tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20744014370611224472024-03-14T00:42:51.181-07:00Poetry MutualUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074401437061122447.post-57819002293442877562015-05-19T21:50:00.002-07:002015-05-19T21:50:14.277-07:00Problems of Underdevelopment by Nicolas Guillen<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF8IlbKrqJqPN2oPZ98y8zGDuccnAWhJAqtqXuVnQVBG-j-BpTNK7TpP5_BFHRIpKGA66H2ZwhXQfk1OJTvow70p3IyJTbOKpN_uDgkbY1u9gehW1xK1f0mhaUgltmhh6MUnI5O6LNTjBs/s1600/GUILLENnicolas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF8IlbKrqJqPN2oPZ98y8zGDuccnAWhJAqtqXuVnQVBG-j-BpTNK7TpP5_BFHRIpKGA66H2ZwhXQfk1OJTvow70p3IyJTbOKpN_uDgkbY1u9gehW1xK1f0mhaUgltmhh6MUnI5O6LNTjBs/s1600/GUILLENnicolas.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nicolás Guillén (1902-1989)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Problems Of Underdevelopment</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Monsieur Dupont calls you uncultured</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">because you cannot say who was</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Victor Hugo’s favorite grandson.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Herr Müller has started to scream</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">because you do not know (exactly)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">the day that Bismarck died.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Mr. Smith,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">and Englishman or Yankee, I cannot tell, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">exploded when you write Shell. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">(It seems that you eliminate an l</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> and, what is more, pronounce it <i>chel</i>.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Who is that?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">When your turn comes,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">tell them to say Huancavelica,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">and where the Aconcagua’s found,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">and who was Sucre,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">and in what spot on the planet</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Martí died.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">(And Please: have them always speak to you in Spanish.)</span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicol%C3%A1s_Guill%C3%A9n" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Nicolás Guillén</a></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074401437061122447.post-27654372145545988722015-02-18T16:28:00.000-08:002015-02-18T16:28:38.532-08:00Audre Lorde reading in 1979<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYNvmYs45HkKfsgKbm0MdsEB62lLJc4VEZ3NOE3EfniRyUjPnY8QP4-SnVm-MbCaWFTXR-Nzc4BqM8d_XjJdHyDTvHGFtdcOW7YjDPdX_pvYoAPbna43XwvTg-NnwZCisL3epbXeSuamE/s1600/lorde.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYNvmYs45HkKfsgKbm0MdsEB62lLJc4VEZ3NOE3EfniRyUjPnY8QP4-SnVm-MbCaWFTXR-Nzc4BqM8d_XjJdHyDTvHGFtdcOW7YjDPdX_pvYoAPbna43XwvTg-NnwZCisL3epbXeSuamE/s1600/lorde.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Audre Lorde</span></b> </span>reading her poem "Between Ourselves" in October 1979 at the Third World Conference at Howard University the day before the first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTPcVjH71smi-K3Qwo0kgOJruXy4oIxrM1SfeI6fiPUjRni31tX6M2bXve41oDOGb-qvFJ7klNlvMK5hVODRtuUClhhoQN-EiRevxmF3oT4PftwF6DBL0zLDVeLrFX0Z3eHGP0zkyzj98/s1600/hear.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTPcVjH71smi-K3Qwo0kgOJruXy4oIxrM1SfeI6fiPUjRni31tX6M2bXve41oDOGb-qvFJ7klNlvMK5hVODRtuUClhhoQN-EiRevxmF3oT4PftwF6DBL0zLDVeLrFX0Z3eHGP0zkyzj98/s1600/hear.png" /></a><b><br /><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByXHKXmaSdCQYWpHdTJzZTdlODQ/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">LISTEN HERE</a></b></div>
<div>
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Audio courtesy of <a href="http://rainbowhistory.org/" target="_blank">Rainbow History Project</a> archives.</span></i><br />
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Between Ourselves <i>Audre Lorde</i></b><br />
<br />
Once when I walked into a room<br />
my eyes would seek out the one or two black faces<br />
for contact or reassurance or a sign<br />
I was not alone<br />
now walking into rooms full of black faces<br />
that would destroy me for any difference<br />
where shall my eyes look?<br />
Once it was easy to know<br />
who were my people.<br />
<br />
If we were stripped of all pretense<br />
to our strength<br />
and our flesh was cut away<br />
the sun would bleach all our bones<br />
as white<br />
as the face of my black mother<br />
was bleached white by gold<br />
or Orishala<br />
and how<br />
does not measure me?<br />
I do not believe<br />
our wants have made all our lies<br />
holy.<br />
Under the sun on the shores of Elimina<br />
a black man sold the woman who carried<br />
my grandmother in her belly<br />
he was paid with bright yellow coins<br />
that shone in the evening sun<br />
and in the faces of her sons and daughters.<br />
When I see that brother behind my eyes<br />
his irises are bloodless and without colour<br />
his tongue clicks like yellow coins<br />
tossed up on this shore<br />
where we share the same corner<br />
of an alien and corrupted heaven<br />
and whenever I try to eat<br />
the words<br />
of easy blackness as salvation<br />
I taste the colour<br />
of my grandmother’s first betrayal.<br />
<br />
I do not believe<br />
our wants<br />
have made our lies<br />
holy.<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11616747558245229537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074401437061122447.post-42471555355759674702015-02-16T06:47:00.000-08:002015-02-16T06:54:17.005-08:00Philip Levine in Conversation with Grace Cavalieri<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg74LXd0H6_EPr0cn-aFc8wjm93RWmvDzYnLM1HBUVv3U_F-OMRe3D31QqzJ8Y7bBAHj1-ZvRDI4n8f01_3okLWqANBhL-9WMsZWGZV9GJwHkEAE9XGYoW_zfnQ-z4f8DmKJqaJdrF0MOm6/s1600/2015-02-16_091821.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg74LXd0H6_EPr0cn-aFc8wjm93RWmvDzYnLM1HBUVv3U_F-OMRe3D31QqzJ8Y7bBAHj1-ZvRDI4n8f01_3okLWqANBhL-9WMsZWGZV9GJwHkEAE9XGYoW_zfnQ-z4f8DmKJqaJdrF0MOm6/s1600/2015-02-16_091821.jpg" height="200" width="195" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Phil Levine by David Shankbone</i></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 16.7999992370605px;">"It required daily decisions. </b></div>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<b style="line-height: 16.7999992370605px;"><i>This</i> is what I am going to do."</b></div>
</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.7999992370605px;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.7999992370605px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b>Philip Levine on </b><i><b>The Poet and the Poem </b>from the Library of Congress</i> from 2011:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 16.7999992370605px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://www.loc.gov/poetry/media/avfiles/p_levine.mp3" target="_blank"><b>Listen to the AUDIO PODCAST</b></a><span style="font-size: 12px;"> (56:33 minutes) Transcript.</span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></blockquote>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 16.7999992370605px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="color: #274e13;">Philip Levine</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px;"> was the 18th U.S. Poet Laureate. He was born in Detroit in 1928, and educated at Wayne State, the University of Iowa, and Stanford University. He is the author of more than twenty collections of poetry, and his honors include the Pulitzer Prize, two National Book Awards, and two National Book Critic Circle Awards. Levine's first book of poems, </span><em style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">On the Edge</em><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px;"> (1963), won the Joseph Henry Jackson Award. Levine's other prizes include the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Frank O’Hara Prize and the Levinson Prize from </span><em style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Poetry </em><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px;">magazine, the Harriet Monroe Poetry Award, an award of merit from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Elmer Holmes Bobst Award, and the Golden Rose from the New England Poetry Society. He was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1997, elected as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2000, and elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Levine taught Literature and Creative Writing at California State University, Fresno from 1958-1992. In 1970, Levine was chosen Outstanding Professor at the University, and the following year he was chosen Outstanding Professor for the California State University System. He also taught or served as a writer-in-residence at the University of California, Berkeley; Vassar College; Vanderbilt University; Princeton University; Tufts University; Columbia University; the University of Houston; New York University; and elsewhere. He divided his time between Fresno, California, and Brooklyn, New York.</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074401437061122447.post-75281559820247863222013-02-21T10:01:00.000-08:002013-02-21T10:01:08.182-08:00THE NEXT BIG THING Q&ATHE NEXT BIG THING<br />
