FLARF vs. CONCEPTUAL 2009

Flarf.

Conceptual.

(via Kenny G)

FROM THE HERBECK BLOG

The Present.

The present's a quiet orphan,
we just want to be having fun.
I have gone now into the woods,
and will return soon without the goods.

Translated by Gary Sullivan.

* * *

Die Gegenwart.

Die Gegenwart ist still allein,
wir wollen doch nur frölich sein.
Ich bin gegangen in den Wald,
und kehre zurücke allzubald.

* * *

Notes

I have a couple of versions of this poem that I translated, and one version that I translated with Oya Ataman. My first solo attempt was very loose:

The Present.

The present is aligned tho still alien
to anyone already content.
I'm going further into my antlers
and will return, baldly trumped.

That is still among my favorites, and it pains me to have ultimately decided against it. But, let's face it, this is Ernst Herbeck, not Joseph Ceravalo, upon which that translation above is obviously modeled.

Oya Ataman and I did an accurate version later:

The Present.

The present is quiet alone,
we just want to have fun
I am going into the woods,
and turn back all too soon.

and I was fully prepared to keep it, but one thing Oya mentioned when we were doing that version was that the original had the quality of a children's rhyme, which this version doesn't. So, last night I decided I'd do one up that kept the same syllable count as the original, and which maybe gets more of that sing-songy-ness that Oya mentioned.

What do you think? Which should ultimately prevail?

[] Gary version 1 ("The present is aligned ...")
[] Oya and Gary version ("The present is quiet alone")
[] Gary version 2 ("The present's a quiet orphan")

Vote early, vote often.

SEGUE READING SERIES @ BOWERY POETRY CLUB
Winter / Spring 2009

Saturdays: 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. 308 BOWERY, just north of Houston $6 admission goes to support the readers

The Segue Reading Series is made possible by the support of The Segue Foundation. For more information, please visit seguefoundation.com, bowerypoetry.com, or call (212) 614-0505. Curators: February-March by Nada Gordon & Gary Sullivan, April-May by Kristen Gallagher & Tim Peterson.

FEBRUARY

FEBRUARY 7 KENNETH GOLDSMITH and EDWIN TORRES
Kenneth Goldsmith is the author of ten books of poetry and founding editor of UbuWeb (ubu.com). He is the host of a weekly radio show on New York City’s WFMU and teaches writing at The University of Pennsylvania. A book of critical essays, Uncreative Writing, is forthcoming from Columbia University Press. Edwin Torres is a NYC born lingualisualist currently on hiatus from the apple, living upstate. A NYFA recipient and 2006/7 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Writer-in-Residence, he’s been widely published and taught his Brainlingo workshop at numerous venues & universities. His books include, The PoPedology Of An Ambient Language (Atelos Books), The All-Union Day Of The Shock Worker (Roof Books), Onomalingua: noise songs and poems (Rattapallax e-book), and Please (Faux Press CD-Rom).

FEBRUARY 14 STEVE BENSON and STEPHANIE YOUNG
Steve Benson, formerly of the San Francisco Bay area, has lived in Downeast Maine since 1996. Transcripts of orally improvised performances appear in Blindspots (Whale Cloth, 1981), Reverse Order (Potes and Poets, 1989), Blue Book (The Figures/Roof, 1998) and Open Clothes (Atelos, 2005), along with written works. With nine other bay area language poets, he is preparing part 8 of The Grand Piano: An Experiment in Collective Autobiography (Mode A, 2006-present). Stephanie Young lives and works in Oakland. Her books of poetry are Picture Palace (in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni, 2008) and Telling the Future Off (Tougher Disguises, 2005). She edited Bay Poetics (Faux Press, 2006) and her most recent editorial project is Deep Oakland, deepoakland.org. She blogs so rarely at stephanieyoung.org/blog.

