Lit Up Magazine

There is much more than poetry to be found, but excellent poems abound and I urge you to peruse the site at your leisure by using the link below:

http://litupmagazine.wordpress.com/poetry/

Thanks for clicking in, please drop in tomorrow for more featured poets…

Poetry Tips: Rhyme For Rhythm

Sometimes I have trouble getting a poem to flow, I’m sure you do, too. However, I have found that creating rhyming poems provides fantastic practice for rhythm and timing. So this week I want you to come up with rhyming versions of any poem you are wanting to write and see if you don’t find a way to create better flow, timing, and rhythm in the process. Also, challenge yourself to rhyme unusual words just for the fun of it!

Examples:

Orange – Stone Henge
Austere – Mere
Meter -- Cedar

You may just find that rhyme isn’t passé after all and find some new insights while writing. Good luck to all who try it!

Thanks for stopping in, please drop by Monday for another featured site…

Swink Open Submissions

Let me just say that I had a good laugh reading their submission guidelines, they are the epitome of “cheeky.” So please, please, read their submission guidelines in detail while I give you the bare bones version: You may send between “three longish” or “five shortish” poems using their special submissions link which allows you to enter all kinds of information on-line including which genre you are submitting to and gives you the ability to track your submission throughout its entire process of being read, accepted, rejected, etc. Please only submit to one genre (poetry, fiction, etc) at one time, simultaneous submissions are accepted as long as you immediately notify Swink if your submission is accepted elsewhere. Please note they also read year round which is always a plus! Be sure to explore their site to see what their style is in regards to publication and I insist you read the submission guidelines in their entirety.

Check out the full submission guidelines here:

http://www.swinkmag.com/submit.html

Good luck to all who submit, please stop in tomorrow for more Poetry Tips…

Poems Found by Poet Hound

http://www.coconutpoetry.org/most1.html
John Most’s “Star to Galaxy is a Speechless Participant”

http://www.swinkmag.com/sarahjsloat.html
Sarah J. Sloat’s “Shady” (scroll down just a little)

Thanks for clicking in, please stop by tomorrow for more Open Submissions...

An Interview With Nerve Cowboy

An Interview with Joseph Shields of Nerve Cowboy. Joseph Shields and Jerry Hagins co-edit the magazine. Joseph Shields took on the task of answering for both himself and Jerry.

Joseph Shields, thank you for being kind enough to consent to being interviewed about your journal, Nerve Cowboy, and your press, Liquid Paper Press.

1. One of the things I love about your web-site is your introduction to which I’ll quote here: “Nerve Cowboy is a biannual journal of poems and short fiction sensitive enough to make the hardest hard-ass cry, funny enough to make the most hopeless brooder laugh, and disturbing enough to make us all glad we're not the author of the piece.” How did you decide to create a journal based on the above-described attitude and can you explain the conception of the name, Nerve Cowboy?

Interesting question—the term “Nerve Cowboy” was actually coined by a two of my wife’s New York friend while visiting us in Jamaica where we served as Peace Corps volunteers. One of our visitors had a lazy, slackjaw boyfriend “Fat Dave” who just sat on the couch and watched TV and never wanted to do anything and drove her crazy. She referred to him as a nerve cowboy because no matter what she did, he had the ability to find her last raw nerve and ride it. Hence, the birth of Nerve Cowboy. Five years later I adopted it as the name of my new magazine.

The description on our web site really just represents the type of poems we want to see. Poems people can understand and poems that create some type of emotional reaction in the reader. Those are the poems I have always enjoyed reading in other journals and wanted to see in Nerve Cowboy.




2. Another thing I love about your journal is the fact that you take the time to hand-write notes to all of your subscribers saying you hope they like the issue and you also hand-write notes to everyone who submits poems to your magazine. Where do you find the time and why choose hand-written correspondence as opposed to typed letters or form letters?

We do that out of courtesy to our subscribers, contributors, and the larger community of writers interested enough in our magazine to send their work to us for review. I think it helps build a small poetry community and a connection to the hundreds of writers that make Nerve Cowboy possible. After all, I can’t pull these amazing poems out of my ass, somebody has got to write them and we need to connect with those people.

It is time consuming but as I just said, it is really part of what Nerve Cowboy is. As a writer, I never really liked the impersonal rejection or acceptance letters computer printed and unsigned. There are people behind the magazine and people sending poems—they should be corresponding in some genuine way.




3. I can’t resist asking this, so forgive me in advance: Having been around for more than ten years, how have you maintained success and continued readership through the ups and downs of the economy?

Sometimes I can’t believe we have been at this so long, going on 12 years with our fall 2009 issue. For one thing, Jerry and I keep doing the magazine because it never gets boring. We are truly excited about each and every issue that is produced, and are pumped when a new writer comes along that just kicks our asses with a fantastic batch of poems. We love to hear new voices.

In terms of the economics of it all, we have always believed that if produce an interesting and eclectic collection of poetry 2 times per year, the readers will be there. By and large, subscriptions remain stable (or grow or shrink a bit over time), but we try to keep the price of subscription reasonable and think it is a still a pretty good value in the scheme of things.



4. Your aesthetic for this journal differs from most in that it focuses so much on the nitty-gritty sides of life, including the artistic works on the cover and throughout the pages. What is the inspiration for the focus on life’s sometimes darker, dirtier, or more uncertain sides?

I have never really thought about it that way, but I guess you are right about the darker content. Simply put, I think that is just a stylistic preference, or it might just mean that the more engaging poems tend to be from that genre of writing. In any event, we are open to anything, but it has to have meaning for us in some way.




5. As editors, how do you vote on each piece? Do you both approve of each other’s picks or do you split up the number or type of items accepted into the journal?

We both read all of the submissions and tend to split up first and second reads. We usually only accept pieces that we both agree on. Sometimes we will go back and forth of some poems and discuss the merits of the poems or the writer and make a decision after that discussion. It is very collaborative and hopefully results in the best poems getting into the magazine, which is our end goal.





6. What is the process of putting this journal together and how long does it take to produce and then distribute? Are there more staff than just the two of you who help put it all together?