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My friend and brother in art, <a href="http://speakingwiriwiri.blogspot.com/">Dan Vera</a>, tagged me for The
Next Big Thing project that’s currently making the rounds on writers’ blogs,
websites and other posting places. I
tried to trace back who tagged who but only got as far back as last August.
Does anyone know where this all started, or how many people have participated?
In any case, my thanks goes out to, most especially, Mr. Dan Vera, but also to Maggie
Smith, Catherin Pierce, Katherine Reigl, Adriana Paramo, Sonya Huber, Laura
Valeri, Emma Bolden, Luisa Igloria, Marianne Villanueva, Seni
Seneviratne , Maya Chowdhry, Michelle Green, Maria Roberts, Michele
Gorman, Clodagh Murphy, Keris Stainton, Rowan Coleman, Debbie Viggiano, Wendy
Loveday, Anneli Purchase, Sheryl Browne, and Mandy Baggot. I would not be here without you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What is The Next Big Thing?
It’s a rolling project where writers interview themselves about an upcoming
project and then tag other writers who have work coming out soon then interview
themselves a week later (my tags are at the bottom).</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Q:
What is the working title of your manuscript/book?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>A:
The working and final title of the book is Pachinko Mouth.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
Q: What genre does it fall under?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /><b>
A: It’s a book of poetry.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Q:
Where did the idea come from for the book?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>A:
Well, I had these small groups of poems, and was trying to figure out how they
might fit together. They weren’t conceived as part of a larger whole, but I was
looking for a thread through them. Then, after I had written six pieces called
Pachinko Mouth [Pachinko is a popular gambling pastime in Japan. A
pachinko machine is a cross between a slot machine and a pinball machine], it
just seemed sort of obvious that they were a frame for some of these other
poems. Each of the pieces seemed related to a particular bunch of other poems. Since
the poems play around with words and thoughts and rhythms, the idea for the
book came from thinking about games. A group of poems might be like a game,
both for the writer and reader. There
are, of course, rules that frame what the game is and how it is played, but
it’s axiomatic that you can’t know the exact outcome of any particular game
ahead of time or exactly what path will be taken to get there.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Q:
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>A:
Pachinko Mouth is a thing, object, a Galton Box, a beehive, a dowsing stick, a
riddle-filled doughnut containing descriptions, explanations, quotations, humor,
stories, and last words.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
Q: How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /><b>
A: The oldest piece is about 12 years old. Pachinko Mouth wasn’t conceived as a
project in and of itself. Parts of it assembled themselves over a long time. I
tend to work on poems and groups of poems the way a terrier worries a beef
knuckle. It was probably about two years ago that a real first draft came
together. I had been trying for a while
to figure out what all these different things I was writing had in common, if
anything. Voice is an unstable isotope. </b><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Who
or what inspired you to write it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>I
don’t know if you can say “where” inspiration comes from. Inspiration comes from “out there” like the
way air enters your lungs. Poetry is a kind of mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation. With other projects there
was always an immediate, surface connection between all the poems (women from
Greek myths, B movies). I’d write a poem or two and say “I like that. Let do
more of those, shall we?” This is not the case for Pachinko Mouth which pulled
itself together from all corners of the room.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>That
said I was sparked for Pachinko Mouth by, among others, Cathy Park Hong’s <i>Dance Dance Revolution</i>, John Donne’s <i>A Valediction Forbidding Mourning</i>, Bernd
Heinrich, Dean Young. And this anecdote from Barbara Leaming’s biography of
Orson Welles: <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>“The Thorne rooms [miniature
European interiors from the late 13th century to the 1930s and American rooms
and furnishings from the 17th century to the 1930s, constructed on a scale of
one inch to one foot. They were conceived by Mrs. James Ward Thorne of Chicago
and constructed between 1932 and 1940 by master craftsmen according to her
specifications.] were a series of illuminated boxes set into the wall. To see
inside, you had to look through a picture frame and a piece of glass that
separated you from a densely furnished miniature room…<o:p></o:p></b></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> I
brought Orson a surprise from Chicago, a Catalogue of the Thorne Rooms …hardly
had he turned the cover and flipped through a few pages, when he tossed the
book on the floor.<o:p></o:p></b></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> “What’s
the matter?” I asked, trying to conceal my agitation.<o:p></o:p></b></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> “This
is useless to me.”<o:p></o:p></b></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> “Why?”<o:p></o:p></b></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> “This
isn’t my magic box. Don’t you see what they’ve done? They’ve cut the frames
off!”</b></span></i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />Q: Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>A: I
am very happy to report that the book will be published by Plan B Press in
April 2013.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />Q: What other works would you compare this book to within your genre?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>A
question best answered by others, but I flatter myself by thinking there might
be some similarity between Pachinko Mouth and books by Dobby Gibson, Zachary
Schomburg, David Berman, or Mary Ruefle. Apologies to them.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />Q: What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie
rendition?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A: </span><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Billie:
Denyce Graves</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Boo:
Stan Laurel<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Farmer
Brown: Eddie Albert<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Father:
Alan Rickman<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Galoot: Michael Clarke Duncan<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Robert
Graves: Brian Cox<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Interrupting
Cow: Charlotte Rampling (no slur intended)<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Danny
Kaye: Matthew Broderick<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Mr.
