Luminations

2008-05-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

This blog will be moving to: http://jikkenkobo.org/luminations

2008-04-15T23:05:00.001-07:00

Luminations must return...

2008-03-11T23:45:00.001-07:00

Of course, I don't support any presidential candidates, but I am finding the representation of the Democratic nomination process interesting because the US media especially doesn't know whether they should be calling Obama a looter or Hillary a bitch. Thus, they oscillate between the two. The recent 'news' from CNN - which is bound to circulate to the other news networks, lest any of them

2007-12-01T08:14:00.001-08:00

I'm still hoping to find a way to post here more often. I do miss my blogging days! However, I just heard this news about Will Alexander and wanted to post it here. Poet Will Alexander is ill with cancer from Harlequin Knights As you may have heard, poet Will Alexander is quite ill with cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy. He's spent his life largely off the poetry grid, taking on odd jobs,

2007-05-22T07:04:00.000-07:00

Kansas Mutual Aid Relief Workers forced out of city by police On Saturday May 19, five members and volunteers affiliated with Kansas Mutual Aid, a Lawrence based class struggle anarchist collective, made the trek back to Greensburg to again help in relief efforts in the tornado ravaged city. A week earlier, four KMA members had traveled to Greensburg on a fact finding mission to assess the

2007-02-13T14:16:00.000-08:00

Long story short: I found a great deal on webhosting ($10 for a year + domain + tons of disk space), thus jikkenkobo was born. Jikkenkobo (koubou) was a multidisciplinary group of artists founded by Toru Takemitsu and Joji Yuasa. From what I've discovered about them (they are seldom mentioned in any art history written in English, probably because they don't fit the mold of 'imitate and refine'

2006-12-27T16:25:00.000-08:00

I haven't used this blog for much talk about me and I plan to keep it that way. There are thousands of brilliant blogs and millions of vanity-press blogs. Luminations should me at least modeling the brilliant ones... I always aim for much more than is realistically possible - hence my complete burnout at the end of every semester. Nevertheless, I aim to update Luminations much more frequently in

2006-12-05T22:01:00.000-08:00

Is this BBC scaremongering about Hugo Chavez ? Not that I find him especially defensible, but the "one leader.." socialist 'threat' seems more like a capitalist bogeyman, than any real threat. But then again, lefties of all stripes should be careful who they support. The communist party's support of Stalin outside of the USSR was a mistake that has continued to provide the right and centrists

2006-11-25T22:15:00.000-08:00

Crappy week. spent 3/4 working on a website and the other 1/4 stranded on the i80 near davenport, recovering, and writing a paper in which I mention Jesus several times. The pluses: My flash and illustrator skills are now efficient. there is no question now about selling the car.. got to write this little talk on dada and surrealism. i finally got to eat lots of ikura (no shirasu tho.. and no

Blogger stays in prison, defying grand jury order

2006-10-26T19:41:00.000-07:00

What is a Journalist by Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer Blogger and anarchist Josh Wolf, spending his 57th day in federal prison today for refusing to surrender video he shot of a violent San Francisco protest, is well on his way to becoming the longest-jailed journalist in U.S. history. To the government, the 24-year-old San Franciscan is hindering a federal grand jury investigation into

bloggin from a widget

2006-10-15T19:58:00.000-07:00

Mac 10.4 users: I'm sending this directly from a widget. Seemed a little silly (and lazy) at first, and it is really. It's got that feeling of typiing on the go whereas regular blogging is like a formalized process of clicking a bookmark, signing in, etc...sigh

2006-10-04T16:00:00.000-07:00

According to the BBC, the king of Lilliput has sanctioned a fence along Lilliput's southern beach. There is only one way to put out the fires in Washington...zip!

2006-08-28T22:17:00.000-07:00

Anarchist News reports that a documentary on Kaneko Fumiko aired on Korean television a few days ago. I wonder if there is any way this might be subtitled in English. Kaneko Fumiko, as the link explains, was a Japanese anarchist, opposed to Japanese imperialism in the 20's, before she was murdered in prison. Will Fusako Shigenobu suffer the same fate? Prison systems don't have a good track

2006-08-18T09:47:00.000-07:00

Check these two articles from the BBC: Possible failed Terror attack in Germany: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5263930.stm British sell warplanes to Saudi Arabia: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5262120.stm In the same day, one wonders why it's necessary to explain why the US and Britain have hypocritical foreign policy.

