Overall, I do believe in progress. It wakes me up in the morning. I think my poetics have moved in different directions over the past year or so and so I tucked away my first ms from about three years ago. But I am revisiting it and enjoying how different it is from Resident Alien.…

Hopefully you’ll hear something interesting if you tune in to my broadcast at miPO Radio. You can subscribe to my podcast on miPO radio via itunes, rss feed, or odeo here: Marcus Slease miPO Radio subscribe via odeo Please check it out. I might call you soon for an interview, musical performance, or perhaps even…

I can’t decide between Narcoleptic Lawn and King Gorged for book two of Resident Alien. Any thoughts?

Geraldine Monk Geraldine Monk info Review of Monk’s Noctivagations Tom Raworth Tom Raworth EPC page Tom Raworth Homepage video of Tom Raworth Reading Maggie O’Sullivan Maggie O’Sullivan info Maggie O’Sullivan MP3 files

head: by which information is transferred from an electrical signal to the recording medium, or vice versa

miPO radio is really kicking ass. Check out the latest shows (Asian-American poets, reading poetry by others, an interview with Rita Maria Martinez). I have a few recordings on the show of Resident Alien and a reading of Interregnum by Geraldine Monk. If you haven’t read Geraldine Monk check out her work. It’s coming from…

What is the difference between a serial poem and a long poem?

I had a really great time reading/listening/chatting on Saturday. Great to see close friends from Greensboro (Angie and Jake, Lori, Fay, Ezra) and lots of Lucifers: I’ve always been interested in the ritual/chant aspects of language and a few years ago I wrote an MA poetry thesis on Nous, and Greek philosophy in general, which…

I’ve got some samples from Resident Alien in the latest Mipo radio broadcast. Interesting radio programme (check it and subscribe to the podcast). Here is the link to subscribe to iTunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=74194035 Here is the link for the web site: http://miporadio.libsyn.com/ Here is a link to the show I appear in: http://miporadio.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=21621

Here’s the poster Todd Sandvik made:

Perhaps many of you know this already, but I continue to find it fascinating. A society that uses sex to diffuse violence etc. A more equal relationship between males and females. Lots of diverse sexual practices. Is it too late for us. Lots of info on the Bonobo. Check it out: Bonobos our friends

watched the movie Crash last night. Really well done. Much better than Shortcuts or Magnolia etc. in weaving multiple plots and characters. The movie deals with race with compassion and complexity. See it if you haven’t already. I cried three times during the movie (which is very unusual for me).

Reading Mark Wallace’s Temporary Worker Rides a Subway and watched In the Realms of the Unreal and they triggered some strange neuron firings this morning. I am in an airport full of Japanese folks. It’s a small airport. I am trying to get to Washington state (Bellingham to be exact) for a worker’s union meeting…

Google the word “failure” and look at what’s first.

I am wondering what the ratio might be between ancient art celebrating the life giving powers of the penis versus ancient art celebrating the life giving powers of the vagina? Sometimes I feel guilt for having a penis. I mean all the horrible history (the many relationships between violence and the penis both literally and…

A really terrific reading last night at The Nightlight in Chapel Hill. Some of the DC poets braved the highways and read some fascinating poetry. First up was Kathy Eisenhower. I was not familiar with her work so it was a very nice surprise (like going to a movie you’ve never seen the previews for…

Prepare to be blown away. This is a very promising literary journal (The best new lit journal I have ever witnessed whether print or online). Ambitious. Well-contextualized. The very highest caliber (as in Sulfur, Jacket etc.) Prepare to witness some history folks. If Fascicle keeps going for a while, it will be a part of…

This just in from Michael Magee at Combo Books: Hi everyone, It is my distinct pleasure to announce the publication ofthe latest Combo Book, ALSO WITH MY THROAT I SHALL SWALLOW TENTHOUSAND SWORDS: ARAKI YASUSADA’S LETTERSIN ENGLISH. Written under the pseudonym (or hypernym) TosaMotokiyu, edited by Kent Johnson and Javier Alvarez,beautifully and painstakingly designed by…

Finished reading Robert Kelly’s Runes and now reading Clark Coolidge’s Odes of Roba and a selection of poems from Maureen Owen’s The No-Travel’s Journal. So ancient places have invaded my mind. Runes/ruins (as Kelly says in the intro to his book), ancient Rome and objects recontextualized and worn on the body (Owen manages to re-invigorate…

I just finished reading Kent Johnson’s _Lyric Poetry After Auschwitz_ and it woke me up. I’ve been a bit sluggish (two weeks of only bits of writing). One of the things I found most compelling in Kent’s book is how the speaker is implicated in horrors of war/torture etc. (both post-avant and school of quietude…

