occasional thoughts
Sunday, May 27, 2012
(chap)books
this tuesday panguar ban party is dropping an e-chap of mine about relationships i've had, real and fictional. june 18th NAP is dropping a print chap of mine about mental illness, relationships (real this time), and other random fun things. it would mean a lot, and i mean A LOT, to me if you took the time to read either one. no pressure now
Thursday, April 5, 2012
one half shameless promotion, one half video games
first, there's this. very, very cool to be mentioned and have my writing spoken of in such nice ways. seriously, this made my day. thank you Thom James. it was awesome to get solicited by the fine folks at heavy feather review. it was awesome to watch the issue drop. it was awesome to watch it be in amazon's top ten poetry best sellers list for a few weeks. it was awesome to read through the many fine words inside it and it's fucking awesome to see that other people loved the issue the way i did. so there's that.
second, i have two new chapbooks coming out in the near future. panguar ban party is publishing an e-chap of poems about relationships (real and imagined) i've had over the last few years. that should be out early summer. turtleneck press is publishing a chapbook length prose poem about this guy who kills himself and floats around with a girl who kills herself. it's like that movie, you know the one i mean. that should be out in october. very excited for both of these. nap rocks, check out their new-ish issue. they're publishing a chap this summer. i've been, and will be forever, very excited about that. i've had a bunch of poems published also. birdfeast published a poem i'm very proud of. they're a new journal that is so full of fuck yes it's crazy. just look at the name.
now for the fun. iphone video games. well, since we've last talked i've been hooked on archetype, sas 3, angry birds (i know), and pro zombie soccer.
archetype is a first person shooter which has no single player mode. that's not entirely true. it has a shitty training mode. everything else is played online. it's like unreal or doom or pick whatever awesome online fps you want to compare it to. the graphics are crisp. the levels are fun. the weapons are deadly. the firing system is unique. you have your joysticks in the lower corners of the phone and to shoot you simply get an enemy in your cross hairs. this makes the battles faster paced. the xp system is neat. you have the same six insignia's held inside a circle. each time you level the insignia changes. when you level through all six of them, you go back to the first but your circle changes. as you progress further in the game, your circle becomes a diamond, some weird triangle like thing and eventually an egg shape. i'm only on the third circle. excellent game.
SAS 3 is a call of duty zombie type game. it's an overhead, third person shooter. it's fun but gets boring quick. i can only play it for half hour, or so, intervals. very repetitive. hey, just like me! the leveling system is also pretty neat. as you level up, you get perks. think new guns, skills (radar, faster reload, etc). it's a good way to mindlessly kill some time. speaking of mindless time killing -
angry birds. do i even need to say anything about this game? yes, yes i do. i bought it a year or so ago and got bored very fast. then i re-downloaded it about two weeks ago. i've spent much of these past two weeks playing. it's the most calming substance that's not a substance i've found. the music, the colors, the sounds of the birds and slingshot, the fairly easy to bear levels. you can just play and play and play and before you know it, two hours have passed. or before i know it. very good stuff.
pro zombie soccer is another game that i bought awhile ago and put down quickly. this time it was because i beat the game though. it's very short. basically, you're this kid named jax. jax is some kind of soccer prodigy who gets kicked off of his gold medal winning (at what?) team and starts living on the streets. then there's some sort of zombie virus outbreak and jax gets bitten (or does he?). you then go through a bunch of worlds with sub-levels. you kill you zombie ex-bestfriend. you save your ex girlfriend and eventually save the world. it's fun but goes quick. i beat it again in a day and a half. i've been replaying it on hardcore mode and it's more difficult. i haven't beaten hardcore mode yet and it's been at least a week. so, how the game works is like this. jax is on the left side of the screen and has a soccer ball. you can touch up and down with your finger behind jax to aim the ball anywhere. you then kick it at zombies. simple enough. there are power ups that add some flair to the game. the zombies get harder also. at one point you go to the zombie planet and fight, among others, these weird fish creatures who fly mini spaceships. so you need to shoot out the window of the ships before you can hurt the alien zombies. i swear, it's great. (famous last words, huh?)
second, i have two new chapbooks coming out in the near future. panguar ban party is publishing an e-chap of poems about relationships (real and imagined) i've had over the last few years. that should be out early summer. turtleneck press is publishing a chapbook length prose poem about this guy who kills himself and floats around with a girl who kills herself. it's like that movie, you know the one i mean. that should be out in october. very excited for both of these. nap rocks, check out their new-ish issue. they're publishing a chap this summer. i've been, and will be forever, very excited about that. i've had a bunch of poems published also. birdfeast published a poem i'm very proud of. they're a new journal that is so full of fuck yes it's crazy. just look at the name.
