ryan manning made a video with my weird embarrassing voice. thank you ryan.

books i read this week and i liked them

stacey levine

has a blog now! the internet is so happy about it...

bonnie billy i will see you

i'm going to see will oldham on friday in columbus, ohio, hurray.

the arrival

i went to the printer's row book fair today with megan and got the arrival by shaun tan. art spiegelman blurbed it, saying that it's a "wordless story that uses the language of silent cinema and the picture-story traditions that predate comic books," and that this "masterfully rendered tale about the immigrant experience is a documentary magically told by way of Surrealism." i really love this book. i like that tan created "anonymous" cultures and that a lot of the images in the story don't necessarily "stand" for something, but instead give the emotion of something. tan says this:

"I am rarely interested in symbolic meanings, where one thing ‘stands for’ something else, because this dissolves the power of fiction to be reinterpreted. I’m more attracted to a kind of intuitive resonance or poetry we can enjoy when looking at pictures, and ‘understanding’ what we see without necessarily being able to articulate it. One key character in my story is a creature that looks something like a walking tadpole, as big as a cat and intent on forming an uninvited friendship with the main protagonist. I have my own impressions as to what this is about, again something to do with learning about acceptance and belonging, but I would have a lot of trouble trying to express this fully in words. It seems to make much more sense as a series of silent pencil drawings."

  you can see more pictures here.

i really like cate marvin.

chapbooks free and reviewed

if you haven't heard, j.a. tyler at ml press is giving away a free chapbook! he said this:

"charles lennox turned in this fantastically explosive text A FIELD OF COLORS to ml press & we, well, we wanted to share it with everyone. email me at author@aboutjatyler.com with your mailing address & I will send you a copy of this volume, free."

ALSO

the first issue of the chapbook review is now up! this is a journal (or something, whatever) devoted completely to the discussion of chapbooks. and it's put on by john madera, the smartest man on the internet. this issue features christopher higgs interviewing blake butler and butler interviewing higgs. reviews follow by j.r. angelella, andrew borgstrom,tobias carroll, nicolle elizabeth, sean lovelace, josh maday, kimberly king parsons, and matthew simmons.

PlUS, ALSO, TOO

if you'd like to review a chapbook you can look here for titles. contact john if you're interested.

the accident

i got into a bus accident today. here, i twittered it.

claire donato

i just read someone else's body, a chapbook from cannibal by claire donato. aside from being weird and smart and funny, claire donato is great at line breaks. each line is a beautiful unit. you can see this best in the first poem, "The Night, What It Allows":

The walls are tearing

  out of their paint.     My legs

  are crossed.     I am not

listening to the TV

in the other room.     I am not

  listening to the television.     The window next

to the television is

  turning away.     The window is

open.     There is a person

outside of it, screaming.  I am lying

  on a television, my eyes are closed,

someone is breaking into my

house: I have always been afraid

of the night, what it allows.     I have

never been afraid of the depth

of your fall: in, on, arms, quarrel,

voice...I am never afraid

to layer my breath over yours--

and when I ask you to plot your anger

on a line, I am referring to fear, how

it is linear: see how mine moves

upward in a diagonal line?

See how it moves up to choose?

Why are you lying in a heap on the floor?

i just typed the whole poem. i didn't plan to do that, i just didn't want to stop. am i in trouble? who cares, do you see what i mean about the line breaks? beautiful.

here is another poem from the chapbook that i love, it is so great:

There are apologies I am too

You can read more poems and buy the book here.

i found this on della watson's twitter. it is funny. also, astro mike is still up there floating around. 

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Old Man Stewart Shakes His Fist at White House Poetry Jams
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

gchatting to no one

sometimes when a person isn't online to gchat, i gchat them anyway. you might think "why don't you just write an email" but gchatting to no one is so different than writing an email.

here is one gchat to no one that i wrote this morning. it was actually to matthew savoca, not no one, except he wasn't there, so it was sort of like to no one. you won't understand the "hi" and "goodbye" words because sometimes we make up words. it's like twin language only dumber.

7:44 AM me: bot?
the internet is so boring lately
like
i go on it
and then i think
now what?
and i can't think of anything to look at so i just stare at my gmail
7:45 AM i guess i'll look at twitter
twitter just reminded me that there was a thunderstorm last night while i was sleeping
7:46 AM some thunder struck really close to me
it was the loudest i've ever heard
i jumped out of my bed and ran into the kitchen
but i was still kind of asleep so i looked in the refrigerator
and thought "what?"
i was so confused
7:48 AM have you ever heard of corie blount
7:49 AM the headlines of the article that tao wrote and then linked to on twitter are funny
7:50 AM maybe the actual article is funny too but i only read the headlines
it is time to tutor now
bebot matthew

a beautiful manhole

this is cool

a beautiful sente nce

people often find this blog by googling "the saddest poem in the world." like, basically everyday. everyday someone is wondering what the saddest poem in the world is and asking google. this could lead to any number of hypotheses. 

also today someone in iran found this blog by googling "a beautiful sente nce"

and the winner is...margosita!

margosita, email me your address at kcregina@gmail.com and i'll mail you a gustaf!

thanks to all of the entrants. you can order gustaf for $7 here.

i will have more giveaways soon!