FEBRUARY 21 MELANIE NIELSON and SARA WINTZ
Melanie Nielson was born in Humboldt, Tennessee, grew up in Southern California, and lives in New York City. She edited Big Allis magazine for many years with Jessica Grim, and is the author of Civil Noir (Roof Books, 1991). Sara Wintz’s writing has appeared in Ecopoetics, Cricket Online Review, Interrobang?!, and on Ceptuetics. She co-directs, with Cristiana Baik, :the press gang:, publisher of Intricate Systems, by Juliana Spahr and One Might, by Karen Volkman. She lives in Brooklyn and works at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center.

FEBRUARY 28 JOHN GIORNO and BRIAN KIM STEFANS
John Giorno is the author of many books of poetry, which have been translated into several languages. Subduing Demons in America: The Selected Poems of John Giorno, 1962-2008, a career-spanning survey of his work, will be published by Counterpoint/Soft Skull in 2008. Brian Kim Stefans’ most recent books are What is Said to the Poet Concerning Flowers (Factory School, 2006), Kluge: A Mediation, and other works (Roof, 2007) and Before Starting Over: Selected Writings and Interviews (Salt, 2006). He just moved to Los Angeles to take a position as professor of English and Digital Humanities at UCLA.

MARCH MARCH 7 JEROME SALA and RACHEL ZOLF
Jerome Sala has been described as an “honorable hysteric” by critic Peter Schjeldahl. His latest book is Look Slimmer Instantly from Soft Skull Press. Other books include cult classics such as Spaz Attack, I Am Not a Juvenile Delinquent and The Trip. Rachel Zolf’s collections include Human Resources (Coach House, 2007), which won the 2008 Trillium Book Award for Poetry, Shoot and Weep (Nomados, 2008), and Masque (Mercury, 2004).

MARCH 14 CHARLES BERNSTEIN and ADEENA KARASICK
Charles Bernstein is the CFO of the Center for Avant-Garde Comedy and Stand-Up Poetry. His most recent book is Blind Witness: Three American Operas. Adeena Karasick is the 2008 winner of the MPS mobile award, poet media artist and author of six books of poetry and poetic theory. Forthcoming is Amuse Bouche Tasty Treats for the Mouth (Talonbooks, 2009). She teaches Film and Literature at CUNY.

MARCH 21 K. SILEM MOHAMMAD and LYTLE SHAW
K. Silem Mohammad is the author Breathalyzer (Edge Books, 2008), A Thousand Devils (Combo Books, 2004), and Deer Head Nation (Tougher Disguises, 2003). Abraham Lincoln, which he edits with Anne Boyer, is the single most significant poetry magazine in North America that always features a large cat and a rainbow on its front cover. Lytle Shaw’s most recent books include The Chadwick Family Papers (a collaboration with Jimbo Blachly, Periscope, 2009) and Frank O'Hara: The Poetics of Coterie (University Of Iowa Press, 2006).

MARCH 28 JAMES SHERRY and CECILIA VICUÑA
James Sherry is the author of more than 10 books of poetry and prose. His most recent publication, Sorry: Environmental Poetics, is forthcoming from Factory School later this year. He is the editor/publisher of Roof Books and founder of The Segue Foundation. Cecilia Vicuña performs and exhibits her work widely in Europe, Latin America and the U.S. Templo e’Saliva / Spit Temple, a collection of her oral performances, edited by Rosa Alcalá, is forthcoming by Factory School Press.

APRIL

APRIL 4 RON SILLIMAN and LISA JARNOT
Ron Silliman has written and edited over 30 books to date. Silliman was the 2006 Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere, a 2003 Literary Fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts and was a 2002 Fellow of the Pennsylvania Arts Council as well as a Pew Fellow in the Arts in 1998. He lives in Chester County, Pennsylvania, with his wife and two sons. Lisa Jarnot is the author of four collections of poetry, including the recently published Night Scenes from Flood Editions. She lives in Queens and works as a landscape gardener.

