Oh obvious

Just now live (rhymes with jive, not with sieve) in > kill author, a new poem about the too obvious (or about whatever, or about nothing). It has turned into the first of a series that I’m now working on and that I'm psyched about. It’s fun to see the ideas change as the poems emerge.

Hungry? Try Readsfeed.

I just noticed that Readsfeed has picked out “Stillness,” published in PANK, for a link, the electronic analog (I won’t say equivalent) of a reprint. There are no equivalences. Paper world: eat your hungry heart out.

Beware of reading

Five (that’s right, halfway between four and six) crazy poems just came out in the new blue & yellow dog. Four of these poems epitomize what I think of as my crazy poems. So beware of the dog: read at your own risk. Thank you again to editor Raymond Farr.

New in Innisfree

Two new poems are now out in The Innisfree Journal of Poetry: “The Face in the Mirror” and “Invisible, Treacherous.” They have moderately different though not opposed styles; the first is more narrative and the second is in my spare style. Thank you again to editor Greg McBride.

Not Dead in December

Thanks to the mysteriously anonymous and allegedly not dead editors of > kill author: a literary journal for the mostly alive, who accepted a poem today. It’s the first poem in what seems unexpectedly to be turning into a series of poems, which makes me even more grateful for their encouragement, though I’m way grateful regardless. Look for it in Issue 16, early December, and expect the unexpected.

More poems for the fall

Today, The Innisfree Poetry Journal took two poems for their fall 2011 issue (#13). Many thanks to Greg McBride, the editor, for his receptiveness to a new poet. Check out The Innisfree Poetry Journal. You'll see lots of good stuff. These two poems come in completely different styles from the other poems coming out this fall (described in the blog post for April 24). 

Around the place

A journal sent this interesting turn-down for a group of poems that work in my spare, understated style (which differs from my other styles):

We enjoyed the four poems you sent us – in particular for their powerful, evocative language and the crystal-clear images they conjured up in the reader's mind.

            Unfortunately, we're not especially enamored with poetry that contains a lot of nature imagery, as these do, mainly because we see so much of it around the place. Though not an absolute rule, it tends to be a topic we shy away from. So on this occasion we're going to pass on these pieces, but we'd certainly be interested in reading future submissions if you think you have something suitable.

I admire their willingness to tell me their thinking, to turn down poems they seem to like, and to hold to an aesthetic, even if I’d rather they went with their likes. Some of these poems work variations on the usual nature thing, but maybe that didn’t come across. And even those variations—let's call them non-nature nature poems—have a history within so-called nature poetry. (In another sense, I also believe that at some point it’s all nature poetry all the way down.) Anyway, it was generous of busy editors to take the time and trouble to say what they’re thinking, including its mix of nerve and vulnerability.

Dog days coming in the fall

Alas, long time no blog again. It happens. But this time I have a lot of excuses, stuff (including other writing) that kept me from writing poems or sending them out. But I’m back to it and delighted to say that a cool, not yet well enough known journal called blue & yellow dog just took five way crazy poems for their fall 2011 issue (#6). (One is so crazy that somebody I sent it to thought it must have been the result of a formatting glitch and asked me to re-send it as a pdf.) Check out blue & yellow dog. Cool stuff, and many thanks to Raymond Farr, the editor, for his receptiveness to a new writer.