Once we have accepted enough poems and artwork for an issue (it usually takes about 6 months to collect and accept these poems and stories), I will order the poems and figure out which selections work best together, determine who we want to use as openers and closers for the issue, and see if there is a natural selection for the center of the magazine. Next, Jerry scans the poems to capture the text and lays out the issue on the computer, where he makes any page adjustments or poem ordering changes that need to be made due to spacing. Then, I select which pieces of art will go with which poems, Jerry scans the art in and reduces or enlarges them to fit spaces. Lastly there is a final proofing process (and we always miss something) before it goes to print. From the time the issue is full to the time it comes back from the printer probably takes about six weeks.



7. In addition to your journal you also produce chapbooks published under the name of Liquid Paper Press. Which do you enjoy more, sifting through poems for the journal or manuscripts for the press and why?

Currently, we are only publishing chapbooks which place in either first or second place in our annual contest, which has a January 31 deadline for submissions each year. We enjoy both the contest and the magazine in different ways. It is very satisfying being able to support an exceptional writer through the publication of their book. It is hard to get books published. But, I would say the magazine is our focus and I probably enjoy that work more because of the unexpected gems you can find in the thousands of manuscripts we receive each year. Sometimes five poems won’t work for us, but there is one in the envelope that totally rocks. It’s fun and never boring.



8. No doubt you have your hands full with your journal and press but do you both have regular jobs outside of this and may I ask what they are?
We both have day jobs. For years I have worked as a public policy researcher for the state of Texas and for private firms. Jerry is a public information officer for a large state agency in Texas. Our career paths have crossed a couple of different times and that is how we connected to start Nerve Cowboy.



9. Do either of you have time for other hobbies outside of poetry and what are they?

My hobbies are not all that interesting, but I used fly hang gliders in my reckless youth. I am a huge music fan and regularly see bands at clubs in Austin. Right now, I think Deer Tick is the best band on the planet. My wife and I end up spending a lot of weekend time on the soccer fields with our daughters who play on teams here in Austin. Being from Wisconsin, I am also a lifelong Wisconsin Badgers and Green Bay Packers fan

Jerry is a musician and played in the Pistol Love Family Band with his cousin, who has since moved on to bigger and better things at the guitarist for Okkervil River. He plays banjo and fiddle in various Austin bands and gives lessons to aspiring musicians in the area.



10. Who or what do you read for fun outside of what you read for the press? Do those writers influence the course of your decision-making with Nerve Cowboy and Liquid Paper Press?

Right now I am reading Ben Mezrich’s book “Accidental Billionaires” about the kids that started Facebook. His other books (e.g., Rigging, Bringing Down the House, Ugly Americans) are great too. Mike Manguson’s books are great (e.g., the Lummox, Fire Gospels, Heft on Wheels).

I also love many of the classics from Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment is top 5 all-time for me), Celine, Fante., and others The poets I love reading are too many to mention, and alot of them are the writers that appear in the pages of Nerve Cowboy, Pearl, Slipstream, and other small press magazines. The late, great Albert Huffsticker (who once lived in my neighborhood and with whom I shared many early mornings out in front of the old Hyde Park Bakery) is among my favorite poets ever. He was instrumental in me starting Nerve Cowboy in the first place, and here we are 12 years later.



11. Do you have any particular goals for the future in regards to Nerve Cowboy and Liquid Paper Press that you haven’t reached yet or are currently working on?

We just want to keep the thing going and continue finding interesting new writers to publish.



Joseph Shields and Jerry Hagins, thank you for letting me interview you about your hard-core journal and press. I wish you continued success for the future and can hopefully send some new subscribers and exciting poets your way.


If you are interested in finding out more about Nerve Cowboy or subscribing to them ($20 gets you a two year subscription, four issues total), you can visit their website at:

http://www.jwhagins.com/nervecowboy.html

You will find links to poems they’ve published, the chapbooks page, and how to subscribe. I am renewing my own subscription with them and hope you will join me! I have always found it pleasing that they have an uncanny ability to pair artwork submissions that matches up with poem submissions in a way that always makes me say “Genius!”

Thanks always for reading, please stop in tomorrow for more Poems Found by Poet Hound…

Poetry Super Highway

Wow! This is a pretty extensive site with all kinds of interesting “nooks and crannies” to click on and explore. From featured poets to interesting titles of poems, you’ll find all kinds of great things here. You’ll also find resource links, an e-book Free-For-All, and so much more. It really is an amazing place so check it out at:


http://poetrysuperhighway.com/PoetLinks.html#top


Thanks for clicking in, please stop in tomorrow for an interview with the editors, Jerry Hagins and Joseph Shields of Nerve Cowboy…

Poetry Tips: Back to School Prep

Yes, this is the season where everyone is getting back to learning, for colleges to get back to reading submissions, for students to sharpen their pencils and their minds. Now is the best time to sharpen your own pencils, freshen up on some poetry reading and create new poems or polish up existing ones. Be on the lookout for colleges accepting submissions for their literary journals (you can also utilize Poet Hound’s Thursday Open Submissions) and open your mind by reading poems by writers you haven’t seen or heard of before. Prepare yourself for renewed dedication to your craft and try to set aside some time each week to write, read, and contemplate poetry now that summer vacation is over. Before you know it, poems will come naturally to your mind, you will find places that will accept your style of poetry, and everything will hopefully fall into place with grace.

Good luck to all of you on your newfound poetic dedication, please check in Monday for more poetry related web-sites…

*Sept 15th will feature an interview with the editors of the poetry and art journal, Nerve Cowboy, so be sure to stop in next Tuesday as well…

2River Open Submissions

You may send up to 5 poems via e-mail to submissionsAT2riverDOTorg. Be sure to look through their archives and find out what style of poems they publish, also be sure to include your contact information in your e-mail when submitting. Luckily, they read year round so you have plenty of time to polish any potential gems for publication.

Check out the guidelines at:
http://www.2river.org/office/submit.html


Good luck to all who submit and please drop in tomorrow for more Poetry Tips…

Poems Found by Poet Hound

Poems Found by Poet Hound

http://www.blossombones.com/summer09/woodson_s09.html
Rose Woodson’s “Old Speak”

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19501
Paisley Rekdal’s “Bats”

I just now realized I had treated Tuesday of this week as though it were Monday and have thrown off my regular blog posting! So apologies to my regular readers, I'm posting the typical Wednesday fare in addition to McCreesh's and Cunningham's interview posted earlier today and we'll be back on schedule tomorrow!