APRIL 11 JENA OSMAN and TAN LIN
Jena Osman’s books include An Essay in Asterisks (Roof) and The Character (Beacon). Her book The Network is forthcoming from Essay Press. She co-edits the ChainLinks book series with Juliana Spahr and teaches in the graduate Creative Writing program at Temple University. Tan Lin is a writer, artist, and critic. He has written Lotion Bullwhip Giraffe (Sun & Moon) and BlipSoak01 (Atelos). His visual and video work has been exhibited at the Yale Art Museum (New Haven), the Sophienholm (Copenhagen), and the Marianne Boesky Gallery (NYC).

APRIL 18 CHARLES ALEXANDER and AKILAH OLIVER
Charles Alexander is a Tucson-based poet, publisher, and book artist. He is the director and editor-in-chief of Chax Press. Alexander’s recent books of poetry include Pushing Water: parts one through six (Standing Stones Press, 1998), near or random acts (Singing Horse Press, 2004), and Certain Slants (Junction Press, 2007). Akilah Oliver is the author of a new book A Toast in the House of Friends (Coffee House Press, 2008), and also the she said dialogues: flesh memory (Smokeproof/Erudite Fangs, 1999). She currently makes her home in Brooklyn, NY.

APRIL 25 POETRY AND ARCHITECTURE featuring VITO ACCONCI
An event featuring poets and architects presenting work that explores potential overlaps and collaborations between the two media. More information to come.

MAY

MAY 2 JULIAN BROLASKI and MAGDALENA ZURAWSKI
Julian T. Brolaski co-curated the the New Brutalism series in Oakland from 2003-2005 with Cynthia Sailers and the Holloway Poetry Series at UC Berkeley from 2004-2006. Brolaski is the author of several chapbooks including The Daily Usonian (Atticus/Finch 2004), Madame Bovary’s Diary (Cy Press 2005), and Buck in a Corridor (flynpyntas 2008). Magdalena Zurawski was born in 1972 to Polish immigrants in New Jersey. Her first book, The Bruise, won the Ronald Sukenick Prize in2006, and was published by FC2 in 2008.

MAY 9 ERICA KAUFMAN and JOAN RETALLACK
erica kaufman is the author of several chapbooks including Civilization Day and several installations of Censory Impulse, her book-length poem, which was published by Factory School/Heretical Texts in January. She co-curates and co-edits Belladonna/Belladonna Books and lives in Brooklyn. Joan Retallack’s most recent publication is her Gertrude Stein: Selections with an extensive introduction/discussion of Stein’s work, brought out by University of California Press. She is the author of seven volumes of poetry including Errata 5uite, which won the Columbia Book Award chosen by Robert Creeley. A collection of Retallack’s procedural poems is forthcoming from Roof Books.

MAY 16 NO READING

MAY 23 MEI-MEI BERSSENBRUGGE and JONATHAN SKINNER
Mei-mei Berssenbrugge was born in Beijing and grew up in Massachusetts. She is the author of numerous volumes of poetry, most recently I Love Artists: New and Selected Poems (University of California Press, 2006) and Concordance (Kelsey St. Press, 2006), a collaboration with Kiki Smith. Jonathan Skinner is a poet, translator and critic, as well as editor of the journal ecopoetics. Skinner completed his Ph.D. in English at SUNY Buffalo. In 2005, he published his first full-length poetry collection, Political Cactus Poems (Palm Press).

MAY 30 STACY SZYMASZEK and PATRICK DURGIN
Stacy Szymaszek is the author of Emptied of All Ships (Litmus Press, 2005). Recent chapbooks include Orizaba: A Voyage with Hart Crane (Faux Chaps, 2008) and from Hyperglossia (Hot Whiskey, 2008). Hyperglossia, the complete poem, is forthcoming from Litmus Press in early 2009. Patrick Durgin has collaborated with Jen Hofer since 1998 to produce The Route (Atelos, 2008). On his own, Durgin has published Imitation Poems (Atticus/Finch, 2007) and Color Music (Cuneiform Press, 2002).

THE SEGUE FOUNDATION
300 Bowery
New York, NY 10012

AH, THE MEMORIES ...