Devil You Don’t Know: Donald Sutherland<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Mr.
Devil You Do Know: Teller<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Life:
Gary Oldman<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Lungfish:
Andy Serkis<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Mockingbird:
Michael Redgrave<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Moll:
Scarlet Johannson<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Marianne
Moore: Helen Mirren, or maybe Meryl Streep<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Mother:
Anthony Perkins<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Orange:
Bill Murray<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Pachinko
Mouth: Tatsuya Nakadai<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Li
Po: Chow Yun Fat<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Three
Clodhoppers: Terry Jones, Tim Blake Nelson, Jeff Wilson<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Valedictorian:
Richard Burton<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Vincent
Van Gogh: Tim Roth<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Ludwig
Wittgenstein: Christoph Waltz<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Dean
Young: Adrian Brody<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Young
Person: River Phoenix<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Your
Grandfather: Walter Brennan</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What
else about your manuscript might pique the reader’s interest?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Nothing
I’ve said here is—as far as I can tell—anything like reading the actual poems
in the actual book. It’s actually a lot of fun to read, with doses of humor,
secret messages and—I hope—good looks.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">TAGGED:
<a href="http://www.shewrites.com/profile/HollyKarapetkova">Holly Karapetkova</a>
and <a href="http://www.barbaradecesare.com/">Barbara DeCesare</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Michael Gushuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11294259631688078877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074401437061122447.post-31473251180128670512012-07-04T09:08:00.001-07:002012-07-04T11:30:13.485-07:00Robert Hayden on American History<i>Some wisdom from Robert Hayden for the Fourth of July: </i><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilBYrQHNKBJ8mivUzim3w2Xr9qTZHrNstayCi-S2FTiV32zAa8C8b0xVD_8Jn9ZSNW2Fru3KGKYTZLruExj5gahbu3rnsPZD5x4vqYxcHt9k6DcRCFwMSJ02eWix-y3EnX0e2QKWHJGCr1/s1600/Hayden1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilBYrQHNKBJ8mivUzim3w2Xr9qTZHrNstayCi-S2FTiV32zAa8C8b0xVD_8Jn9ZSNW2Fru3KGKYTZLruExj5gahbu3rnsPZD5x4vqYxcHt9k6DcRCFwMSJ02eWix-y3EnX0e2QKWHJGCr1/s200/Hayden1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Robert Hayden, the first African-American <br />Poet Laureate of the Library of Congress</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">"The past is for most Americans</span></b>, unfortunately, rather meaningless. But some of us are aware of it as a long, tortuous, and often bloody process of becoming, of psychic evolution -- a process continuing today and, as a result of worldwide stress, gaining in momentum. And it has required, in almost every generation, a clarification, a redefinition of the concepts, principles, abtractions, if you will, which we have believed essential to our development as a nation. The concepts of freedom and democracy, the concepts of the individual and individual rights, even the definition of "human" are different now from what they were two hundred years ago. Slaves and Indians in the eighteenth century, for example, were hardly regarded as human. Consider also the status of women then. We, in our times, are obligated to go on with the process of redefinition. We are still struggling with the evils of our past, but we have also inherited ideals which we are obligated to clarify and implement." <b>Robert Hayden</b> (1975)</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074401437061122447.post-77443411800810276142011-03-28T11:25:00.000-07:002011-03-29T18:41:52.040-07:00Chicken Scrawlish<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsR5P2bkSK4LTAg9A_NB7hq1yUchpu8sYY6Pv71khfspIKwGzvldWvlMcfsz3QNH7xgHqdcp9ZT4XvDN9Hn0o2BhBLZ-XFbvQJbyOV20JxEfAu1K3OttnXM1D3a5ZssSoSHXJC4HNbWhs0/s1600/archivefrombullets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsR5P2bkSK4LTAg9A_NB7hq1yUchpu8sYY6Pv71khfspIKwGzvldWvlMcfsz3QNH7xgHqdcp9ZT4XvDN9Hn0o2BhBLZ-XFbvQJbyOV20JxEfAu1K3OttnXM1D3a5ZssSoSHXJC4HNbWhs0/s1600/archivefrombullets.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;"><br />
</span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;"><br />
</span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;"><br />
</span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;"><br />
</span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">Originally published on the old VRZHU Bullets of Love Blog</span></span> - January 23, 2008</span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Chicken Scrawlish</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why is Vrzhu blogging a recipe today? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By way of justification we offer:</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">“Jay Parini, a Frost scholar and professor at Middlebury College, also described the difficulty of reading Frost’s “chicken scrawlish” handwriting.” </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">–from “Editing of Frost Notebooks in Dispute” By Motoko Rich - <i>New York Times,</i> Jan. 22, 2008 </span></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We here at Vrzhu have been puzzling over the reference in the quote above to the traditional Hungarian dish, Chicken Scrawlish. Perhaps Mr. Parini was giving a tip of the hat to Hungary as one of the great producers of world-class poets, far in excess of larger countries, with a respect for and tradition of poetry comparable to, say, Ireland? Or is he referring to the rumor that, while in England, Frost was able to employ an immigrant Hungarian as a housekeeper for about a month in the fall of 1913, and afterwards Frost would sometimes make a folksy reference to her “chicken scrawlish?.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is indeed a riddle inside an enigma wrapped in a flour tortilla. But Vrzhu is in search of a key.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT52KrwG7LiqWI4_IGXnqnbGnhZfpv1a_C3ELaVjKxGFRPBGC4KmOG7g464pCpV8TtKQUPVyxaJ-kLdeQwchFWGB86hX2dVH7f6fLSXSlHVLRlREu5D1Fg3Hudzt43Nl_sZu-v_vGz6a_h/s1600/matra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT52KrwG7LiqWI4_IGXnqnbGnhZfpv1a_C3ELaVjKxGFRPBGC4KmOG7g464pCpV8TtKQUPVyxaJ-kLdeQwchFWGB86hX2dVH7f6fLSXSlHVLRlREu5D1Fg3Hudzt43Nl_sZu-v_vGz6a_h/s200/matra.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To start, here is an unpublished article from <i><b>Gourmand Monthly</b></i> we have obtained which sheds some light on the culinary trompe langue that is Chicken Scrawlish:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chicken Scrawlish (<i>Chicken Szcralís</i>) – Originally a peasant dish from the Northern Medium Mountain region of northern Hungary, which is part of the Southern Carpathian Mountains of southwestern Slovakia. A dense stew that is formed into loaves for the winter, Chicken Scrawlish is undoubtedly the least popular dish in Hungary. Georgi Mandi, a noted culinary archivist, has said that “if paprikash is considered the royalty of Hungarian cooking, then the concoction known as Chicken Scrawlish must be rated as Hungary’s failed apprentice pig herder. Famed Hungarian chef Egbert Esterhaszy concurs: “To a Hungarian, paprikash, sausage, poppy seed noodles—these all say “mother.” Chicken Scrawlish, on the other hand, says “idiot third cousin kept hidden from company in the root cellar.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But generally, most Hungarians either deny the existence of a dish called Chicken Scrawlish, or vociferously insist that it is not Hungarian but Slovakian. At the same time Slovak citizens in the Carpathian mountains across the border from Hungary will swear that only a Hungarian would be able to eat a dish like chicken scrawlish. There are local city ordinances still extant stating that “persons found to have a loaf or block of Szcralis on their body or among their belongings will be fined 1,000 korunas.”</span><br />
