization have had on his perception of Vietnam’s most treasured art form, the poem.

Secret School will collaborate with Hong-An Truong to create a text that reveals, complicates, and further conceals what is lost in translation, creating a liminal space out of what is inexpressible.

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WHERE: 440 Gallery, 440 6th Ave. at 9th St., F to 7th Ave., Park Slope, Brooklyn

WHEN: Sunday, January 18th from 4:40 to 6 pm Admission Free

WHO:

Meghan Punschke is the author of Stratification (BlazeVOX Books, 2008). She resides in New York City and has an MFA in Poetry from the New School. She is the curator and host of Word of Mouth, a reading series dedicated to poets and fiction/non-fiction writers. She is Managing Editor for the literary journal Oranges & Sardines. Punschke also teaches Communications and Writing courses for the University of Phoenix in Jersey City, and works as the Director of Business Development and Marketing for a technology corporation during the day. Her poetry was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2007. Please visit www.megpunschke.com for more info.

Eva Talmadge is a graduate of the University of Florida and the fiction MFA program at CUNY Hunter College. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and has appeared in Subtropics, the New York Tyrant, the New Orleans Review, Sleepingfish, elimae, and elsewhere. She lives in Brooklyn.

Paige H. Taggart lives and works in a house in Brooklyn. She has an e-chapbook out with Scantilly Clad Press, Won’t Be a Girl. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in the Agriculture Reader, La Petite Zine, My Name Is Mud, Blazevox, Ditch, Elimae, Robot Melon, Caketrain, Critphoria, EOAGH, Sawbuck, and Eleven Eleven.

In Obscured Offerings, Richard Eagan presents two strains of his characteristic constructed paintings. The first employs "bursting" elements to suggest the decline of Coney Island's amusement beach, while the second presents variations on the "target" theme reminiscent of the live-ammunition shooting galleries on the streets of Coney. A founding director of the Coney Island Hysterical Society, Eagan is active in the struggle to preserve the zoning and character of Coney Island's world-famous amusement zone.

About 440 Gallery: Park Slope's only artist-run gallery, a jewel box space offering an alternative venue for Brooklyn artists. 440 Gallery seeks to present surprising, unexpected art to the community through exhibitions, talks, readings and events centered around direct contact with the artist. Open Thursdays and Fridays from 4-7 pm, and Saturdays and Sundays from 12-6 pm, or by appointment.

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About those sweet potato fries

Temporary Famine Ship - Indian Jewelry

I Can Only Eat Fruit In A Relaxed Apartment

I picked up a copy of Sampson Starkweather's City of Moths on Friday at the Earshot Reading. I ran into Niina there who has a pretty good summation of the reading here.
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I had to work on Saturday and then came home and went to bed early.
Yeah I'm exciting that way.
Sunday I ate brunch at Cafe Olea, worked on poems, hung out with deep disco (roommate) & then watched Rashomon.
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I'm going to the Poets & Writers reading/party tonight in DUMBO (see previous post for info).
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Wednesday, the ever affable Mark Bibbins is reading along with John Deming.

6:00PM INTERCULTURAL POETRY SERIES
Cornelia Street Cafe 29 Cornelia Street, NYC 10014 212-989-9319
Julia Istomina, host
Mark Bibbins; John Deming; Michael Quattrone

Mark Bibbins is the author of The Dance of No Hard Feelings,
forthcoming from Copper Canyon Press, and the Lambda Award-winning Sky
Lounge.

Michael Quattrone is the author of Rhinoceroses (New School Chapbook
Series, 2006), and a curator of the KGB Monday night poetry reading
series. His work has appeared online in Octopus, McSweeney's, and
Jacket, and in the anthologies The Best American Erotic Poems
(Scribner, 2008) and The Bedside Guide to No Tell Motel—Second Floor
(No Tell Books, 2007). He works with Visible Theatre and lives in
Sleepy Hollow, New York.

John Deming is Co-Editor in Chief of coldfrontmag.com. His poems have
appeared or are forthcoming in POOL, Parthenon West Review, Tarpaulin
Sky, Past Simple and elsewhere. A New Hampshire native, he currently
lives in New York City and teaches at Baruch College and L.I.M.
College. He holds degrees in journalism and poetry from the University
of New Hampshire and The New School.

Cover $7 (includes one house drink)

Hope to see you there!