FRI JAN 16, 2009



Stopped in Chinatown after work.Picked up three CDs and four Shaw Brothers films. The CDs turned out to be freaking awesome:

Kong Ling and the Fabulous Echoes, Volume II (pictured above), which you can hear for yourself here.

Pan Wan Ching Sings The Four Seasons. Oh. My. God. An amazing CD, with songs in numerous languages, including Japanese and Italian. She's also known as Rebecca Pan. Googling around for her this morning I discovered this:


a somewhat altered version of one of her songs set to scenes from Last Year at Marienbad.

And, finally, Pathe 100 series #31, Yao Lee. Great, great, great. I am a very happy camper.

The films, which I haven't yet watched, are:

Martial Club (click to see amazing final scene)
Hong Kong Rhapsody
The Bride Napping
The Boxer from Shantung.

Looks like I know what I'll be doing for at least some of this three-day weekend.

Greatly looking forward to Obama's inauguration, the day after MLK holiday, although I'll be back at work, alas.

TUES, WEDS, THURS, JAN 13, 14, 15, 2009

I've been sick the last several days, and mostly unproductive. Did nothing Tuesday but work all day and then after work translated five or six Herbeck poems before calling it a night. Wednesday was Nada's birthday; we both worked, then met for the Segue mailing, then went out to eat with James. A great time though I looked and felt so awful everyone encouraged me to see a doctor. (I didn't, and I seem to be doing better.)

Last night after work I had enough energy to watch two movies: Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein's The Prisoner: Or, How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair and Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi's Inventos: Hip-Hop Cubano. Both excellent, the first an absolute must-see. No energy or I'd have a lot to say about them.

MON JAN 12, 2009


Drawing in pen & ink for Nada Gordon's Folly.
Drawn from an original collage by Nada Gordon.

Watched Preston Sturges' The Lady Eve. Read another 20 pages or so of Regards from Serbia.

Sent artwork off to Woodland Pattern for The Graphic Poem.

Here's what I sent:

Elsewhere #1
1. Finished comic book, self-published 2005
2. Original art, 8 pp., ink (from Japanese pen-brushes) on 11x14 Smooth Bristol sheets.

Elsewhere #2
1. Finished comic book, self-published 2006
2. Original art, 8 pp., ink (from Japanese pen-brushes) on 11x14 Smooth Bristol sheets. Words by Nada Gordon.

Tales of Bollywood
Original art, 2007, 3 pp., India ink on 11x14 Vellum Bristol sheets.

Ink-Link
1. Original art, 6 pp., 2007, India ink on 11x14 Vellum Bristol sheets.
2. Two computer-colored pages, 8-1/2x11, of what were to be the front and back covers. Words by Maria Chursina

Captain America: Anagrams of “American Imperialism”
Original art, pen and ink, 2003, 4 pp., 9x12 card stock.

Images for PPL in a Depot
Original art, 2 pp., 2007, pen and ink on 11x14 Vellum Bristol.

Images for Folly, a book by Nada Gordon
Original art, 2 pp., 2006, pen and ink, 9x12 Vellum Bristol.

Elsewhere #3
1. Finished comic book, self-published 2007
2. Original art, 6 pp., pen and ink and brush, and in some cases collage, on 11x14 Vellum and Smooth Bristol sheets. Words by Alfred Starr Hamilton, Yehuda Amichai & Mahmoud Darwish, Kevin Young, K. Silem Mohammad, Gary Sullivan, and Rod Smith.

Reading posters
Original art, 2 pp., 1999 and 2000, pen and ink on Bristol pages cut down to 8x12.

Cover art for Poetry Project Newsletter
2 newsletters, both 2003, 8-1/2x11.

Lost in Spacek
Art for poster announcing performance, ca. 1988, pen & ink on 11x14 paper.

Ingestion of Artificial Light
Original art for poster, 1989, pen & ink, and collage on 8-1/2x14 paper.

