TONIGHT

KIMBERLY LYONS & THE ZINC BAR PRESENT
THE WOMEN OF FLARF!



Shanna Compton

Katie Degentesh

Nada Gordon

Sharon Mesmer

Mel Nichols

Elisabeth Workman

6:30pm, Zinc Bar

82 West 3rd Street (btwn Thompson & Sullivan), NYC

$5 donation

THREE TITLE PAGES FROM ELSEWHERE 4


Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

NOAH AND PAUL ZUKOFSKY’S ARK



after this.

Voice of God
Noah
Paul Zukofsky

[Clouds break as light streams down.]

GOD: Noah I know you man your good in my book man keep your head up these people are whack!

NOAH: Wat up Bucket????

GOD: [Thunder, lightning, rain.] Thats whats up!!!!!!!

NOAH: Come to me with that shit!

[Paul Zukofsky walks in.]

PAUL ZUKOFSKY: Well God it’s me, Paul Zukofsky? What do you want me to do today?

GOD: People have messed up God’s world, people who obtain copies of LZ manuscripts, marginalia, etc. etc. such as at UTexas or elsewhere, and who have not first requested and received my permission to have such copies made—

NOAH: People have messed up God’s world—

GOD: Look these ppl are junkies if you know what that means a thief and they needs be off the street.

PAUL ZUKOFSKY: Well, God, people are laughing at me and my wife. We’ve spent entirely too much on gopher bark.

GOD: I forbid so-called electronic “publication”! People may not quote LZ in their “blogs.” Why you gonna hate on me on my thing they got on here bout me!!! Thats messed up i thought we were better than that!!!

NOAH: God’s already warned them again and again but it won’t hurt to try one more time.

PAUL ZUKOFSKY: I guess God is doing a good job at His job. Maybe I’d better go see about my job. The elephants feed trough is getting low again.

GOD: I am not trying to censor you. If you wish to spend your time worrying if LZ did or did not shtupp alligators, that is your problem!

NOAH: For those of you who do not know what an ark is. It is a really really big boat.

PAUL ZUKOFSKY: We know about God’s plan to destroy the evil in our hearts & when we follow His plan we are forever free from the power of evil. Let’s say John 3:16 & 17 together.

GOD: You may not use LZ’s words as you see fit, as if you owned them, while you hide behind the rubric of “fair use.” “Fair use” is a very-broadly defined doctrine, of which I take a very narrow interpretation, and I expect my views to be respected!

NOAH: He's God and we are not God!

PAUL ZUKOFSKY: YOU DNT KNOW SH!T AND YOU SOUND STUPID DEFENDING A GUY WHO LEFT HIS WIFE AND KIDS FOR MICHELLE MCQUISTON

GOD: I know alot about you my dude we been through alot and you always ride it out like a g is spose to.dont sweat what all these fakes are talkin bout while they sit at home and hide behind a screen and made up name we hold it up and take care of ours so we aint got the time to sweat all others then when shit pops that includes people who wish to perform LZ or CZ (“A-24”; the “Masque” etc) we handle it or get past it even then we dont run off the mouth when its all done we dont like the idea of ongoing issues so we face them and get over them.

NOAH: And it rained for forty days and the water was so deep that the ark was lifted way up above the highest mountains while the water washed away every bad person and bad thing the ark floated on the water over the earth

[The animals come onstage and begin to party.]

PAUL ZUKOFSKY: Whoah! What is going on here?

GOD: Man up to the issues you got goin on right now and you know what im talkin bout, I own all of these copyrights, and they are my property, and I insist upon deriving income from that property

ANIMALS: Come join us it’s a barn dance well I guess it’s an ark dance anyway we’re celebrating because God has been really, really, really good to us!

NOAH: God has been my dog for 20yrs!!! he is a great father and friend!!! that is to the ppl that have been TRUE friends to him!!!! everyone gets down but there is only one way to go after that!!!! UP!!! love ya bucket!!!!!

PAUL ZUKOFSKY: So, Noah, what is going to happen if ppl become very evil again? God promised not to wash his ass with another flood. What will He do next time?

NOAH: I don't know what He will do but I'm sure He has a plan. Remember, planning is His job. Our job is to follow His plan.

GOD: i aint seen you for a minute and probly wont but if you ever need a solid ass honkey you just think real hard and youll know who this is and youll find me and if you proceed to the point of publishing articles in journals books etc or if you publish a book, you must obtain my permission to quote, and fees will be charged but i aint puttin my name on here cause i aint tryin to feed into all these dumb ass games these people play on here.you done know when its time for them to man up they gonna tuck tail dude just think solid and youll remember me plus if you look me up ill make you pay me that lil change you owed me for a couple years bro!!

CURTAIN.

LIVING IN ADVANCE: A TRIBUTE TO DAVID BROMIGE



Friday, October 16, 7:00pm
Poets House
10 River Terrace
New York, NY 10282
(212) 431-7920
info@poetshouse.org

with Charles Bernstein, Corina Copp, Rachel Levitsky, Daniel Nohejl, Bob Perelman, Nick Piombino, Ron Silliman, Gary Sullivan, Geoffrey Young & Others

This evening celebrates the life and work of poet David Bromige (1933–2009), who was born in London, grew up in Canada, and arrived in 1962 in Northern California, where he spent the rest of his life, teaching and writing more than forty books of poetry. Cosponsored by the Poetry Project.