**gustaf giveaway**

gustaf is a norwegian indie lit journal that is great and has a lot of pictures and is layed out beautifully and is in english, norwegian and danish. i think it may be the coolest thing i own. they sent me two contributor copies so i am giving one away on this blog! if you leave a comment on this post you will be entered to win. i will draw names out of a bowl, because i don't have any hats. oh wait, i have, like, stocking hats. i might draw names out of a stocking hat.

gustaf!

here are some videos.

indie lit now sold at target

i have been waiting for this to happen.

agriculture reader

i got a copy of the 3rd issue of the agriculture reader in the mail yesterday and what the crap, it is so awesome. it looks more like an artist book than a journal, with drawings throughout by joey parlett. but also, the writing is good too. i love this journal. i'm still reading, but so far i've really liked the things by heather christle, noelle kocot and dennis cooper. you can preview some pages here.

dewclaw

i got my proof for the premier issue of Dewclaw and the layout looks pretty cool. i am excited to see this journal. it's available now for pre-order here. apparently the first 10 people to pre-order get a prize!

jimmy chen

wrote a review of 'i am in the air right now' on html giant. thank you jimmy chen! jimmy chen writes a lot and really fast and everything he writes is really good. how does he do that. he has a chapbook from magic helicopter press that looks cool and also paints things.

who is that hyojung person that everyone on html giant is talking about? i feel inferior because i can't keep up with internet controversy.

still sick and also

i am still sick and still watching television. i happen to know that an all new gossip girl is on tonight. i coughed so hard yesterday that i pulled a muscle in my stomach and now when i cough i feel it and it feels hilarious. this is because sickness makes me hysterical.

does anyone know a person that has been through the committee on social thought PhD at the university of chicago? i would like to speak to or read about a person with such a quality.

i am in the air right now is now officially for sale at the greying ghost! i got my books in the mail and they are lovely. i feel lucky to have this chapbook. thank you carl, and shane for introducing me to carl, and greg again for making that video.

here are some poems from the book: poems poem

who knows the best kind of cough syrup to take? if you can recommend a kind of cough syrup that will actually make me stop coughing i will write the next 10 posts about you.

sick

i've been sick for 4 days and i started watching television again. i will probably stop. but for real, america's next top model is hilarious.

a lot of things have happened whilst i've been blowing my nose.

matthew savoca rewrote "i am in the air right now" and made it an ebook called "there is air in me right now." it is way better than the original.

matthew also made a video for gustaf that is so good. also, gustaf 2 will be out later this month!

della watson started something very good called wunderkammer.

john madera released a giant list of favorite novellas from a bunch of different writers. john seems very smart and says smart things. i think i've only read like 4 novellas in my life, but i tried to participate. two things i mentioned aren't really novellas, but they're "short" works--"arthur" by matthew savoca and "the summer scientists" by della watson. these are 2 of my favorite books ever and neither has a publisher yet. if you publish things you should call della and matthew. or actually, email is probably better. or skywriting.

also david peak said something nice about "as i said." david peak looks familiar to me. i think i have seen him in my neighborhood. david do you live in wicker park? do you see jesse ball walking around all the time? me too.

trailer for "i am in the air right now"

the talented greg lytle did a hand drawn animation video for one of the poems in i am in the air right now, available for pre-order from greying ghost press. i think he said he drew around 400 frames (*update* 750 frames!). what in the world. he is so good. this is maybe the best thing that has ever happened to me. if you have a short piece that you would like animated, contact greg.


I Am In the Air Right Now from Greg Lytle on Vimeo.

sometimes sylvia plath comes up on my ipod shuffle. her voice is terrifying.

funny awesome story by sarah eaton

i really like this poem by adam robinson.

i saw will oldham play at the vic last night. he was extremely good. he makes grand hand gestures and stands on one leg like a bird. and kicks his leg around a little.

the hot air balloonist can see your house from here

i just got word from greying ghost press that "i am in the air right now" is scheduled for release on april 1st!

also check out "the pond"--zachary schomburg's newly released chapbook.

Saturday Night Live - Virgania Horsen's Hot Air Balloon Rides

TOUGH!

happy cobra books just published an e-book by matthew savoca called tough! with illustrations from lots of different writers and artists. it is so good. i like seeing everyone together. at first i couldn't figure out who did what, but the very last page has credits.

someone should alert the press. if anyone knows how to do that, this is the time when it needs to be done.

clueless is not experimental but it's still awesome

even though i have at least 20 new books to read, i reread part of the world last weekend for the 100th time. reading part of the world over and over is like that summer i watched clueless everyday for 3 months. i am not insulting robert lopez by comparing his book to clueless. it is a layered and complex film. once i watched the entire movie focusing only on alicia silverstone's eyebrow expressions.

this time while i read part of the world i thought about what experimental fiction is. robert teaches a class on experimental fiction so i'm guessing he writes it as well.

there is one paragraph in the book that could apply:

"This is around the time I started to think of the encounter as a social experiment. Sociological, anthropological, geriatricological, any number of academic disciplines could apply to this situation. This is often the best stance to adopt, regarding almost everything. Having no stake at all in whatever may or may not transpire; whatever the end results might or might not be. This is what I try to do. Almost nothing has anything to do with me.

"I call it The Approach."

could it be said that if you are an experimental writer you are performing a set of experiments with language and have "no stake at all in whatever may or may not transpire; whatever the end results might or might not be"? that would make experimental writing very different from regular old postmodern writing i think. maybe.

shane jones said this:

Another conversation that I've seen on a few blogs is calling some writing "experimental." Calling something "experimental" is really really lazy. I can't stand it. It's what people say when they don't know how to describe something. Is there a truly experimental writer? I don't know. It all seems kind of silly and thoughtless.

he is funny.