WOW!
Original art for poster, 1987, pen & ink on 8-1/2x14

SPONCH
Original art for poster, ca. 1987, pen & ink on 8-1/2x14

True Poetry and Fiction Comics
Art for reading poster, ca. 1986, pen & ink on 8-1/2x11

d.a.levy
Original art, 4 pp., ink (brush and pen) on 14x17 Smooth Bristol sheets.

Pasha Noise
Original art, 6 pp., pen & ink on 14x17 Smooth Bristol sheets. Words by Brian Kim Stefans.

Jack Smith
Original art, 7 pp., pen & ink on 14x17 Smooth Bristol sheets.

Snare
Original art for poetry journal, 2 pp., pen & ink on 14x17 Smooth Bristol. Words by Pat Reed.

Nature Poetry (“The view from the sea …”)
Original art, 4 pp., pen & ink on 14x17 Smooth Bristol sheets. Words by Juliana Spahr.

31 mgs.
1. Finished book with poetry by Susan Landers.
2. Original art, 2 pp., pen & ink on 14x17 Smooth Bristol sheets.

The Concise History of Painting
Original art, 1 p., pen & ink on 14x17 Smooth Bristol sheet. Words by Kimberly Lyons.

The Poets (Edwin Torres, Bill Kushner, Julie Patton, Prageeta Sharma, Joanna Fuhrman)
Original art for Poetry Project Newsletter, 1 p., brush & ink on 14x17 Smooth Bristol sheet.

Flarf
Post card for reading, brush and ink, 2006.

The New Life
Comic, 2005, words by Robert Creeley.

Lost Authors (William Melvin Kelley)
Comic, 2000.

Exile
Reproduction of magazine, 1997.

SPD Catalog
Cover and inside portraits of three dozen poets, 1996.

SUN JAN 11, 2009


Jordan Chan and Patrick Tam in "The Wall"

Did not make it out of the house even once. Got all of the artwork ready to send off to Woodland Pattern for the show, then watched three, count 'em, three movies: The Wall, one of Jordan Chan's first films; Purple Storm, one of Daniel Wu's firsts; and Bollywood Bound, a lively documentary that follows four Indo-Canadians who leave America to make it big in Mumbai.

I stupidly misplaced my copy of Regards from Serbia, so in the last half hour of the evening before bed I read a dozen or so pages into Julie Doucet's 365 Days. (Among them, these pages.)

SAT JAN 11, 2009

Spent the day cleaning, napping and translating three Herbeck poems before heading off to Brandon and Melissa's apartment in Queens for Melissa's birthday party.

Also went back to this poem, and did some editing (see "Notes" below it):

The Streamlet.

The streamlet flows in the lively
                          ground,
off into the wide sea.
The little fish poot lively too
And trigger the pike too. (FRO)
It gorges on the little fish in the
                    belly.
And the streamlet gorges on empty.

Translated by Gary Sullivan.

* * *

Das Bächlein.

Das Bächlein fließt im muntern
                            Grund,
hinaus aufs weite Meer.
Die Fischlein pupsen munter zu
und zu allererst der Hecht. (HER)
Er frießt das Fischlein in den
                    Bauch.
und frießt das Bächlein leer.

* * *

Notes

I switched back and forth between "brooklet" and "streamlet," but have finally settled on "streamlet," for the sole reason that it is the closest of the two to "stomach."

Why?

"Das Bächlein" = the rill, rivulet, streamlet, brooklet
"Das Bäuchlein" = the tummy

Add to that the switching Herbeck does between:

fließt (flows)

and

frießt (feeds on)

So there's a stomach/streamlet toggling going on in this poem, which I wanted to at least hint at. Streamlet itself doesn't cut it, of course, but I've also switched my initial translation of frießt from "feeds on" to "gorges on," given the double-meaning of "gorges" and the relevance of its second meaning to the present poem. I also sort of messed with the syntax of the last line in a vain attempt to "foreground" this.

Will doubtless be pecking at this one for a while.