The semester starts on Monday and I just picked up four classes (just wish adjunct status included benefits). I don’t like to do the same class twice, so I’ve immersed myself in readings for my classes. Joe Donahue gave me some great advice on teaching a class on the beats. So my topics in British…

1) Ken Rumble getting ready to wet willy Randall (his morning wake-up call. (Wish I looked that sexy w/out my shirt on) 2) Todd and Laura with punk rock legend Mickey (he toured with the sex pistols back in the day. Now he sells his outsider art)

1) Molly engaged in conversation 2) a famous Philly politician 3) sign for the Italian market 4) Brian Howe Waking up (Molly let us sleep in her room in the bookstore. A very kind and energetic and fascinating person) 5) Todd and Laura waking up

1) Marcus points to the deli in Brooklyn (our morning after meeting spot for the journey to Ithaca) 2) I met my good friend Hardy Gieske in Brooklyn (he recently relocated) 3) Our reading space in Pete’s Candy Store

Brian Howe leaves our cabin of infinity (we had some good stony talk about infinity in there). Marcus Slease and Ken Rumble hug as brothers as they contemplate the long 14 hour drive back to NC.

While boundaries are often permeable, I think it’s quite clear these poets fit the school of quietude. Or perhaps the school of safety or the school of predictability. Top 40 music without the same amount of $$$: Fishhouse Poets

Jack Kerouac, The Bobblehead Lowell Massachusetts native Jack Kerouac is getting bobbleheaded – Boston Red Sox single-A affiliate Lowell Spinners will be giving out 1000 Jack Kerouac bobbleheads on August 21, as part of Jack Kerouac night. The bobblehead doll itself is about 8 inches tall. The figurine sports a full head of black hair…

What an amazing trip with the Lucifer Poetics Group. I am exhausted but very happy. Brian Howe has a nice report at: Slatherpus Mike Snider has a brief account of the Baltimore reading here: Mike Snider’s Report Greg Deslie has some pics from the Ithaca reading: Poetry Space and some pics from Reb Livingston (from…

I am trying to find a server to store mp3 files for podcasting. So do not subscribe to never mind the beasts on itunes yet. For some reason it’s just a pdf file right now.

A Selection from RA

You can subscribe to my rss feed for audio (just click the link) But, better yet, subscribe to the Never Mind the Beasts podcast via itunes (within a day or two). Just search for Never Mind the Beasts under podcasts in itunes. The podcast will feature post avant poetry, music, special guests, live shows etc.…

I’m going on a reading trip with the Lucifer Poetics Group. Come see us if you’re in any of the areas. Here’s our tour schedule: Baltimore: Wednesday, July 27, 7pm — Red Emma’s Bookstore: 800 St. Paul Street Baltimore 410-230-0450 http://www.redemmas.org/ readers: Cell #2: Randall Williams David Need Ken Rumble Cell #1: Marcus Slease Brian…

If you like a good mix of critical consciousness (politics, well-situated damn amazing poetry) then check out the spanking new issue of: Your Black Eye

This is one of best sites I’ve ever come across. Some great hip hop podcasts and street art from around the world. The power of artist collectives. check it out: Wooster Collective

The poet and music critic Brian Howe has created a blog combining both his passions. Really interesting first post comparing hip hop to contemporary poetry in its expansiveness (not in the new formalist sense). check it out: SLATHERPUS

Part One of Stephen Jonas’ Selected Poems (Talisman House) is titled Exercises for the Ear and Part Three is titled Orgasms/Dominations. These titled capture the amazing fusions and poles of Jonas’ work. Jonas accomplishes a fusion unlike any poet I’ve ever read. The urgency and passion of the language is tempered with cool classical grace.…

Just picked up some books from the bookshop in Chapel Hill and Internationalist Books. All via trade credit (with $40 in store credit left): 1) Dalachinsky (Ugly duckling Presse) 2) Xing by Ron Silliman (Factory School) 3) Runes by Robert Kelly (OtherWind Press) 4) The Maximus Poems by Charles Olson (Jargon Corinth Books) 5) American…

“Technology does not serve so much as modify; it simultaneously promises and threatens change.” (Steve McCaffery) I’ve been reading scattershot about sound and music and space. I am especially intrigued by the idea of low frequency sounds in Gothic churches. Low frequency sounds (bass) immerses the participant more than high frequency sounds due to a…

poetry as: 1) quest 2) questioning 3) to write:to right 4) striking out FROM MY NOTEBOOK: “Surrealism once promised to tell us about the unconscious, but finished up trapped by its chosen objects of desire, peddling porngraphic thrills to the connoisseur.”(author unknown) Raworth’s poetry as a kind of “street-level Modernism.” REMIXED AND RESAMPLED: Veiled comrades,…

