Clockwise Cat

Only just over one month late I note that there is a new Clockwise Kitty. Here are three by me. 
I am exceedingly old and reaction times are somewhat impaired. Hence my tardiness.

more about funerals

Links to reviews and such up at epic rites website. Get the book, I looked through it just now and wasn't particularly ashamed of it, it's OK. It's at both SPD and Amazon, but best to buy at SPD since Amazon is a monstrous multinational corporation and, as such, part of the enemy.

What's inside a funeral?

Apart from a tasty sexy corpse?
At epic rites bookstore you can get a look at five poems and other things from my third full length. It's linked direct here by clicking on this link. 
I really think you should buy this, it will guarantee the ladies a cellulite free life until their own funeral and the gentlemen at least three extra inches, at least as reliably as all the other promises of such on the internet.

laughing at funerals

Here is the link to laughing at funerals at Amazon. It's my third full length and it's from epic rites press, who have a very excellent catalog that you might want to check out. Unless you prefer to be some sort of bizarre dinosaur.

On another note, I removed compiz-fusion and all its related packages from my two Gentoo installs in a fit of pique provoked by the hard-masking of said packages. I can say that kwin in kde 4.7.4 actually kicks ass, the cube working better than with compiz (Nvidia drivers).

Interview at Mad Rush

Short interview, little room to lie, so I tell the truth at Mad Rush.

Bone Orchard Poetry

Thanks greatly to Mick Mc Aloran for posting the six things at the link at Bone Orchard Poetry. It will be a great new zine I am sure, dripping with positive vibes:)

meat songs

A new UK print zine which will be great I am sure, being under the editorial hand of David Mac and called meat songs, has just been kind enough to accept three by me for an upcoming issue. They are mostly about zombies, these three. Which means that two of them are. Not sure about a website, but here is the facebook group.

Mad Rush

A new print zine called Mad Rush, edited by Craig Sernotti, is coming. One by me in first issue. Bound to be a great zine.

Rain Dogs

Pleased to have had a poem accepted by a print zine in the UK, Rain Dogs, who will be worth checking out I do believe.

Ten Pages Press Reader Vol 3

As I said earlier a couple by me are in this. It's now live an everyone owes huge thanks to Craig Sernotti for doing this series. Here it is.

Mung Being 41

There is a new MungBeing up. Issue 41, themed transitions. Poems by me, which I sort of assume are death-themed, at this link.

Craig Podmore - The Symmetries Of Pain

Here is a short review of Craig Podmore's new novella The Symmetries of Pain

This novella is raw. Raw like the products of a war. It is about the process of becoming less than human, in the sense of inhumane. The distortion of sexuality and emotion by being a soldier, a person paid by the state to kill and not to feel.

Though the fact that the protagonist is a soldier is not the crux. It could be anybody, any body that takes the state seriously or is seriously taken by the state.

This is perhaps not exactly the pornography of violence, though the subject is violent pornography. The penis a gun and the gun a pen is, Freud everywhere but no cigars in sight. Sometimes a gun is just a gun, but not here, nor in modern warfare. The protagonist's acquaintance Anton is a connoisseur of cruelty who speaks of the symmetries of pain. He is defeated however as the novella build to a crescendo where “true love” seemingly triumphs as Anton is killed by Cinnamon, the protagonist's woman.

Though the book seems to hold out “hope” in the idea that humans can know a genuine love, it is most effective and speaks most naturally up to that point, where it lists the high points of our depravities. Eating, fucking and killing all being basically the same thing, the same function.

“There are words scribed onto the walls in both shit and blood:‘This profane is my wisdom, this vice is my suffering but it is this suffering that I enjoy fucking…’”

Podmore convincingly depicts life as a form of sexual cannibalism. And because the depiction is convincing the question of right or wrong becomes suspect. Does it even make sense to say: “We are all evil.”?Whether or not liberation through love is just wishful thinking, this novella is immensely enjoyable. Do get it. It is here.

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-symmetries-of-pain/17985447

Mung Being

Another issue of Mung Being will be coming soon, it will be themed "transitions" and will have poems by me in it, five of them as usual. It's a great zine and though I have been somewhat remiss in submitting of late I don't intend to miss submitting there, a hugely cool place excellently edited by Mark Givens.

Here is a page linking my stuff there over the last few centuries since the death of that strange category the creature "man".

Ten Pages Press

As previously said, there is a little chapbook by me from Ten Pages Press. There will be a couple of unrelated poems forthcoming in the readers that Ten pages press are doing, I think issue three. Here they are.