FRI JAN 9, 2009



Talked with Karl Gartung and Chuck Stebelton at the great Woodland Pattern about The Graphic Poem, a show of my original comics art that they're setting up for later this month.

I used to visit Woodland Pattern every other summer or so when I lived in Minnesota in the early 90s. I remember going with my ex-wife and George Albon on a couple of trips that also included stops at Blackhawk Island, where Lorine Niedecker had lived, Madison, and sometimes Chicago. We also went once with Erik and Bonny Belgum. Stayed with Roberto Harrison on at least one of those trips.

A number of my prized books come from those Woodland Pattern visits. There was at least a rumor in the 90s that they were not online so as to encourage people to come to visit the physical space, and this was why one could still find rare and collectible books at their original "retail" prices. In other words, I paid maybe a couple of bucks each for Susan Howe's Cabbage Gardens and the first printing of Michael Lally's Catch My Breath.



Dinner and Bollywood scenes after work at Rob Fitterman, Kim Rosenfield and Coco Fitterman-Rosenfield's. We ate pici, I think that's how it's spelled, the Italian equivalent of udon. A dance scene from Kath Putli the clear winner of the evening. Speaking of rare books, their library is insane. I think they must have every Little Ceasar book ever printed. Very jealous.

Read the list of questions Joe Safdie asked Kasey about DJ Huppatz's brilliant reading of Sharon Mesmer's Annoying Diabetic Bitch. Joe hasn't even read the book, but shoots a dozen or so accusatory rhetorical not-especially-relevant questions at Kasey, simply for linking to the review.

Speaking of flarf, Rod Smith sent an amazing epic ("What's the deal with ...") to the list at around 1:00 a.m., just before I hit the sack.

THURS JAN 8, 2009



Listened to MC Hotdog on the train to and from work. I bought the CD ("Wake Up") at an appliance store on 86 Street in Brooklyn three or four months ago, and it's one of my current favorites.

MC Hotdog! Clearly I bought it in the first place because I thought that was funny. But I love it for the beautiful, seductive pop that it turned out to be. The song above is, I think, about Taiwanese girls, and I hate the video. The song below is called "Tiger Girl" or something like that, and the video is equally ecch. But I love the music.



Read another 50 pages of Regards from Serbia, up to the section of e-mail accounts of the bombings. Translated three more Herbeck poems: "Read and heard in the psychiatric hospital," "The Brooklet," and "THE WELL-SPRING."

WEDS JAN 7, 2009


"Mitch Highfill reading at CUE on December 21, 2007," by Jeff Schlanger

Saw Mitch Highfill and Katy Lederer at the Project after work. Mitch read a break-up poem and then invited Natalia Paruz, aka "The Saw Lady," up to accompany a reading of his entire chapbook, Moth Light.

Katy read a few paragraphs from an unpublished memoir, and then poems from her two poetry books, the second of which, The Heaven-Sent Leaf, was recently written about in The New Yorker.

Talk before and after the reading about embarrasment and frustration as made manifest in writing, stealth and "passing," the changing literary landscape.

Can't stop thinking about Israel's horrific attacks on Palestine. The irony of this strip I did for Rain Taxi:


Click image to enlarge.

using words collaged from Yehudi Amichai and Mahmoud Darwish on the occasion, just three years ago, of Israel's announced pull-out from Gaza.

"As long as the earth turns around and around inside us, the war will never end ..." it ends.

TUES JAN 6, 2009



Read the first 50 pages of Aleksander Zograf's Regards from Serbia before getting ready for work. I love Zograf's drawings, the intensely black-black of his heavily inked panels, the jaggedness of the layout, the generally East Euro feel to them. One would not have the feeling of being there, so crucial to auto-bio, especially auto-bio that focuses on huge events like the war, sanctions and NATO bombings, with a more polished or clean-line cartooning style. I'm reminded of Olson's famous line about leaving the dirt on the roots.

