BEHIND THE SCENES OF SKY GIRL BY ROSEMARY GRIGGS

Rosemary Griggs, author of SKY GIRL (Fence Books) shares some lovely memories of when we first met HERE.  And some not so lovely memories HERE.  And do check out her collection which received Fence Books' Alberta Prize:

*****

In her second post where I appear, Rosemary talks about the aftermath of 9-1-1.  I was really moved by how one of her fellow flight attendants' moms insisted on flying with her daughter as she had to continue working.... Anyway, Rosemary mentions a class right after 9-1-1 where I did a visit as a Guest Author and discussed the difficulty of finding language right after a tragedy.

I do remember doing class visits, though I don't remember now if it was Rosemary's class where I had brought a copy of my book BLACK LIGHTNING.  I remember holding up the book to the class and saying that, after 9-1-1, I looked at its cover image which was a painting by Theresa Chong.  I said to the class that, after 9-1-1, what had been for me a lovely abstract painting had become a figurative reference to one of the fallen skyscrapers.  I remember holding up my book cover with its image and a newspaper image of the side of one of the World Trade towers to reveal the similarity.  The newspaper had printed the image because, in front of the tower, people were falling...

Theresa Chong's painting, "Black Lightning"

In front of the tower, people were falling.  The felled people apparently included two workers who were trapped up in the skyscraper.  As both looked around them at the burning conflagration in which they were trapped, they apparently looked at each other and agreed:  they both decided to hold hands as they jumped...

SHILLING FOR A GOOD CAUSE

Meritage Press has set a 15% discount on the price of VERSES TYPHOON YOLANDA.  This Special Offer is good through the rest of the year, though order now to get it in time for Holiday gift-giving!  More information HERE!

All profits go to support the survivors of Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda.  Thank you for your support!

WHAT WAS THAT I WROTE?

I finished October by finishing a new manuscript, THE CONNOISEUR OF ALLEYS.  And I'm reading it now to determine what I wrote.  Because I didn't write it; I copy-n-pasted it from The MDR Poetry Generator's database of 1,146 lines.  And while copy-n-pasting, I deliberately tried to avoid reading what it was I was "writing."  Well, that stuff ain't bad, I'm relieved to conclude.  Here's a sample (click to enlarge):

I love writing where I lose track of the author...

LOCAL NOMAD

Congratulations to Jean Vengua for starting up a new literary and arts journal, LOCAL NOMAD!  I think it's always a feat to create a new arts space -- and it's also beautifully designed!  This inaugural issue has the theme of "migration."

Of course, I'm also grateful for seeing my poem "I Forgot the Binary of Refugees Vs. Art" in the new issue -- Salamat!  It's not an easy poem to "accept" -- though it was interesting for me to write it, e.g. the source material includes SEX LIVES OF THE GREAT ARTISTS by Nigel Cawthorne and NOTES FROM MY TRAVELS: VISITS WITH REFUGEES IN AFRICA, CAMBODIA, PAKISTAN AND ECUADOR by Angelina Jolie.

A 3-BOOK LAUNCH COMPLETED BY HONEY TRUFFLES!

Yesterday was blessed with a fabulous book launch of three of my 2014 books at the wonderful The Sitting Room, a community library created by Virginia Woolf scholar J.J. Wilson.   A VISUAL REPORT HERE!  But here are three pics from the event:

Erin, a Sonoma State University student and J.J. Wilson by the book table featuring SUN STIGMATA, 147 MILLION ORPHANS and VERSES TYPHOON YOLANDA:

A cracker with goat cream cheese and truffle honey:

What's not to like about literature?  I'll write poems for pay if the pay is truffle honey!

TRUCKING ALONG

Thanks to guest curator Anny Ballardini for featuring one of my poems in TRUCK: "I forgot a carapace, then its splitting."  

Anny will post poems throughout November on her theme which so far includes contributions by Charles Bernstein, Barry Schwabsky, and Peter Cicariello in addition to my poem from my manuscript AMNESIA: Somebody's Memoir.  Anny's theme, by the way, is quite MOVING...  I excerpt here:

"We study, work, spare, spend, walk around, talk a lot or not much, we keep on giving life for granted until our fixed appointment with destiny strikes the main chord of our selves, be it a disease or the death of someone we love. After the passing of my Father about four years ago, and my 10-year-old niece’s disease, I have been trying to find answers. How does / or can contemporary poetry, visual work, images reflect Goethe’s Der Erlkoening, what Edvard Munch in an hallucinatory way in his cold Norway depicted around the turn of last century, or re-project Robert Frost’s Acquainted with the Night:

I have been one acquainted with the night.

I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.

I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.

I have passed by the watchman on his beat

And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet

When far away an interrupted cry

Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-by;

And further still at an unearthly height,

One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.

I have been one acquainted with the night."

BEAUTIFUL EYES FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

And it's NOVEMBER!!  How's about some beautiful eyes for holiday gift giving this year (I trump Black Friday, I know)!  Here's a SPECIAL for you!

Click on image to enlarge