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</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwL5kQxLIlVbHwD9gJ3ORfXFWQh7VpLnZAlB5P9-iHqTP_TJjrGLkbblLyRxTia43ZBm5CoNjmXy5Bu0dYTDyxLmotxxHslYGFA95fTm2PlRPPPj75XLCeq76J-JTwZaU276wCQ39JLImX/s1600/0328135442.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwL5kQxLIlVbHwD9gJ3ORfXFWQh7VpLnZAlB5P9-iHqTP_TJjrGLkbblLyRxTia43ZBm5CoNjmXy5Bu0dYTDyxLmotxxHslYGFA95fTm2PlRPPPj75XLCeq76J-JTwZaU276wCQ39JLImX/s320/0328135442.jpg" width="210" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;">Old Hungarian woodcut of traveling<br />
Scrawlish vendor, who plied his<br />
poultry cakes from town to town.<br />
Pictured with his companion Boglarka,<br />
whose melismatic bleating announced<br />
their arrival to townsfolk.</span></b></i></span></i></b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These laws may have been an attempt to discourage “<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;">Scrawlishmen</span></b>.” Because of the difficulties inherent in preparing Chicken Scrawlish, it became common for unemployed men or men who had fallen off their horses onto their heads to become itinerant Chicken Scrawlish vendors, or Scrawlishmen, going from farm to farm and village to village trying to trick the more slatternly wives into buying a jar of potted Scrawlish. Often runners from one farm would speed ahead to the next farm to warn of the approaching Scrawlishman, so that an adequate supply of stones of sufficient heft could be gathered to throw at him.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite this, dedicated, perhaps foolhardy, foodies, inspired by culinary adventurers (such as <b>Anthony Bordain</b>) who sample puffin jerky, or warthog chitterlings, have been looking for a traditional recipe—or any recipe—for the infamous Chicken Scrawlish.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recently, American investigatory cooks, <b>Jack and Michelle Gurning</b>, have interviewed several immigrants from the region, and found a recipe for the dish hidden in an old bible written in Hungarian. Curiously the recipe was on previously-used vellum and sandwiched between pages of the Book of Revelation. The Gurnings, in their book, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Into Thick Soup – A Personal Account of Delight and Disaster Amongst the Wild Dishes of the Carpathians</b></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, provide their deciphered and translated rendition of the recipe. Their only introductory description of Chicken Scrawlish is “a dish only H. P. Lovecraft could love. Or adequately describe.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Chicken Scrawlish</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b></b></span>One unplucked chicken, preferably dead.<br />
16 oz rendered badger fat<br />
4 oz dry-cured chicken liver<br />
18 oz unhulled groats<br />
2 teaspoons rock salt<br />
2 teaspoons chopped baitfish, such as minnow<br />
6 to 8 cups goat broth, or squirrel broth<br />
1 cup chopped celery root<br />
1 cup chopped sun-dried beet<br />
1 cup chopped kohlrabi, root and leaves<br />
1/2 cup onion grass<br />
4 oz juniper berries<br />
1 teaspoon hot paprika<br />
1 teaspoon devil’s parsley<br />
¼ cup hyssop sour wine or hyssop white vinegar.<br />
¼ cup woodruff jam<br />
<br />
1. First, the chicken must be “saddled.” After gutting the bird, <i><b>spatchcock</b></i> it<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">*</span>, retaining the neck and head. Press it flat, pulling to extend the wings and legs as much as possible.<br />
<br />
2. Place the spatchcocked chicken between the saddle and the horse, feathered side down (alternatively the chicken may be pressed between two goats). After a three day ride<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">**</span> remove the chicken and soak in 5 gallons of water mixed with one cup of lye for at least 24 hours, making sure the neck and head of the chicken are draped over the side of the pot to vent properly.<br />
<br />
3. Drain, rinse and dry the chicken. At this point the feathers should have formed a fused bed underneath the meat. Carefully peel back the feather bed from the chicken and discard some distance from any habitation. The chicken should be tender and malleable at this point, translucent with a gelatinous consistency.<br />
<br />
4. Soak the groats until tender. Soak the dry cured chicken livers until al dente and then grind finely along with the rock salt and chopped baitfish.<br />
<br />
5. Drain the groats, put them into a large mixing bowl and add badger fat, celery root, sun-dried beet, kohlrabi, onion grass, juniper berries, hot paprika and devil’s parsley. Stir in the chicken liver mixture. Beat until the mixture is slightly glutinous. Stir in the goat or squirrel broth.<br />
<br />
6. Force the chicken through a sieve into the groat mixture, taking care not to put your face or hands directly over the bowl.<br />
<br />
7. Cover the bowl with wire mesh and a damp cloth and allow to ferment outside for about 1 hour.<br />
<br />
8. Stir and pour into a large dutch oven. Cook in a 325 degree oven for about 3 hours. If the Scrawlish dries out DO NOT add water! Discard immediately. Either start over or lead a Christian life.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">***</span><br />
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9. At this point the Chicken Scrawlish can be served as a stew, the so-called White Scrawlish. It is customarily served on a bed of boiled nettles as a late supper after the men have returned home drunk. But typically, much larger amounts of Chicken Scrawlish were made and some of the scrawlish was “put up” in loaves.<br />
<br />
<b>For Chicken Scrawlish Loaf, or Black Scrawlish</b><br />
<br />
<b></b>10. Let the Scrawlish settle and then pour off as much of the top fluid as possible.<br />
<br />
11. Turn the Scrawlish out onto a floured board and knead for about 20 minutes, alternately adding the Hyssop vinegar and Woodruff jam, until it is elastic and not too lumpy. At this point the Scrawlish dough should be unpleasant to look at and touch. You can’t really get used to it. Form into a roughly loaf-shaped mass and place on a baking sheet you intend to discard afterwards. Bake at 275 degrees for 12 hours in a very well-ventilated room.<br />
<br />
12. Remove and allow the loaf to cool completely. The loaf will keep indefinitely. Loaves were often passed down from generation to generation.<br />
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Serves all or none.<br />
