Long Poems & Half-Truths

Long Poems and Half-Truths

have architecture
machine or drive
the work

lyric base
in lyre
the brevity
capturing
the weight
of such
sweetness
the liar

the ring
of a bell
its ante
its antici-
baited
-pated
fading

“lighght” -AS
a knot
of attention

hold that page for a moment
the forest in the
bed of your
head a hammock
hung from ear to ear
crouching just
behind the senses

help yourself
build your castle
be the slumlord
of your world

be the
single
orche-
orca
strated
work

set sail
“cheeks puffed out” -JS
graced by wind
cheekbones, masts

lightning strikes
but a few times
in a career

spices, spicer, spicier
teasing the truism
new modulations
of the sword
seaward
serial angel
community of

the beginnings of zero
where all nothingness
or somethingness comes
closer to the all than

1

the sea writes on the shore--
what speaks from the mouth of a cannon?
--vases survive ruins
being built to last
“absent midnight” -MT(?)

on ex nihilo:

origin and source
the out-of-nothing

point to an absence in this room--
don’t point at me
--is there even such a thing?
a black hole would tear your hand off

we struggle
to conceive
infinity
the stars
a boundary?
a vanishing
point?
not absence or true
void:
a seeming border
an extension

to nothingness?

the swallow
of holes

0

in the Church of the Holy Blood in Flanders
saw Jesus’s blood, the red
separated from the plasma
in a test tube attached
to a priest’s wrist
we just walked in the church by accident

rather human rather
than heroic
gravity, levity, humility

feeling like a rubber band
its function to stretch
or the continuance to snap
“gift” and exchange -MC
transmutation
2000 pounds of paint
in a rose
interjections
appropriations
what are you comfortable
sitting down with

the photograph captures too perfectly
challenges realism
opens the form to impressionism, pixilation, the blur
“willing suspension of disbelief” -STC

-1

a husband with a giraffe head is
absurd, yet
sustainable
if approached with faith

muse and drudge
seed the lists with seemingly innocent language
coat with culture

the currants
on “the castle”

insert yourself
into the cracks
of the legend:

the courage, the loyalty, a woman
the tradition
slumbering in the Odyssey
stolen from its imaginings

the sidelong cider
not quite penetrable
puzzles to solve
unsolvable puzzles
under the “magnifying
glass from the OED” -LH

all books are folded
to open is to unveil
in the meditative mode
take your time; oceans open

link up the floating debris
adapt to the jittery condition

of waves

of the earth, the stain
of experience
the stain on the tub -VS
once filled with olives
present when the lovers
go to bed


The above lines are the notes I took for the Long Poem course at SFSU. So credit goes to Paul Hoover, Aram Saroyan, Jack Spicer, Maxine Chernoff, Coleridge, Lyn Hejinian, Harryette Mullen, Vikram Seth, and Homer.

The Davis Poetry Anthology

Davis Poet Laureate, Allegra Silberstein, hosted a wonderful event Saturday for The Davis Poetry Anthology. It is a lovely publication representing Davis poets and the Davis community. I am so pleased to have attended the event. It reminded me of the many sights, sounds, and smells of Davis. Sandra McPherson, Francisco X. Alarcon, Andy Jones, and my dear friend Briony Gylgayton are just few of the poets included in the anthology. For more information on the project please follow this link.

Autolycus: a rogue literary journal

Autolycus is a rogue literary journal edited by my dear friends, including Genie Cartier. This week they have come out with their third issue "Frames." Two poems from my "mini" series (mini because most of these poems could fit in your palm) are included in the issue, alongside the works of Paul Hoover, Jackson Meazle, and several other great poets. Issues are available at City Lights in SF or by mail through the website which is linked here.

Below are two poems from the mini series, to give you a taste of my miniature work:


More Sprinkles

When I say to my mother:
The only reason you wanted children was to get away with eating extra sprinkles on breakfast cake.
She merely shrugs…



Photo courtesy of Ryan Deal


this poem
could not
have been

Chiming In

Lately I've been busy rushing to finish a project before the end of my semester. The project isn't ready to be released on the web, so here's an unrelated poem that I jotted in the margins of my notes this week:

Chime-in

Chimera chimed in
chilling in no more
than a chimere.
The children sent
its chimerical chimes
up the chimney.
Chin up, chilly chimera
chin up, it tried.

Updates on upcoming publications soon to come!

A Riddle for Chuck

How much, Chuck
could a nun-chuck chuck
if a nun chucks nun-chucks, Chuck?

Bruised Peach Press

I had the good fortune to have my haiku published with Bruised Peach Press. You can check out their newsletters as well as my work here

My writer's block mutates into paper bag owls.

Ghost Town

I am very grateful to have two of my poems published in Ghost Town, a magazine published by California State University San Bernardino. The edition features Bob Hicok as well as many other great poets and writers. Please check it out, you can order copies here.

