Bee bumps
its face

over and
over again

against patio
door pane.

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Staring at
this screen.

*

Penny in
a vase

filled with
purple and

yellow tulips.

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Listening to Keith Richards and the Winos.

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Lot of yard work today.  Also a lot of unproductive staring at the screen.  I'm on the cusp of something in Appearances  that I can't yet articulate to myself, let alone anyone else.

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Have started dipping into Thinking with Whitehead: A Free and Wild Creation of Concepts by Isabelle Stengers  (Harvard, 2011).  I'm only a few pages into the body of the text, after first reading Bruno Latour's brilliant Foreword, but already the sense that this is a book which is going to matter to me.

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Bobby Keys wailing away on sax.

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Lately in Appearances I've been doing a lot of re-writing of the most recent fragment.  Tuning it up.  And then, several times, I've moved on and written a follow-up installment and wound up deleting it.  It's frustrating.  I keep seeing the characters in my mind's eye.  They're metaphysical cartoons which are as real to me as anything I know.

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OK.  Maybe I should go and attempt some guitar "boxes."

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Work from APPEARANCES at Peep/Show

An excerpt from my work in progress, Appearances, is up at Peep/Show.  Click here

My thanks to Peep/Show's intrepid editors: Lynn Behrendt and Anne Gorrick.

I've said it before but I'm really not interested in hearing about what poetry can't do.  It has changed my life, forever inflected my thought, and infested my being.

Ultimately poetry is praxis, the project of a lifetime.  It's simultaneously what one makes and resists making.

Poetry isn't about expectations, it's about desire.  Except, it should be noted, poetry doesn't need to be about anything.

I call the high E string the first string and the low E string the 6th string because that's what I cobbled together from a self-instruction manual.  I've seen some contradictory things on the internest.

Sometimes I think the internest should stick to cat videos.

Sometimes I think I should have stuck with air guitar.

I progress very slowly with the guitar and then I get stuck.  Lot of fumbly stuckness lately.  That's not a fret board, it's a fart barred.  And pressure's building.

Of course, getting stuck is part of the process of learning.  At least it has always been so for me.  I learn in eccentric and asymmetrical ways.

Today, among other things, I read Michael Hardt's The Procedures of Love/Die Verfahren der Liebe which is Number 68 in the dOCUMENTA (13) 100 Notes - 100 Thoughts / 100 Notizen - 100 Gedanken series of pamphlets.

I keep returning to this passage from the all too brief essay:

"Love in Proust, like the physical interaction of bodies in Spinoza, certainly arrives as an event, outside the march of time, unforeseeable.  And yet the event only takes place in an encounter, when multiplicities come into relation with one another and form a new composition.  This encounter does not deny the transformative powers of the event, but rather forces them to work in time.  Conceiving of love in this way, as a physics of multiplicities and a process of composition, is useful because, in addition to destroying any notion of two individuals becoming one in love, it poses love as a transformational process--one of both rupture and composition." (8)

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Waiting with trepidation for the thunder storms which are supposed to roll through soon.  Nervous about trees, gutters, etc.

*

Been working hard at Appearances, but progress is very slow.  I write, I rewrite, I delete and rewrite again.

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GALATEA RESURRECTS #20 IS LIVE!

GALATEA RESURRECTS #20 (A POETRY ENGAGEMENT)

... is fresh!  You can see the entire issue at http://galatearesurrection20.blogspot.com/ .  I'll also cutnpaste the Table of Contents below for your convenience.

Happy Reading!

Eileen Tabios

Editor, Galatea Resurrects

GR #20 Table of Contents

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION

By Eileen Tabios

NEW REVIEWS

T.C. MARSHALL reviews CHINESE SUN by Arkadii Dragomoschenko; DISTANCE WITHOUT DISTANCE by Barbara Einzig; THE BOOK OF A THOUSAND EYES by Lyn Hejinian; ON THE TRACKS OF WILD GAME by Tomaž Šalamun; THE RELATIONAL ELATIONS OF ORPHANED ALGEBRA by Eileen Tabios and j/j hastain; and ON THE PLANET WITHOUT VISA: SELECTED POETRY AND OTHER WRITINGS,AD 1960-2012 by Sotère Torregian

Neil de la Flor reviews CEMETERY CHESS: SELECTED AND NEW POEMS by Sandy McIntosh

Eileen Tabios engages MERIDIAN by Kathleen Jesme

Laura Madeline Wisemen reviews SALEM IN SÉANCE by Susana H. Case

Djelloul Marbrook reviews Ahsahta Press and seven of its books: GALLOWGLASS by Susan Tichy; WORK FROM MEMORY by Dan Beachy-Quick; THE LAST 4 THINGS by Kate Greenstreet; ZONE: ZERO by Stephanie Strickland; PLEASURE by Brian Teare; SANCTA by Andrew Grace; and COUNTERPART by Elizabeth Robinson

