08 October 2005

i saw the best minds of my generation...

yesterday marked the 50 year anniversary of the unveiling of Allen Ginsberg's seminal poem (which lucidly and viscereally described a generation) Howl. On October 7, 1955, Ginsberg read his poem to an audience in San Francisco. Howl (and that reading in specific) is given credit for kicking off the Beat movement in modern poetry.

anyway, Howl is still an amazing piece, meant to be heard, not read. i have a recording of Ginsberg reading this poem, and it is simply awesome (in all meaning of the word). i am not a Ginsberg nut, and frankly feel most of his poetry is overrated, but Howl remains one of the greatest poems ever written. and, anybody who can do that deserves to go down in history, and will earn my undying respect. Howl might have been a fluke for Ginsberg (depending upon your feelings of Ginsberg), but what a fluke it was.

read up on Ginsberg and his fight against censorship during the mid-50's McCarthyism. then, read the poem and revel in Ginsberg's images. enjoy the metrical timing and spacing. and celebrate a piece of poetic (and American) history.

06 October 2005

the penultimate issue

i received my subscriber's copy of the penultimate issue of Chiron Review today (issue #80). if you are unaware Chiron Review has been at it for some 23 years. they've published just about everyone, and consistently put out powerful issues. the next issue will be their last, and it's a sad day indeed. hundreds upon thousands of small press magazines have spawned and died in the 23 year run that Chiron Review has enjoyed. hundreds upon thousands more will strive to fill its place (though, no doubt, ultimately failing).
Chiron will be missed.

oh, in this issue is a great interview with Edward Field (and another, surreally done by Michael Basinski, with Nathan Graziano), and poetry by A.D. Winans, john sweet, Charles Rammelkamp and a bunch of others.

03 October 2005

some poetry news

i received my contributor's copy of the new anthology, Chemical Lust, by Monophonic Press (and the editors of Cherry Bleeds). this is a sex & drugs anthology featuring the work of Karl Koweski, Will Carpenter, Jeffrey S. Taylor and Tony DuShane.
i have two poems featured, anheuser heaven and right here.

i also just received word from Éric Dejaeger, the generous guy who translated 18 of my poems into French, that five of these poems will appear in the January issue of Noveaux Délits. he mentioned that with some appearing in Liqueur 44 and his own mag, Microbe, all 18 should appear in Belgium and/or France by the first half of 2006. this is amazing news. i'm so excited. i get about 18 poems in magazines in a whole year here in America. having 18 in French-language magazines in only half a year is spectacular. for me.

02 October 2005

apartment hell, part II

in the last installment, i talked about some ass-hat who parked in my reserved parking spot. bad enough as that is, i've more things to discuss.
take this morning for example. today is Sunday. a day of rest. for me at least. well, this morning (and every fucking Sunday morning since we've lived here) the dipshits upstairs get up at 7 in the morning and make a shitload of noise as they get ready for church (it has to be church. why? because where the fuck else are they going this early EVERY fucking Sunday?) anyway, right on time, they wake up (which means the wife and i wake up) right at 7. FUCK THIS! church can fucking wait. CHRIST! whatever happened to sleeping in Sunday morning. if a god doesn't understand this and to hell with it.

oh, and the very first night we slept at the apartment (a Saturday night as it were) someone had a party.
but first, let me describe the layout complex. our area of this humongous place consists of 3 building arranged like a horseshoe around a central parking area. each building has 24 units, so there are 72 units to this area. there are bound to be a few (even more in an apartment setting) assholes out of 72 families.
anyway, this first night someone had a party. that's fine. i spent a good 50% of my university time at parties in a apartment complex. however, at 2 in the morning we were rudely awoken by some cocksucker yelling across the parking lot about wanting to kick some guys ass. it was loud, but since it was across the parking lot, the voice was muted and echoed.
"you pushed my girlfriend!" he was yelling, his voiced strained from emotion and alcohol. i imagined his face was red and he was sweating. his chest puffed out, his fists in balls.
"you pushed my girlfriend, asshole!" at the top of his lungs.
it died down a few minutes, then RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR WINDOW (we live on the bottom floor) we heard him. it literally sounded as if he was IN OUR ROOM!
"YOU PUSHED MY GIRLFRIEND!"
then the voice of a young girl, equally drenched in emotion and alcohol, pleading with her boyfriend to leave.
"PLEASE, JORDAN, I JUST WANT TO GO HOME!"
"DON'T FIGHT HIM, JORDAN, LET'S JUST GO!
"PPPLLLLLLLEEEEEEEAAAAASSE!"
yes, Jordan, i thought. listen to your girlfriend and GO THE FUCK HOME!
"YOU PUSHED MY GIRLFRIEND. I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!"
just then, a deep, booming voice from across the complex yells, "shut the fuck up!" you could tell this dude was big. pissed. and ready to roll. i was only two of the three, but lacking the most important part (namely, being "big") i try not to get myself into compromising circumstances, lest i get my ass handed to me.
anyway, the emotion finally drained, the alcohol was absorbed and Jordan apparently listened to his girlfriend.
then, of course, the scrotum-lickers upstairs woke up at 7 so they could kneel before the power and glory of their lord. FUCKING FABULOUS!

lastly, our apartment complex allows pets (which is an rarity here in Utah) so there are TONS of pets around. this is also the reason we chose this place. anyway, there is a leash requirement because of there being so many dogs and so much uncertainty when dogs get together. well, apparently this leash requirement doesn't apply to everyone. and from my quick and dirty calculation, it only applies to about half of us. we're supposed to rat on those who don't use leashes, and if we do we get a cut in our rent. it's tempting. especially when you see some punk cocksucker walking around with his dog without a leash (the dog is, of course, always either a boxer, pitbull, rottweiler or a doberman pinscher) and the dude is wearing a tank top and has a barbed wire tatto armband, or a Yosemite Sam on his bicep or something equally lame. it's hard not ratting on them. it's hard not walking up to them and just slugging them in the side of the head.

anyway, this place sucks, but i know it's no worse than the millions of similar apartment complexes across America (and probably across the world). these places suck. they harbor the lowest of human filth and do nothing more than make me appreciate the fact that i've accomplished enough with my life that this stint is only temporary.

gators

well, my vaunted Fightin' Gators of the University of Florida got annihilated by the Crimson Tide of the University of Alabama. 31-3. it wasn't even that close. i'm sad.