My poems included are "Avalanche" and "At the Crosswalk: a Car and a Man" dedicated to my grandfather (Funny Grandpa) who passed a little under a year ago. Here is another poem that I wrote about him at the time:

Birthday Parties

Funny Grandpa is the type of person
Who won’t show up at the park for his own
Birthday party, even though it is his favorite
Place to stroll with a book on Sundays

He does not want you to go out of your way
For his sake, surely you have better things to do
Than swing a bat at a piñata and eat cake
With chili peppers for candles

Instead he sits at home petting his pit bull
Ashing pages of poetry, probably contemplating
How people do not exist when they are out of sight
How parties dissipate when he does not arrive

The first time he forgot to call and cancel, my aunt cried
She is crying now though absence is common on occasions
Still we all sit here in the shady trees eating carnitas tacos
Toasting to that Funny Grandpa with homemade jamaica

His Secret Garden

Please check out Compass Rose's blog. My poem "His Secret Garden" is an editors' choice this week, which you can read here: http://compassroseonline.wordpress.com/

The Marvelous & Ovum Leathers (two small poems)

The Marvelous

Elevators Hum
Moths Revalue

Heart Volumes
Earth Volumes

Mahouts Revel
Amulets Hover



Ovum Leathers

Mauve Holster
Helmet Savour

Several Mouth
Mouths Reveal

Volute Harems
Stem Overhaul

The House Appeared to be Virgin

The house appeared to be virgin,
but we knew otherwise.

When the builders slept
she left herself spread open

When she exposed her framing
we carved our names in her wood

When they gave her tiles
we lay on top of her and counted stars

When the walls became solid
we kissed in her corners and shadows

When the locks were installed
the first couple moved in,
and we walked past with our hands clasped.



(Published by Produce Literary Magazine)

in the belly of the beholder

Ethernity + Etsy craft party = Poem Collage

Ethernity Card



Just open...



Flip the top page to the right



And close!




The other night I was lucky enough to go to the Etsy Craft Party, where they had music, drinks, silkscreening, letter press, a photo booth, and free giveaways! So these photos are the results of that party. The background is the bag that we silkscreened (side note, while I was at the Renegade Craft Fair I bumped into the silkscreen designer, Virginia!) and the card is the letterpress print that we did. The collage images that you see were taken from the coupons and giveaways that they handed out at the Etsy event such as Craft-In (ed. Kathleen McCafferty). The poem and the sailboat, I cut and organized, but I should give the real credit to Christian Bok for the inspiration. Below are my/Bok's words on Ethernity:

Ethernity

interzones
describe, existence
a man has lost
his tuning fork
a fiat lux ex nihilo
reality built
out of thought alone
navigators make land
not find it, provide it
a Wunderkammern Wonderland
a body becoming a book
a papyrus cadaver
an unscroll
a musical score
a superman
an absurd vessel
a sieve of words
…perfect nonsense
hyperbolic exactitude
suggests a drive through
elastic crystal skin
exponents in a vacuum
the surface of a leaf
exploded transparency
the truth exists undeniably
in error in ur in
faith in swerve

Dumpster Dress

Here's an old poem that was published on Nameless Magazine online, but is no longer available on the site. Nameless updates their online fiction and poetry regularly and have a great assortment of work that I would recommend checking out!

Dumpster Dress

And here, pulling up in the Wal-Mart Shopping cart,
comes the unforgettable Miss Blech.

Last time she stepped up to the red carpet,
she was adorned in a classic potato sack
custom-made and hand-stitched.

Tonight she is garbed in a risqué bubble wrap,
quite possibly shipped as an industrial size roll.

There isn’t a fan out here that can take his eyes off her.

The translucent material is wrapped mail safe
around her chest into a provocative tube top;
the plastic forms a white haze like thin clouds grazing her skin,
so that her nipples are no more than two mysterious red suns.

The skirt is also crafted out of those delightful air pockets,
a blue-hued tissue paper trims the edge,
and just barely spills to her thighs.

This is quite a fashion statement.
One of a kind
A kind of one
A one…kind of
She has received several eye-popping glances now.

But this gown is only as appropriate and revealing as
other award winning celebs’. What more could be done
to push the envelope other than wearing a discarded envelope?

Besides…
Torn tin foil for a bracelet,
Colored funnies from the Sunday news for sleeves,
Packing peanuts instead of precious pearls,
A Pete’s Pizza box in place of a brand name purse,
or straws as a stand-in for sweet cigars?

The little accessories that keep her mediocrity
from hitting the hot or not page.

She is now approaching the spaghetti sauce trail.
Let’s see who the next arrival is.

Loveliest Poison Erasure

The last two posts have been on the "Loveliest Poison" erasure that I experimented with. I had only intended at first to upload the poem and explain how to go about doing an erasure, but realized as I was posting it that the formatting does not carry over without me having to upload the doc as an image. I have to admit I am not tech savvy at all, so instead of attempting to teach myself how to do that (which may have been the easier route now that I look back at it and my google search bar) I attempted to illustrate the piece. Here's what I came up with. Unfortunately I'm not a professional designer or illustrator (my sisters snatched the sketching genes and left me with the words) but I still had fun with the project.