2006-08-09T16:01:00.000-07:00

I don't like socialism and am definitlely opposed to anything other than a pact with the devil when it comes to the democratic party of the US, but right-wing disinformation campaigns are making my blood boil. This is not a major one, like the bs fuss the right is making about the photoshopped reuters photos or 'the man in the green helmet' at Qana, but just another example: http://

2006-08-03T23:29:00.000-07:00

If you bore me, I'm cutting your link!

2006-08-03T22:41:00.000-07:00

Ummm... Just before the Iraq War there were mass protests on every continent - remember? On US and UK news programs there were (former) generals, military analysts, and 'experts' of various shades warning, for the most part, that it was unlikely that Saddam Hussein had been developing WMD's, that 'liberation' was likely to bring out sectarian conflict, that Iraq would become an Al Qaida battle

2006-08-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

Film festival advises Israeli to stay away By Jonathan Saul JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli director Yoav Shamir said on Thursday he had been advised by organisers of the Edinburgh film festival not to attend the screening of his new work due to Israel's offensive in Lebanon. Shamir's previous films include the critically acclaimed documentary "Checkpoint", which showed the daily travails facing

2006-08-03T12:38:00.000-07:00

Hawaiian Alphabet Poet Touching poetry from Hawaii.

2006-08-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

I've been down with a cold the last few days. Instead of doing work I was incapable of doing, I was surfing the blogosphere. Perhaps the most sickening thing I've found is a rumor going around right-leaning blogs that the bombings at Qana were either staged by Hezbollah or that Hezbollah pulled bodies out of storage for a photo-op. One version of the story is here another is here. The theory

2006-07-27T20:18:00.000-07:00

Speaking of perverse - Exxon reported a 35% profit 'surge.' Something is rotten when the notion of raiding the Alaskan wildlife Reserve is entertained seriously and the world's richest company is making even more money from the sale of oil.

2006-07-26T20:39:00.000-07:00

Possibly good news for Chicago: according to the BBC the city of Chicago will implement a $9.25 minimum wage. Of course, WAl-Mart argues that the rise will have a detrimental effect on inner-city neighborhoods in need of development. They obviously know their stuff. The cornerstone 'of this great country' ® is a strong work ethic, even if it means you'd be better off not working. Aside from

2006-07-23T10:16:00.000-07:00

Please visit: http://meastpolitics.wordpress.com/ for blog reportage from a Lebanese anarchist.

2006-07-23T10:13:00.000-07:00

lebanon 4 ever This from http://www.marwaheen.blogspot.com/. The title there: Israel pinpoint attacks : The Proof that Israel is targeting Hezbollah terrorists While I do not condone the nationalist sentiment of the blog, these are images that should be seen, especially by British and American taxpayers. This is how your tax money is spent. Would you risk your credit rating to put an end to

2006-05-03T20:23:00.000-07:00

useless post today: skip: if i did not have a car, i would celebrate increasing gas prices. since i do, i worry about mobility (getting out of iowa city!), but still hope that instead of drilling natural reserves, destroying the environment, etc. - all those things that seem to be such great ideas to people determined to live out their dreams as dennis hopper in the safety of their own jalopy -

2006-04-23T23:56:00.001-07:00

Working with Sawako on Factorial now (see above). Before any credit for content comes close to being attributed to me, I do the backoffice work, so to speak - web site, sales, etc. Not exactly creative work, but Sawako's started a project that I'm completely behind and will do what I can to help. And anyway, who cooler to work with?? Factorial is doing extraordinary things for Japanese poetry.