After work watched Farhad Zamani's Googoosh: Iran's Daughter, a two-and-a-half-hour documentary about Iran's biggest singing superstar of all time. She also acted, and much of the footage comes from her films. Started performing at age 4--her father was a performer, and they lived in the apartment above the venue in which he performed.



Unlike most other artists in Iran, Googoosh stayed after the revolution in 1979, and has remained there since, no longer allowed to perform in her country. After more than 20 years of silence, the government finally did allow her to perform in other countries.

MON JAN 5, 2009



Up early, polished up untitled Herbeck poem beginning "The lilac stands in the garden."

Subway in to work. Listened to Hoang Oanh.

My 8th anniversary of taking this job, which I started on January 2nd or so of 2001.

Listened to more Hoang Oanh coming home.



Too exhausted to even look at my own artwork. Instead spent an obsessive hour or two combing through my books to find everything I have by Aleksander Zograf. Read his Alas! #3 and Hypnagogic Reviews #1-6. (If you've never heard of him, and even if you have, check out this interview.)

Then read Hannah Weiner's Nijoles House, an old Potes & Poets chapbook I found stuck in among my comics.

SUN JAN 4, 2009


A poster I drew for a group reading in San Francisco, ca. 1987. Click to enlarge.

Spent most of the day digging through my old comics and readings posters for material to send to Woodland Pattern for the show beginning Jan 30.

Finished Miriam Libiki's jobnik!

Rewrote a line of one of these, based on a German visitor's comment.


Rick Snyder and Eleana Kim at the new Zinc Bar

Left the apartment at 6:00 p.m. to see Nada and Rick Snyder read at the new Zinc Bar. It's housed in what used to be the Cinderella Club, something like that, one of the venues where Billie Holliday performed.

Rick read recent work heavily inflected by Los Angeles. Odd to think of him as an LA poet, but he is, at least for the present. Really great stuff. This is someone whose first full-length collection is long overdue.

Nada gave her best reading to date. So said everyone else there. Coolidge-level great.

SAT JAN 3, 2009



Read 73 pages of Miriam Libiki's jobnik! an american girl's adventures in the israeli army. Definitely experience worth describing. I'd prefer ink to Libiki's pencil, but a person has to use what they're comfortable with. Nice use of layout. Very little expository writing, which leads to some confusion, but preferable to having it all spelled out. Somewhat scant on both visual and other details, adding to "sketchy" quality overall, but still compelling enough to give some sense of being there. Half-way through book.

Listened to and read about Reinette l'Oranaise (see vid above).

A nice e-mail from the great Sheila Murphy, which I need to answer.

Intended to stay in all day, putting together art for Woodland Pattern exhibition that will open later this month. Instead, Nada had mini-tantrum, wanting out of the house & to drag me with her. Claimed I drink too much beer. (Debatable.) Claimed this results in our "never going out." (We never, ever stay in.) I caved.

Took the train to 86 Street and 20th Ave,. 86 is an amazing under-the-el immigrant hodgepodge, like Coney Island Avenue, but more compact and not partitioned into segments. Russian DVD/CD store next to Turkish restaurant next to Halal meats next to Chinese appliance/DVD store next to Mexican bakery (where one can also get CDs) next to TD Bank next to three Vietnamese restaurants. Like Mission Street, downmarket, but far more multi-ethnic. Ate at Nonya, Malaysian.


Me on 86 Street, photo by Nada

Picked up 6 Hong Kong DVDs for $3 each: Brotherhood (Danny Lee); The Wall (Jordan Chan); Purple Storm (Daniel Wu); Intellectual Trio (Leslie Cheung); Dragon Family (Alan Tam and Andy Lau); and Iceman Cometh (Yuen Biao, Yuen Hua, Maggie Cheung).

Back home read Nadia Bozak's review of Jennifer Baichwal's documentary, Manufactured Landscapes, of Edward Burtyansky's photographs of urban industrial spaces in China, Bangladesh, and California. Released the same year as the Al Gore Inconvenient Truth film, Bozak argues that Baichwal's is a necessary poetic companion to the Gore polemic.

