Since no one has shown up for class

I've spent the hour reading these online journals:

Drunken Boat
Jellyfish

Weekend Wrap = Monday Blah

I've been prepping for my Harlem Renaissance class all day- reading, making lecture notes, & just spacing out.

On Saturday I went to a reading featuring work written in the "teenage years." It was a blast & Farrah has a pretty damn nice review of it plus pics here.

On Sunday, I participated in the Save The Libraries Reading Marathon. The New York Times has a review of it here.

The debut ish of Lantern Review is up & it has poems by label-mate, Angela Veronica Wong, dopeness by Barbara Jane Reyes, awesomeness by Jai Arun Ravine, & lots of other great work. Check it out here.

I Do This & I Need Your Help

We are starting our Annual Fundraising Drive! Please consider donating, everyone! It's for a great cause: teaching creative writing to patients in long-term care facilities, cancer wards, hospitals, and retirement homes. Please spread the word and pass this along to anyone you know who can help or needs our services. Check out our website for me details, as well as, the donation page. Borough Writing Workshop.

In advance, thanks for your consideration and ongoing support.

I Didn't Eat The Mango But Ate You Instead

Today my alarm went off at 6:13am.
I got up at 6:33am, showered, made French press & ate Vanilla yogurt with nut butter granola.
I left for work.
I got hot on the subway.
I yawned a lot.
I mispronounced names in the double digits.
I watched students sleeping & thought things that will remain untyped.
My big toe pushed through a hole in my sock which caused me considerable mental discomfort.
I had another cup of coffee.
My thermal top trapped the heat & I began to sweat.
Today I ate Dal Makhani for lunch.
I over-baked the naan so it was crispy, too crispy.
I touched a mango but it was not completely ripe.
I contemplated.
I decided against eating the not-completely-ripe mango & ate your face instead.

My-my

I just spent the last two hours reading essays which included everything from being hippies to surfers to Vietnam Vets to broken hearts, mean parents, rapes, lesbian affairs, man loves dog, and a kid buying his first Jordans. & of course, some nice stuff about Grandmas too!

What To Do With Gray Days

Today I got the results from my ENG-099 class' ACT test results. 52% passed. That sucks. In fact, it really sucks. I generally have a 80-90% pass rate.

It's overcast outside & I am disappointed.

& I am tired.

I want to go back to bed, but feel like I should work on some poems. Finish edits on a poem long chapbooks & read at least one of the three books I need to write reviews for. I also have a friend's manuscript that I need to re-read and formulate comments on.

I am drinking coffee & hoping the caffeine will work.

Ups & Downs & Them Arounds

Saturday was rather stunning. I went to Roosevelt Island for the first time. Lila & I had a picnic. Here's what we ate: olives, olive tapenade, a baguette, brie, mozzarella, crackers, and beer. We also flew a kite. It was my first time flying a kite. I did not grow up flying kites.

Saturday night was fun time at Farrah & Jared's apartment in DUMBO. People read poetry, drank drinks, and mingled. You can see pictures (the ones with pirate hats) here.

Sunday my sister, two nieces, and nephew came into the city via South Jersey. We walked a lot. They got tired & probably slept really well last night.

I fell asleep around 9:30 while watching Sonic Youth videos. I woke up around 9:30 this morning & looked for work. I have received a lot of emails today, but none of them have been about work or poetry or even from friends. This makes me feel weighted & a bit sweaty. I am going to rinse my face, drink some water, and try to feel as light as light.