2006-04-23T23:56:00.000-07:00

Four Factorial is now available! Featuring Speed Round + Translations from Contemporary Japanese Poetry! Purchase your copy in St. Marks Bookstore, NYC, or by sending an e-mail to subscriptions eat factorial dots org (hope these anti-spam measures work) that includes your name, address, order info. * $10 (including shipping) or Order both Three and Four Factorial together for $16 with free

2006-01-14T21:52:00.000-08:00

As promised, but later than anticipated, I wanted to submit a few thoughts - almost a review - of Brian Kim Stefans’ Fashionable Noise. I say almost because I am not so interested in covering the last three sections, “Proverbs of Hell (Dos and Donts [sic]),”Whan Lilacs Laist in the Duir: notes on new poetrie,” and “A Poem of Attitudes.” It’s not that I don’t find these sections interesting, but

2005-12-28T19:34:00.000-08:00

Contrary to popular belief, Stockhausen did not call the WTC attacks a great work of art in the way that the NYT and the other 4 media outlets reported. He mentions the actual quote in this interview. However, his recollection does not quite fit mine. Just after the NYT mis-quoted Stockhausen, the Stockhausen Verlag had a stream up of the actual interview. I recall him saying something along

2005-12-24T20:34:00.000-08:00

Might want to have a look at Silliman's blog. Some miserly fellow called Franz Wright has been poo-pooing the comments box. Of course, one should take Silliman with a pinch of salt, but that's not to say he's not valuable. I find myself irritated only 60% of the time at his blog - less so since the wellbutrin kicked in. - Hi Ron. Coming up in the next week: critique and praise of Brian Kim

2005-12-19T20:39:00.000-08:00

Jessica Smith's prognosis: L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry is dead. Though with all the hoopla about its death over the last few years, you'd think it's really just living a second life. Though in all honesty, if you watched Fox News often enough, you might think it consequential. Same if you read Ron Silliman's blog... same if you read luminations. snore -

2005-12-18T21:08:00.000-08:00

so I lived outside of the US for seventeen years. from afar, it looked like an intolerant fascistic state, but friends insisted that was the view from the outside. “once you go back, you’ll see that the foreign media doesn’t understand the relationship between us domestic and foreign policy..” etc. i signed petitions against helms-burton (organized by the communist party of great britain),

2005-12-17T20:21:00.000-08:00

White men who save brown women from brown men Perhaps my title today is a little obscure. It is from Spivak’s “Can the Subaltern Speak?” and relates specifically to her critique of the colonial outlawing of sati (self-immolation) and the nationalist reclamation of the practice. To spare the intricacies of Spivak’s critical thinking, I am reminded of the phrase because of what appears to be a

2005-12-14T21:26:00.000-08:00

As you can see, I am currently redesigning Luminations. If you would like your blog or website linked from here, send me an email.

2005-05-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

It’s been over a year since I regularly contributed to this blog. A year since I left my job in Tokyo, not to mention friends that I still sorely miss, to move to Iowa City to work on a Ph.D. out of the English department (is it really a degree in Eng Lit?) at the University of Iowa. A year since my last real (big?) paycheck. etc. Moving is always a fairly traumatic experience - even those of

2004-12-28T13:16:00.000-08:00

Hurrah. I'll admit that the last few posts have been somewhat of an Eagles approach (that is sending out my third stringers to rest my starting team), but the fact is the last year has left me so beleaguered that I really did need a rest. Nevertheless, I'm done, the quizzes are over I mean, and Luminations will become ??? Well, I'll start by fixing my links to the left! - Ben

2004-12-28T13:14:00.000-08:00

2) What is a thematic house? Define this with reference to Charles Jencks. And what kind of design, inner and outer, would you give, if you were the architect, to a multi-million dollar commission for a House of Poetry? Would you spend all the money on the building itself? Being not-so-familiar with Jencks, all I remember is his concern with semiology and “reading” architecture. Of course,

2004-12-21T22:31:00.000-08:00

3) If architectural theory has any utility for innovative poets today (careful: this is still an open question! [see, for example, Peter Riley's book, Architectural Analogies in Poetry: Comparing Apples and Oranges in Elysium]), then what happens when Steve McCaffery, for example, writes a poem under the influence of Vitruvius and Alberti, both of whom insist that the ordering and structure of

