Sep
28
Sep
26
When the Most We Have is the Least
“It has been a long hard year.”
I wrote that sentence, and similar ones, on postcards I had mailed out to people a few weeks ago, postcards that were numbered 388 in my ongoing qbdp mailart series. The note was more an explanation for silence, since I had not mailed out a single qbdp card until September of this year. I assume that everyone's life, as a matter of course, is somehow difficult, and the last year has been much harder on billions of others than on me.
I wrote that sentence, and similar ones, on postcards I had mailed out to people a few weeks ago, postcards that were numbered 388 in my ongoing qbdp mailart series. The note was more an explanation for silence, since I had not mailed out a single qbdp card until September of this year. I assume that everyone's life, as a matter of course, is somehow difficult, and the last year has been much harder on billions of others than on me.
Sep
24
A First Reading in Another Home Country
One week from today, Nancy (AKA NF Huth) and I will be performing our poetry in St Catharine's, Ontario, along with the Ontarioan poet Angela Szczepaniak. For Nancy, this is an important reading because it will be the launch of her new chapbook "3 Words" (out from serif of nottingham editions), and because it will be the first stop on her reading tour for her new full-length book of poetry, Radiator.
Sep
20
The End of the Aim of Poetry
The night has gotten away from me, as it usually does. I am gathered together in a ball of reading, on paper or screen, and small missives slip from beneath my fingers out into the world. My voice may communicate a little, but it is usually my fingers who do the work. My fingers, it seems, do the bulk of the work.
I have hands the shape of making, and so they do what bidding I might for them to do. They photograph the world as I walk through it.
I have hands the shape of making, and so they do what bidding I might for them to do. They photograph the world as I walk through it.
Sep
14
Creating and Labeling
Creation is a process of repetition. At least usually. Almost nothing is created in an instant, and if it is that creation was probably preceded by repetitions that made that instant creation possible.
I have spent the last few days drawing by hand on ancient gummed labels (lick the back of one with a tongue and you can stick it anywhere). I was drawing a little fidgetglyph, a definite wrawing (half writing, half drawing), and there are many imperfections in the 103 versions I created.
I have spent the last few days drawing by hand on ancient gummed labels (lick the back of one with a tongue and you can stick it anywhere). I was drawing a little fidgetglyph, a definite wrawing (half writing, half drawing), and there are many imperfections in the 103 versions I created.
Sep
13
The Lens is an Eye
It is difficult to tell a fact from the lie that replaced the fact. It is difficult to tell the thing from the representation of the thing. It is difficult to proceed without stumbling backwards a few steps.
I am a poet for the sound of the taste of the heft of the smell of the sight of the word. Poetry exists for me as an expression and discovery of language in its various forms (wraithlike in evening, bulky in the morning).
I am a poet for the sound of the taste of the heft of the smell of the sight of the word. Poetry exists for me as an expression and discovery of language in its various forms (wraithlike in evening, bulky in the morning).
Sep
12
The Tenth Anniversary of the Eleventh Day of the Ninth Month
I’m on a train pulling out of New York City’s Penn Station as I write these words. There is no particular import to that act, yet I decided to come to New York City late last week because I decided it was necessary for me to be in the city for the anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, though I realize there was loss of life elsewhere on the eastern seaboard. Still, the twin tower resonate most. It was their destruction that was televised live.
Sep
9
Helvetica, Helvetica, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?
La Quinta Inn, Room 132, Williamsville, New York
Last night, I read Steve Roggenbuck's book Download Helvetica for Free.com while eating dinner at Protocol in Williamsville, New York. The waiter who served me was a web designer and aficionado of Helvetica, so we discussed design, typefaces, and poetry as the meal progressed. It was an enjoyable conversation broken into little bits.
Just as Steve's book is.
Last night, I read Steve Roggenbuck's book Download Helvetica for Free.com while eating dinner at Protocol in Williamsville, New York. The waiter who served me was a web designer and aficionado of Helvetica, so we discussed design, typefaces, and poetry as the meal progressed. It was an enjoyable conversation broken into little bits.
Just as Steve's book is.
Sep
8
Full-Body Poetics
On the 26th of August 2011, as part of Experiment #49: Full-Body Poetics in the Read Rover Reading Series in Chicago, Illinois, Geof Huth gives a poetry performance that includes whistling, pwoermds, found poems, visual poems, lineated poems (primarily in Spanish), poems created during the performance, singing, and acrobat singing, along with a few other performative acts. Introducing Geof is Jennifer Karmin, one of the curators of the Red Rover Reading Series.
Sep
3
An Ending to a "Reading"
A week ago Friday, I gave a poetry performance in Chicago. (I've dispensed with the term "poetry reading," since I read, recite, sing, invent on the spot, dance, scream, pace, talk, and whistle.) I was one of a couple of performers, the other being Steve Roggenbuck, who read, but also sang and danced. Ours was "Experiment # 49: Full-Body Poetics" in the the Red Rover Reading series. The audience was small (some being no more than three feet tall) yet not tiny.