After some serious revisions, Campanology has now become Resident Alien. Resident Alien has a good chunk of Campanology, but the frame is a lot stronger (sequencing etc.) Resident Alien also circles the ms (as in saucer) in various ways. Resident Alien = my personal political status in the U.S. Resident Alien = a lot of…

Some very good revisions today. It helps to get Campanology rejected by contests. Makes me reorganize, resee, rethink. So. Campanology is now divided into three sections: section 1: Resident AlienSection 2: Shem/ShamSection 3: Sprog Section 1 now contains the first 25 pages of a previous ms called Resident Alien. The previous ms Resident Alien has…

Selected Quotes of Ernest Fenolossa: “The eye sees noun and verb as one: things in motion, motion in things.” “Motion leaks everywhere, like electricity from an exposed wire . . . there could be no complete sentence . . . save one which it would take all time to pronounce.” “Thought deals with no bloodless…

While examining dildos and butt plugs and books on the female orgasm at Adam and Eve’s, I met a colon cleansing salesman. He claimed a lot for his kit. The price was steep. The colon was an obsession growing up. Quite regular analysis/discussion of the consistency, length, and color of stools to indicate health. Lots…

A message from Aaron McCollough: Dear Kind Hearted Readers of GutCult: I’m pleased to announce the release of the Summer 2005 issue of GutCult (www.gutcult.com). I hope you will come by and spend some of your psychic capital on getting to know the poems and poets that make up this new edition. Also, please distribute…

This just in from Del Ray Cross: SHAMPOO issue 24, the FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY EXTRAVAGANZA, is now hot off the shelf and ready for your shower. Rinse and repeat and repeat with poetry by Alli Warren, Amanda Laughtland, Anselm Berrigan, Beth Woodcome, Bill Berkson, Brent Cunningham, C. S. Carrier, Carolyn Gregory, Cassie Lewis, Catherine Meng,…

Polyurethane vs. Ester 1. Greater stability in humid environments. Dampness promotes ester foam disintegration. 2. The different raw materials used to manufacture Polyurethane foam usually cost less than those used to manufacture Ester foam. 3. Ester foam’s rough, scratchy surface is usually less desirable than the smoother, softly polyurethane surface. 4. Although both materials are…

I know one of the arguments against avant garde (and post-avant) poetics is when it’s disjointed or fragmented or mucks with syntax it’s all surface or the poet is a misunderstood genius. I’ve thought it was a silly argument. I mean what is surface? How do we determine depth? But lately I’ve begun to question…

You are Percy Bysshe Shelley! Famous for yourdreamy abstraction and your quirky verse,you’re the model “sensitive poet.” Avegetarian socialist with great personal charmand a definite way with the love poem, youremain an idol for female readers. There aredozens of cute anecdotes about you, and I loveyou. Which Major Romantic Poet Would You Be (if You…

Doing a three step process with a new ms (with the tentative title of Narcoleptic Lawn). 1st step: Moleskin notes. Phrasings. collages, diagrams, and quotes 2nd step: organizing the notes, fragments into tentative lines on an old PC laptop 3rd step: transferring the tentative lines via usb flash drive onto my powermac and adding them…

Electronic ink is a new material that will have far-reaching impact on how society receives its information. Electronic ink is a proprietary material that is processed into a film for integration into electronic displays. Although revolutionary in concept, electronic ink is a straightforward fusion of chemistry, physics and electronics to create this new material. The…

Three Cheers for Patrick Hero(n), The Internationalist, Carrboro parks and Recreation, Open Eye Cafe etc. So amazing people at THE poetry Festival. Philip Nikolayev was funny and gorgeous. Lyric in an interesting and strange way. It was really nice to finally meet Gabe Gudding and Allyssa Wolf and Amy King and Christian Bok among so…

Here’s a nice little write-up about the NC poetry scene by Ken Rumble. Although there is an inaccurate lumping of: Black Mountain poets, Randell Jarrell, UNC Greensboro’s MFA program, Jargon Society. I think the rhetorical strategy of the piece is dead-on, but not sure about placing all these people and scenes together as part of…

When does the use of advertising language, for example, simply reinforce the advertising culture? Or, to go back a bit, did our man Andy W. challenge the status of low/high art via soup cans etc. or reinforce those distinctions? Performance artist Mark McGowan, 37, has rolled along the streets of London to promote kindness to…

This program looks amazing. Just what interests me: writing in the context of the arts (mixed media, performance etc.) check out the quicktime video: Performance Writing