Nutritional information: unknown.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To conclude, as the dish migrated down from the Carpathians into the plains and cities of Hungary, it was considerably tamed. However, it retained its air of mystery as a “special” dish, and throughout most the 19th century the eating of it was considered a venal sin.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwRRbwaDxU_qR7W54HmmNLsCtH4RaoHZ5vWFGKvuhJA46exXtWDOTINLI56uCiBut_33IFqKUAzbaPNjUrFIMXF4Ky75zv0MIE7TdlpCTz90FP_sKmAhMDkVB2hT1dHEJQoywBlIttdlcd/s1600/6a00d83451901a69e200e5500463688834-800wi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwRRbwaDxU_qR7W54HmmNLsCtH4RaoHZ5vWFGKvuhJA46exXtWDOTINLI56uCiBut_33IFqKUAzbaPNjUrFIMXF4Ky75zv0MIE7TdlpCTz90FP_sKmAhMDkVB2hT1dHEJQoywBlIttdlcd/s200/6a00d83451901a69e200e5500463688834-800wi.jpg" width="162" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">* </span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To spatchcock a fowl: Place the bird breast side down on as clean a surface as you can find. Using a very sharp knife cut from the neck to the tail end along both sides of the backbone to remove. This takes some force. Make a small slit in the cartilage at the bottom end of the breast bone, then with both hands placed on the rib cage, crack open the bird by opening it, like a book, towards the cutting surface. This will reveal the keel bone. Run you fingers up along wither side of the cartilage in between in between the breasts to loosen it from the flesh, then grab the keel bone and pull it up to remove it, along with the attached cartilage. Flip over and smooth the skin. The bird is now spatchcocked.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">**</span></b>Although a three day ride is sufficient for an authentic Chicken Scrawlish, Scrawlishes were often distinguished and rated by the length of time continuously “saddled.” In addition to this recipe of Three Day Scrawlish, there was Five Day Scrawlish, Eight Day Scrawlish, and for special occasions, Campaign Scrawlish, where the chicken was “saddled” for an entire military campaign or until the rider returned home. This Scrawlish was also called “Funeral Scrawlish” or “Missing Limb Scrawlish.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">**</span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">*</span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The exact meaning of this sentence in the original is in dispute. The original recipe continues: “Immediately start a novena for protection against the Unclean One. And spit thrice upon leaving or entering the house for the following week.”</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">=====</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">Originally published on the old VRZHU Bullets of Love Blog</span></span> - January 23, 2008</i></b></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074401437061122447.post-8017406206029517962011-03-16T06:42:00.000-07:002011-03-16T06:42:59.363-07:00Kim Roberts on Capitol Hill<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCNDDfaKmv8bgDMB3qA2ENI0qsFdsWmI9Sa9Apkd7fxL3J1BYrq5Adem7Ph0kRoiJAoAL0p9DrECq8AA89qC6iDfBLkXeMF_3xbZRRa8fIL5yLS6scAxhQ_mtR0anyhYZJMWpBZvSZECx2/s1600/IMG_2285.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCNDDfaKmv8bgDMB3qA2ENI0qsFdsWmI9Sa9Apkd7fxL3J1BYrq5Adem7Ph0kRoiJAoAL0p9DrECq8AA89qC6iDfBLkXeMF_3xbZRRa8fIL5yLS6scAxhQ_mtR0anyhYZJMWpBZvSZECx2/s320/IMG_2285.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>Kim Roberts reading from her new book of poems.</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
We had a wonderful reading last night on Capitol Hill. <br />
The Capitol Hill Reading Series hosts themed readings and visiting writers on the third Tuesday of each month. Many thanks for all the people who showed up last night to hear <b><a href="http://www.kimroberts.org/">Kim Roberts</a></b> read from her splendid new book <i>Animal Magnetism </i>(Pearl Books)<i>.</i><br />
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<i></i>We had a full house and Kim graced us all with these fantastic poems about medical museums and imaginary husbands. It was a delightful evening.<br />
Next month we'll have Judith Valente and Cliff Bernier. More at <a href="http://capitolhill.poetrymutual.org/">the reading site</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074401437061122447.post-21784125027046110302011-03-15T12:33:00.000-07:002011-03-15T12:33:29.367-07:00Grace Cavalieri<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqFl1QvdxYxZuGyyUEZby-eP3VxoRnoka7R_CpCm_jmks_KJWW3ceatvU7cPKerQktcRe4dYQaXmFN30XNMo_o1wNQCiuS_hkSG9B7q1LaEn6RisUZGA-twV3z63g-5QsxmD0ddwzfIGug/s1600/1103_GraceCav.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqFl1QvdxYxZuGyyUEZby-eP3VxoRnoka7R_CpCm_jmks_KJWW3ceatvU7cPKerQktcRe4dYQaXmFN30XNMo_o1wNQCiuS_hkSG9B7q1LaEn6RisUZGA-twV3z63g-5QsxmD0ddwzfIGug/s320/1103_GraceCav.jpg" width="149" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Great news! The inimitable wonder that is <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #351c75;">Grace Cavalieri</span></b> has created a wonderful site with audio recordings about various poets she's known and interviewed over the years. What a trove! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Current pieces include commentary and reflections on Robert Penn Warren, Archibald MacLeish, Donald Hall, Carl Sandburg, Stanley Kunitz, ee cummings, Richard Wilbur, T.S. Eliot, and Robert Hass. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Find it all </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://gcmiporadio.wordpress.com/"><b>here</b></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074401437061122447.post-61132555383366386332011-03-09T19:17:00.000-08:002011-03-15T12:34:48.692-07:00Get Well Coleman BarksJust read over at <b><a href="http://donshare.blogspot.com/2011/03/message-from-coleman-barks.html">Don Share's blog</a></b> that the poet and translator <b>Coleman Barks</b> has suffered a stroke. He is recovering and seems in good spirits:<br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I am mostly sleeping as much as I can (grace) and listening to recordings of my old voice in my kitchen and talking along (practice). I am not answering the phone or the door, or emails (only a few). Please forgive me these reclusive measures. Think of me as an old dormant bear, healing.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> </span></blockquote>Barks read at the first <b>Split This Rock Poetry Festival</b> in 2008 and I was profoundly moved by his powerful work and generous spirit. Here's hoping he has a speedy recovery.<br />
<br />
Below is a delightful recording of his interview and reading with the Paul Winter Consort, from Bill Moyers' 1995 <i>Language of Life</i> mini-series recorded at the Dodge Festival.<br />
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<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/C90CD2B8178C4B22?hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/C90CD2B8178C4B22?hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074401437061122447.post-34462400407366157792011-02-17T09:30:00.000-08:002011-02-17T09:30:00.806-08:00What Becomes of a Book?<iframe frameborder="0" height="300" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/12879013" width="400"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074401437061122447.post-61140608136686199242011-02-17T07:59:00.000-08:002011-03-15T12:35:33.231-07:00Holly Karapetkova at the Capitol Hill Reading SeriesWe had a really lovely time Tuesday night at the <a href="http://capitolhill.poetrymutual.org/">Capitol Hill Reading Series</a>. <a href="http://www.karapetkova.com/"><b>Holly Karapetkova</b></a>, winner of the Washington Writers Publishing House poetry contest, read from her wonderful book, <i>Words We Might One Day Say. </i><br />
