Poem in Hoboeye

I have a chapbook-length poem in Hoboeye called Kayd. I hope you like it. If you don't, you should tell someone.

S4S4 and Idiolexicon Sedoka Contest!

big bIG BIG CONTEST CONTest contest

¡Hijole!

Let's say you're too broke or too cheap to buy S4S4. Or let's say that you really like rules and you really like contests.

Well, you're in luck!

You can write a Sedoka and win a copy of S4S4, thanks to Idiolexicon and me.

The rule for Sedoka is 5-7-7 5-7-7, the numbers being syllables. Like a haiku, Sedoka is a form of Waka poetry, but cooler and more obscure.

Wiki that shit and find out this: "In ancient times, it was a custom between two writers to exchange waka instead of letters in prose." I like to Wiki Waka.

So send your Waka Sedokas to Idiolexicon, and Idiolexicon will publish the best ones (10), and Jack Morgan will send you a free copy of S4S4.
Email Sedoka and Address to submissions@idiolexicon.com

Sex and the City

You won't believe it, and I don't believe it, but I pretty much totally loved the "Sex and the City" movie. I am cracking up right now that I actually liked it so much.

First, everything that sucked about the show is not there. Well, it is there, but the materialistic bullshit that pervades the show is shown as something that just might cost more than it's worth. That is, the Romanesque decadence the ladies of the series bask in, which is nothing of much more substance than the idea that acquiring more shit will make you happy, comes toppling down in favor of something sweeter and more important. It actually accomplishes what the fans and the makers of the show have been telling everyone was the point this whole time. This time around, you might even believe that the message of "Sex and the City" is that love and friendship are the only things worth anything, that love is the only label that doesn't go out of style.

Along the way, the film points at every fantasy you could reasonably have today while still managing to tug the strings attached to your, you know, emotions and stuff. In fact, every emotional response you could reasonably expect from a film is aptly evoked by Carrie Bradshaw and her ubiquitous GF's. There were some cynics in the theater with me, but I think that once you've accepted the parallel universe these characters inhabit, you owe it to yourself to go along with the fairy tale.

I laughed a lot, I damn near let a tear fall out of my head a couple times in the sad parts(!), and I feel like calling up every woman who made me watch that stupid show and thanking them.
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There is one part in the film that looks like it came out of Rome. If you have a rehearsal dinner like that, you might deserve very bad things.

I wish they edited out all the parts where she says "I am a writer."
I laughed every time she said anything about writing.

MIke Young and other cool things

Sara was looking for Mike. This is what she found. She sent me an email asking if I thought Mike would rollerskate with her. I think he would. The new Noö Journal is out. You should look at it and pretend to read it and tell other people that you read really great things in it but wish that Jack Morgan had work in it.


Michael Young
Last I heard he was a poet and living in Manhattan ... Mike lived across the street from Marta Weitz's parents. He was born on Christmas Day ... According to Marta, "He was really into Martial Arts, poetry and writing. He does live in New York and is doing a lot of writing." ... Before moving across the street from Marta's parents' house, Mike used to live about a block from MY house behind St. Catherine's. He and I spent a LOT of time together when we were very young listening to Kiss and Queen in our bedrooms, hiking around Neversink Mountain, flying balsa wood planes, racing Match-Box cars, playing kickball, going roller-skating and throwing a Frisbee back and forth.


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Speaking of roller skates, I found out last night that I will be reading at Adobe Books on June 26th in the Mission with Sophie Sills. It is going to be a very good reading.

June 7th is MAPP, where Joseph Lease and Elliot Harmon and others will be reading, and I will be MC-ing and co-curating. L's Caffe, I will update you on that one.

June 29th, Jack Morgan and Sara Mumolo will be reading at The Smell in L.A. for all you So Cal peeps looking for a fix.

June 6th is all about Trevor Calvert at Pegasus, but if you're stuck on the peninsula, you can always check out Leslie Scalapino and one of my favorite people/poets, Lyn Hejinian, at the De Young.

Sorry for Snake 4

Sorry for Snake 4!
S4S IV is David Michael Wolach, Della Watson, Richard Meier, Shannon Tharp, Del Ray Cross, Elliot Harmon, Cameron Jackson, Sharon Zetter, and Robin A. Schramm
only four dollars!

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We are now also offering subscriptions!
One year for only 24 dollars!

S4S4

I can't believe we're on issue four! This is the cover. Justin Margitich did the back, and Jack Morgan did the front. It will be on sale tomorrow. It will be four dollars including shipping. It will have good poets in it.

My Memo Rail Day

I had a nice day today.
I put some finishing touches on Sorry for Snake 4. It's going to be awesome!
I played chess with Cameron. He won all but once. I have no ego when it comes to games, though, so we both a good time. Cameron likes to win, and I don't mind losing.
I read some poetry.
I got responses and responded to responses about MAPP, which is happening on June 7 and will be spectacular! As far as poets, we have Joseph Lease and Elliot Harmon, two poets I admire and respect. More on that later.
I went to a barbecue for Gillian's birthday.
I have such amazing friends that more than one brought vegan grill stuff for me. I was touched and moved by that. So many people want to give you shit for being vegan, but even my meat-eating friends are totally supportive, and I appreciate that. They don't have to think of me, but there they were checking labels for me making sure things were cool for me to eat. Friends like that are hard to come by.
I went home and watched 15 minutes of television (Antiques Roadshow). I love TV and never get to watch it.
Worked on some poetry and stuff.
Went to a show in Oakland (Hubba Hubba Revue) with Matt and Ryan.
Played Pinball at the Hut until they closed.
I didn't drink too much.


I think I like Memo Rail Day.

two things I like today

This Poem by Kathryn Regina.

Weak Week

1. I graduated. As one woman walked across the stage, I told my friend Gillian, "I have been infatuated with that woman since the day I met her, and now I'll never see her again."
2. My English thesis was trashed, but I got an A, which means nothing to me. I always get A's.
3. I finished my German thesis, thinking "I still have a lot of work on this."
4. I found out that, although beer prices have gone up, brewers looking to cut corners are using gelatin as a clarification agent. Gelatin is particularly disgusting. Even when I ate meat, I hated the idea of gelatin.
5. I found out that the gelatin they're using often comes from sturgeon swim bladders.
6. Every kind of sturgeon is endangered, protected, or threatened.
7. Sturgeon is the most highly poached fish in the world because of the value of their roe.
8. The only letter in my mailbox was notification for jury duty.
9. My landlord raised my rent.
10. I couldn't go to see Measure for Measure, and I really wanted to.
11. My German professor emailed me to tell me he couldn't open my thesis on his Mac.
12. "Indiana Jones 4" is about Aliens; it's a prequel to "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
13. I went to one of the worst readings I have ever been to.
14. The woman who walked across the stage asked me to join her for drinks with friends. I went and she told me she was leaving for NYC and that I would never see her again. She hugged me and said goodbye.

Next week will just have to be better. That's all there is to it.