Bombyonder

A selection from Bombyonder is today's poem up at The Rumpus.

Also, I'm happy to announce that my novel, Bombyonder, will be published this October by Bitter Cherry Books (distributed by Coconut Books). I'm super excited that it'll finally be out. Over the summer and into the fall I'll probably be writing about it a lot here. Because that's what authors are supposed to do when their books come out.

Only two more days of NaPoWriMo.

Then I won't have to write another poem until next year.

Whew!

National Poetry Month Death Match

Rauan Klassnik pits Jereme Dean against me in a passionate NaPoMo debate at HTMLGIANT.

My position:

Do organized NaPoMo efforts make your poetic practices any less valid or artful or subversive? Turn your own poems into gimmicks? If your neighbor makes his poems mainstream, will that turn your poems mainstream? If so, maybe the problem is your weak-ass poems. Poems are supposed to endure.

If your neighbor reads his poem on PBS, will PBS come for your poems next? Save your tin-foil hat for a bigger threat.

Versus Jereme’s position:

For me, authentic poetry is the only genuine form of man’s concept of beauty.

This is why the MFA in poetics is laughably worthless. Why frumps ejaculating every day for a month is egotistical self-aggrandizement. And why professors with unblemished hands analyzing the symbolic merit of a red wheelbarrow is considerably pathetic.

In other words, National Poetry Month is fucking dumb.

Read it all here.

Mid-NaPoMo

It's April and the poetry NEVER EVER stops.

No matter how nicely you ask it.

Everyday I'm writing my NaPoWriMo poems on my Tumblr. As always, some days are better than others. One of the things I like about doing NaPoWriMo is that the pressure is on getting something done, instead of the usual write something good. It pushes out my internal editor, which can often be a bastard.

If you're in Chicago, tonight is the opening of FIXATION, an exhibition and a publication of art and poetry focused on the physical or psychological preoccupation or obsession over an object or subject. Tonight is the opening reception at the Zhou B Art Center at 7pm. The show runs until May 11th. I've contributed poems, along with poets: Sarah Blake, Ana Menendez, Ken Taylor, Richard Blanco, Tara Betts, Grace Cavalieri, Kathleen Kirk, Terry Lucas, Denise Duhamel, Nin Andrews, Sam Rasnake, Amy Serrano, Geof Huth, David Krumpm John Korn and Emma Trelles along with artwork by artists: Terri Thomas, Brianna Angelakis, Rory Coyne, Matthew Cherry, Ryan Shultz, Eloy Morales, Denis Peterson, Lauren Levato Coyne, Nick Ward, Patrick Earl Hammie, Miranda Graham, Harry Sudman, Marcos Raya, Ernesto Marenco, Karen Kaapcke, Jennifer Koe, Ivonne Bess,Cesar Santos, Daena Title, Nadine Robbins, Tracy Stuckey, Brian Busch, Daniel Ochoa and Jaime Valero.

If you're not around Chicago, you can order the PoetArtists Fixation issue here.

Here's a sampler.

There's other things coming up, I wrote a brief piece "defending" National Poetry Month that should be up at HTMLGIANT anytime. I'll link to it when its live.

Also, I have an announcement about when Bombyonder will be coming out. I'll make that soon.

NaPoWriMo has begun

My first poem is up. I used 6 or 7 different Bibliomancy Oracle prompts to nudge me.

Sure, NaPoWriMo poems are drafts and inherently rough. But it's about the process, right? Right. A lot of my NaPoWriMo drafts grew up to be honest-to-goodness poems in God Damsel.

It's not too late to join the party. All the details are here at Maureen Thorson's NaPoWriMo site.