2004-10-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

Quiz #9 1) If architecture is merely sculpture that bodies can enter, then is poetry merely prose into which certain tunnelings and orifices have been chiseled? If this definition is valid, would you qualify it as an effective materialist definition of poetry? Write your answer in block letters. architecture is not merely “sculpture that bodies can enter.,” in fact we’ve been going this

2004-10-13T13:23:00.000-07:00

4) Please consider Lenin. In 1920, in the midst of raging civil war, and shortly after a Social Revolutionary wounded him in an assassination attempt, he spoke before a Moscow conference of revolutionary architects, poets, and Constructivist artists, including Mayakovsky, Rodchenko, and Tatlin. It is dangerous, comrades, he said, to believe that Soviet art and architecture in the era of the

2004-05-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

Please pre-order Sawako Nakayasu's new book So We Have Been Given Time or Winner of the this year's Verse Prize - like we didn't already know her writing was, like, way cool!

2004-05-19T00:38:00.000-07:00

1) Consider this thought experiment: You are a Poet, and although you cannot imagine it, you are always in a diorama. The diorama is inside a museum. The museum is located in a city. The city is in a 21st century country. The diorama changes according to the scheduling of exhibits: Savannah plains, Arctic ice, Rainforest verdure, Academic conference... Unaware of your placement, (for your reality

2004-05-18T21:46:00.000-07:00

4) The architects who talk about chaos, absence, fragmentation, and indeterminacy usually work hard to assure that you know that a design is theirs by using signature shapes and colors. Arguments about the impossibility of 'the total image' are employed in fact to produce precisely such an image-- a signed image that fosters brand loyalty. Clearly, the dream of the total work of art did not fade

2004-05-11T22:45:00.000-07:00

3) Is the Anglo-American Modernist long poem explosive or implosive in its architectures? Or is its largesse, rather, impelled by a dialectical tension between these two poles? If the latter, what does it mean that such a synthesis has resulted in the canonical ossification of the genre? And is this ossification analogous to the sacralization of those classical ruins to which millions of tourists

2004-05-07T01:07:00.000-07:00

Attempt 2: Are the secret desires for fame and/or notoriety of innovative writers, actually driving them to propose crazy theories about hybrid art work, especially poetry? Reflection: Surely not! All the innovative writers I know are upright honest people (and love to be called innovative) {make note of sarcasm}. Could this possibly be the implication of this elusive question? Response:

2004-04-18T22:06:00.000-07:00

Quiz #6 1) Is it possible that the recent desire amongst innovative writers to build analogic skywalks into a discipline of power and social utility such as architecture may be impelled from below by a hidden structure of ideological tensions and undergirdings that parasitizes and eats from within, thus shaping, as it consumes, the very social space of avant-garde aesthetic practice? Answer

2004-04-14T00:35:00.000-07:00

3) The following question is two questions, really, so points are double (tripled if the two answers are seamlessly melded into one): a) What is a flutter echo? Provide one example from the current English Poet Laureate and another from one of Jack Spicer's translations of Federico Garcia Lorca. b) Was Kurt Schwitter's Merzbau a visionary and mystical poetic text or a meaningless shrine to

2004-02-16T05:50:00.000-08:00

2) If a metaphor is a balcony, is the view it affords measurable in terms of a paraboloidal function (for example: x2/a2+y2/b2 = 2cz [where a, b, and c are constants]), or is that just gibberish? Justify. I’ll always admit my ignorance. 3) What is an Author? Is she an Architect? Think hard. One author most certainly is, Madeline Gins. However, to what extent she is the architect in her

2004-02-10T08:13:00.000-08:00

Heroditus: Take Michael Riffaterre's book Semiotics of Poetry, where he argues (as described by the American poet-bridge builder Henry Gould) that the poetic involves a dialectic between mimesis or representation, on the one hand (which creates what Riffaterre calls meaning), and significance, on the other. The architecture game of poetry, then, would seem to involve deciphering a significance