now for the fun. iphone video games. well, since we've last talked i've been hooked on archetype, sas 3, angry birds (i know), and pro zombie soccer.
archetype is a first person shooter which has no single player mode. that's not entirely true. it has a shitty training mode. everything else is played online. it's like unreal or doom or pick whatever awesome online fps you want to compare it to. the graphics are crisp. the levels are fun. the weapons are deadly. the firing system is unique. you have your joysticks in the lower corners of the phone and to shoot you simply get an enemy in your cross hairs. this makes the battles faster paced. the xp system is neat. you have the same six insignia's held inside a circle. each time you level the insignia changes. when you level through all six of them, you go back to the first but your circle changes. as you progress further in the game, your circle becomes a diamond, some weird triangle like thing and eventually an egg shape. i'm only on the third circle. excellent game.
SAS 3 is a call of duty zombie type game. it's an overhead, third person shooter. it's fun but gets boring quick. i can only play it for half hour, or so, intervals. very repetitive. hey, just like me! the leveling system is also pretty neat. as you level up, you get perks. think new guns, skills (radar, faster reload, etc). it's a good way to mindlessly kill some time. speaking of mindless time killing -
angry birds. do i even need to say anything about this game? yes, yes i do. i bought it a year or so ago and got bored very fast. then i re-downloaded it about two weeks ago. i've spent much of these past two weeks playing. it's the most calming substance that's not a substance i've found. the music, the colors, the sounds of the birds and slingshot, the fairly easy to bear levels. you can just play and play and play and before you know it, two hours have passed. or before i know it. very good stuff.
pro zombie soccer is another game that i bought awhile ago and put down quickly. this time it was because i beat the game though. it's very short. basically, you're this kid named jax. jax is some kind of soccer prodigy who gets kicked off of his gold medal winning (at what?) team and starts living on the streets. then there's some sort of zombie virus outbreak and jax gets bitten (or does he?). you then go through a bunch of worlds with sub-levels. you kill you zombie ex-bestfriend. you save your ex girlfriend and eventually save the world. it's fun but goes quick. i beat it again in a day and a half. i've been replaying it on hardcore mode and it's more difficult. i haven't beaten hardcore mode yet and it's been at least a week. so, how the game works is like this. jax is on the left side of the screen and has a soccer ball. you can touch up and down with your finger behind jax to aim the ball anywhere. you then kick it at zombies. simple enough. there are power ups that add some flair to the game. the zombies get harder also. at one point you go to the zombie planet and fight, among others, these weird fish creatures who fly mini spaceships. so you need to shoot out the window of the ships before you can hurt the alien zombies. i swear, it's great. (famous last words, huh?)
Thursday, February 16, 2012
this is what we call a catch up post. why is it a catch up post? because i'll catch you up with all the exciting (read: boring) stuff that has been happening with me lately.
first, i was offered a contract for how they strike a balance between calligraphy and death metal. after much debating, and by debating i mean jumping up and down and yelling, i signed the contract. the press will remain a secret until the book is published, but rest assured avid reader, big things are in the works. expect to see the book early to mid 2013.
second, i've had a bunch of poems published since we last spoke. there is new work in dogzplot (francis and sarah poems), kill author (francis and sarah poems) and, again, in NAP (poems from my forthcoming NAP chap i tried to bear the elephants and lost). i'm excited and honored to be in these three journals. the links are on the right hand side of this page. read them!! beach sloth is cool always, but seems to be extra cool whenever a new NAP comes out. he did a small write up of NAP 2.3, read it here. he likes me. i like him. we can go to california and get married! will you marry me beach sloth? also i have a poem forthcoming from word riot. i racked up three healthy rejections from them before getting this poem accepted, so i'm just a bit psyched.
third, i had three poems published at thirteen myna birds (again, a link is on the right hand side of the page). the way that thirteen myna birds works is that they feature thirteen works at a time. as new pieces are added the old ones are shuffled off to die alone in a nursing home. it's sad, i know. i actually really like this idea and method of publishing. however, i'm also vain as fuck. i want people to be able to always read my wonderful poems. so i am going to post all three here! they're all, again, from my NAP chap, coming out this summer! enjoy!
