Good Things Gooder and Other Terrors

16 papers to grade TONIGHT... so why am I writing this?


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Two Wednesdays ago I got to read with Lesley Jenike at the Public Library, and her poems were fantastic. So many of them responsive, responsible (not to mention marvelously imaginative) responses to things -- movies, people, history -- very musical, very rich in detail and texture...

I'm at a point where I want to read new things at my readings, but... And I did, and...


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2 from Mary Ruefle:

1) "Pity the poor proofreader/ who thinks this darke body of clowds/was my life." -- from "Darke Body of Clowds"

2) "...cry out like a bird/then sob like a human." -- from "I Came Across the Living One Night"


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Pterodactyl, Inc: one failure of nerve after another? -- to commit, to risk, to distinguish oneself from others as a way to remind oneself (and others) just how fundamentally similar we all are...


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A friend emails to ask what I think about prayer. I wonder why anyone would ask me this...

But I tell him: Read Fear and Trembling, as "no poet can reach Abraham."



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My new manuscript: SIMPLY ROCKET! There, I said it.



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Sebastian Matthews was here from Wednesday to Saturday. Brilliant man, brilliant light. Kind to spiders and skyscrapers alike. On Thursday night we sat around listening to (among other things) Clark Terry's In Orbit (the only Riverside album where Thelonious Monk was a sideman -- I highly recommend it) and reading new poems. You will be in the clouds when you hear/read his, esp. the one called "Skywalker."



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Chrome-hammer-black, like you told me.

Prairie Lights, Anyone?

A couple of Mondays ago, 3/26, I was honored to read with my pals Dobby Gibson and Amanda Nadelberg at Prairie Lights Books in Iowa City. We had great time, and no one got sick (or into a fight) at the after-party. The next morning we had a lovely breakfast.

Big thanks to everyone who came out to the reading, and especially to Zach Savich who hosted us and Jan Weissmiller who set the whole thing in motion.

If you weren't there, you can hear the reading here!

Un/fortunately, the after-party was not recorded.

PS I have not started going by Matthew.

POETRY IN THE GARDEN

Hey, for those of you who live in the Greater Cincinnati area I'll be reading this Wednesday April 4th at 7PM with Lesley Jenike as part of the Poetry in the Garden series at the Cincinnati Public Library, 800 Vine St. downtown. Hope to see you there.