Here comes the sun or so some say

I went to bed around 2 or so, yet woke up at 6:32. I could not fall back to sleep. I watched Battle Star Galactica. I read. I somehow made weak french press & did my dishes. I went to eat yogurt but found out I am out of granola. I thought I just bought granola. I have not eaten. I have not gone back to sleep. I fretted over losing my fourth class, which is the only class I was looking forward to. Spent hours crafting the perfect syllabus & making a packet containing poems by Gingsberg and Reyes, as well as, short stories by Barthelme, Wong & Borges. I will read my packet and pretend I am teaching. No I will shower, do laundry, clean my room, buy tickets for the Crystal Stilts show (assuming it is not sold-out) and walk to St. Mark's Bookstore. Or maybe I'll fall back asleep and dream of doing all of these things, or,,,

Keep the modest flows for practice

My Intro to Lit class is over on Monday. Sigh. This was actually an awesome class. We read Barbara Jane Reyes' West Oakland Sutra for the AK-47 Shooter at 3:00am and other Oakland poems, as well as, Claudia Rankine's, Don't Let Me Be Lonely. There were a lot of good discussion in regards to Rankine, but the Reyes seem a little bit more difficult- or so I thought. To my surprise & delight a lot of their last papers & answers for the finals all talk about Reyes' poems. I think it took longer for them to digest the complexity of her work, but I feel good knowing that this beautiful chapbook has imprinted itself upon so many of their brains.

While they working on their finals, I finished reading Eric Baus' newest book. It's better than you think! Buy it.

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.

We put our peaches where they had to go

One of the best feelings is finding out you don't have to teach on a day you thought you had to teach- in other words, no Staten Island Ferry for me on Friday.
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Yesterday I had to do cross-exam-grading. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but definitely happy to be through with it.

Right before I left yesterday I stopped at a bench in the hallway to make a call. As I was on the phone a student passed by me and smiled. Then she said I was "cute." This was unexpected so I said nothing. She laughed and walked away (slowly). I thought maybe it was a joke, but I didn't see anyone else around, as yesterday the school was pretty empty except for evening students who had finals during the day. Weird. I was seriously rocking some corny, boring, black, teacher pants and need a haircut....
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I recently watched the French film, Elevator to the Gallows (1957) and I'm thinking about seeing Tell No One. Has anyone seen it?
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This week is the final Word of Mouth of 2008. I'll post details tomorrow. I also have a friend's bday party. Then holiday parties on Friday and Saturday night. Hopefully I'll get my haircut on Sunday.
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Today, I received an unexpected text declaring love for a particular poem I wrote. That was sweet and made my day!
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I'm eating Tempting Trail Mix from Trader Joes, ever have it? I recommend it. Tonight I think I'm making gnocchi with mushrooms, carmelised onions (sauteed if I get impatient), fresh salted tomatoes, black olives, and arugula in a cream sauce. I'll have to make it soon, before I lose motivation.

Work Makes A Head Tired

Aiya... this week has been nothing but writing and administering tests. Then. Days off. But. Plenty. Of. Papers. To. Grade.

Also, been working on new poems which are thus far, uncooperative. Little fuckers have a mind of their own I suppose. Aiya.

Overheard in Staten Island

College of Staten Island (CSI) provides a shuttle bus to transport students/faculty from the ferry to the college. Yesterday, I forgot my ipod so I was forced to listen to the bus driver's conversation with his buddy, another bus driver. It went like this:

Bus driver to buddy: We should take a vacation after Christmas and 'fore school starts again.

Buddy: Man, a vacation for me is me and my bike on the open road.

Bus driver: Naaah we should go som'where hot like the Dominic Republic or Puerto Rico, if ya know what I mean.

Buddy: Yeah, how 'bout we go to Central America, and then I call your wife when we get there and tell her that you and I are in Central America. She would have my BALLS! My BALLS!

Bus driver: Nah, we'll just say it's some fishin' trip or somethin'. I don't care where we go so long as I can get a girl cheap for 4 days.

Buddy: (laughs) You're horrible. And you goin' get me in trouble with your wife and mine!

Bus driver: Seriously, let's go. Whateva place has a lot of poor people. The poorer the better! (he's cracking himself up) Maybe I can even get two!

Buddy: (laughs)

The bus stops. We get off. The exploitation of "poor" presumably "young" girls is exactly the sort of conversation you want to hear on the way to higher education. I'm positive there were students on the bus from the DR and PR... but they had on ipods.