2004-02-09T05:23:00.000-08:00

1) In poetry, what is an arch? Explain and draw a model. The villain in Paradise Lost (who was the villain again? I haven’t met anyone who liked GOD). 2) Take Le Corbusier's somewhat forgotten Savoie house as analogy: Can the body of a poem be hollowed out in every direction: from above and below, from within and without, so that a cross section at any point will show inner and outer

2004-02-09T04:57:00.000-08:00

3) Can concepts of architectural acoustics (reflection, diffusion, diffraction of waves) be applied to poetry? Specifically, is the turn toward spatial rigor in concert hall structures by acoustical architects like Leo Baranek, Harold Marshall, and Michael Barron (the isolation of orthogonal parameters so as to fine tune sound reflection and reverberation via the control of initial time delay

2004-02-04T05:35:00.000-08:00

Quiz #2 1) Is a dactyl a brick or a gargoyle? Justify. I like this question; very funny! It is essentially written in anapests (anapest being the inverse of a dactyl), which of course adds to the playful tone. Also, there is a very odd mix of ‘materials’, dactyls and gargoyles (?!). A dactyl, as I remember, is more frequently used in Latin versification, though Byron used it effectively

2004-01-29T00:31:00.000-08:00

Kent Johnson’s Poetic Architecture: 11 Quizzes Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to be looking at Kent Johnson’s Quizzes because Kent brings up some very important issues for the field of Architectural Poetics. Along with cognitive/biological sciences and theories of sound, regular readers may know that theories of architectural space are one of my main theoretical concerns. Kent’s

2004-01-26T20:26:00.000-08:00

Kenny Goldsmith aired an excellent 1963 interview with John Cage on the last Anal Magic program. I highly recommend tuning in. Just click here, and navigate your Real player to about the 1 hour mark. Below is a picture from an earlier show.

2004-01-26T04:04:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Josh Corey for the link to this rather silly quiz that has me as Jacques Derrida - perferable to Althusser perhaps, although I always prefered Althusser to Derrida. You are Jacques Derrida! You foundedDeconstructionism in 1966, and have been athorn in people's sides ever since. You arguethat texts cannot be reduced to a singlemeaning, among other things. You are dense,impenetrable,

2004-01-23T00:15:00.000-08:00

I’m having some trouble kicking open my voice these days, what with all these interviews and other such malarkey, who has time to say something?? Point one (irrelevant): Since Noah Gordon ‘lost’ the first incarnation of Human Verb, I’ve often wondered why, in the second incarnation, the layout changes on a daily basis. One day we’ve got the links on the top, another they’re at the bottom etc.

2004-01-20T04:51:00.000-08:00

Ben: There are so many different directions to take here and many of them too big for a mere interview. I’m going to try to articulate a digestible question here, but if it’s too much feel free to narrow it down. Thinking about your comment on poetry’s relation to history, community, and tradition, one question that looms over me, especially when looking at the work and writings of people like

2004-01-05T21:11:00.000-08:00

This Week on Luminations: An Interview with Chris Murray of Texfiles Ben: Thank you, Chris, for agreeing to be interviewed on Luminations. To start off, I'd simply like to ask you to tell me (and everyone reading) about yourself. Although a well-worn adage, I'm curious about what you choose to include in your brief bio and what direction that will take us in this interview. Chris:

2003-12-31T00:07:00.000-08:00

Ben: A couple of points I’d like to pick up on here. I think it was Nick Piombino who recently said that he liked the idea of blogs being like public drafts of poems, ideas, etc. I’m not sure if he included a mention about working through ideas (and I’m not sure where to look to find out). For me, blogging is also a way of working through ideas, however simple or complex. Luminations is usually

2003-12-24T04:46:00.000-08:00

This Week on Luminations An Interview with Bill Marsh Ben: Thank you for agreeing to appear on Luminations, Bill. For the first question, I'd like to begin by asking you about you and the SDPG. In all truth, I don't know much about you. I've done a little searching on the web and see that you are part of the San Diego Poetry Guild, a collective that I certainly find exciting. The SDPG

2003-12-21T04:27:00.000-08:00

To all those who have contacted me about the interview over the holiday, I will reply. The weekend has been very hectic! Sorry!