Thanks for clicking in, please stop in tomorrow for more Open Submissions…

Sunlight at Midnight, Darkness at Noon, and Interview with McCreesh and Cunningham

Chris Cunningham and Hosho McCreesh are poets and friends who expose their creativity and souls to one another through their collected letters in their book titled Sunlight at Midnight, Darkness At Noon, published by Orange Alert Press. Their letters touch on a broad range of topics from writing poetry to their political views and the political climate they find themselves in. I could not put this book down and found my own mind wandering on the many issues brought up in their letters and poems and was compelled to interview them about their book.

1. Your book is comprised of the excerpts of letters you have written to each other during 2002, how did you go from writing letters to the idea of creating a book from them? Did you feel any fear or hesitation in the words that would be exposed to your readers?

CC: Jason at Orange Alert Press had posted excerpts from both Hosho’s and my letters in the past at his blog http://orangealert.net/ and when he started the press, we discussed the massive volume of correspondence that was sitting in boxes at our houses with Jason and he was intrigued. We sent him a batch and he decided we had something there, something different from anything thus far in the Indy Press, a collection of words that detailed the work and life of poets in the twenty first century struggling to carve some meaning out of an apparently meaningless world. As for “fear,” no, no fear at all; I stand by everything I write, and if I put it down on paper, I’ve got no problem with it being published as widely as possible.
In addition, I think Hosh and I both really felt like these letters could give any reader a glimpse into the minutiae of the creative process, into the “why” behind making art, into the desperate need for communication and connection between artists and those who derive support and sustenance from what they produce. We think the letters have a universal quality in their laying bare the human spirit as it strives to find a voice in the wilderness.

HM: I absolutely felt over-exposed & reluctant in terms of taking the letters & making a manuscript. I feel shy about half the time, so that was an obstacle for me. But the thing I just kept coming back to was how powerful the letters were, for me, as a reader. I've always been a fan of letters--& have read lots of famous writer's letters...it's always been a window into their work for me. So when Chris & I started writing, I'd read one of his letters & think "this is just, hands down, some amazing writing." So I just believed in the strength of the letters--as something both literary & as a kind of non-fiction snapshot of 2002 & of the lives of 2 nobody poets at the dawn of another ugly century...which was a book I'd never read. & the idea of letters between nobodies appealed to me--it meant that "who said what" was no longer important & that the reader could focus, instead, on what was being said. That's about as untethered & free as writing could ever get. Chris had already been talking about publishing a book with Orange Alert--& Jason mentioned that maybe he & I could do something as well...so we talked about it & Jason decided we'd try it. It was a hell of a gamble--putting out this book as the 2nd offering from Orange Alert Press--& I respect the hell out of him for it.



2. There are several details I would like to touch on that you mention frequently about your writing process to each other. You expound on the rare art of letter writing and the even rarer art of using a typewriter. Could you explain your feelings on these two in conjunction and how you feel about electronic mail’s increasing role in society?

CC: For me, the typewriter is a musical instrument, as important to the process of my creation as a good guitar or the perfect horn. It allows me to feel and hear the keys cutting into the paper as I work. I am an improviser when it comes to writing and there is a tactile, concrete quality to the making of esoteric ethereal poetry when I lean over the humming keys of an old typewriter under the pale sixty watt light at five a.m. that is sorely lacking staring into a glowing screen, pecking at plastic air.
As for the computer and email, they are merely tools, allowing for the instant transmission of information, and while it is surely possible to convey the same emotions, the same intent, there is nothing like holding a real live fucking letter in your hand after a long day at work, peeling back the gummed flap of the envelope, unfolding the paper, feeling its heft, its weight, the bond under your fingers, and then scanning over the black ink and words cut deeply into the flesh of the paper by metal keys driven by the need to communicate something often beyond the words themselves. They aren't bad as long as their proper role is understood, though email and text messaging and the like do surely limit the thought and reflection and deeper exploration of circumstances present in a letter writ over a period of hours, days, nights.

HM: I've always felt that a typewriter had more in common with a musical instrument than it does a computer...it's hefty, it's metal, & when you get going, it bounces & jumps around...it's got it's own kind of rhythm--especially the non-electric typers I use. It's a more immediate connection than writing on a computer--which I've never had much luck with. As to writing a letter--the first thing you need is time--to just sit & gather your thoughts, & the will to simply respond as honestly, in each moment, as you can. If I was angry, or tired, or brash, or sick of the goddamned world--I wanted that all to be there, in the letters--I wanted it to be a true & accurate moment captured in time. You have to give yourself to the writing--be as fearless as you can. The friendship, as it developed, made it easier & easier to do...as I felt a real kinship with Chris, & we share a similar outlook on the joys & ravages of life. I wish I was a purist--& that I only wrote on a typer...but these days, I admit it, email is easy & quick. But there's not much art in an email--because it is so easy & quick...or at least I don't feel they are too artful when I write them. I still prefer typed letters. & I absolutely love getting stuff in the actual mailbox...Technology's role in society is prominent--too much so, for me. I don't have a cell phone, I don't have Facebook or Twitter or MySpace or any of that...I've never been too terribly interested in those sorts of things--I march begrudgingly into the future.



3. You both also write about being a true artist with the idea being that you create because you must and that you must also reveal the truth. Given the media and the academic world’s constantly changing view of the arts, what do you hold to be the universal truths in “art” as a word and all it encompasses?

CC: Art is the pure expression of our deeper humanity, and in its perfect form it takes small personal experiences, often arising from suffering, and transmutes them into universal depictions of the human condition: what it means to face death with full awareness of its inevitability and still endure the daily ups and downs of existence. Art helps us go on, it is a song that makes us smile, a poem that makes us think, a painting that transports us out of the ordinary and into the sublime. It forges bonds and illuminates darkness. It cries and it dances and it burns. It shows us that truth is the silhouette of a stray dog walking down a wet alley at dawn.