Watched the aforementioned Iceman Cometh. Insanely entertaining and gloriously implausible flick about two Ming Dynasty martial arts experts, one a Royal Guard member, who fall into a frozen ravine and are rethawed 300 years later, after being transplanted to Hong Kong. Manic Maggie Cheung can do no wrong. Lots of great dumb lines, including the inevitable "Where am I? Is this Hell?" delivered by Yuen Biao upon waking up and finding himself on a Kowloon overpass. Nice echo of the Baichwal/Burtyansky.

FRI JAN 2 2009


Hostile Takeover of Flarf by Conceptual Poetry

Up very early. Read Blanquet's à l’intérieur des têtes. Left the apartment at 10:30 a.m. with Nada.

Saw Milk. Very biopic-y. Loved it, thought Sean Penn was incredible, but annoyed by the biopic-y telegraphing: THIS WAS AN IMPORTANT EVENT. THIS WAS ANOTHER ONE. Too much exposition given in dialog. Began to wish for a more slice-of-life biopic. Those unimportant moments seemingly caught by the camera were the most interesting parts of the film for me. Still, a very moving picture.

Picked up some Algerian music and recent Nigerian rap. Three books at Jim Hanley's: Jason's Pocket Full of Rain, Miriam Libiki's Jobnik! and something else I've forgotten the name of.

Met up with Kenny Goldsmith and Christian Bök at a bar overlooking Grand Central Station. Lots of talk about memoir, lives worth writing about, or writing written as though anything might be worth writing about. Is it a memoir of the person, or a memoir about the present text's coming-to-existence?

Kenny left early to put kids to bed, leaving Christian and me to cab it downtown to meet Nada after belly dancing class. A great time, though perhaps "too much" drinking. Christian reminded me a bit of Erik Belgum, but more animated. "I don't care what kind of art you've made, as long as it's really, really the best that kind of thing can be." Or words to that effect, echoing Erik's own "Poetry should be at least as exciting as Hong Kong cinema."

THURS JAN 1 2009

Woke up early, but hung over. Most of yesterday at Emma Bee Bernstein's funeral and a later gathering at Sherry Bernstein's. Later in the evening, a few friends over: Sharon, David, Mitch, Adeena. Shots of absinthe while talking intensely and watching Bollywood scenes.

This morning watched Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon for second time. Remembered none of it from initial viewing. Impressed by Michelle Yeoh's understated yearning for Chow Yun Fat, but also grew weary of too many similar close-ups of both, pining. Prefer real Hong Kong/Shaw Bros action/wuxia, though tried to understand it from Yeoh's POV: in an interview on the DVD with her, she enthuses about being given an opportunity to seriously act in an action film. (Staring while pretending to feel emotions is "act"ing.)

Beautiful colors. Too many wire stunts. Impressive, anxiety-producing sword fights. Not believable, which I don't mind, but self-serious, which makes lack of believability a kind of drag. Like utopic poetics.

Nada left to see the marathon reading at the Project. I stayed home and translated four Herbeck poems: "The Psychiatrist," "A Beautiful Landscape," "The Drive," and "The Lady."

Also wrote an e-mail to a friend about Dan Davidson. Compared him, no doubt unfairly, to professor/grad student Marxists we know. Dan a much better poet than any of them. Maybe not a better Marxist, though.

Watched about 20 minutes of Argentinian film, Gaston Biraben's Cautiva. Nice, Persepolis-like scene of schoolgirl grilling teacher about political situation. Otherwise boring and inevitable if one knows the story (I did).

Nada came back, liked Jonas, Bruce, Monica.

Read Lori Lubeski's Stamina, an old Leaves chapbook, before falling asleep.

Nada Gordon + Rick Snyder

Read at the Zinc Bar
Sunday, January 4
7:00 p.m.
82 West 3rd,
btwn Sullivan and Thompson, NYC.

$5 donation goes to the poets
Your hosts: Kimberly Lyons and Douglas Rothschild