2003-12-18T22:09:00.000-08:00

Somebody tell me how this obvious web of deceit goes over the average American voters head? What is most infuriating about this, er, man is that he can lie and lie and somehow gets away with it. I don’t like governments generally, harmless armchair anarchist that I am, but how is it that Clinton gets called for getting a blow job (so what?) and Bush can tell the truth about lying on the Diane

2003-12-17T21:56:00.000-08:00

No time today. Just need to say that George W. Bush makes my blood curdle. I wonder if it could be said that he excites the passions if, when one hears him one feels the unbearable URGE TO VOMIT (accidental click of the caps, but I like it). Bush – that ‘thing’ as I heard in a British murder case - will be plagued by furies, just as his suppository arch-nemeses. Urrgh. My eyes are red.

2003-12-16T21:34:00.000-08:00

Reading Factorial this morning on the train I wondered – as I did for issue one – how these collaborations work. It’s certainly fun to read through the work and try to work out what method, if any, the writers used; how each artist responded to the others work/prompts. Some, like the opening “unscripted behaviors” , seem to be fairly transparent. The first poem: wet falling from dry night

2003-12-15T22:29:00.000-08:00

I don’t have a lot of time these days in the lead up to x-mas and new year. Many things to finish. At any rate, I wanted to point out two excellent poetry magazines, Sawako Nakayasu’s Factorial & Jesse Seldess’ Antennae. I am usually underimpressed with most magazines, but these two really stand out. Factorial is dedicated to good quality collaborative writing. Sawako has done an excellent

2003-12-11T04:35:00.000-08:00

Notes Post-Viewing – Alvin Lucier Piece seen at the ICC in Opera City, Nishi-Shinjuku. Just inside the entrance to a darkened room, about ten (hand-blown?) variously shaped thick glass jars with a green tint appearing at apertures and curves, stand on individual shoulder-height displays. Light is permitted to refract through the jars at a source either behind them or under them. Microphones

2003-12-08T20:54:00.000-08:00

I'm posting this for Sawako Nakayasu. Sphincter Allen Ginsberg I hope my good old asshole holds out 60 years it's been mostly OK Tho in Bolivia a fissure operation survived the altiplano hospital-- a little blood, no polyps, occasionally a small hemorrhoid active, eager, receptive to phallus coke bottle, candle, carrot

2003-12-07T20:55:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend the words from my notebook were almost all stolen, lifted from the page into some sneaky thief’s pocket. And on the barren white pages, only these words remain: A snowball in summertime that's what I am; a matchbox Round the decay of that colossal wreck, as they say, boundless and bare, the lonely white

2003-12-02T21:11:00.001-08:00

OK now, on the other side of things today. First, heartfelt sympathies to Ron Silliman. It appears his wife is quite ill and in the hospital. Ganbaremasu Ron and family! Also, I’ve decided to add Noah Eli Gordon’s Human Verb to the side links today. The decision has nothing to do with the dream, consciously at any rate. Actually, I’ve oft admired his poetry and think he’s one to watch out

2003-12-02T21:11:00.000-08:00

Last night I dreamt that I was attacked by a grizzly bear. I was attending a BBQ at a house that reminded me of a Frank Lloyd Wright – perhaps because of the surrounding forest and light colored brick. Was I in Canada? I’ve never been to Canada. There were a lot of people there. S was there. There may have been orgies going on, but as usual I was talking over the food. Who was I talking to? It

2003-12-01T21:20:00.000-08:00

Poem secret Is poetry like a dirty secret? Art, like painting, sculpture, filmmaking, etc, is acceptable. Music is acceptable. But poetry? What makes people frown at the thought of someone reading poetry for pleasure? I’ve been led to believe that in fact poetry is dangerous… But it does not pose real danger, but the danger of being useless. Art, the story goes, fulfills a social function. It

2003-11-30T18:20:00.000-08:00

Because of the interview last week, I was unable to put up any more new blog links to the sidebar. I’ve noticed that several blogs now link to Luminations, so I will of course return the favor and link back! The first is Tramspark. I have no idea who the author of this blog is, but I have to say that the blogs arranged by time zone is really cool! The blog is a darn good read too. The

