BIG THANK YOUS; FORKLIFT, OHIO REVIEWED IN TARPAULIN SKY, & DARCIE DENNIGAN'S CORINNA A-MAYING THE APOCALYPSE

1. Just back two days ago from the readings in California, and I'm finally enough dug out of the hole of not being here for a week that I can write this post to say thank you to everyone who came out or helped with the readings. Very especially praise and thanks are due to: Russell Dillon, Jason Morris, Chad Sweeney, Gina Myers, Jim Maughn, Clay Banes, and Sara Michas-Martin. The readings were a ball and I'm looking forward to being back on the West Coast again soon--though I will not be returning via the red-eye...

2. There's a new review of Forklift, Ohio #18 by Cara Benson in the ever amazing Tarpaulin Sky. Check it out right here.

3. My review of Darcie Dennigan's Corinna A-Maying the Apocalypse appeared in Coldfront last week. Read it here.

CALIFORNIA READINGS!

Hey, I'm reading this weekend in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Berkeley and at Stanford University with a bunch of really amazing poets. I hope some of you, esp. my friends on the West Coast, will try and make it out. Here's the info.:

1) BIG BELL Magazine Release Party w/ Marisa Crawford, Dodie Bellamy, Kevin Killian, and the mighty Russell Dillon. Thurs. April 17th, 9PM, Adobe Books, 3166 16th St., San Francisco, CA 94107.

2) A New Cadence Poetry Series w/ Chad Sweeney and Jason Morris: Fri. April 18th, 7:30 PM, Felix Kulpa Gallery, 107 Elm Street (behind Streelight Records), Santa Cruz, CA 95060

3) Pegasus Books Downtown w/ Darcie Dennigan: Sun. April 20th, 7:30 PM, 2349 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA 94704

4) On the Cut: New Voices in Poetry w/ Major Jackson and Sandra Lim, Mon. April 21, 8PM Stanford Humanities Center, Stanford University, Stanford CA 94305

Tour Help Wanted, Fou Magazine, and 3 from Robert Desnos

1) Amanda Nadelberg and I need your help. It turns out that the two of us are going to be doing some readings -- very last-minute-like -- starting in the Boston area on May 10, then Turner's Falls, MA on the 12th and NYC on the 13th. What we're wondering is whether or not any of you would be able to help us with a reading between/around Boston and NYC (we'd be willing to go pretty much anywhere in New England) on the following date:

May 11

and then between NYC and Cincinnati (Western NY, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana...?) on these dates:

May 14

May 15

We aren't looking for money (though of course gas $s would be great, as it's expensive driving around these days), and it needn't be fancy. We certainly aren't above reading in your living room. If you can help in any way, or point us to someone who can, we'd really appreciate it. You can either leave a comment on this post, or email me at forkliftmatt@gmail.com .

Thanks.

2) Check out issue #1 of Fou Magazine, in which I have some poems. And don't worry, you won't be sorry, because issue 1 also contains work by: Bob Hicok, Elaine Equi, Mark Bibbins, Matthew Zapruder, Lytton Smith, Dorothea Lasky and many more. Congrats to the editors on a fine new journal.

3) from Robert Desnos (because I'm reading him again and maybe you'd like to as well).

1. "Be sure to put a life preserver on my tomb./Because you never know." -- from "Great Days in the Life of the Poet" trans. Patricia Terry

2. "But luckily I still have the stars, and the consciousness of my moral greatness opposed to the thousand obstacles the world sets up against my love." --from "Tour of the Tomb" trans. Mary ann Caws

3. "I love love, its tenderness and cruelty." -- from "No, love is not dead" trans. Mary Ann Caws