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Category: the green monk
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A selection of my surreal-absurd prose poems from The Green Monk has just been published in Slovak in the magazine Vertigo. Such beautiful book art. Nice to hold in the hand. The poet Vik Shirley is also in there. Happy as Larry!
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Here are “The Leftovers.” From my book The Green Monk. A poem about the wonder bread of Jesus. But really Jerry. His gold chain. His hardness.
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A recording of my reading and discussion from The Green Monk and Hermit Kingdom (my manuscript in progress), along with the fabulous poet Colin Herd, is now up with Home Stage on Youtube. Some animal prose poems, fables, magic, surrealism, absurdism, and optimism.
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On Wednesday June 9th, I am reading with the fabulous Colin Herd for Home Stage in the U.K. The event will be streamed live via Youtube. I’ll be reading animal prose poems from my book The Green Monk, as well as some new work from my manuscript in progress: Hermit Kingdom. Surrealistic, minimalist, and sometimes…
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I am just getting started with the surreal-absurd feature for Mercurius Mag. In the coming weeks, we have some stellar poems from Vik Shirley and Chrissy Williams. To join the conversation, I have featured a few of my own surreal-absurd tales and prose poems. Click HERE to read the selection of surreal absurd tales from…
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In my youth I ate Jesus body. With Jerry. It was Wonder Bread. Here is the story. A prose poem from The Green Monk (Boiler House Press). It’s called “Leftovers.”
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I’ve got some horses over at Bear Review. The horses are Leonora Carrington’s horses too. The poem is part of my book The Green Monk (Boiler House Press). Check out the horses here
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Alchemia is a place in the old Jewish area of Krakow. Old world Bohemian. It is also a practice. I wrote “Alchemia” in Alchemia with the aid of the mercurial paintings of Leonora Carrington. “Communion” and “First Star” and “Snow Globe” and “Trinkets” in “Psychic Marmalade” (from my book The Green Monk) were written around…
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A little winter journey through The Green Monk. Written, mostly, while staying in the old Jewish quarter of Kraków (Kazimierz), right before Christmas. The year 2016. Inspired by various surrealisms, especially Leonora Carrington and Salvador Dali. The Green Monk is available from Boiler House Press. They make very fine books!
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In 2016, I received a commission from the Austrian Cultural Forum in London to write something in the spirit of the Vienna Secessionists. I was super happy to have one of the poems from the commission in the faith issue of Tin House Magazine. The poem, “Sacred Spring,” was also published in my book The…
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When I moved to Madrid, in the summer of 2016, I learned Spanish expressions. One of them was “a bug in the house.” It was also my first year with the famous Spanish lottery. Lower middle class living per always, the lottery was tempting. & we played, like so many millions (or is billions) of…
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I used to deal with the body and blood of Jesus, on a Sunday, kneeling over it. I was mostly an introverted quiet kid and Jerry was stud muffin. I lifted weights in gym, but only my legs got bigger. Jerry had rock hard cleavage. His hair was perfect. He wore a gold chain when…
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In 2016, I received a commission from the Austrian Cultural Forum in London to write something in the spirit of the Vienna Secessionists. Here is one part of the commission, published in The Green Monk as “Great Expectations.”
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Here is a prose poem from The Green Monk. Written in a poorly ventilated, black mold infested room in London, reminiscing about the glory days of the late 90s, bleached hair, bar dips for bigger bums. It is called “Built to Spill.”
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What is The Green Monk? It is many things. Hopefully, a good journey. Here are some questions, and brief answers, about influences, images, nomadic surrealism. The great project of reconciling dream and reality. Thank you Boiler House Press.
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Time is moving fast and faster. 3 years in Spain after over 8 years in London, plus many other countries besides. The thrill of new places, like the thrill of anything, has a short lifespan, but it is still good, overall, here. Madrid was the first city, before here near Barcelona, and it is a…
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This prose poem/flash fiction, entitled “Feast Day,” from my book The Green Monk (Boiler House Press 2018), is about the anticipation of the feast day. There are many feast days. You can create your own. Leonora Carrington and Salvador Dali liked to mix surrealism and food. It is a good mix. This prose poem is…
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What is that big ball of energy? Is it alive? What is alive? Here is a prose poem from my book The Green Monk. It is all about the sun.
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Super happy to have my surreal prose poem “Horses” (inspired in part by Leonora Carrington) nominated for the Best of the Net. Thank you Bear Review!!
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A story about cosmic evolution, romance, beards & shaggy carpets. From my book The Green Monk. “Where is your black hole? Only survival of the fittest. Black holes.”
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Terrific review by Tom Jenks of my book The Green Monk. You can read it over at Stride magazine. Lydia Davis, Daniil Kharms. Yes please! The Green Monk is available from Boiler House Press. It has a very nice design. Good to touch. And also read.
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from The Green Monk, Boiler House Press, 2018.
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Are you feeling wild. Beepers were wild, especially on studly belts, in the 1990s, in Southern Utah. Here is a studly poem. From my most recent book, The Green Monk (Boiler House Press). (image: Nancy Baker, ‘Wild Man’)
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from my latest book, The Green Monk (Boiler House Press 2018).
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from The Green Monk (Boiler House Press).
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Ancient elephants and Dalí. From my book The Green Monk.
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A Polish Christmas poem. From The Green Monk.