2003-11-30T17:37:00.000-08:00

A Bar from Wittgenstein It’s been a long time since I last read Wittgenstein. In fact, when I did it was for a class on Analytic Philosophy and so was just a tad bored. Analytic Philosophy does have some useful aspects (verifiability, falsification etc.) but they are probably also the worst grouping of writers philosophy has ever seen. Apparently, ol’ Wittgenstein wasn’t so bad (actually, I

2003-11-28T00:11:00.000-08:00

A: Before we begin today I wanted to add a little to my comments yesterday. Q: Sure. What did you want to say? A: One thing was that I didn’t want to argue the case that indigenous people are the only ones disenfranchised by bureaucracy and so on. Disenfranchisement is a complex issue and it’s really quite disingenuous to single out white middle-class men as the ones who benefit from

2003-11-26T23:44:00.000-08:00

Ben got called out to do a few interviews about 10 mins after I arrived. After waiting 45 minutes for those to finish and then for him to go out and get an aloe drink, I’m a little tired. At least I had time to read Stephen Vincent’s excellent piece on Wounded Screams ant Walter Road. I also rummaged through his bag and found a sound score that he thought he had lost in a computer crash. He was

2003-11-25T21:04:00.000-08:00

Q: Right, where were we? A: {cough} Q: Yes, who are you? I mean, not a lot of people know who you are, wouldn’t you like to tell us a little about yourself? A: I don’t enjoy talking about myself, but I’ll try. I am quite strongly placeless. I mean many people have a hometown or a home region, or a home country, but I can’t say clearly that I have any of these. I was born in Oklahoma,

2003-11-24T21:00:00.000-08:00

This Week: An Interview with Me Exclusive to Luminations Interviews are something like ego massages for the interviewees and voyeurism for the viewer. I need both an ego massage and to be viewed, returning from a housebound 3 day weekend. Q: Aside from flogging your name and wares around a bit, you are essentially unknown. Do you feel like an ass keeping a public blog when nobody knows who

2003-11-19T20:51:00.000-08:00

I've just added Kasey Mohammad's Limetree to the sidebar. Kasey always has interesting things to say, even when they're boring. He was my favorite poster on the Poetics list for the longest time, but sadly he rarely contributes these days. He's recently been in 'a bit of bother' about some comments he made about a California poet... and indeed the comments were a little insensitive, though some

2003-11-19T20:46:00.000-08:00

I’m going to be taking a bit of a blogbreak for the next few days, at least until Tuesday Japan time. Perhaps it’s obvious, but between working 12 hour days, getting together my Ph.D. application, and dealing with an overly emotional family life I haven’t got much time for, well, anything.

2003-11-19T20:39:00.000-08:00

Finally read Jack Spicer last night… am humbled

2003-11-18T21:38:00.000-08:00

Who is this Billy Collins? Quite happy this week that a colleague came back from San Fran with $70 worth of books including In the American Tree and the Robin Blaser Jack Spicer anthology AND some John Taggart AND some Carla Harryman AND FULCRUM I’ve been looking forward to Fulcrum since the issue was announced on the POETICS list some time back. Who is this newcomer? A Sulphur for the 21st

2003-11-18T03:51:00.000-08:00

I'm gradually adding links to the side bar of blogs I like for one reason or another. Today I put up Stephen Vincent's. I don't know much about him, but his prose is invariably mellifluous, even when he's cranky. Check out his blog!

2003-11-16T21:03:00.000-08:00

BBC Radio four has a program called Desert Island Disks that involves inviting a celebrity or cultural vulture to talk about the music they would take with them on a desert island etc etc. It’s usually an extraordinarily droll affair with “best of” celebrities listing “best of” music. I think they once had Phillip Glass on, but that is hearsay. Anyhow, since I have something else to get on with

2003-11-15T06:29:00.000-08:00

It's the weekend. What the hell am I doing here?? Just reading through the blog I noticed the word "laconic" (do a search with apple+f or ctrl+f) and realized that apparently I MISUSED it. And I have been misusing it for 10 years! As it was explained to me way back when in ardent discussions of the Peloponnesian war, 'lacon' referred to the idiotic simplicity of the Spartans (actually, it

2003-11-14T05:35:00.000-08:00

Hey! Check out Sawako's The Ongoing Show to see her performance writing.