first, i was offered a contract for how they strike a balance between calligraphy and death metal. after much debating, and by debating i mean jumping up and down and yelling, i signed the contract. the press will remain a secret until the book is published, but rest assured avid reader, big things are in the works. expect to see the book early to mid 2013.
second, i've had a bunch of poems published since we last spoke. there is new work in dogzplot (francis and sarah poems), kill author (francis and sarah poems) and, again, in NAP (poems from my forthcoming NAP chap i tried to bear the elephants and lost). i'm excited and honored to be in these three journals. the links are on the right hand side of this page. read them!! beach sloth is cool always, but seems to be extra cool whenever a new NAP comes out. he did a small write up of NAP 2.3, read it here. he likes me. i like him. we can go to california and get married! will you marry me beach sloth? also i have a poem forthcoming from word riot. i racked up three healthy rejections from them before getting this poem accepted, so i'm just a bit psyched.
third, i had three poems published at thirteen myna birds (again, a link is on the right hand side of the page). the way that thirteen myna birds works is that they feature thirteen works at a time. as new pieces are added the old ones are shuffled off to die alone in a nursing home. it's sad, i know. i actually really like this idea and method of publishing. however, i'm also vain as fuck. i want people to be able to always read my wonderful poems. so i am going to post all three here! they're all, again, from my NAP chap, coming out this summer! enjoy!
lines on the highway going south
her thoughts winter, early evening.
a lucky strike tucked behind her ear
whistling show tunes and crawling south,
she steers my body like a pickup truck
covered in dents, a real barebones ford.
drifters pick strawberries from the tires,
nap in the transmission.
she shifts with my spinal cord,
the roof of my mouth, the clutch.
i ride a silver bicycle made of metal from her cavities.
a porch chair weathers the storm
rooms hidden within rooms, placed behind cobblestone walls.
there is sour water collected in my basement.
some would call this puddle a flood,
insist it be pumped out before the old bathroom sputters
an accusation in guttural tones:
your cousin shot heroin with bent knees on my bitter floor.
with soggy money i cannot afford this hurricane.
kindling: a photograph of the way you extend your neck,
a carnival of wasp stingers, parched as circuits.
the water must ruin crowded boxes
which have not been opened since before the doctors
thought to give me medication.
my house has doors that gasp cardboard.
apprehension, a whirlpool sucking in new water
like balsa wood and shop class finger shavings.
i put on soaked corduroy legs. my basement
will stay a dark swimming hole.
in the backroom is a waterproof gun case and i wonder
if my children will find the baked and cracked play-doh.
red spray on the wall in the pattern of a hand waving
i am underwater or thrashing on a carousel
or defeated in a chair while ants swarm over fingertips.
i play hangman with anton chekhov
in an abandoned storefront. charred roof beams,
cinder, gritted fists. a bit like gravity tied to a balloon,
all electric noise and sparks.
with vertebrae bent out of shape
he looks at me like folded paper, declares
this word does not contain the letter p.
he leaks like a faucet removing both shoes,
sketches the jungle inside a mason jar.
no plants, just dreadful bodies
covered in gashes and bright orange filament
keeps them tethered to the ground.
anton chekhov is lost in this jungle.
for the word, i guess shaving. he mutters
about rats and shooting himself in the thigh:
how the cartridge burrows through raw flesh, howling.
will the letter p emerge in the final act,
drape a plastic bag around my neckline,
gentle as sunburn flaking skin?
the hangman, drunk on warm pig’s blood and human meat.
i will not make the front page, instead newspapers read:
the dog’s fur contains battery acid, a stray nucleus.
Monday, January 9, 2012
best of
so i've been reading a lot of blogs and they all seem to be doing a best of 2011 list. fuck that noise. i'm going to do a best of ever list. ever really means 23 years which really means like 13 years.
best books
(picking one is obviously too hard, so here are a few)
the redwall series by brian jaques
these books were my childhood. they also made me want to be a wolf who carries an axe. i think i'm coming close to achieving my goal.
ghost machine by ben mirov
i just got this book recently, but it confirms something i have long (read: months) suspected - the best poetry makes little to no sense while making complete sense. the best poetry is visceral and intellectual at once. the best poetry is written by ben mirov
heavy petting by gregory sherl
i would still be an ignorant poetry slammer who thinks a metaphor about childbirth is groundbreaking, if it wasn't for greg. he told me "you're not a slam poet, submit to journals and stop being a dick." this lead to me discovering an amazing community and finding out that i like writing for the sake of writing a hell of a lot more than writing for the sake of slamming. also, this book is sweet. it feels like xanax in a good way.