Eileen Tabios engages CLARITY AND OTHER POEMS by Thomas Fink

j/j hastain engages AFTER SWANN with text by Marthe Reed, animation by Yeon Choi and music by joshua carro. Directed and produced by Keith Horwick

E.E. Nobbs reviews A MARZIPAN FACTORY—NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Grzegorz Wroblewski,translated by Adam Zdrodowski

Eileen Tabios engages THE ROMANCES AND OTHER POEMS by Micah Cavaleri

Tom Beckett reviews RECALCULATING by Charles Bernstein

Rhoda Rosenfeld and Edric Mesmer engage SEVEN CONTROLLED VOCABULARIES AND OBITUARY 2004. THE JOY OF COOKING by Tan Lin

Eileen Tabios engages ROUNDING THE HUMAN by Linda Hogan

Patrick James Dunagan reviews WESTERN PRACTICE by Stephen Motika

Carrie Hunter engages MERRY HELL by Sara Larsen

Thomas Fink reviews “ONLY TO PRY”, a poem in TINY GOLD DRESS by John Godfrey

Eileen Tabios engages THE GRAPEVINE by Richard Lopez

Neil Leadbeater reviews THE WHITE MUSEUM by George Bilgere

Genevieve Kaplan reviews THE IMPORTANT THING IS … CARD GAME by Marjorie Tesser

Eileen Tabios engages WAXWINGS by Daniel Nathan Terry

Neil Leadbeater reviews THE LOST COUNTRY OF SIGHT by Neil Aitken

Judy Roitman reviews three books by Kim Hyesoon, all translated by Don Mee Choi: ALL THE GARBAGE OF THE WORLD UNITE, MOMMY MUST BE A FOUNTAIN OF FEATHERS, and PRINCESS ABANDONED

Eileen Tabios engages RENEGADE // HEART by Lisa M. Cole

Melissa Fry Beasley reviews ELVIS PRESLEY’S HIPS & MICK JAGGER’S LIPS by Susana H. Case

Eileen Tabios engages BRUSHSTROKES AND GLANCES by Djelloul Marbrook

John Bloomberg-Rissman reviews WARSAW BIKINI and MOTHER WAS A TRAGIC GIRL, both by Sandra Simonds

Eileen Tabios engages ALL THIS FALLING AWAY by Tim Armentrout

Neil Leadbeater reviews EDGE EFFECTS by Jan Conn

Eileen Tabios engages ARSENIC LOBSTER: POETRY JOURNAL 2013, Issues 26, 27 & 28, Editor Susan Yountz

Carrie Hunter engages THE PRECIPICE OF JUPITER by erica lewis and mark stephen finein

Carrie Hunter engages THE RECITATION OF FORGETTING by Franck André Jamme

Eileen Tabios engages MEMORY CARDS by Susan M. Schultz

rob mclennan reviews SCARED TEXT by Eric Baus

Eileen Tabios engages THE BODY DOUBLE: A LONG POEM by Jared Harel

G.E. Schwartz reviews LIFE SENTENCES: APHORISMS & REFLECTIONS by Michael Perkins

Eileen Tabios engages IN MIXED COMPANY by Caleb Puckett & Friends, edited by Walter Ruhlmann and co-edited by Caleb Puckett

Jeff Harrison engages THE MORPHINE POEMS by Bobbi Lurie

Sally Deskins reviews SPRUNG by Laura Madeline Wiseman

Eileen Tabios engages WORK IS LOVE MADE VISIBLE by Jeanetta Calhoun Mish

Neil Leadbeater reviews LIFE’S A BEACH by Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan

Eileen Tabios engages AT THE TURNING OF THE LIGHT, VISIBLE BONES and ONE BIRD FALLING, all by CB Follett

jim mccrary reviews BLAME FAULT MOUNTAIN by Spencer Selby

Eileen Tabios engages MODULATIONS, ADDENDA and THE READER, all by Márton Koppány

Nicholas T. Spatafora engages LAST CALL AT THE TIN PALACE by Paul Pines and PRESENT TENSE by Anna Rabinowitz

Eileen Tabios engages PRIOR by James Berger

Eileen Tabios engages ITEMS by Tom Jenks

ESSAY

“Getting Past the ‘Lyric Block’ & the Individual as Ego: Poetic Method in John Clarke’s In the Analogy” by Bruce Holsapple

FEATURED POET … IN ILOCANO!