HM: I don't see truth as a rigid or unchanging thing...but I see MY truth as fairly consistent--as do most people, I'd say. As writers, I think it's our job to be as fearlessly honest about our own truths as we can...that you're supposed to put things down as clearly as you can, as honestly as you can, and--no matter what--keep searching for understanding, meaning, keep trying to make sense of the world. I have had the amazing good fortune to work with some of the very best bookmakers in the small press--& it completes a kind of cycle when the work reaches new readers & the people who've been there with you from the start get another beautiful little book for the shelves. But the truth of any art is the constant, dogged pursuit of it--of somehow reaching that higher ground, & then going further, pushing ourselves beyond. If your work is true to your spirit then, regardless of what comes of it, it won't be pandering to some popular themes of an era & will, instead, verge on our shared humanity. It might not mean anything to anyone but you--but--hell, that alone is enough, if you ask me. & chances are, someone somewhere will understand it, or recognize something familiar in it. & that's as good as it gets. If you aren't honest in your work, you'll look back on it years later & see nothing but cheap little parlor games dressed up for doomsday.



4. With your poems you reveal the world around you as it happens and the political climate of the times that are included in this book. May I ask you to share one or two of your favorite poems and the explanations behind how they came to be written?

CC: One of my favorite poems isn't in SUNLIGHT but the story that inspired it is, written immediately after it happened, and mailed off to Hosh; it's the poem "last meal of the night" from my chapbook of the same name by Blue Monk Press back in 2002.
last meal of the night
he looks at me with red eyes
thru thick round glasses,
heavy black frames slipping forward
on his human nose.
it is two minutes until closing.
I tell him,
“go ahead man, what do you need?”
the kitchen grumbles, I can feel
anger washing against my neck
in hot tired waves.
he mercifully orders the
easiest thing on the menu.
his will be our last meal of the night.
the cook is fast, throws it
to me and I bag it up.
he reaches out to take it
and asks me my name.
I tell him.
he then reaches out to shake my hand.
“I know you are trying to close
but I really needed this food.
my brother is up the street at the university
and he is probably
going to die
tonight.”
he is still holding my hand and I can see his eyes,
the space beyond his eyes, shielded sort of by
the thick lenses,
grow wider, but not very much.
“thank you for your kindness.”
he drops my hand and is gone.
the hunger we cannot stand to bear alone
but must.


HM: I've picked 2 poems from the era of the letters, my time in Europe. I have some wonderful friends in Switzerland, & while in Europe, they let me stay with them--&, from mid November to mid December, in their family chalet. It was amazing--the kind of thing I'd always dreamed of being able to do--wake when rested, eat when hungry, drink when thirsty, sleep when tired, and otherwise just listen to music, read, write, and paint...for a month! It was an amazing gift...one I can't ever repay. & the 2nd poem I include below came from reading liner notes on the back of an old Rachmaninov album in the chalet. I'd basically paint during the day & write at night...& I kept that record player going the whole time.

On Why I Came Here To Live Alone
In A Chalet In The Swiss Alps
For An Entire Month...

I came here to
write, draw, paint.
I came here to learn more French.
I came here to be alone,
completely alone,
just to do it.
I came here to get the hell away
from the buzzing of a world
gone to rot with its
joyous ignorance,
a world stammering,
trying to think up ways
to be rich, to be beautiful,
to be happy,
ways
not
to
die.
I came here to shiver occasionally.
I came here to starve a bit.
I came here to struggle,
to be stuck here
& have to do everything
for myself,
rely on nothing
but myself.
I came here to survive the frozen dark,
to recapture
a simple joy,
to see what
living,

just
living

actually
felt
like
again.

(Published by Bottle of Smoke Press)


In 1897 Rachmaninov Fled The Theater Before
The End Of The First Public Performance
Of His First Symphony &, At Age 26, Decided
His Career As A Composer Was Through; Devastated
He Nearly Gave Up Writing Music & Spent The Next
3 Years Racked With Self-Doubt & Anxiety, Depressed,
Frustrated & Wandering Amid The Lavish Parties Of
Moscow’s Upperclass—

& From All That Came His 2nd Piano Concerto...

Which is to say this:

What we all
need most
is to find our own
way
through
the
madness.

(Published in FIRE)




5. Your affinity for each other and the support you provide each other is evident throughout. My favorite phrase from Chris as he waits for Hosho’s response is “you better not be dead you motherfucker.” How did you find each other and how often do you continue to write letters? Are they still as lengthy and intense as the ones we get to read as your audience? Can you explain what the support and camaraderie mean for each of you in regards to the other?

CC: I read one of Hosh's poems in some mag back in 2000 when I was first starting to send out work, first starting to explore the world of the small/indy presses. It floored me ("8 Nights & Their Subsequent Sunrises..." was the poem) and I asked an editor for his email address. I wrote him a short note asking if he had any books I could buy and his answer began a correspondence that filled up literally thousands of pages of paper over the ensuing years.
Our physical letters have waned somewhat since about 2006, but our level of communication remains very high, and now we can actually talk via chat in real time which wasn't even possible for us Luddites back when we first met. We still believe strongly in the necessity of letter writing and we do manage to get off a doozy from time to time, and I value Hosh's friendship and support more than I can say. Those letters and all the words we trade between us shore me up and help me go on, make it possible to believe that humanity has a chance as long as there is one more person out there burning to live.

HM: To me, I've always felt the basis for most enduring human relationships is one of student & teacher. By that I mean you can both learn from & teach to the people you become fast, & enduring friends with. Of the many great friends I've been lucky enough to have over the years--there's always been things I could learn from them, & things I could teach them as well. So, to me, that's been at the core of the letters from the beginning. As I said, I saw in Chris a real kindred spirit--& the letters happened pretty quick. We've trudged along the alleys of the small press for years now, and in a way it's like working together--punching in every day at the job. It's been very rewarding to have someone to bounce ideas off of, someone will tell you what works, what doesn't. I think we understand what the other wants to accomplish in their work, & we can tell each other--"that sucks," or "this one's there." Even without the letters, I'd be a fan of Chris' writing. I suppose we were insane to think that the pace could continue--in 2002 alone I think we traded about 500 pages of single-spaced, typewritten letters--but, yes, the letter writing has slowed. But not for lack of wanting. Our immediate daily demands, life, seems to sap all our energy...but we both look to an easier day when we can get back to the letters. I really miss getting a letter every few days.