Admission Free

NEO-BENSHI: DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE

Do ya'll like ethnic stereotypes? Dumb jokes about the NYC poetry world? Then you'll be wantin' to bar the door and watch this wee neo-benshi I done at Dixon Place earlier this year. Brandon Downing, who curated the event, has posted videos of the the whole two night event here.


Part one


Part two

I USED TO BELIEVE

(Written for the ISSUE Project Room reading last night, thinking of Suzanne Fiol.)

I used to believe that towels were sleeping ghosts.

I used to think gravel was the same as gravity. Like the rocks in our driveway held us to the earth.

I thought that Germany must be a place of many germs (“germ” + “many”).

For a long time I thought a virgin was someone from Virginia. I found out what it was when a friend of mine came up to me and said “Guess what? So-and-so isn’t a virgin,” and I responded, “Duh, I know. She’s from Texas.”

I used to believe that nobody could see me if I was naked outside in the snow because I would blend in.

All my friends had imaginary friends. I asked my mom to buy me one but she said that I had to concentrate and find one myself.

I used to believe that dogs and cats would be able to speak to us when we died and went to heaven. This is why dogs would stare at you: They were paying close attention to what you were doing so they could remember for the afterlife.

I thought skyscrapers were just for decoration. That it was warmer during the day than at night because more people were out.

I used to think that meat was taken from animals like an operation and they recovered after. I used to believe both boys and girls had penises so I thought sex was when they tied them together. I used to believe that thunder was clouds having sex.

I cried whenever I saw oil patches on the street. I thought they were dead rainbows.

My grandfather was missing his thumb on the right hand due to an accident at work in the oil fields. One day, he had to leave the upper plate of his dentures overnight at his dentist’s for repair. I decided that the thumb also was also removable and that this was a normal part of becoming an adult; your body parts would be replaced by larger, detachable ones.

I would hold my poop as long as I could so my body could use as many of the nutrients as possible, so I could be bigger.

I thought UPS trucks were driven by Oompa-Loompas. I thought that birds switched on the street lights as it became dark by pecking the little knobs on the top of them.

I used to believe that stethoscopes could hear your thoughts, if pressed to your head.

I used to believe that you wouldn’t die unless you got married. I thought that when married couples went on their honeymoon they were actually going to the moon.

I used to believe that your life was a dream and when you died you would wake up as a baby and start your life again as the same person but different things would happen. For example: If you were poor then when you woke up you would be rich.

I was convinced that your clothes would grow right along with you.

I thought that exactly halfway through your life you turned into the opposite sex.

I thought condoms were a lot more complex because of how important the media made them sound. They were like a little machine that guys slid on emitting electrical waves to prevent the sperm from coming out.

I used to believe that your soul was a millimeter thick, right under your skin, and looked exactly like you.

I used to believe that my life was the dream of a giant.

I used to believe that when you looked into a raindrop on the window, that it was magic because of the way things appeared in the drop.

ISSUE PROJECT ROOM READING THIS FRIDAY


ISSUE Project Room's founder, Suzanne Fiol

I've been meaning to write about this upcoming reading at ISSUE Project Room, and was about to do that Tuesday, when news reached me about the passing of IPR's founder and artistic director, Suzanne Fiol.

I wasn't sure whether the reading, which features 21 poets along with 7 people on the flarflist, would be taking place or not; in fact, one event, scheduled at IPR for this evening, was indeed canceled.

But we got word from Bob Holman yesterday that the show--which was curated by Holman along with Kenneth Goldsmith and Suzanne Fiol herself--will definitely go on. While we had questioned whether or not flarf would be such a good idea, given the timing, Bob assured us that Suzanne stood for "liberty" in the arts and "would be listening." That last part--the last line of his email--reduced me to tears.

From all accounts--and there was an obituary in the Times this morning--Fiol was an amazing human being, whose life touched god knows how many other lives in deeply positive ways. Since she had curated this event with Bob and Kenny, I really want to be there, if for no other reason, than to celebrate the fact that she did things like this, put things like this together, created and kept open spaces for artists of all stripes. Such people are too rare, even in New York.

Here's the info:

This Friday, October 9, 7:00 pm — The Way of the Word
Poetry Extravaganza curated by Bob Holman, Suzanne Fiol, and Kenneth Goldsmith
ISSUE PROJECT ROOM
At the Old American Can Factory
232 3rd Street, 3rd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Tel: 718-330-0313

featuring the amazing poets:

Bob Holman
Ken Goldsmith
Jonas Mekas
Anne Waldman
Judith Malina
Abiodoun Oyewole (of the Last Poets)
Hettie Jones
Jeff Wright
Esther K. Smith
Georgia Luna Faust
Michael Carter
Kathy Engel
Kimiko Hahn
Beau Sia
Holly Anderson
Max Blagg
Frank Lima
Betsey Andrews
Mike Topp
Steve Dalachinsky
Yuko Otumo

and the FLARF POETS:

Gary Sullivan
Sharon Mesmer
Drew Gardner
Katie Degentesh
Jordan Davis
Brandon Downing
Nada Gordon

SOUR TIMES | ONLY LOVED AT NIGHT

نجوى كرم


1989 performance of a mawal (when Najwa was 22 or 23)


"Sehrani" live


"Wrood Edar"


"Ma Basmahlak"


The walaw mawal


"Rouh Rouhi"

CHARLES BERNSTEIN INTERVIEWS GEORGE KUCHAR



Speaking of heroes, here's one of my favorite poet heroes interviewing one of my favorite film heroes. It's like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, but funnier.

More sound files from Kuchar on PennSound, here.