Luisa A. Igloria

FEATURED POET ... IN TAGALOG!
Joi Barrios

REVIEW OF A REVIEW

Richard Kostelanetz engages Thomas Fink’s review of Fict/ions and This Sentence

THE CRITICS WRITE POEMS

Djelloul Marbrook

Melissa Fry Beasley

FROM OFFLINE TO ONLINE

Kenneth Warren reviews BIBLIODEATH: MY ARCHIVES WITH LIFE IN FOOTNOTES by Andrei Codrescu

Lea Graham reviews VICTORY AND HER OPPOSITES by Amy England

Amaranth Borsuk reviews FRACTAL ECONOMIES by Derek Beaulieu

Lea Graham reviews HEAT LINES by Michael Anania

Amaranth Borsuk reviews DOG EAR by Erica Baum

Lea Graham reviews BELOVED IDEA by Ann Killough

Richard Lopez engages RIMBAUD by Graham Robb

Amaranth Borsuk reviews REVOLVER by Robyn Schiff

ADVERTISEMENT

You are Invited to SitWithMoi’s “Books on Chairs” Project!

BACK COVER

A Catty Review by Iris McCrary

  After carefully, and very slowly, reading  through the Appearances manuscript I was able to get my fears in check and realize that I like what I've done so far.  After almost 17 months of working on this beast, it was good to have a reality check.  I'd been prepared to jettison large chunks, the whole project, for that matter, if it didn't seem like it worked.  But, strangely, I think it does.  Even though I don't know where it's going from moment to moment.

The past two weeks I've felt stymied, unable to proceed with the book.  Today I wrote three new sections which I think are quite good.

This is the most ambitious writing project I've ever undertaken.  I'm now about 2/3 of the way through a first draft.  This probably isn't very interesting to read about, but it feels like a personal milestone to me.

We're almost halfway through the month  and I've only just now learned that May is National Masturbation Month.

Think nationally, act locally!

I'm trying
however erratically

to hear
music differently,

to break
it down

into this
and that

color and
timbre and

shape and
bent note.

Thomas Fink and his wife Molly Mason spent some time with me in Oberlin, Ohio yesterday. 

The three of us started out in the Allen Art Museum.  Tom ( in addition to being a poet, critic, guitarist and budding bel canto singer) is a painter.  Molly is a professional sculptor.

I loved wandering from painting to painting—to sculpture—to ceremonial mask—to performance document with these two.  The conversation was great, spiked with anecdote and passion.  I love this couple.

I particularly loved how Molly could look at a passage in a painting and break it down materially—that beautiful gold in the drapery of that renaissance dress is this and that color, but look how it has been transformed.  The appreciation and honoring of detail!

Only one discordant moment in the museum.  We spent a long time thinking out loud about an African fertility mask.  Our hands were waving close to the extraordinary object.  We were speculating about how it would be worn and about how it was made.  A security guard approached us, gently, and asked us what we were doing. 

We explained.  Molly thanked him for not beating us up!

Later Tom and I separated off from Molly (with her consent) to lunch and talk about divers things.

Our late lunch was at an Asian fusion place. I had a great pho and Tom had an Asian inspired salad.

Our conversation was about writing, poetry friends, and guitar techniques.  Tom has been playing guitar since 1968 and he drew some fret board diagrams for me that I’m hoping penetrate this noggin and playing fingers. 

I always feel better after an encounter with Thomas Fink.  He’s a positive force in the universe I inhabit. Bless his heart.

Alex Gildzen's BLOSSOMS

Blossoms is a selection of poems spanning the years 1955-2013.  A publication in celebration of Alex's 70th birthday (as one can read on the cover reproduced above).  It's only 50 pages long ,only 50 pages (it's really never been about size for me),  but worlds are contained in its words.

There's much good stuff in this collection, but I'm really fond of the 17 part sequence Life is Art.  I want to call attention to part 11:

"phallic hymn"

don't be redundant

You can buy the book direct from Night Ballet Press here.

Congrats, Alex!

PS: I love the way the ink of this book smells.

Great post from philosopher Levi R. Bryant:

http://larvalsubjects.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/reflections-on-the-opacity-of-affect/

Heard from two of my favorite people today: Thomas Fink and Alex Gildzen.

Tom called to let me know he'd be in Ohio soon.  We've set up a get together.

Alex sent me his latest chapbook.

I promise to write more about both at a later time.

In the meantime, thank you both (Tom and Alex).

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Did a bunch of yard work and errands today.  Then walked downtown for comfort food (calimari) and wine.

I brake for squid.

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