6. Some artists delve into politics and other artists steer clear of it. During your letters you speak frequently of the Bush administration and your views on what it means to be American. Can you explain how these shaped your poems at the time and what beliefs you expressed in regards to politics and Americanism?

CC: All my poems are informed by my experience as a human being living in America right now and by all the political and social winds extant buffeting my little corner of the universe. I tend to not write strictly "politcal" poetry (or didactic screeds, etc.) but rather fill the background of my poems with the realities of modern life and let the metaphors do the work for me. The letters however are a place where artless rants and wild tangents are allowed, and I run around screaming sometimes in that arena, for good or ill.

HM: In much the same way you'd talk with a new person you meet at a party or whatever--there was a certain amount of "figuring out where the other guy is coming from" in our letters. Our similar views, politically, organically grew from our frustrations with both what America as a society valued, and the Bush Administration as the figurehead for it. The blind, unquestioning support; the refusal to ask questions, or demand evidence to make informed decisions; the knee-jerk reactionary approach to the very complex, and difficult questions America faced...this was not what America was ever supposed to be. To sacrifice any moral standing we had in the world for paltry, temporary economic gain...the tireless march to war...this was antithetical to the America I imagined. But America is still a young nation, & we still have a lot to learn. I love what I imagine we can someday be...but getting there will take a lot of difficult work. & the way it all came to bear in my work was anger, frustration, rage, exasperation. The pains of that administration are still very fresh both in our country & across the world. It's been the death of actual & meaningful debate...as people make up their minds & then dismiss any evidence that doesn't support their world view. & debate is the cornerstone of America & of actual freedom. I don't know how we can get back there (if we ever were there)--short of a non-judgmental, mutual respect & listening to each other. The punditry on all sides clouds the true & necessary debate, &--despite pretending to be unbiased--serves only to further divide. For the love of god, people--fact check your shit through non-partisan, non-profit organizations--the more the better!




7. The Obama administration is now in place and I’d be interested to know if his being in office has shaped any new poems and ideas on being an American. How has the new administration and their actions affected your beliefs and opinions you have set forth in your book?

CC: As for shaping new poems, no. My poems are born of small moments rendered in intense detail and the "meta" of the political world lacks the necessary conflict between hope and suffering that informs my work; politics is an equation designed to result in the transfer of money and power from the average American citizen to the vested interests of the Corporate Oligarchy which rules us, and that, in many ways, precludes any sort of real hope or change because it's all about the money and what that illusory construct represents. Obama is a politician and as such is a certain type of animal built to survive by skating over the surface of the truth and bending perception towards his handlers interests, in reality not much different in action and intent from the other animals lowing and shitting in the corrals of Congress. While he is a whole lot better than Bush or McCain or Palin or any of those motherfuckers, he remains a functionary of the interests who paid to get him elected and will, in the end, do their bidding, no matter the glowing rhetoric to the contrary.
Having said all that, I still believe in the founding documents of this country, the rights they elucidate and the tenets they lay out, and I still have hope that given enough shit to eat, Americans will get tired of the taste and demand something more delicious for supper.

HM: I have tremendous hope...& was both delighted & amazed that America elected Obama. I think the administration has tremendous ideas...& I sincerely hope that they pursue them. Thus far, they've had one shit sandwich after another & simply keeping us above board has been a challenge. I hope that the sacrifices made to get things done thus far will prove to be worth it...that remains to be seen. But how refreshing to have leadership that will look at facts, will own their mistakes, & one that refuses to make limp-brained, unilateral decisions based on some sort of wizardry or mystical incantations. I remain hopeful...



8. At some point, Hosho leaves the country and spends quite a bit of time alone with his creative process.

8.a. For Chris: Have you had the chance to do anything similar and what were the results if you did? If not, do you hope to find a place to retreat to and do the same thing?

CC: I've spent some time running around the country trailing after various hippie bands and during that time I worked on finding my poetic voice, discovering how I wanted to say the things I had in my head (though I confess I am but an antennae for the muse, a receiver, a cosmic radio tuned to the Poetry Channel), but I've not ventured very far out of the country. A couple jaunts to Canada and Mexico but that's really it.
I've found a place to retreat, though, and it's called Asheville, NC; me and the woman and the dogs roam around twenty acres with a stream and well and a huge garden and plenty of room between us and humanity at large. Fuck you, Atlanta.

8.b. For Hosho: How did that affect or contribute to your creative abilities? What did you notice about the reactions of the local population during your travels when you told them you were a poet or artist in comparison with our country?
HM: The reactions of folks in Europe were much, much different than in the US. When introduced as a "writer" or "painter" overseas, I often had beers bought for me, dinners, & people were both thankful & encouraging--something that was shocking. There is a powerful sense that art is still something important in life. More often than not, when people in America find out I write and paint, they want to know what my "real job" is. It's easy to see why so many people "become their job" in America...it's the first thing anyone at a party wants to know about you, & it's the first thing most people want to tell you about themselves. I am sure that's also true in Europe--but my personal experience has them much more intrigued by the art and less by work. "Work" in Europe is just something that you have to do so you can live your life. In America, it is your life. As to the effect it had on my work--I think I finally saw the real world value of a life lived in pursuit of art & truth & meaning...art is a language that goes beyond man-made borders...& connects people through the shared human experience. We recognize the joys & struggles in work that speaks to us (& don't "get it" in work that doesn't--but still others might, hence it belongs). It was a tremendous experience.



9. The cover of your book is beautiful and encompasses so much of what you both enjoy. The typewriters and hands mirror each other and the hands have nuts and bolts either tattooed or transposed on them. Can you explain the process of creation of the cover designed by Chris Roberts?