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In Madrid there is a street called the street of lamps. It is called the street of lamps because they sell many lamps. It is also a street with cold floor cafe with sawdust and old medieval style damp alleyways with flowerpots on the balconies. I sat there, in the cafe, after wandering the street…
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Jerry sported gold chains, even when he broke the bread, the body of Jesus, and passed the little cups of water, the blood of Jesus. It was a thin one, there were thicker ones. It was the end of 1980s, North Las Vegas. French kissing was in the air. Here is a gold chain, from…
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There are so many. Dancers dance them. Lordly swans. Soft swans. Isn’t it time for the swans. Noise rock, post-punk, industrial and post-rock. Temperamental and beautiful. Here is a poem, from The Green Monk, about swans, written in London, in a bone cold room, during winter, warmed by swans, and the thought of swans, and…
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The Candle in the Pumpkin From my new book The Green Monk.
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Zapiekanka? Yes please!! Here is a flash fiction, written during Christmas 2016 in Krakow Poland, in the historic Jewish quarter of Kazimierz. Frommy book The Green Monk. Available from Boiler House Press.
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The Green Monk is out in the world. Collaborations with the paintings of Dali and Leonora Carrington. The green parrots of Garcia Lorca and Paul Celan. The queer erotics of swans. The mysteries of milk in Madrid. Soul suckings. Bazaars and border fluencies. Nomadic surrealist prose poems written in Krakow, Katowice, Madrid, London and more. And…
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Super happy to have my horse poem in the new issue of Bear Review. It is from my book The Green Monk. This poem, in the new issue of Bear Review, is surrounded by many other magical poems and art, and it is a poem, in part, about the garden of eden. It was written…
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The Green Monk is heavily influenced by Surrealist writers and painters who have lived or passed through Madrid in the first part of the 20th century. It is also influenced by nomadic surrealist wanderings around Europe. It has four movements: Built to Spill Psychic Marmalade The Green Monk Great Expectations Here is an excerpt from the…
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I am very happy and excited to announce my new book, The Green Monk, is now available for pre-order. The Green Monk is a dreambox or a sweatbox of a sugar skull. A black hole full of hairspray and cigarette butts where the deer are twitching. It is the great urn of space dust where yellow…
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As an immigrant in America I was obsessed with ninjas and invisibility. Also pink hot dogs. I was no good with baseball but liked the slap of the leather. My first pair of American sunglasses were made of gold plastic. Every journal entry ended with I am a warrior of light. Here is the poem.…
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Did you watch Watership Down, the cartoon, as a wee lad or lass? Was it scary? I think it is still scary. The theme song, with its chorus of bright eyes burning like fire, still haunts me. How about Roland Rat? Roland Rat with the floppy doll of my brother before we immigrated to the…
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Fluland published 10 of my nomadic surrealist stories/prose poems from my book The Green Monk (forthcoming from Boiler House Press on 5th November 2018). Some Las Vegas immigrant stories. Gold chains and french kissing. Aliens and fig leaves. German Edelweiss hidden in bibles. And much more! Thank you Fluland!! Check ’em out over here: http://www.fluland.com/2017/05/10/ten-poems-marcus-slease/…
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I have two prose poems in The Stockholm Review of Literature from my book of surrealist prose poems. The book is called The Green Monk. Forthcoming from Boiler House Press on November 5th 2018. One of the poems is based on Dali painting. The other based on a late night in London. They are called…
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Super happy to have my poem “Feedback” in Poetry magazine. It is part of my manuscript The Green Monk, forthcoming from Boiler House Press in November 2018. It was composed while ingesting everything written by the great Lydia Davis. I can’t help wondering if some of her approach to writing leaked in there, but also other…
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My partner Ewa and I visit Poland for Christmas every year. My partner Ewa is from Katowice so that is our home base. During our summer visits we explore mountains and villages, but at Christmas it is mostly family. However during Christmas 2016, after 4 months of living in Madrid, our new home base after…
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The moon is sometimes bloated. There is so much. Just stop, slow down, take a look at your brain. It is very bloated. Put your thoughts in a balloon, maybe 99 red balloons, and pop them. Over and over. Here are some balloons. From my book The Green Monk, forthcoming from Boiler House Press on…
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My poem “Feedback” (part of my manuscript The Green Monk forthcoming from Boiler House Press) was published in the November issue of Poetry magazine. Nice! Folks published in the Nov issue of Poetry magazine were asked for readings lists. I’ve added mine. Some Tim Atkins, Jeff Hilson, Colin Herd, bill bissett, Victoria Brown, Isabel Waidner,…
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A wee performance at Desperate Literature Bookshop. Madrid. 14th April 2017.
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A LITTLE STORY FROM MADRID. FROM MY ALMOST FINISHED MANUSCRIPT THE GREEN MONK. THERE ARE MANY KINDS OF BAPTISMS. IT BEGINS WITH A CLAY TEAPOT FOR THE NOSE.
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Part of the reading from last night at Xing the Line. Poems and stories from ongoing manuscript The Green Monk. Influenced by Mormonism, Lydia Davis, Ivor Cutler, James Tate, and others. https://player.vimeo.com/video/171918072 Xing the Line Farewell Reading Part Two from JJMars on Vimeo.
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I was super happy to have two poems in the faith issue of Tin House Magazine. They were later published in my book The Green Monk (Boiler House Press). From my poem “Sacred Spring” in the faith issue of Tin House. A lost baby. Miscarriage. Travel. The great ships come and go. From my poem…
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Catania Sicily beach of debris. A frozen circus. Working on a prose poem for my manuscript The Green Monk about dolls from Saturn.
Never Mind the Beasts 