best music
nirvana unplugged
this cd is the most relaxing substance known to man. it is haunted and haunting and horribly good. when i originally typed that sentence, i typed god instead of good. that describes nirvana unplugged, horribly god.
sing sing death house by the distillers
this is the cd that sparked me wanting to do a best of ever list. i keep coming back to it time and time again. energy is the best way to describe the distillers. so much fucking energy. this cd is loud and sloppy and fast and angry and loud and perfect. i've also written quite a few poems about sing sing death house, or brody dalle (the distiller's lead singer). none get published, but i have hope.
best friend
juliana steen
my better half. the only reason i haven't committed a murder, suicide (YET). i love you.
best movies
the wackness
basically, this movie is about a middle class, white, jewish, teenage drug dealer in manhatten in 1994 (maybe 1992?) who falls in love with this girl and gets his heart broken. COME ON. do you know me? this is pretty much my life, minus the selling drugs part
igby goes down
catcher in the rye for those born in the 1980s. plus, you get to see amanada peet's boobs. although this happens in most of her movies, igby goes down was the first place i saw her boobs. they are majestic.
best lit mag
pank
i can always count on thinking "i should just stop writing" after reading an issue of pank (print or online). just so good.
best kiss
sylvia murray
we kissed on the corner of laurel and walnut after eating at the laurel luncheonette when i was 17 and she was 16. she was wearing white shoes and it was sort of raining, lightly. i was sober despite having a raging drug addiction at the time.
TO BE CONTINUED AS I THINK OF MORE BESTS
best books
(picking one is obviously too hard, so here are a few)
the redwall series by brian jaques
these books were my childhood. they also made me want to be a wolf who carries an axe. i think i'm coming close to achieving my goal.
ghost machine by ben mirov
i just got this book recently, but it confirms something i have long (read: months) suspected - the best poetry makes little to no sense while making complete sense. the best poetry is visceral and intellectual at once. the best poetry is written by ben mirov
heavy petting by gregory sherl
i would still be an ignorant poetry slammer who thinks a metaphor about childbirth is groundbreaking, if it wasn't for greg. he told me "you're not a slam poet, submit to journals and stop being a dick." this lead to me discovering an amazing community and finding out that i like writing for the sake of writing a hell of a lot more than writing for the sake of slamming. also, this book is sweet. it feels like xanax in a good way.
best music
nirvana unplugged
this cd is the most relaxing substance known to man. it is haunted and haunting and horribly good. when i originally typed that sentence, i typed god instead of good. that describes nirvana unplugged, horribly god.
sing sing death house by the distillers
this is the cd that sparked me wanting to do a best of ever list. i keep coming back to it time and time again. energy is the best way to describe the distillers. so much fucking energy. this cd is loud and sloppy and fast and angry and loud and perfect. i've also written quite a few poems about sing sing death house, or brody dalle (the distiller's lead singer). none get published, but i have hope.
best friend
juliana steen
my better half. the only reason i haven't committed a murder, suicide (YET). i love you.
best movies
the wackness
basically, this movie is about a middle class, white, jewish, teenage drug dealer in manhatten in 1994 (maybe 1992?) who falls in love with this girl and gets his heart broken. COME ON. do you know me? this is pretty much my life, minus the selling drugs part
igby goes down
catcher in the rye for those born in the 1980s. plus, you get to see amanada peet's boobs. although this happens in most of her movies, igby goes down was the first place i saw her boobs. they are majestic.
best lit mag
pank
i can always count on thinking "i should just stop writing" after reading an issue of pank (print or online). just so good.
best kiss
sylvia murray
we kissed on the corner of laurel and walnut after eating at the laurel luncheonette when i was 17 and she was 16. she was wearing white shoes and it was sort of raining, lightly. i was sober despite having a raging drug addiction at the time.
TO BE CONTINUED AS I THINK OF MORE BESTS
Monday, January 2, 2012
new years
staying up late pays off. just minutes ago i saw a post from the red lightbulbs facebook page saying issue 6 is live! i have six poems in there! read them here. i haven't read through the issue yet, but there are some killer names in there. jason teal (one of the editors of the new journal heavy feather review) has a story. so does robert vaughan. nick sturm has an other. that's going to be awesome.
issue 18 of mud luscious is up also! it's good as shit. it has some poems from me (from the same series as the red lightbulb poems) and other sweetness! troubadour kaul has some poem things that are strange and awesome. read mud luscious here.
so it's 2012 as my new years resolutions are as follows
**be a better father to annette (my pet rat). i don't spend a lot of time with her, but i make sure to play with her nonstop in the time i do spend. so maybe i should say spend more time with annette.