CC: Chris Roberts somehow captured the fucking essence of the book in his first attempt. Jason asked him to come up with something and sent him the text, and in a blisteringly short amount of time Chris handed in a Just Exactly Perfect Cover. The typewriters are our actual typewriters, my IBM and Hosh's beloved and now long-lost Remington Rand (read "The Ballad of the Remy Rand," the next section of our letters from January to March of 2003, in the forthcoming BUK SCENE 2, which you can find out about in the forum over at http://bukowski.net), and the texture and feeling of the artwork really sing. I love it.

HM: Chris Roberts literally blew us away with the cover. Jason knows & has worked with Chris in the past & Jason brought Chris to the project. If you're familiar with Chris' other work, you know he's usually using a much more vibrant, lively, and sometimes even chaotic color palette. But he & Jason talked about the book, sent Chris the manuscript--and Chris just inherently understood the book & what we wanted to accomplish. He laid out some ideas in an email & they all sounded great...but I still couldn't visualize where he was headed. But he knew exactly what he wanted, & I think what we wanted to see--which is always a good thing. & when I opened the pic file the first time, I was floored...just amazed. It was absolutely perfect. I couldn't be more pleased with the entire production, start to finish: from our manuscript to Sean Lynch's work on the guts, to Bill Roberts' hardbacks & clamshells--every step along the way was both really professional &, beyond that, the work of true artisans who cared about the project. They all took our words and made a really terrific book.



10. What kind of guidance did you receive from Jason Behrends, the editor, of your book? Did he help you choose what to include of the letters for the book?

CC: We worked closely with Jason in choosing what to include, and Jason was instrumental as a catalyst for the team that ended up producing the variations of SUNLIGHT; the layout by Sean Lynch of Ireland's Ten Point Design, the cover art by Chris Roberts, the handmade hardback editions by Bill Roberts of Bottle of Smoke Press, the music on the cd by Atlanta's Noot d'Noot, and releasing it upon the unsuspecting world. Jason really believed in the book and worked tirelessly to make it a reality and I think he has done OA Press proud. Thanks again, Jason.


HM: Jason was terrific--& he really saw the potential in the book from the beginning. He really involved us in the entire process, & we talked a lot about all the things we wanted the book to be. The letters themselves are fairly unwieldy--& so we decided to organize the manuscript around a few thematic threads: art, politics, the role of the artist in society & specifically America (as that's our experience)--as these were the real meat of our conversations. So that was where we did the bulk of the editing, in a way--up front & nailing down the approach/vision. After we had the blueprint in mind, it all pretty much fell into place. In my mind, Jason showed some real guts gambling on this kind of a book for the 2nd book from his Orange Alert Press...and something vastly different from the first book (Ben Tanzer's retro-cool, twentysomething couples novel). Jason believes in his books, & supports them...& I expect the press to continue to put out a wide variety of books, and--if our book is any indication--take some more big chances on some really unique projects.



11. In addition to poetry you both have other artistic interests. Would you mind sharing those other interests and do the interests combine to influence each other? As in, do your poems inspire painting or writing short stories and vice versa?

CC: I write short stories and paint, and I'm working on a novel (and have plans for one or two more if the world doesn't dissolve into warring mobs of idiots flinging their shit and firing their pistols at one another). I'd say the overarching ARTFORM, the seeking after meaning inherent in its pursuit, inspires all of it for me, and its genesis is being alert, aware and alive in America and paying attention to the world around me.


HM: We both paint, and write other things as well...short stories, someday maybe novellas or novels. I've written a few short films, & want to work on longer screenplays as well--as we've talked about trying something with film. I am always curious, always want to learn more, try new things, etc. I'd love to learn to sculpt, & I've just started dabbling in photography...I just enjoy the artistic process--it's strangely calming for me, I always sleep better when I'm doing something creative. It's hard with a 9 to 5 to ever feel like you accomplish enough...but that's not a new song. I can't say that my own paintings inspire my own writing, but I do find inspiration in other people's work...from everywhere--masters to people in the small press snapping photos.



12. Your book has been out for a little while now, what has been the response so far from the readers that you know of? What have been the positives and negatives of releasing a book of personal letters?

CC: The response has been overwhelmingly positive. A recent review can be found at http://www.deckfight.com/2009/08/review-sunlight-at-midnight-darkness-at_12.html. ; Seems like most folks think it reads like a good novel rather than a collection of letters between two idiot poets. I'd say the best part about it is the format; there is nothing like it anywhere these days.


HM: So far the response has been really terrific. It's always a relief when people see, in a book, the things you'd intended to be there! It's been well received by readers even beyond the small press--artists, for instance, see something familiar in the struggles of 2 nobody poets! There have been handfuls of people I really respect that have showered the book with kind words...so it's been really rewarding. The down side is this notion of being more exposed than usual--but, it's been worth it...definitely.



13. Would you have done anything differently if you started it over? Are you working on anything collaboratively for the future that we should be on the look-out for?

CC: I would change nothing; the hardbacks are really fucking majestic, pure bookmaking works of art, and every aspect of the project fell into place so perfectly that it was a bit scary.
There is the BUK SCENE segment of our correspondence forthcoming, and at the first of 2010, Oh, and we also appear together in an anthology edited by William Taylor, Jr. for Lummox Press called DOWN THIS CROOKED ROAD due out in a few weeks.

HM: I wouldn't change a single thing. This book has been a dream--start to finish.

As to the future, for the 26 lettered hardback editions we each wrote 26 poems, & typed them up on our respective machines--made what we called double-manuscript broadsides. For the clamshell editions, we each did 7 paintings...and Bottle of Smoke Press will put all 52 poems & 14 paintings into a book at some point...Bill is doing some amazing things these days--hardbacks, clamshells...the guy is amazing.

Another small patch of letters is slated to appear via Purple Glow Press (a Dutch & Canadian outfit) in their magazine Buk Scene #2--it's about a month's worth of letters, picking up where SUNLIGHT ends.



Thanks so much for allowing me to interview you about your book of letters. Please keep us up-dated on future artistic endeavors and congratulations on an excellent read.