How to get to the Cornelia Street Café by Subway

A, C, E, B, D, F & V TRAINS

Get on the south end of the train.
Take the train to the West 4th Street stop.
Exit at West 3rd Street.
Walk one block north to 4th Street.
Make an acute left onto Cornelia Street.
1 & 9 TRAINS

Take the train to the Sheridan Square stop.
Walk 21/2 blocks east on West 4th Street.
Make a right onto Cornelia Street.
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Issue 3 of Saltgrass is hot off the presses! If you read this blog then you know I've blogged about quite a few contributors in this issue so you can imagine my excitement.

Eric Baus, CAConrad, Jessica deCourcy Hinds, Johannes Goransson, Kate Greenstreet, Brenda Iijima, Kristi Maxwell, Sawako Nakayasu, Keith Newton, Joshua Poteat, Joy Rhoades, Ken Rumble, Matt Sumell, Chris Tonelli, and Mike Young.

It's just waiting for you to read it. The basics: $5.00 print journal.

You can order the issue online & read sample poems at www.saltgrassjournal.blogspot.com.

Please pass on the good word.

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The Winter Issue of diode is up and eager for your eyes

Dear All,

I just wanted to let you know that the Winter, 2009 issue of diode is now live.

Dilruba Ahmed
Aaron Anstett
Tamiko Beyer
Ash Bowen
Charlie Clark
Arpine Konyalian Grenier
Angela Hibbs
Dennis Hinrichsen
dawn lonsinger
Bobbi Lurie
Ron Mohring
George Moore
Deborah Poe
Patrick Rosal
Michael Salcman
Maureen Seaton
Floarea Ţuţuianu, trans. Adam J. Sorkin and Irma Giannetti
Jakob VanLammeren

Sous Boog, Stark Weather comes to Williamsburg, and Poets & Writers do Brooklyn

Thanks to J. Li who lent me her old macbook, I'm temporarily back in action. & oh what action we have! The new ish of Sous Rature is up and it contains work by two of my favorite writers & good (frequently virtual) friends: Brooklyn Copeland & Sawako Nakayasu. There's lots of other great writers too, I just haven't had the chance to read them yet.

Boog City 3 is here.
So far I've like Mathias (Svalina) Amy (Lawless), David (Sewell), and Geoffrey (Olsen) but I've only had a chance to glance at it.

The first Earshot of 09 is going down on Friday & Starkweather's the jam!

EARSHOT!

Join us at our new venue, ROSE LIVE MUSIC, located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn!

*Friday, January 9th at 8 PM*
Admission: $5 + FREE DRINK!

Hosted by Nicole Steinberg

Featuring:
Ciaran Berry (The Sphere of Birds)
Sampson Starkweather (City of Moths)
Ann Podracky (Queens College)
Bianca Stone (New York University)
Carter Edwards (The New School)

ROSE LIVE MUSIC is located at 345 Grand Street in Brooklyn, between Havemeyer and Marcy. Visit their website for directions: http://liveatrose.com.

EARSHOT is a bi-monthly reading series, dedicated to featuring new and emerging literary talent in the NYC area. Visit http://www.earshotnyc.com for more information or e-mail Nicole Steinberg at earshotnyc@gmail.com.

& how about a little Poets & Writers function on Monday? I might actually see both fiction & poet friends under one roof.

DATE: Monday, January 12

TIME: 6:30 -8:30 pm

LOCATION: Galapagos Art Space, 16 Main St., DUMBO, Brooklyn

Join us to celebrate the launch of the January/February Inspiration issue of Poets & Writers Magazine (now printed on all-recycled paper) at the all-green Galapagos Art Space and Bar.

Enjoy a night of music, art, and poetry, featuring the poets and writers, agents and editors, and literary magazines and small presses featured in the magazine --poets Mike Cirelli, Matthea Harvey, and Patricia Smith; literary agents Jeff Kleinman, Julie Barer, Renee Zuckerbrot, and Daniel Lazar; A Public Space and Slice Magazine.

This is a 21+ event with a cash bar. Admission is free.

Nearby Trains: F, A, 2/3 - first stop in Brooklyn for each.
For more detailed directions, please click here.

Keep to our memories

My hard drive went on my computer so I'll have infrequent (if any) post on here for a while. I have to decide if my new unsaved poems & Itunes are worth $800 for data recovery. Of course, I don't have $800 so...

in meantime read these:

Diagram 8.6

Swink

2River View

Finches for a Good Home

Sixth Finch Winter 09

The Beach Boys- Seasons in the Sun