PS The new interface here sucks ass big-time.

Mung Being 40

Happy to say that it's that time again and the new Mung Being is fresh from the virtual press. It's number 40 and has 4 by me.

Gutter Eloquence

Gutter Eloquence is one of the coolest zines, and issue seventeen is out, with two by me in it starting here.

Lots of great work in it, including poems by Puma Perl, another excellent production by editor Jack T. Marlowe.

Zero Division by JM Gant

I have been lazy of late, but here is a review of Joseph Gant's Zero Division at Clockwise Cat.

A book i can recommend.

Lady Jane's Miscellany

Delighted to say that a poem by me will be in the third issue of Lady Jane's Miscellany, a print journal by the fine San Francisco Bay Press. The second issue is out now, and seems excellent, why not get one?

Jack Henry - gets you crunked

I just have to note that Crunked by Jack Henry, in the editing of which I helped, is now on sale at Small Press Distribution, and I can promise you that it kicks all sorts of ass - so buy one, or more, today.

Clockwise Cat 21

Pleased to see Clockwise Cat 21 is up. There are three poems by me there, a review by me of Gillian Prew's latest chapbook and an incestuous counter-review of yours truly by Prew. Buy them both, I say.

Gutter Eloquence 17

Between the 1st and 5th of August issue 17 of Gutter Eloquence hits the web with two poems by me among many other goodies. This is a sure sign, of course, that I have started submitting again, as the poetry "scene" on Facebook grows more and more moribund.

GEM is one of the best of publications for contemporary poetry, so check it out now.

Sugar Mule

Young Gillian Prew, my favorite poet, is guest editing Sugar Mule, due soon.

Eight by me apparently coming there. I am not submitting a lot, if at all, nowadays, so that got rid of a few unpublished poems, so it was gratifying to be asked.

EDIT: Prew tells me that this is due March 2012, which is not "soon," at least if one is young.

It is Midsummer eve here. Why is it not raining yet? They promised rain. I want rain.

Poetry Super Highway

Hugely pleased that, starting tomorrow, I am featured as week's person on Poetry Super Highway. Very chuffed indeed, and great thanks go to Rick Lupert.

EDIT: The thing is posted now, here.

Mung Being 38

Delighted to say that the 38th issue of Mung Being is now posted with my work here. It's time and age themed and the issue is well worth reading.

Petrichor Machine

Pleased to receive a copy of Petrichor Machine issue 1 today. There's one by me in it and a lot of other poems by some great writers. Get it at their website.

of zines and hard disks

Pleased this week to have received two different mags in the post.

First came Perhaps I Am Wrong About The World (something I have never been) with a really awesome issue crammed full of great poetry etc.

Then I received Bacopa, the annual publication of The Writers Alliance of Gainsville with a very professional and well put together volume. Bacopa, by the way, is the water hyssop, which is a plant.

On another note. Hitachi's current hard disks suck monkey balls. Seagate Barracuda, however, are marvelous disks. Sometimes I open the computer just to pat them and tell them how much I love them. I have three Seagates and one old Hitachi, from when Hitachi were good. Actually I have a fourth 2TB Barracuda but haven't bothered to put it in the box yet.

And if you're stupid enough to buy Western Digital disks, then I'm ashamed that you are reading this blog.

Mung Being 38

Mung Being 38 is going to be themed "time and age." Now I have lived a long time and am thus very old, so I shall be in that one too. Here is some info and stuff by me in their present issue, which came out many eons ago, on a planet far, far away.

Amazon dogs

Well, my new chapbook is now on sale at Amazon, which is cool.

Even cooler is that bredbandsbolaget.se in Sweden kick ass as an ISP, and have the most pleasant and competent support, EASILY. So I now have ADSL here and, thanks to the b43 module and a borrowed and antique Belkin Broadcom PCI card, I have wireless working. Strictly I shouldn't need the firmware separately since I have the 37 kernel, but I still use an old kde-3.5.10 install, since I prefer a Gentoo that I know won't mess around, so it was easier like this.

A note to others on the Internets. There are no bad wireless cards, they all work. What there is, though, is plenty of retards saying "this doesn't work" instead of "I can't make this work."

Hanging Johnny

Today received a copy of Hanging Johnny 2 from Skrev Press - it's been produced and designed really well, and it can be ordered here. It's a great magazine from a great press.

Clockwise Cat

There is a new Clockwise Cat up. Yay! Three by me at the link plus a review of Gillian Prew's new book by yours truly and an untrue review of yours truly's new by Gillian Prew (no relation).