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<i></i>Here's a small video of her reading a new poem titled "Dead Friends."<br />
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<object height="349" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_WuEecUVQgw?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_WuEecUVQgw?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="349"></embed></object><br />
<br />
Next month, <b><a href="http://www.kimroberts.org/">Kim Roberts</a></b> will be the featured reader, reading from her new book <i>Animal Magnetism.</i><br />
For more information about the reading series, and to sign up for email alerts, visit <a href="http://capitolhill.poetrymutual.org/">the reading website</a><i>.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074401437061122447.post-9228835150491968202011-02-13T18:27:00.000-08:002011-03-15T12:36:32.592-07:00Flat Langston Letter to Busboys & Poets<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">The following open letter has been published in a number of places online.<br />
</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fzpD2TU85Wr1pcf0mVjoCNWcNHGI4DtbjB5x7WBQVRKiTpJVdP9x8p4rGRS14Guo28wtb7rtqlYXrbofQ61l5hm-Rp_UywLQsIxnDF0H32TmX-7FAKIKLkzBxzi3KrYr8e4XFqrsUkuk/s1600/182266_10150100556003340_601408339_6216306_531676_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fzpD2TU85Wr1pcf0mVjoCNWcNHGI4DtbjB5x7WBQVRKiTpJVdP9x8p4rGRS14Guo28wtb7rtqlYXrbofQ61l5hm-Rp_UywLQsIxnDF0H32TmX-7FAKIKLkzBxzi3KrYr8e4XFqrsUkuk/s320/182266_10150100556003340_601408339_6216306_531676_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">Letter and check delivered to Busboys and Poets 14th & V location.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>February 14TH, 2011</strong></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Dear Mr. Shallal,</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Various characterizations of <a href="http://www.busboysandpoets.com/">Busboys and Poets</a>, your own and others', suggest that it is a space created and named in honor of the late Langston Hughes, his work and his legacy within and beyond the District of Columbia. It is true that wonderful things happen in the Langston Room. We have all, at one point or another, been present to witness the wittiness, the bravery, the signifying and the song that characterizes Hughes’ work as it emanates from the stage and the various poets who have graced it over the years.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">As poets who have sat in those chairs and booths as well as stood upon that stage, we ask you to consider the ways in which placing a cardboard cutout of Hughes within Busboys and Poets—making of him a character, a mascot, more than a presence—unfortunately does not honor his legacy.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Our objections to this display are varied. Some of us feel it is improper that Hughes be physically reduced to a gimmicky object within a space commemorating part of his experience as a young writer in Washington, D.C. Others hope that if you must have a cutout image of Hughes in the space that it be an image that aspires to communicate Hughes’ greater significance rather than the unsophisticated semantic connection to your business’ name. Even with our mélange of concerns about this matter, we all agree that it is a gesture that does not suit Busboys and Poets’ relationship to Hughes’ legacy and its relationship with the poets, local and national, who continue his work and who patronize Busboys and Poets.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">The poet Ethelbert Miller this week asked the following on his </span><a href="http://eethelbertmiller1.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html#2175580531126694454" style="color: #333333;">blog</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">: “POLITICS AND POETRY? What would Langston do?” Fortunately for us, Hughes’ words are still present. Your staff attempted to answer the question of how he would feel about this moment, and respond to the week’s events, by posting the following quote on the </span><a href="http://twitter.com/busboysandpoets/status/35863553407860736" style="color: #333333;">Busboys and Poets twitter feed</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"> and attributing it to Hughes: </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">"I am glad I went to work at the Wardman Park Hotel (as a busboy), because there I met Vachel Lindsay."</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"> Firstly, the parenthetical in the quote is not Hughes’ language but an addition on the part of whoever manages the Busboys and Poets twitter feed (and should therefore be marked with brackets). Secondly, while this quote does suggest Hughes appreciated the opportunity to slip his poems to the critic Vachel Lindsay, the following excerpt from Hughes’ autobiography </span><span class=" fbUnderline" style="color: #333333; text-decoration: underline;"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Big-Sea-Autobiography-American-Century/dp/0809015498">The Big Sea</a></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"> makes it fairly clear that he did not appreciate being made a spectacle as a “bus boy poet”:</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwfP_4a42r0kl4vGToBSffa5Fqafs-MibmN0htcQrzLTmVH_wkU6J13RAm3DKTwhkkVnIk_RD_YTuztKpsxb6SAoZT-MUaWFwP_KxdUoaVvBOGzWWPBErZ0LGWj3xt9pIR0lgV_7HSz8r2/s1600/langston-bigsea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwfP_4a42r0kl4vGToBSffa5Fqafs-MibmN0htcQrzLTmVH_wkU6J13RAm3DKTwhkkVnIk_RD_YTuztKpsxb6SAoZT-MUaWFwP_KxdUoaVvBOGzWWPBErZ0LGWj3xt9pIR0lgV_7HSz8r2/s1600/langston-bigsea.jpg" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></a></div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>The widespread publicity resulting from the Vachel Lindsay incident was certainly good for my poetic career, but it was not good for my job, because from then on, very often the head waiter would call me to come and stand before some table whose curious guests wished to see what a Negro bus boy poet looked like. I felt self-conscious and embarrassed, so when pay day came, I quit. </b>[<i>The Big Sea</i>, page 214]</span></blockquote><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">If Busboys and Poets is in the business of honoring Langston Hughes and, of the utmost importance to a poet, his words, we suggest that you seriously consider his own words about his own life as they pertain to this matter.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Some of us saw the physical cutout. Many of us only heard about it or saw pictures before we, as a group, could come to you and ask that it be removed. As a showing of good faith, we have enclosed with this letter a check for $150.00 (the stated price of the cutout in the 02/08/2011 <span class=" fbUnderline"><u><i><a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2011/02/rs-_hughes.html">Washington Post</a></i></u> </span>column detailing its disappearance) to compensate you for your lost property. We only ask, respectfully, that this image not be replaced. It is not necessary and, for us, serves as more of a deterrence than a welcome.