poems that I've read recently and loved

this awesome collaboration with Erica Lewis and Mark Stephen Finein
Tuesday poem #18 : Pattie McCarthy : sonnets 28, 29, & 30 from x y z & &

Anne Boyer's Money City Sick As Fuck

all of Ash Smith's nanowrimopoems and especially this one

Jessica Smith's bird/memory poems at Tsk

everything by C.S. Giscombe; here's a fox 

these Claire Hero poems from Sing, Mongrel

Delirious Hem Delirious Summer

I love summer. It is when I read the most.

Delirious Hem had an amazing forum on feminist poetics last month, and at some point I have things to say about it.

Check out the newest forum on Deviant Beach Reads, curated and organized by Danielle Pafunda.

Reading and Catharsis

Books often make me cry. This has always been true. When I was a kid, I cried for days after reading Where the Red Fern Grows. I cried after reading Bridge to Terrabithia. I cried after reading The Red Pony. I cried after reading Death Be Not Proud. I cried after reading Flowers for Algernon. And books continue to make me cry. I often read these tear-jerkers in the same way: I read them straight through, without much stopping, often staying up all night. Then I think about the book obsessively for two or three days. Then I go back to "normal." Sometimes, such as when I'm on break during summer vacation, I will read many books that make me cry back-to-back. I do not feel lonely, only quiet, still, like I'm resting. Like I'm taking a big breath before I go under.

rag tag

Jessica tagged me to list 8 random things. Here is a list of 8 "random" things about my reading habits.

1. I read my horoscope. I don't necessarily "believe" in astrology, but I find horoscopes interesting. I especially like reading Susan Miller's astrology zone at the beginning of each month. I'm on the cusp of scorpio/sagitarius.

2. I visit Wikipedia at least once a day. Today I read about Michael Faraday
and the squirrel.

3. I very rarely read a book cover to cover, except for novels and poetry books, and even in those I tend to read around. If I'm reading criticism or theory, I have to read with a pen/pencil and underline a lot -- otherwise, I remember nothing.

4. I read blogs, and have recently been using google reader. In addition to poetry and feminist blogs, I also read celebrity gossip blogs. Don't judge me.

5. 8 Novels I've read multiple times since I turned 18: Sons and Lovers, To the Lighthouse, The Metamorphosis, Cane, Pride and Prejudice, Anna Karenina, Written on the Body, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas.

6. 8 Novels I read multiple times as a child: Little House on the Prairie, Flowers for Algernon, The Black Stallion, The Red Pony, Misty of Chincoteague, The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, Emily of New Moon.

7. I read, but do not follow, recipes. I hate being precise in the kitchen. It annoys me.

8. I hate reading directions that come with board games. I expect games to be intuitive. I hate that feeling of opening a board game and encountering some thick booklet of instructions.

July Notes

reading War and Peace.



I'm especially absorbed by the section from the Poetry in a Time of Crisis Conference: Is Poetry Enough (interesting Juliana Spahr essay here. Another essay is here).



Watched Winter Soldier. I'm interested in testimony -- in its necessity.



These are sentences from Jen Scappettone and Judith Goldman:



"Poetry's role is to decrease people's capacity to absorb contradictions quiescently"



"At the same time, however, to testify to war achieving its primary aim -- which is to injure and kill -- is also a symbolic act of remembrance and defiance."

Kaya Oakes is rad

Kate Greenstreet interviews Kaya Oakes

weekend reading

cool interview with Perter Ganick

Reading Hannah Weiner

I see words

makes me want to make (spring)

Linh Dinh is my new favorite poet. Lots of intriguing and inspiring stuff over at the flux I share.

post-bellumletters reading

I'm reading this. lots of great images.

sunday

A whole section devoted to feminist art in The Washington Post:

To get into the show, you have to brush past a 12-foot-tall, blood-red vulva suspended from the ceiling, woven from sisal in the gnarly style of a classic hippie hanging. It's so supremely brash it makes you laugh and squirm at the same time. Many of the female and feminist themes in this show, as well as the simple concentration of them in one place, can leave even fans feeling vaguely squirmy. We're clearly not used to an exhibition that's all woman, all the time, even though we seem to have no trouble with other shows drenched in testosterone -- which would be almost every exhibition that we've ever seen, judging by the warriors and courtesans and macho brushstrokes in their works, and by the males who crafted them.

I've also been reading Lee Ann Brown and Sylvia Plath. Also watching Twin Peaks Season 2.

good reading

I'm going to start making posts about what I like to read.

So far, I've really enjoyed reading this. it's by ofelia hunt. I think "ofelia hunt" is a really great name.

I like just about everything over at bear parade. good stuff over there.

that's all.

great friday reading

Mairead Byrne's SOS @ ubu

best read in days: ca conrad and alice notley

eta: this

footnotes

I really like this. I've been noticing lots of footnotes in poetry lately. I think this is cool.

I like the sort of "running under" text.

yeah. that's all.