Reader's Block

An occasional co-sufferer, I appreciate Chris Vitiello’s description of his recent reader’s block. Random sample:

is it all butt-sniffing? like, i am showing you my level of craft, and my level of being able to recognize your craft, so that i am legitimized in this context that we are now wrapping around ourselves

Catching up with the whole Delay experience, which it turns out I’d failed to update in my blog roll when it moved, has been a pleasure. New Year’s Resolution: keep up with The Delay. And ride more trains. (Spot the pun.)

A Lot of D.S.

Graft Sam Lohmann’s sharp interview to the beefy feature in Jacket, and you’ve got a whole lot of David Shapiro in easy-to-read-at-the-workplace online format.

Bringing Floppy Back

A nice report, and sexy visual remains, of Small Press Traffic’s Poets Theater last Friday. But wait, there’s more ...

[photo —Jocelyn (hatted), Lindsey (scarved), David (velveteened), and Zack (wigged)—gratefully filched from Alli Warren.]

Ibn al-Rossini (More Strange Orders)

Don’t know that he knew it, but I’m pretty sure Rossini was a Sufi.

B-Day

Blog is four.

The Fop Stays in the Picture

This Friday’s the first night of Small Press Traffic’s Poets Theater 2010, where along with delights by Dodie Bellamy, Stephen Boyer, and Brent Cunningham, you can catch my own 12-minute meringue, “The Impertinents,” directed by Lauren Shufran with star turns by Lindsey Boldt, David Brazil, Jocelyn Saidenberg, and Zack Tuck. I’m stuck here in Portland: let me know what a bang-up job they do. It’s the annual fundraiser, so be sure and tuck the checkbook in your reticule.

PT-related newsflash: it’s here.

The Oud Stays in the Picture

Silent movies are like poems trapped in novels. Certain frames and gestures—shifting hands, a grin, a skein of smoke—stand out with the clarity of a sharp line of verse, but they hurry on to narratives that never keep my interest. Come to think of it, a lot of novels are like poems trapped in novels.

Nada Gordon’s new video “Glory” sucks the narrative fat out of the silents and lets the dream fur fly so you don’t have to. Twice the chrome with half the chassis.

The Year in Spots 2009

Joining 2007 & 2008, here’s thanks to the poets whose work I had a chance to hear in Portland in 2009.

Abel, David

Bartlett, Jennifer
Baus, Eric
Bettridge, Joel
Boldt, Lindsey
Brolaski, Julian
Brown, Brandon
Buuck, David

Cobb, Allison
Cohen, Alicia
Cole, Norma
Coleman, Jen
Conrad, CA
Czerski, Gale

Dahlen, Beverly

Feldman, Laura
Fisher, Dan
Fisher, Tom
Foust, Graham

Gordon, Nada
Greenstreet, Kate
Grinnell, E. Tracy

Hill, Crg
Hill, Lindsey

Klassnik, Rauan
Larkin, Maryrose
Levin, Lauren
Lohmann, Sam

Mangold, Sarah
Morse, Jesse
Murray, Beth
Myles, Eileen

Nichols, Mel

Perez, Craig Santos

Raphael Dan
Rothschild, Douglas
Russo, Linda

Sailers, Cynthia
Sand, Kaia
Schelling, Andrew
Schomburg, Zachary
Shimoda, Brandon
Smith, Rod
Stanley, Jared
Sullivan, Gary
Szymaszek, Stacy

Tichy, Susan
Tipton, John

Ward, Dana
Warren, Alli
Wayne, Phoebe
Wolach, David

Young, Stephanie

2010