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">In the interest of strengthening the relationship between Busboys and Poets and the local, active poetry community, we extend the offer to help initiate and sustain a dialogue between you, your management, your advisors and the poets whose work and organizations fill Busboys and Poets. To date, it has been a fruitful yet unexamined relationship. We want it to continue, but in a manner that fosters open lines of communication and a mutual mindfulness.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Sincerely,</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Kyle G. Dargan</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Sandra Beasley</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Reginald Dwayne Betts</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Cornelius Eady</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Thomas Sayers Ellis</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Brian Gilmore</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Michael Gushue</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Laura Hartmark</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Melanie Henderson</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Randall Horton</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Reuben Jackson</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Fred Joiner</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Bettina Judd</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Gregory Pardlo</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Joseph Ross</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Myra Sklarew</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Sonya Renee Taylor</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Dan Vera</div><br />
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><b>LINK TO PDF of LETTER: </b><a href="http://www.postnoills.com/PDF_Archive/BusboysandPoetsLetter.pdf" rel="nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.postnoills.com/PDF_Archive/BusboysandPoetsLetter.pdf</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074401437061122447.post-3647210926107645692011-02-09T18:31:00.000-08:002011-03-15T12:37:05.646-07:00Poetry Reading Map<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I mentioned in the <a href="http://poetrymutual.blogspot.com/2011/02/notes-after-flat-langston-gate.html">last post</a>, I think it'd be helpful to have a visual sense of what parts of the area are being under-served by poetry readings. Below is a handy little Google Map that begins to give us a sense of the current poetic geography in the Washington area. <i>Thanks to <b><a href="http://www.beltwaypoetry.com/">Beltway Poetry</a></b>'s resources page for many of these listings.</i></span><br />
<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The listings are by venue to give us a sense of the spaces that are currently open to poetry. So keep in mind that many of these are sites are hosting multiple readings.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've chosen to highlight curated reading series with guest poets (there are a number of open mics around town but not many more).</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The color code is: <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">blue</span></b> for DC, <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">red</span></b> for Maryland, and <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">green</span></b> for Virginia</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Yellow</span> </b>thumbtacks represent possible new venues for readings. I'd appreciate highlighting any other spaces you think might be ideal for a reading series.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I kept to the metro area, by defining it as those spaces accessible by Metro. The Soundry is an exception but it's listed on the Beltway site so I did too.</span></li>
</ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I've left a reading off, apologies. Let me know. There were some listings that appeared dead and no longer operational and I chose to not include those. If you want to see the full map, it's <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=211275215706796599902.00049bde18717bba10d10&ll=38.924161,-77.008667&spn=0.260152,0.441513&z=11">here</a>.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hope this is of help. - Dan</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="350" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=211275215706796599902.00049bde18717bba10d10&ll=38.933078,-77.127349&spn=0.189312,0.2819&output=embed" width="425"></iframe></span><br />
<small><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">View <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=211275215706796599902.00049bde18717bba10d10&ll=38.933078,-77.127349&spn=0.189312,0.2819&source=embed" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">DC Metro Readings</a> in a larger map</span></small>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074401437061122447.post-45752662415640339852011-02-09T18:27:00.000-08:002011-03-15T12:38:11.931-07:00Notes After Flat Langston Gate<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGx7qVH46OQ4EjSOHA99e_7Ej0SbujF63p8nJ0tFt_BHbt5RZHVdnQSI45geoqJ7x0nEJpjFjTd2v1erQBh0nNZYGCXC149MfkvCkyruAOwNjY3k89yI8dBKGuBKlJVg1e-GvFtBA1x5H/s1600/168373_10150099266022229_667217228_5986132_3267593_a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGx7qVH46OQ4EjSOHA99e_7Ej0SbujF63p8nJ0tFt_BHbt5RZHVdnQSI45geoqJ7x0nEJpjFjTd2v1erQBh0nNZYGCXC149MfkvCkyruAOwNjY3k89yI8dBKGuBKlJVg1e-GvFtBA1x5H/s1600/168373_10150099266022229_667217228_5986132_3267593_a.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">Note: This was originally posted on Facebook as an open statement to local DC writers. In the hopes of being transparent and fostering continuing dialogue, I've posted it here. -Dan Vera</span></b></i></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><i><b><br />
</b></i></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0b5394;"><strong>"Flat Langston Gate</strong>"</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"> [<a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2011/02/rs-_hughes.html">link</a>, <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2011/02/rs-_poet.html">link</a>] serves as a reminder of the continuing need to foster and support a wide range of venues in this city. Busboys has undoubtedly been an enormous boon to this city's poetic community. They should be (and do get) applauded for that. But it's neither the only story, the only ideal, or the only word. As in biodiversity, poets thrive in complex ecologies. We have one of the most vibrant poetry communities in the country and we need to support current venues and explore the creation of multiple venues in this city. To build on the model that <a href="http://busboysandpoets.com/">Busboys</a> has successfully used or explore other models. Everything should be on the table. This is a great opportunity to have a conversation about venues, access, compensation for the city's poetry community.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">I've tagged a few folks to this note --- DC writers as I think this is a DC conversation. I do hope this can be the beginning of a constructive conversation.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>A few thoughts:</strong></div><ul style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 25px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px;"><li>what exactly is <strong>just compensation?</strong> We shouldn't be afraid to have this conversation. What could it look like? As some of the conversation on facebook threads noted, this is a bit of an unknown for many. On one of the threads a writer, who is also a not-for-profit arts exec, asked the question and it still hasn't been answered. This conversation has to be more than a demand. It has to include a real discussion of how we raise funds for such a setup. How does this function in private settings (a library, a community center) and commercial settings (bar, restaurant, gallery). Grants? Pass the hat? Suggested entry fee?</li>
