Today is a Kurt Vile Day!

Always a Kurt Vile day if you can swing it.

New York School Recipe

Poet and teacher Thom Donovan has the recipe for writing a New York School-style poem. Pretty true, funny, and endearing. Some of his ingredients include:

"4. at least one reminiscence, aside, digression, or anecdote
5. one or more quotations, especially from things people have said in conversation or through the media
6. a moment where you call into question at least one thing you have said or proposed throughout your poem so far
7. something that sounds amazing even if it doesn’t make any sense to you
8. pop cultural references"

In the Evening, When Sprites Alight

In the evening, when sprites
alight against the shadows
and the timing of the clock
clicks into the timing of the void,
I, stranded cosmonaut, will wait
and pace in the vacuum of space
and when you burst forth through
that fine-laid veil I hope you'll see me
in my fishbowl helmet, smiling back
at you through frosted glass
the way you once smiled at me in our domain.

All Saints and Stars

When everything was tiny
and just a little ball of energy
I knew myself in ways I no longer know.
I saw myself then,
                  as I cannot see myself now.
I am a tiny fragment of the shifting world
and worlds beyond worlds. I am partial -
perpetually - and always just a piece
until that day of all Saints and Stars
when everything sucks back in on itself
and I am pieces and plucks no more!

MTV Gets it Wrong (Go Figure)

Yesterday while I was sifting through some poetry news I found a story via MTV about a group of poets in New Hampshire holding a slam poetry event inspired by Republican candidate Ron Paul. This seemed almost impossible to me. Politics aside, it just seemed strange that a whole slam poetry event could spring up like this without a candidate's official endorsement. The article used the flotsam and jetsam of "modern" "hip" "artsy" language -- saying that the sentiments of Ron Paul were "flowing like extra-hoppy craft beer on Sunday night at Manchester's only brewpub, Milly's Tavern."

Really?

Well, no MTV, not really. According to multiple sources including The Telegram the event supported no candidate in particular. It was a way for New England poets to voice their reactions to the debate on Saturday night. A few poets and audience members supported Ron Paul, but over-all it was a mixed bag. So why did MTV name their article "Ron Paul Inspires Poetry in New Hampshire?"

Whatever the reason, this is another case where poets need to stand up for the meanings of their words. If you throw an event and someone doesn't present it like it should have been presented, stand up against it. I always feel a little uneasy when I see misrepresentation, I guess everyone does. I guess that's the point of having an opinion (or writing a poem, or painting a painting, etc) - you're putting your ideas out there for others to soak in. If someone takes your ideas and flavors them differently, that's a totally different soak. I love that the show's organizers went right to the press and said Whoa Whoa Whoa.

Whoa Whoa Whoa, everyone, and happy Tuesday!

Poetry Foundation Headquarters wins award, looks amazing

I had no idea that The Poetry Foundation Headquarters had such a new and impressive home! Housed in Chicago (city of wind and water, a place I visited for too little time on my trip) has just won a major architectural award ! Cool deal!

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaack!

Hey Everyone!!! I'm back! I fell down a mineshaft and tumbled into a fantasy world full of pixies and goblins and trouble and magic, but I'm back to reality again!

And I've missed you, my Passi Lovers.

Unlimited Rest

For if you are tired just rest momentarily
in the calm clear glow of morning, the light,
diffused through spring saplings or falling leaves,
or better yet through the warm water-glass
of a future porch, enclosed and temperate.

For if you are tired just sleep soundly
in the soundless garden of dreams
we have cultivated for you, a place
of immense quiet and peace and where
the water is still like a pool of glass.

For if you are tired then you must
remember that we can pick up
the slack and let you, momentarily
and with great and blanketed peace,
rest.

In This Whaling World

In this whaling world where ice coats
two inches think on the water I have found
in my vessel
a thing that warms and warms and continues
to warm. I have found a thing in my vessel
that will keep my breath from shooting out
like a puff of white death, I have found
some soup-warm spirit-solving passion
and a fire that I can keep in my breast pocket
and it will never flicker and flutter and die.