Slowed Down

I went to my parents' house last week and saw Dark Knight with my sister, two nieces, and nephew. The movie was good but definitely not great or maybe it really needs to be seen on IMAX.

Other than that I haven't been up to too much. I saw Battles & Black Dice play at Central Park's Summer Stage on Saturday, but didn't make it to Aesop Rock on Sunday, instead I lounged around the park enjoying the weather and avoided cleaning my room. I met up with some friends in Fort Greene at night & we all hung out on a stoop watching the rats run from the park to the garden. My one friend S is terrified of rats, my other friend S is only a little less terrified of rats.

I finished reading Canarium and Cutbank 69- both are good. I read some of The Saint Ann's Review Winter 2008 and had mixed feelings so I put it on hold to read Crazyhorse Number 73 and redivider spring 2008. Sadly both crazyhorse and redivider have poems by Billy Collins. As a rule, I don't read anything written by a Billy. Just the way I roll these days.

My colleague and friend Dan Magers is reading on Friday. I'll post the details later this week. Now I need to make coffee and seriously write out a syllabus. The plan is to do one today & do the other one on Thursday. I talked with my friend, Melissa & she hasn't written hers out either. I feel better. What about the rest of you adjunct junkies?

RawkRollWhateva

So summer's come to this... I need a job. I finished restructuring my manuscript + finished the rewrites on a chapbook (two of the main reasons that I didn't want to have summer employment- I know, grad school was supposed to be for writing but it seems like I was always WORKING!) nonetheless, it doesn't appear that I'll get my backpay from Eos anytime soon, which would allow me to enjoy summer unfettered by a job & the unemployment checks simply don't support my lifestyle & by lifestyle I mean doing anything other than checking books out of the library and scanning for free events then ducking out as soon as they are over so I don't have to explain that a drink or a poetry book isn't currently in my budget. Now really what kind of summer is that?

I will teach two English Comp courses at LaGuardia/CUNY in the fall + start a business with my Ph.d genius friend, Melissa, but until then I'm going to suck it & find summer employment. Any suggestions?
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July is going to be all about music reading. I just checked out Dean Wareham's book from the library and so far it's pretty good. The book begins with an infamous (that is if you were a fan of Galaxy 500- which I LOOOOOVED) statement from Damon talking about Dean suddenly wanting to become a star and bathing himself in the spotlight. It's a ballsy move & a perfect way to start the book- bring on the drama, turn on the amps, cue up the guitars... "it's no fun giving the middle finger to the blind." Can't remember what Luna song that it is from, but it remains forged in my brain and has given me much delight over the years and still does.
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More rock- a ways back Thurston Moore put out a book exploring the mixed-tape culture and what was lost via no longer making mixed taped. My friend, Julia, and I recently reminisced about making or receiving mixed tapes from past lovers/crushes/heart-skippers & how you'd sit around trying to decode why the person put THAT jam on the tape...

With a c.d. you put on your ipod & just skip over those songs without ever worrying the brain. Anyways, the book was o.k. coulda been much better but was geared towards an Urban Outfitters crowd (unlike Back in the days- which just wound up having an audience at UO, but when the book first came out- we flipped with joy at Powell's City of Books)

Well Mr. Moore is back at it, & even though this doesn't go down until July I'm marking my calendar now for it. A book about Sonic Youth and about the No Wave scene. I love reading this stuff. & the jump-off at McNally Robinson should be pretty damn good:

Friday, July 11, 7 PM

Sonic Youth and No Wave

David Browne, author of Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth (Da Capo Press)

Thurston Moore, author of No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York 1976-1980 (Hna Books)

Thurston Moore is a founding member of the seminal band Sonic Youth and the author of several books. His book No Wave visually chronicles the collision of art and punk in the New York underground scene of the 70s and 80s. David Browne, a journalist and author specializing in music and pop culture for over twenty years, writes about the history of Sonic Youth and its huge influence on this scene. The two will discuss the band and the scene, perhaps with some audio and video.