If you enjoyed the interview and want to read the book for yourself you can get a copy for $16.00 + Shipping at Orange Alert Press!
Please visit their site using the link below:
http://oapress.blogspot.com/

Thanks always for reading, please drop in tomorrow for more Poems Found by Poet Hound…

Hokku Site

Learn about another style of poetry and about the poets who started such a style. Short, inspiring poems abound, you’ll have to check it out at:

http://hokku.wordpress.com/

Thanks for clicking in, please stop by tomorrow for an interview with Hosho McCreesh and Christopher Cunningham on their collaborative book of letters titled Sunlight at Midnight, Darkness At Noon…

Poetry Tips: Be Part of Something Larger

Thanks to Talia Reed I joined the August 2009 Poetry Postcard Fest and it was a great challenge to experience. I dare you all to try something new, be part of something larger than writing at your desk by yourself. Whether it’s joining the Perennial Postcard call or joining a writing group to meet fellow writers, dare to go outside your comfort zone and be part of something bigger. Good luck to all of you who go for it!

Thanks for dropping in, please stop by next Monday for another featured site…
*Next Tuesday will feature an interview with Hosho McCreesh and Chris Cunningham on their collaborative book of letters so be sure to stop in for it as well…

Wicked Alice Open Submissions

You have until Sept. 30th to submit 3-5 poems, any length, in an e-mail (paste your poems into the e-mail, please) to wickedalicepoetryATyahooDOTcom. Wicked Alice focuses on the female experience but you do not have to be a female writer. Please be sure to include your contact information and check out further guideline details using the link below:

http://www.sundress.net/wickedalice/submissions.html


Good luck to all who submit! Please drop in tomorrow…

Poems Found by Poet Hound

http://arseniclobster.magere.com/200101.html
“A Tiger Lurks in the Night Forest” by Louis Daniel Brodsky

http://www.alicebluereview.org/main.html
“Sonorium” by Brian Strang


Thanks for clicking in, please click in tomorrow for more Open Submissions...

An Interview with Talia Reed

1. The poems your chapbook, This Admirable Miry Clay published by Dancing Girl Press, can be haunting, much like the pair of eyes on the cover done in watercolor by Kitty Rababah. Can you tell me how you chose the art for the cover to draw the reader in and prepare him or her for the poems that follow?

Kitty Rababah is my fraternal grandmother (Nana), whom I’m very close to, and I always thought that if I was lucky enough to get a book published, I’d have her do my cover. She’s the hip, 70-year-old chick depicted in my poem “Age & Experience.” When I got word that Dancing Girl was going to publish the chapbook, I immediately asked her if she had anything she thought would work. She spent a few days painting things that she thought had a similar mood or tone to my poetry. I sent them along to Kristy Bowen and she chose one from those. I think it’s been good for Nana, as she’s been doing some abstract painting, a style she hadn’t tried much before, and is now teaching a painting class at her apartment complex.



2. Your poem, Shiver, depicts various eerie visuals and a feeling of uncertainty. How did this poem come about and what do you hope readers take away from it?

Shiver

as birds are often crushed
so we swallow the
lemon, tomato, the orphan.

intuit disaster.

hard water pounding stainless steel.
Washington Monument strikes through a cloud.

My Indiana crumbles down.

the lightning flashes so silent;
that frozen moment where
Sudden meets Unknown;
where sprouted my own fear;
what crash, what jarring, what
piles left over.

sensation of emptiness.


I think the most successful part of this poem is, perhaps, the title, as that is what I hope the reader feels or grasps when experiencing this poem—an emotional equivalent to that little breeze that blows down one’s back and sends a chill to shake off.




3. In “Yellow Madness” I get the sense that this poem is about a family member who is dying or has died and how that is affecting the entire family? The end of the poem makes reference to the color yellow--am I right in assuming it is in reference to a diseased liver? I think it is interesting that you include a common turn-of-phrase in the poem with a slight change in its verb: “Death is warming over” Can you explain what you mean in the poem by “Death warming over” and the impetus of this poem?

Yellow Madness

Blanched grass is beaten down flat. I hose it
and hope to resurrect it, like the floor
that bubbled up when my father tried to
break a heavy dish against its
soft and waxy linoleum.

A welt grew in all of us, only temporary,
to be rubbed numb and mostly forgotten.
And there sprouted a pattern, a thing that
killed the good-enough of life itself with
its thick tumors visible.

Forget about seamlessness.

Anger cooks up and my mother sets it
at my father’s place. Steam gathers up
and drips back like stalagmites.

Death is warming over

in the bright eyes and fresh livers, in the
thirsty in the virtuous in the guilty.
The sick yellow thick of it is there, in the
jaundiced madness and the marigold.
In the amber-liquid nightmare.

The yellow glazing
over and waxing
hard silent cymbal goes crashing.



The idea for this poem came from the name of a breed of petunias (White Madness) that I bought one summer for my flower garden. The name intrigued me so much that I thought of a color that I could associate with a number of meaningful images, and the rest kind of happened. In the poem, I do name some experiences, which lead me into colors that could be associated with tragedy. While I write about this I hope that the line “Forget about seamlessness” stands out loud and clear. Life is messy. That’s the truth of it. I don’t expect seamlessness.




4. My favorite poem in your collection is titled “Age & Experience.” I get the sense that this is one lively grandmother that makes you feel dull in comparison. I love the lines “My body, a wilted flower, though well-preserved” as a description of yourself. Then later, the description of your grandmother: “100% silk. Expensively perfumed…Her blond curls/vivid, her clothes, a new and crisp complement.” Can you tell us a little bit about this poem and more about your grandmother—or the woman you’ve taken poetic license to label as your grandmother?
Note: Line 6 taken from Norman Dubie’s “Sky Harbor”

Age & Experience

My grandmother, a legend of her own,
flicks cigarettes into the grass. Practiced
with the parietal bone. Steps on them
with her kitten-heel sandal. Seduced
with their red lipstick rings.


I have been dead for hours.

My body, a wilted flower, though well-preserved,
like a florist’s bouquet, arranged in a
crystal vase of water mixed with powder.

But my grandmother excellest them all.

100% silk. Expensively perfumed.
Her pick of husbands before and after
marriage. Her habits of chain smoking and
false teeth are no deterrent. Her blond curls
vivid, her clothes, a new and crisp complement.