Reading some great essays on Tom Raworth (Removed for Further Study from The Gig) and some really amazing performance/sound/shamanistic poems of Maggie O’Sullivan (Palace of Reptiles also from The Gig). Recently heard Redell Olsen on the Penn Sound site. I am really interested in the various reconfigurations of Objectivism in England and Ireland. There is…

Historians claim that the holiday of Mother’s Day emerged from the ancient festivals dedicated to mother goddess. In the ancient Greek empire, Rhea, the wife of Cronus, and mother of Gods and Goddesses, was worshipped. In Rome too, Cybele, a mother Goddesses, was worshipped, as early as 250 BC. It was known as Hilaria, and…

Just got back from Durham with some goodies. Picked up: 1) Ed Dorn’s Gunslinger Book III The Winterbook (Frontier Press) 2) Rodrigo Toscano’s The Disparities (Green Integer) 3) Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Dictee 4) Lauren Fairbanks’ Muzzle Thyself (Dalkey Archive Press) 5) Clark Coolidge’s Mesh also recently acquired: 1)Bruce Andew’s Give Em Enough Rope 2)…

Before I went home to Ireland last Christmas I had a recurring dream/nightmare that Ireland had been coopted by Las Vegas. All the green fields changed into a desert of neon lights. While the dream was certainly personal in its manifestation of the anxiety of identity ( emigrated to Las Vegas from Ireland in 1985…

I’ve been thinking over my thoughts about why writing matters. Publication and ego boosts and smoozing are all part of it. But perhaps, at least for me, not the core. The large claims of syntactic disruption advocated by some of the language writers (Charles Bernstein in particular) in order to confront and unseam the structural…

Lee Ann Brown and Carl Martin read last night to wrap the 2005 Desert City reading series. Carl Martin read first: rich sounds, density, surrealist touches, a head well squared on the body. I am was really impressed with the consistent quality of Carl Martin’s work. He read from his first book (the title of…

I am really fascinated by the intense relationship between Olson/Creeley and how they created an institution for the reception of their work. Not quite traditional marketing but perhaps marketing nonetheless. In thinking about why I write (poetry or whatever) I’ve often thought about the relationship between the substanceless emphasis of the new in the wider…

I am reading a book right now called _Career Moves_ by Libbie Rifkin. Rifkin analyzes the making of an American Avant Garde community via Creeley, Olson, Berrigan, and Zukofsky. I am only a little ways into the book, but it is fascinating so far. Rifkin has a chapter where she focuses on the homoerotic and…

I am really amazed by the output of Clark Coolidge. I read Own Face, Alien Tatters and I just finished The Crystal Text. I loved these books so much I want to read everything Coolidge has ever written. But that’s a lot of books and my assumption (where did I get it) is that if…

The soon to be knighted Sir Rumble braught Lisa Jarnot to my intro to poetry class yesterday. The class was standing room only (word got around) and most of the students were a tad shy. Lisa was friendly and intimate. She contextualized her work by talking about influences such as Bob Dylan and the Objectivist…

My friend Adam sent me this link (we need more of this reporting): Bedtime Story

This review really hit it for me. I recently read Maurice Scully’s _Livelihood_ and Geofrey Squires _Untitled and Other Poems_ is on deck (I love that baseball term. It is baseball, right?) I think this is from The Nortre Dame review, but I found it via goofle (I mean google). Another Ireland: Part Two Maurice…

I’ve been reading Poetry On & Off The Page by Marjorie Perloff and I am really enjoying it. Perloff is so lucid and engaging. One of the essays in her book, The Music of Verbal Space, really got me thinking about source texts. In this essay she discusses John Cage’s “What You Say. . .…

Announcing the Second Carrboro (International) Poetry Festival May 21 & 22 The 2005 Carrboro Poetry Festival will feature readings from 40 poets during the two day event Saturday May 21 and Sunday May 22. Hundreds of people attended the first annual fest in 2004, and many more are expected to turn out this year. Festival…

some interesting experiments with s+7 in my intro to poetry class: intro to poetry

Lester sent a great link to a music video celebrating the wonders of America. Check it out: America You Must Go ON Lester also sent this quote: “Of course we welcome, and I welcome, dissent and debate,” [CondosleezaRice] added.  “I welcome it privately. The United States government isof course a single entity and when decisions…

This hot new journal sounds very very promising. A focused eclectic (much needed as opposed to so many unfocused eclectics like Fence etc.) Here’s the notice (and open call) from editor Tony Tost: Here’s an open call I’m hoping to spread like good butter. Feel free to forward to any lists or post on any…

some really fresh cod and cold Stella last night at Fishbones. A nice little birthday celebration with some Greensboro buddies. My good friend Dan got me a gift certificate to Gate City Noise and returned from AWP with some books from Apogee Press. Angie and Jake got me a nice card with a racecar from…