Timing is Everything

Turns out my timing to take a flight on Eos was pitch perfect considering that I just got a call (11:40 pm) from my manager informing me that I've been terminated since Eos has filed for bankruptcy.

I am now officially unemployed.

xtra durty

I haven't been the best bl0gger this week. Things have been a bit out-of-control at work which has left me listless, tired, & mostly wordless.

I ate outside today & when I finished I sat on a bench beneath a flowering tree & read a coupla of Matthea Harvey poems.

I figured if it goes down today at least I'll greet it with white petals in my hair.

Either way, the flight attendants-in-training are learning how to make drinks. I already put in order in for an xxxtra durty vodka martini with 3 olives.

Ask me how I am in a half an hour- either forgetten or in the first stages of forgetting.

Underdog Done

I had a pretty quiet weekend esp. since I still don't have a computer/internet at home right now.

Watched some of the basketball games this weekend both alone and with my roommate. Really hoped Davidson would pull out the upset win. I mean when has rooting for an underdog been more fun?

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Went to Central Park on Sunday to cheer on my friend who was running the 10k Scotland run. Yep she's badass. I stood with my hoodie on, coffee in hand, and ra ra's ready to be launched.

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My Tuesday night is pretty packed but I'm hoping to ease of out work a little early to check out this reading before heading into Brooklyn so see my friend's friends' performance art gig.

Tuesday, April 1st

Poetry Society of America: Chapbook Reading

Robert Polito, moderator

6:30pm, Wollman Hall, 55 W 11th St, $10, $7 for PSA members and students. Tickets available at event.

Chapbook judges read with the poets whose manuscripts they elected for publication. Featuring Rae Armantrout with Carey McHugh, Harryette Mullen with Kate Ingold, Mark Strand with Andrew Michael Roberts, and Kevin Young with Lytton Smith.
Reception to follow, and chapbooks will be available for sale.

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So I have my eyes rolled to the high heavens (or void thereof) filling out a spread sheet for work that I lapsed on last week. Since we have two flight attendant training classes + a pilot training class I've got quite a few names to plug in. Insert y-a-w-n here.

So to keep myself from going crazy I play a little game like looking for the best name. Here's the winner: Sztawyo. That's pretty good last name, don't you think? He has a generic first name so no dbl bonus for him!

Another good name: Jagwendolyn (1st name) but she goes by Naresse so not sure if I should count it. What do you think? She's southern and knows I don't understand half of what she's saying (intentionally slurring) & neither one of us even bother to fake it. We nod. We smile. We give up. We go our own ways.

Boog City Boogie + Tuesday Traumas

Boog City’s Classic Albums Live presents The Pixies’ Surfer Rosa at 20(and Doolittle at 19)andreadings fromThe Portable Boog Reader 2:An Anthology of New York City Poetry

Tues. March 11, 7:00 p.m., $8
Cake Shop152 Ludlow St.NYC

The night will open with readings fromPortable Boog Reader 2 contributors Jim Behrle Mónica de la Torre Corrine Fitzpatrick Joanna Sondheim and Angela Veronica Wong!!!!

PBR2 features the work of 72 New York City poets.
The online pdf is available at:http://welcometoboogcity.com/boogpdfs/bc47.pdf

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The way my Tuesday is shaping up I proabably won't make this but you don't need me there to hold yer hand, do you?

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I've been getting all Keroauc on the Brother P-touch machine making labels reading CHAPTER 11: N763MX-HD. Talk about reckless abandonment! Talk about excitement! I'm feeling so very O'hara right now!

Annoymous Number 9 you ain't got nothin' on this kind of good clean fun & I'm getting paid for it too!

Damn talk about biscuits & xtra gravy

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My outlook has been "retrieving data" for like an hour now. Hope its something good.