So, if you want to do an erasure, pick a book or a song or a poem etc. and just take white out or a black marker to the words and delete things until there's an outcome that you're intrigued by or until there is nothing left. The work that got me started on this is called Radi Os by Ronald Johnson. He did an erasure on Paradise Lost, which is a great example that I'd recommend checking out. It's especially entertaining if you've had to brave the full journey of Paradise Lost.

I hope you like the poem which is written into the illustration, but also below (formatting be dashed) in case my handwriting isn't sufficient.

loveliest "poison,"

____________________________________________________
loveliest “poison,”





















and what is
----------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________
a large rabbit-hole




a






well fell


slowly






and book-shel
----------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________























a waist-
coat-pocket
----------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________


a jar


drop








Down, down, down







to
----------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________





















an ignorant little

somewhere
----------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________
Down, down, down.












doors all around










----------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________




















rat-hole
garden



----------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________






shut up like a telescope!

out-of-the-way

indeed




hoping




“DRINK ME”


“Drink me,”
----------------------------------------------------

Loveliest Poison

Here is an art piece I designed, inspired by an erasure of The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland. It's sharpie on stolen translucent trash that my boyfriend found after the holidays near a phone service company's dumpster. Mounted on a Queen's apartment complex deteriorating rooftop.

N+7 Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Somewhere over the Rampage

(I recommend singing this one aloud with your best young inquisitive Judy Garland's Dorothy impersonation. It's okay if your voice cracks, mine did when I sang it in front of my class of thirty undergraduates, but that's all part of the fun ;)

Somewhere over the rampage
Way up hinds,
There's lanolin that I heightened
Once in a lust.

Somewhere over the rampage
Slanders are blush,
And the droughts you dazzled to drought
Really commit unable.

Someday I'll wobble on a statistic
And warble up where clues are far
Behind me.

Where truces melt like lesson dues
Away above the chiropractic torque
That's where you'll flash me.

Somewhere over the rampage
Blueblackjacks forecast.
Blackjacks forecast over the rampage.
Why then, oh why can't I?

If hardy little blackjacks forecast
Beyond the rampage
Why, oh why can't I?


Here I'm experimenting with the N+7 form (Noun + 7 words in the dictionary). It can also be Adj + 7 or Verb + 7. Basically what you do is start with any poem or song or piece of literature. Use a dictionary of your own choosing and change all the nouns by taking the seventh noun after the original noun in the dictionary as its replacement. I did this with all of the nouns, adjectives, and verbs with the exception of “melt”. Give it a try with a pretentious piece of literature or your favorite rap song. You will likely be surprised by the end result. And don't cheat and pick the 8th noun instead of the 7th!...okay you can cheat a little. But just have fun.

Compass Rose Volume XI

I've been mentioned as a contributor for Compass Rose's Volume XI!
http://compassroseonline.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/contributors-for-volume-xi/

Please check out my poem "His Secret Garden" when available.

left-handed lipogram - Deer Treats!

Lately I've been looking into Oulipo and discovered the left-handed lipogram, which is a poem that is written with only the left side of the keyboard. It was a fun exercise that I would encourage trying. Here is the piece that I produced, enjoy!:

deer treats!

average cedar
seed swag
sacred ragweed
grass axes
grafted trees
severed dredges
safer darts
averted gazes
gagged dastards
arrested traders
fat rears
fear extracted
regretted tadas
car swerves
severe vexes
garage access
rare feed
red tea
rafter vests
free faxes
wax cards
tattered rags
café tarts
dragged saxes
excess feasts
rewarded greed
water stars
westward sex
wet ewes
revered eves
dew graves
a weft~wave

a new hope...

Currently I'm in a course called by poetry machines, in which we have focused on Oulipo poetry and are inventing our own machines to drive our poetry. One of the poets in the class has created a form that is based off of blog entries, and this previous week she mentioned that referring to blogs can sometimes be repetitive because a good number of blog posts begin with "sorry for not posting in a while, but this finally warranted an excuse to put something down in here" more or less. So to circumvent that scenario I have waited until the 1,2,3rd sentence to say, wow there's a big gap between the last time I wrote and now (sort of like how there's a gaping hole (time, plot, moral standards, etc.) between the stars wars prequels and originals (I don't frequently reference star wars, it just seemed to fit with the entry title...also I just finished watching the reviews put out by RedLetterMedia check it out). Sorry for the tangent...but unlike the Star Wars epic, the newer posts in here will be an improvement from previous works of art (hopefully, or else I'm in more trouble than I know).

I'm also going to start posting in here things like events that I perform at, as well as publications of mine, in case anyone is interested in looking them up. So I'll take a moment here to post the past few I've been in just to catch you up. Unfortunately Seele Literary and Produce Magazines don't have websites, because they have merged and have found new management since publications with them. But check out Nameless Magazine which is an awesome student-run magazine at UCDavis:

http://www.namelessmagazine.com/cherry-and-trish/

I also have my poem "C[ase] 88" printed in Zyzzyva, but it seems their website is currently under construction, so I'll link you to it later.

Stay tuned, poetry and essays are on their way!