2003-11-13T21:34:00.000-08:00

I wonder what S. is up to in Paris? We didn't really have a chance to speak before she left for a one or two month trip, so I actually had no idea where she was going. Paris, after a brief US tour. As I remember, she gets a lot of her inspiration there, so I hope it works out and she has loads of stuff to show for it. Never having made the short trip to Paris (from London), I have no idea the

2003-11-12T21:04:00.000-08:00

Speak speak. I’m totally fucking exhausted and ask myself to speak. I’m fucking hallucinating colorful trails follow anything (in)organic that moves. Fuck. Speech is markedly yours, don’t speak. Fucking identity. Don’t ask me. Certain paeans to negativity. I could be speaking or etching pinwheels in moon craters, who gives a fuck? Fuck interpenetration, we’re working on linearity right? I’m

2003-11-11T21:22:00.001-08:00

I wonder if anyone did anything as crazy as Anal Magic between 3 and 6 New York time on the 5th of November 2003. Ahh.. I’m relieved

2003-11-11T20:44:00.000-08:00

Remembering Bihari through assertion of homosexual friend He said that if I were homosexual, he would score with me more frequently. Moreover, he averred, if all men were homosexual, men would all score more frequently. Considering this more closely, I realized that if all scores were homosexual, I would be more frequently. She said being warms the hearth of a woman’s pistons. Her nurse

2003-11-04T05:01:00.000-08:00

Selections from: Banalities from the Chinese Kurt Schwitters Flies have short legs Red currants are red The end is the beginning of every End Banality is the ornament of the Bourgeoisie The citizen is every bourgeoisie’s beginning The bourgeoisie have short flies … Every woman has an apron Every beginning has its end The world is full of clever people Clever is

2003-11-04T00:22:00.000-08:00

My plan was to explain, at least a little, about the work you saw here last week. Unfortunately, some of the files I needed to upload are missing… and perhaps were never put into digital format. Let me explain. Day one was a list of quasi-aphorisms I dubbed “blaphorisms’. Since I’m writing from work etc etc. these are a personal filter on Kurt Schwitter’s “Banalities from the Chinese”. I have

2003-10-30T23:39:00.000-08:00

Fact Finder: Non-event # 7 George W. Bush declares an emergency George W. Bush is declared an emergency The emergency declares: George W. Bush Proto-Surrealist Non-event # 6 Ingest one spoonful of medicine Medicate an ingested spoon.

2003-10-29T21:11:00.000-08:00

Non-Event #5 Lane after lane. Cars stop for a red light. Breathe Non-Event #4 Become aware (of your breath) Non-Event #3 Inhale Expire

2003-10-28T20:47:00.000-08:00

non-event #2 Imitate the frame of a hand-fan with your right hand. Close the fan with your left hand

2003-10-27T20:37:00.000-08:00

Non-Event #1 Blink )" title="Comments by SquawkBox.tv">javascript:SquawkBoxCount(<$BlogItemNumber$>)

2003-10-27T20:36:00.000-08:00

overheard conversation A: Can I buy you a drink? B: Yeah, black, hot, perfect. A: O.K. Sure. B: Thanks.

2003-10-26T20:52:00.000-08:00

///////////////////////////////////// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <><><><><><><><><><> <+<=<_<)<(

2003-10-26T20:49:00.000-08:00

“WOAH! Like I watch you watching me and..”

2003-10-26T20:47:00.000-08:00

I thought about what to write next.

2003-10-26T20:42:00.000-08:00

Blahphorisms The telephone rings. Another phone call. I slid the ‘in’ tray out… I forgot to push it back in. I don’t really care so much for cufflinks It got dark before S’s plane flew out last night. (This is conjecture) Children are like algebra. They multiply. This cake was sweeter yesterday. The dictionary was open for a short while. I realize boring is