**write more real stuff (read- video games) on this blog. i don't really like blogging. it takes a lot of my energy and seems way harder than it is. i read a bunch of writer's blogs that rock though. lately i've been cracking out on roxane gay. she writes great movie reviews.
**for that matter, play some of the new games i've downloaded. i've been playing through zenonia 4. it might be the best zenonia yet, although the in app purchase system is way overloaded. you need to spend real money to make the game enjoyable. well, you don't NEED to, but it helps a lot. i've gotten back into archetype and leveled my player up to 'major.' that comes after 'master sergeant' but before '???' i hope to find out what it comes before. there are two other rpgs i need to play.
**don't fuck up this new relationship i have going on. she's a nice girl (and probably way out of my league).
**find homes for the two chapbook manuscripts that are homeless. one is out in the world and awaiting reply. the other is still being worked on. once (fingers crossed!) those two are published, i'm going to pick the best poems from the three manuscripts i have and make them into a full length. i figure if the worlds going to end in december, i should at least have a full length poetry collection manuscript, right??
issue 18 of mud luscious is up also! it's good as shit. it has some poems from me (from the same series as the red lightbulb poems) and other sweetness! troubadour kaul has some poem things that are strange and awesome. read mud luscious here.
so it's 2012 as my new years resolutions are as follows
**be a better father to annette (my pet rat). i don't spend a lot of time with her, but i make sure to play with her nonstop in the time i do spend. so maybe i should say spend more time with annette.
**write more real stuff (read- video games) on this blog. i don't really like blogging. it takes a lot of my energy and seems way harder than it is. i read a bunch of writer's blogs that rock though. lately i've been cracking out on roxane gay. she writes great movie reviews.
**for that matter, play some of the new games i've downloaded. i've been playing through zenonia 4. it might be the best zenonia yet, although the in app purchase system is way overloaded. you need to spend real money to make the game enjoyable. well, you don't NEED to, but it helps a lot. i've gotten back into archetype and leveled my player up to 'major.' that comes after 'master sergeant' but before '???' i hope to find out what it comes before. there are two other rpgs i need to play.
**don't fuck up this new relationship i have going on. she's a nice girl (and probably way out of my league).
**find homes for the two chapbook manuscripts that are homeless. one is out in the world and awaiting reply. the other is still being worked on. once (fingers crossed!) those two are published, i'm going to pick the best poems from the three manuscripts i have and make them into a full length. i figure if the worlds going to end in december, i should at least have a full length poetry collection manuscript, right??
Saturday, December 17, 2011
just another case of blatant self promotion
this zine will change your life published an old poem of mine. of course, old is relative. i wrote this poem about nine months ago. that's not really old. Ben Tanzer is a pretty cool dude. this zine is rad because they pair up each poem, or fiction, with a piece of music and some art.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
i just took a nap
NAP is just so good to me. They make me hot coco after sex. Check out their new issue, NAP 2.1. I have a poem in there, two poems in their next issue, and a NAP chap coming out in the summer. Also the infamous Beach Sloth writes nice things about the issue, and me!!, in a blog post here. For the record, I am not Alan Greenspan's son - I am Alan Greenspan, himself.
I'm in New York for two weeks. If anyone from NY reads this (if anyone at all reads this) tell me where some readings are at. Holla at ya boy.
Also, check out this review I wrote! It's up at the Heavy Feather Review blog. Heavy Feather Review is a bad ass new lit journal. They're dropping their first issue at the start of 2012 and have some heavy hitters lined up (including yours truly). Jason Teal is a pretty rad editor and deserves to be "shouted-out."
I'm in New York for two weeks. If anyone from NY reads this (if anyone at all reads this) tell me where some readings are at. Holla at ya boy.
Also, check out this review I wrote! It's up at the Heavy Feather Review blog. Heavy Feather Review is a bad ass new lit journal. They're dropping their first issue at the start of 2012 and have some heavy hitters lined up (including yours truly). Jason Teal is a pretty rad editor and deserves to be "shouted-out."
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