sometimes a wee bit of whisky and coke with mince pies loosens up the throat and ach so I can write by gooley. So it is nice to think again. Been meditating on my travels and attempt to re-invent myself over the last three years. Well over the last many years but in particular the last three years cause I packed up and left the United States in order to find other worlds and see what can happen with my writing well something happened alright what happened I am only now beginning to process I went into intense isolation post-divorce and had little contact with the poetry world for over three years but wrote didn't like what I wrote at the time cause I was going at it blind but now after being in London for something like seven months I am seeing it seeing some kind of whole seeing the work as if for the first time again like when I was hanging with the Lucifer Poetics Group in North Carolina and getting my jollies with all those damn fine follies and jovial gatherings at The Blue Door and the Carboro Poetry Festival and Tony Tost was just getting engaged and William was making my head fly with some special mushrooms and David Need was pushing me toward a reconsideration of the lyric and Jospeh Donahue was making me gnostic yeah so that was some high time then the divorce and off to South Korea and Goshiwon and little outside contact and fast forward one year and I am in Poland and can't even begin to outline what happened for two years in that country but after it all up pops something Godzenie a collaboration of all my musings and wankings in North Carolina Korea and Poland finally cobbled it all together in west london and a new manuscript shaping up fine called Alien Memory Machine so yeah things are coming out alright I am seeing again a new way in and reconnecting
poem klatch the other week and some great discussion and sharing of work and then a few days ago the Openned reading and chatting with Peter Jaeger and Tim Atkins and Michael Zand and Steve Wiley and Amy and Nikki and many many other fab poets and seeing and hearing Cole Swensen who remembered me a bit from her reading with Desert City Reading series run by Ken Rumble and now the Lucifer Poetics Group is on fire with Minor American poetry reading series and journal and London well London is on fire as well
so yeah community
that is what I am trying to say
Fucking beautiful to have a community again
not sure about a career and earning a living and all the rest but for now I am more than fine
more than fine for the first time since North Carolina and the Lucifer Poetics Group but it was the Lucifer Poetics Group that kicked it all off that cross country reading tour and seeing what was possible despite the meat sweats in Philly and just seeing what was possible getting high with Rod Smith and Mel Nichols and meeting C.A. Conrad drinking some chocolate alcohol beverage and doing This Is The Motherfucking Remix with Brian Howe (soon to be released with Scantily Clad Press).
More please
more more more
I want that obsessive drive and wild curiosity back again
it is finally returning
what did I learn in isolation
not big nuggets of wisdom
but something snapped many times
and my writing changed but my obsessions did not
they are back
glad to have them back
glad to be back
the moans took a hold of me for three years
now returning to Poland for Christmas see my friend Rodrigo and see my super life rescuing girlfriend's parents yeah that is the ticket
it is all worthwhile
and so happy to read the poetry of W.B. Keckler and Sean Bonney (who is the best performer of poetry I have ever seen) and Frances Kruk and on and on and on
and then there is Jim Goar holy shit Jim Goar just keeps me ticking the one true friend I have had since Korea and he will have a book from a kick ass British press soon and he makes me smile I fuckin love that man
and the fiction of my cousin Andrew his obsessions and his drive to not settle for the hum drum existence and it just keeps coming
I want more more more
i want it all to begin again
notebook under the pillow
seeing poetry like I never seen it before
yeah that's the ticket
new manuscripts for 2009:
1) Placebo: remixes of song lyrics from the band Placebo
2) Poems for films that don't yet exist
meanwhile need to get Godzenie and Alien Memory Machine out into the world between the covers. Will try a few presses after Christmas.
Yip so katowice next week for a week
hope I still have an ESL/EFL job after Christmas no promises yetLabels: Brian Howe, C.A. Conrad, Goshiwon, high times, Joseph Donahue, Korea, London, lucifer poetics Group, Mel Nichols, North Carolina, Peter Jaeger, Poland, Rod Smith, Sean Bonney, Tim Atkins, Tony Tost