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Literary Underground Wiki

Being without monitor just now, I was reduced to googling me on my android and came across this, largely correct but a little out of date.

Fun to read, for me at least.

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Jack Henry reviews me

Delighted to see this posted by Jack Henry on facebook


Review: Puppies and Monks and Medieval Memories, by David McLean

A few months ago I promised David McLean I would review his latest work, puppies and monks and medieval memories, now out on Heavy Hands Ink and available at Lulu.

The print edition costs $10 plus some freight and download is free. As a side-note you might wonder why it’s free. Fuck if I know, but you should pay for this because it is an amazing volume of work, one that should be held close and near-at-hand.

Okay. So I make this promise and I read it. Not once, but three times. And then life interfered. Time passes. Things happen. But I returned to the work. Take careful note, dear reader: I returned to the work.

David McLean has never bored me in any way. His poetry is filled with vivid images, amazing song and voices, and thoughts few of us dare to approach.

some children
some children injure themselves
with knives and burning
cigarettes, playing
games with death.
most children injure themselves
by erecting a normative self
in the sexless flesh,
so much worse than death -
wounds in the meat are best

Unsettling images can be integral to McLean’s work, both real and imagined. Often images inform his work more so than wordplay. Straight forward language is just part of the effect; the subtlety comes in the vision; and the power comes from the combination.

a zombie sits

a zombie sits dead between us on the sofa,
between each instant. at one point
i shot him in the head with memories,
and his jaw hangs even deader
than the rest of him, deadest maybe
because of this – dead
as a telephone and twice
as hopeless;
i hope he records what we say to him,
some place where he displaces
anxiety in me. he is all my dead
forever, and hangs hopeless
his lovely eternity. profane
decay, baby, this zombie, he
sits dead between us on the sofa –
i hope he remembers me,
our arrogant eternity

Another strength McLean shows is brevity. He can show more in fewer words than any poet I know. Even his longer pieces are brief. There is a constant sense that they could go on and on, without losing any power, but the skill as that he forces the reader to go on. It is up to the reader to finish the poem, McLean merely suggests a beginning.

In the end McLean is one of the greats of our generation. He is fearless, brash, a little arrogant and timeless. I have said this before about David McLean’s poetry, and I will say it again: If you are not reading his work, what’s your fucking problem?

OVS

Pleased to say that the new Organs of Vision & Speech is out. Details of contributing poets here, including me, it seems to be a huge issue.

laughing at funerals

Now, if you want to buy laughing at funerals, you can order from Amazon through Epic Rites Press' storefront. Reviews to the right, go for it.

Lit Up

Pleased to say that Lit Up Magazine have just accepted a poem by me, presumably coming soon. Been there before, as you can see from the links to various zines, but not for quite a while. Actually the one that they have already about Butters is one of my favorites by me.

EDIT: And here it is, posted.

Sein und Werden

Another marvelous issue of the wonderful zine Sein und Werden is up. There's a poem there by me and it's here. Fine work there in general as usual, so check the whole thing out.

another echap

There's a new publication edited by the indefatigable Craig Sernotti. It's Ten Pages Press, which, as the name implies, produces 10 pp ebooks in various formats. He has just posted all the damaged gods, ten pages by me. There are many other things up there too, including dreaming knives and nightmares by Puma Perl, evidence pie by Misti Rainwater-Lites, along with work by David E Oprava, by the hugely prolific Lyn Lyfshin, and by many other of the great modern underground, and not so underground, poets and writers.

Mine is ten very new poems, all free to read, and you can download and read any of the others, they're free too. Like the Internet should be, free.

Mung Being 37

Mung Being is one of the absolutely best zines and there's a new issue, issue #37, out and this has five poems by me here. It's family themed this time.

The Single Hound

The Single Hound - which is the name of an Emily Dickinson poem, as you will probably know - is a very good literary journal who are kind enough to feature three by me in their international section.

Great news and a much-needed consolation, since Moxie is in full estrus and Lucas is behaving like a total dildo, and it's my birthday too. Being so international, I feel like chasing him with an ax the way the famous "Swedish" guy on the Muppets used to chase the chicken, but I won't.

Download my new chapbook for free if you like, but obviously it's even cooler if you order it in a paper copy for ten bucks here.

Some day soon the canine reproductive cycle will let me sleep again. And soon the ice will be gone so we can use the boat again, but there's still around a foot of the stuff on Mälaren to wet my feet every time I cross it.

Heroin Love Songs

Delighted to have five up at Heroin Love Songs. It's a wonderful zine and here are the poems.