</ul><ul style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 25px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px;"><li><strong>Underserved areas </strong>I think it'd be helpful to see a <a href="http://poetrymutual.blogspot.com/2011/02/poetry-reading-map.html">map of the city</a> and plot out the location of current reading series. Are we too focused in NW? What about the other quadrants of the city? How could we help locate venues and seek out "pioneer hosts" for such readings. What would it take to support these readings?</li>
</ul><ul style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 25px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px;"><li><strong>one example: </strong>the <b><a href="http://www.guildcomplex.org/?q=node/4">Palabra Pura</a></b> reading series in Chicago grew out of a thoughtful conversation about what communities in Chicago were being underserved. One of the answers was the Latino community and that bilingual poetry series was the result. What are the communities that are underserved in DC?</li>
</ul><ul style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 25px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px;"><li><strong>training for hosts</strong> - I can think of a few people who would love to sponsor readings but don't know what is involved in it -- the basic mechanics involved in setting it up, publicizing it and so on. The mystery can be overwhelming and debilitating to people wanting to host a series. Perhaps we can find a space and time to teach folks who are interested in hosting reading series.</li>
</ul><ul style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 25px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px;"><li><strong>how do we coordinate information about readings that are happening in the city? </strong>This is a conversation I've had with a few people who host readings. We've talked about sharing a google calendar that could be posted in various places online. This could be a very good thing. We need to just move on it.</li>
</ul><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">I can think of a number of other ideas but I hope this is a good beginning. And while this setting may not be ideal, perhaps we could use this as a starting point for an actual non-virtual meeting about this. Would really love to hear your ideas.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">- Dan</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074401437061122447.post-56130764104043360632011-02-08T19:28:00.000-08:002011-03-15T12:39:25.216-07:00Poetry Mutual at AWP<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Un3J_rG54N8eY1u0ne4hnApNxTmud2kGTse4DFtPTyTSUbGw46a67OPn4Uq2SIsrlT7VUikDexhT432EU34-WcBhsxdc9Tr046lToPtLjWqY2s02nT3SQdzMpR_VwGcZzbVWNJrjof8T/s1600/1IMG_1071.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Un3J_rG54N8eY1u0ne4hnApNxTmud2kGTse4DFtPTyTSUbGw46a67OPn4Uq2SIsrlT7VUikDexhT432EU34-WcBhsxdc9Tr046lToPtLjWqY2s02nT3SQdzMpR_VwGcZzbVWNJrjof8T/s320/1IMG_1071.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Kim Roberts and Yael Flusberg signing books at the Poetry Mutual table.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had a pretty amazing time at the AWP Conference last weekend. In many ways it was Poetry Mutual's coming out/debutante ball. I mean we just unveiled the new website the week before and folks are still finding out about us.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We shared a table with our good friends at <a href="http://www.planbpress.com/">Plan B Press</a> and were happy to host book signings for <a href="http://kimroberts.org/">Kim Roberts</a>'s <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Magnetism-Kim-Roberts/dp/1888219386/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top">Animal Magnetism</a></i>, <a href="http://www.yelements.com/aboutyael.htm">Yael Flusberg</a>'s <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #8c942d; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.poeticamagazine.com/apps/webstore/products/show/2113593">The Last of My Village</a> </span>, <a href="http://julierenszer.blogspot.com/">Julie R. Enszer</a>'s <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Handmade-Love-Julie-R-Enszer/dp/0979420857">Handmade Love</a></i> and Robert Miltner's <i><a href="http://www.planbpress.com/bookstore?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_books.tpl&product_id=26&category_id=1">Canyons of Sleep</a></i>.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had a fun time playing "Trivia for Prizes" with passersby. Trivia categories over the three days of the book fair included "Beat Poets", "WB Yeats," "Poets Laureate" and "Gertrude Stein" and managed to give out zany prizes to a number of players. Surprisingly not many got the Stein and Yeats trivia and our fake titles of Beat Poetry books and Yeats poem titles managed to full almost everyone. Would certainly love hearing from any of the winners who played at AWP.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074401437061122447.post-40473579793275192302010-09-01T13:33:00.000-07:002011-01-30T10:41:15.723-08:00Poetry Mutual's new blog.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTLeqVF5uIZkqLu_8Mp_kG9Hs4mQbaX2gdcwet0iAXe4SmSmDRFnakkPTFQgPIdL4NcY06bPS2Vvy8p5kKIShpX6gB9tR93LHADTYcPusrhvDG5eL8mmXyFCMlGURVl1O0JOInqNROdODK/s1600/LB_pomu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTLeqVF5uIZkqLu_8Mp_kG9Hs4mQbaX2gdcwet0iAXe4SmSmDRFnakkPTFQgPIdL4NcY06bPS2Vvy8p5kKIShpX6gB9tR93LHADTYcPusrhvDG5eL8mmXyFCMlGURVl1O0JOInqNROdODK/s1600/LB_pomu.jpg" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #351c75;">Welcome to the first post on the Poetry Mutual blog.</span> </b></span><br />
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<div align="left" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #220000;"><span style="color: #cc0099; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; color: black; font-weight: normal;">We'll be sharing more information about our readings, projects, and history in future posts.</span></strong></span></div><div align="left" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #220000;"><span style="color: #cc0099; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br />
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</strong></span></div><div align="left" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #220000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #cc0099;"><strong>POETRY MUTUAL AT AWP!</strong></span><br />
January 3-5, 2010<br />
Wardman Park Hotel & Conference Center<br />
Washington, DC</span></div><div align="left" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #220000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We'll be at the Bingoesque <span style="color: #0033cc;"><strong>TABLE G4</strong></span> (<a href="http://www.poetrymutual.org/images/awp-map.jpg" target="_blank">map</a>)<br />
Visit us for books, information, raffles, prizes and levity!!</span></div><div align="left" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #220000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Till then, please visit the Poetry Mutual website at <a href="http://www.poetrymutual.org/">www.poetrymutual.org</a></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0