Her words well-practiced with age and experience:
Orchid
Dancer
Darling.

I am not as alive.

Yes, my Nana, the same one who painted the cover, is one of those fun, spunky people who when you meet you never forget. I’ve gotten a lot of writing material out of her. She really radiates throughout the family, leaving her mark on her children and grandchildren in interesting ways. I’ve always been close to her and felt comfortable sharing things with her, and have really come to appreciate her all the more, now that I’m an adult and realize how lucky I am to still have a grandparent, let alone one like her. She’s very much a unique individual. She has the open-mindedness of Oprah Winfrey and the growing-old-gracefully of Madonna. She’s also been a real encourager and cheerleader for me in my creative endeavors. A few weeks ago she had me come over to her apartment to sign copies of my chap that she had sold to some of her friends.


5. Your most moving and visceral poem is “To Grief” to which you say in the poem you met through death. The last line which really begins on the second to last line: “Ready/ for you, having birthed you, raised you, killed you” is an amazing way to describe how so many of us have felt when facing an extraordinary loss in regards to grief. Can you talk about your experience being translated into this poem? May I ask who passed away and what made this person mean so much to you?

To Grief

I.

Grief you are some bizarre
new birth that I parent;
rinsing clean the muddy view,
dissecting the chosen few,
slitting the throats,
wounding, burning, devouring
the bodies of what I thought I knew.

The twinkling comes first:
silver-lined cloud nine;
how the smile gleams—
hacksaw tooth sharp serrated blade
trimming down the unmade
corners of my lips. It is this:
the graveyard full, the body gone. Death is how I met you.

II.

Being with me, a thorn
in the side. Carry you,
carry me. Small strides
from darkness to dim light. Bloody rivulets
for such a cut, a cut no less,
babbles out enough remorse
to rust, to mourn, the torn repeating course.

Some beautiful, scary, spoon-fed
vessel leaks this teary seepage;
sliding and ebbing onto a
well-worn shore and the faces know
deep creases with well-made beds
flat mouths, stern stance, and steady. Ready
for you, having birthed you, raised you, killed you.

This poem was actually my first poem ever accepted for publication—from Main Street Rag—and I’m glad of that because it represents things in my life that sort of brought me to my knees, made me wake up out of my youthful stupor and make some real decisions. An old friend was killed in a hit-and-run accident, and the grief that haunted me afterward was incredibly unexpected, and extremely difficult for those around me to understand. It took me quite a bit of work to overcome, which ultimately resulted in my returning to writing poetry, and even getting a college degree, as well as some other interventions. Because this is one of my earlier poems, I think the heavy Plath influence is very apparent here. But I’m not ashamed of that one bit!


6. I notice in your collection a tendency towards certain words such as “shiver” and “bone.” What are your favorite words to see visually on the page and what are some of your favorite words to say? Feel free to give any explanations for any words that you choose.

Words are the things that draw me into writing, and the ability to be broken and fragmented with them is the reason I’m drawn into poetry. I like to look in certain crevices of the world for words—news articles, and other people’s poems are good resources—and I think discovering words out of context allow my mind to explore situations out of context, allowing for, hopefully, a fresh way to experience the world. I do keep a word document in my computer saved as “Brainstorm,” onto which I paste copied text from, mostly news articles. Here are a few samples I have currently in that document:

awayed
suckered
omnicorporal
slavish
contextless
analyticity
displaced air


7. Which poem in this collection are your proudest of, and if it’s not already included, please include it here and explain the poem’s origins or why you are so proud of it?

I’m pretty proud of “Trust Me,” but I really think I lucked out with the way it came to me. It was published by Avatar Review, and they recorded my reading of it for the website. I think it echoes a rhythm of urgency that I feel necessary in terms of tone in my poetry, or at least in this collection of poetry. I very much feel like what’s inside of me is “pent-up heat” in the chambers of a gun, ready to be “unloaded.” And that unloading is the poem itself.








Trust Me


Trust me. There could have been a real explosion
with all of this flammable notion
in the air, and me unloading
my gun, with its pent-up heat in the chambers.

There could have been more billboards of those
wordless conversations—enough of them
towering into the ether.

Our skulls could have kept rattling around
shaking the insubordinate thoughts like
a maraca .

But trust me. We melted down the energies
of some of our dreams and poured them into
other things. We kept awake by slapping
our cheeks and feeling
the warm wind rush on the long haul home.



8. Do you have other hobbies and interests outside of poetry and do you mind sharing them? Do they influence your writing at all?

I teach 8th grade English in a very rural community and that has really softened me a little. I’m beginning to become more of a “people person” something quite far from the introverted poet cliché that I’ve always been. I’ve written a poem or two about a student, but more than anything being around adolescents who are very much in tune with trying to find their own identities at that strange point in life has sent me on many nostalgic, soul-searching adventures of my own.



9. Are you working on another collection of poems right now and can you tell us a little bit about them? Are there any future publications we can look forward to seeing and where can we find them?

I am not working on any collections. I’m just trying to crank out a new poem every now and then, fine-tune it, and then find a home for it. I have written a few poems dealing with various Indiana locations and have clustered them into a single file, sort of as an experiment to see if it will grow or not, but being a school teacher has really consumed me in the last twelve months. I wrote a little this summer, but mostly took one long deep breath. I’m OK with that. I think I’ve got a lot of growing to do, and am going to see how that turns out.



Mrs. Reed, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions and for being an active member of Poet Hound since its inception. It’s been a pleasure commenting back and forth and I hope our tradition continues. Good luck on your future artistic works and keep us up-dated!

If you enjoyed this interview and the sample of poems featured here, you can purchase a copy of Talia Reed’s chapbook, This Admirable Miry Clay from Dancing Girl Press for $7.00, which includes shipping and handling, at:

http://www.dancinggirlpress.com/admirable.html

Dancing Girl Press is headed by Kristy Bowen who publishes women’s poetry so please check out her main website at:

http://www.dancinggirlpress.com/index.html

To learn more about Talia Reed or find more of her work, you can visit her blog at:

http://thisadmirablemiryclay.blogspot.com/

Thanks always for reading, please drop in tomorrow for more Poems Found by Poet Hound…