The second airing of My Vocabulary this Sunday. Last week’s show was great. Some wonderful Robert Creeley poems and tributes. Check it out this Sunday. Here’s the message from one of the hosts Matthew Shindell: This Sunday on My Vocabulary we will be featuring a full-lengthreading by Jordan Davis (delivered and recorded here in San…

Wow. Tiffany surprised me with a 20gb ipod for my birthday today. I’ve never used an ipod. It’s charging right now. Can’t wait to load it up with some tunes (and maybe a few pics). Those things are bloody expensive. I had no idea this was coming. Yeehaw. Now I will really resemble my students!

so I am turning 31 tomorrow. it’s a strange number. the only significance being 10 years older than 21 (the age of drinking in the U.S.). In other news, I am fully enjoying Alien Tatters by Clark Coolidge. I tried to read Mesh and Own Face about a year ago and couldn’t make a go…

Patrick Heron sent this link to the Lucipo folks recently. A really well done music video. Here’s the synopsis: Protesting U.S. foreign policy, the Norwegian rap group Gatas Parlament created this video entitled “Kill Him Now.” Under pressure from the U.S., this was banned by the Norwegian government who claim that the video advocates direct…

re-read _Pieces_ last night and it moved me greatly. There’s so much packed into the book. Philosophical meditation on the “I” and death and the world body. This book really enacts the old “form is never more than an extension of content.” Multiple poems per page. A great range of diction. Some distinct Creeley uses…

I am excited to check out Stockholder’s work at the Weatherspoon. Just came across this brief interview and it perked (peaked) my interest: Klaus Ottmann: What are the most important issues in your work? Jessica Stockholder: My work developed through the process of making site-specific installations—site-specific sometimes in very specific ways but also just by…

A very intense dream the other night. don’t know if any of you out there ever feels a bit of despair over becoming wormfood, but lately the cycle has been a bit on the downside. Hence a dream to release my anxiety. Quite a few of friends in this one: Angie and Jake Decola, Ezra…

In case you don’t know already there’s a great new mag in town. Adam Good (of DC poet fame) has organized a very impressive first issue. Editorial vision (this is not a Fence mag) check it out: YOUR BLACK EYE

I am laughing and gasping and all in all envious of Mayer’s Midwinter Day. The “NY School” has so much boundless and boldness. What generation is Bernadette Mayer anyway? She mentions Ted and Alice so I am assume that’s Ted Berrigan and Alice Notley (2nd generation?). This is my first encounter with Mayer and I…

great st. paddy’s day party last night. some pics of noses and mouths. soon I will get inside the ear.

The idea of audience and language has been on my mind for quite a few years (perhaps always but I talking consciously here). Quite a few of my professors over the years have spoken of “limiting your audience” via the type of language you employ. In other words, big words. Abstract concepts. This goes with…

Chris Vitiello instigated a great discussion on the Lucipo listserv. He asked about our conception of open/closed text while composing/writing. His bloghas some fascinating talk of late (audience, plays etc.) I am still thinking through this issue. But here is a simplified version of my conception of open/closed:

Just picked up Medeski Martin and Wood’s Notes From The Underground. I am liking it a lot so far. What a range! I have found music without words works best when I am writing. Or perhaps words in another language (I’ll see about that when I try out some opera). Also just finished reading _Rome,…

Dry spells hurt. Resurrections are good (poetry doesn’t want immortality but ressurection) or insurrection? It’s good to plug back in. Listening to Jazz contemplating, dancing, and writing with IT. I really dig Brian Parker’s All That Jazz. Really gets me moving. So, I have three quick questions, if anyone cares to answer: 1) What are…

If you like sound (birds, dialects, Princess Elizabeth talking to children during WWII) check outThe British Library Sound Archive

If you’re ever in Chapel Hill, NC you must visit The Bookshop. I have yet to find a better used bookshop for poetry. Turned in a small box of poetry books and got $86 in credit. Picked up: 1) North of Intention by Steve McCaffery (essays) 2) Poetry on and off the page by Marjorie…

Red Juice by Hoa Nguyen Originally uploaded by postpran. Handsome, well-made chap. Demotic and personal and eliptical and chiseled. Music that stays fresh all year. Lot’s of interesting poems about/around motherhood. I now know about FAM and I want to look into it further. Get a hold of this one while it’s available. Smells and…

Etruscan Reader VI Originally uploaded by postpran. These Etruscan Readers really rock. I want them all!