Also on HTML Giant:
Take a poem or very short prose piece you really like and send it to a small number of poet/prose writing friends. Let’s say five. Send along this message:
“This is the spreading of an infection. Read this piece of writing. Become infected by it. Respond to it with a piece of writing that includes a line or a phrase from it. Send the results to the author of this piece of writing. (If you do not have time to do so, you have resisted the infection. Thank your immune system.) Also, send the results to five more people and infect them. Send this message along with it. When you receive the results, return them all to the person who started the infection.
“This infection began with _____.” (Fill this in only if you are the first person to start the infection.
Collect the results. See how the infection has spread. See how the virus has mutated.
At some point, tell us how it went.
***
Reading at Hugo House on Thursday. Come on out.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Houses
A short excerpt from my "novel" is up on at Alice Blue Review.
Also in the Alice Blue Review and really good: Joseph Young. Kathy Fish. Sasha Fletcher. The mighty, mighty Matt Bell. Others, too. Lots of good stuff.
But I'd like to say how particularly happy I am to see a piece by Ofelia Hunt. I love a lot of the Bear Parade books, but Ofelia's, I think, is my very favorite. It's called My Eventual Bloodless Coup. I think Ofelia is incredibly talented and I'm happy to see she has a novel coming this fall.
Here is a link to her blog, even though she hasn't updated it since June of 2008.
***
We have always lived in these houses.
We have always slept in these beds.
We are forever going from room to room.
We are forever finding new closets in which to put our winter coats.
We have always lived in these houses.
We have.
You have always lived on the streets outside our houses.
You have always looked in our windows.
You will fog the windows with your breath.
We leave notes under the welcome mat.
Do you read them?
We wonder.
We will tell the others.
We will warn the others.
We will raise a cry.
Also in the Alice Blue Review and really good: Joseph Young. Kathy Fish. Sasha Fletcher. The mighty, mighty Matt Bell. Others, too. Lots of good stuff.
But I'd like to say how particularly happy I am to see a piece by Ofelia Hunt. I love a lot of the Bear Parade books, but Ofelia's, I think, is my very favorite. It's called My Eventual Bloodless Coup. I think Ofelia is incredibly talented and I'm happy to see she has a novel coming this fall.
Here is a link to her blog, even though she hasn't updated it since June of 2008.
***
We have always lived in these houses.
We have always slept in these beds.
We are forever going from room to room.
We are forever finding new closets in which to put our winter coats.
We have always lived in these houses.
We have.
You have always lived on the streets outside our houses.
You have always looked in our windows.
You will fog the windows with your breath.
We leave notes under the welcome mat.
Do you read them?
We wonder.
We will tell the others.
We will warn the others.
We will raise a cry.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Sons
Sons are sons and daughters are daughters. We have sons; we have daughters. We have them, we look at them, we think about them, we move toward them, we move away from them.
We have us our sons. We have us our daughters.
You have neither and this is why we spend so little time in your company. You have no son. You have no daughter. You have nothing but you and it is strange and terrible.
This son here has more fingers than that one. This daughter receives messages from the stars. This son is allowed no more than ten carrots a week. This daughter will try at some point to kill a horse with her teeth.
Minor adjustments to the world, and all this would be very different. Did you know that? You might have the sons. You might have the daughters. Instead, things are how they are. They are what we see them to be.
They will not change.
***
I'm in love with Grouper.
***
I"m teaching a class in late January. And it will happen every Tuesday until March.
Kitchen Sink Fabulism: A Primer for Girls and Boys
There is a movement afoot in contemporary writing—a new(ish) movement with some very old roots. Calvino, Barthelme, and the fabulist writers of recent history—those writers who mined the themes of old fables for their new stories—ago have inspired the likes of Kelly Link, Kevin Brockmeier, Aimee Bender, Etgar Keret, and many more to write in the fabulist mode while also crafting contemporary, domestic tales. We will look at a number of writers in this mode, and discuss how to add elements of the fantastic to your own work in a seamless and elegant fashion.
Instructor: Matthew Simmons
Meets: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Tuesday, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Min: 5 Max: 15
***
Two readings coming up. Both at Hugo House. One is on January 19 @7pm. The second is at Cheap Beer and Prose, January 28, 7pm.
***
New review of A Jello Horse, now in its third printing.
***
We have us our sons. We have us our daughters.
You have neither and this is why we spend so little time in your company. You have no son. You have no daughter. You have nothing but you and it is strange and terrible.
This son here has more fingers than that one. This daughter receives messages from the stars. This son is allowed no more than ten carrots a week. This daughter will try at some point to kill a horse with her teeth.
Minor adjustments to the world, and all this would be very different. Did you know that? You might have the sons. You might have the daughters. Instead, things are how they are. They are what we see them to be.
They will not change.
***
I'm in love with Grouper.
***
I"m teaching a class in late January. And it will happen every Tuesday until March.
Kitchen Sink Fabulism: A Primer for Girls and Boys
There is a movement afoot in contemporary writing—a new(ish) movement with some very old roots. Calvino, Barthelme, and the fabulist writers of recent history—those writers who mined the themes of old fables for their new stories—ago have inspired the likes of Kelly Link, Kevin Brockmeier, Aimee Bender, Etgar Keret, and many more to write in the fabulist mode while also crafting contemporary, domestic tales. We will look at a number of writers in this mode, and discuss how to add elements of the fantastic to your own work in a seamless and elegant fashion.
Instructor: Matthew Simmons
Meets: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Tuesday, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Min: 5 Max: 15
***
Two readings coming up. Both at Hugo House. One is on January 19 @7pm. The second is at Cheap Beer and Prose, January 28, 7pm.
***
New review of A Jello Horse, now in its third printing.
***
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Studio
My brother's studio was, for a while, in a federal building south of downtown Seattle. The artists had to leave at the end of 2009. You can read an article about the place closing here.
Jeff is using this blog to display photos from the studio's history.
***
Some Publishing Genius Press news:
Justin Sirois's amazing book MLKNG SCKLS is now in its second printing. New cover! Way to go, Justin.
Adam Robinson, PGP's headmaster, has a book of poems called Adam Robison and Other Poems. Can't wait for it. Here's the cover:
This thing is one of my favorite things:
Jeff is using this blog to display photos from the studio's history.
***
Some Publishing Genius Press news:
Justin Sirois's amazing book MLKNG SCKLS is now in its second printing. New cover! Way to go, Justin.
Adam Robinson, PGP's headmaster, has a book of poems called Adam Robison and Other Poems. Can't wait for it. Here's the cover:
This thing is one of my favorite things:
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