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Disappearing Poem

I've heard this rumor, and, like
Anything said, it could be true,
If only in a bank shot with a
Trick mirror sort of way, but
I've been told there's a place
Named Asia, yeah, that's right,
Just around the next corner or
Inside your left ear maze, maybe,
Or purposely lost by your mom in
One of her countless drawers, but
Asia can't be all that, man, it can't
Be all that different than Burbank,
And I haven't been there either.
Bonus questions: Do you know
How to make fried rice? Do
You believe in reincarnation?





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Fiction International

42, with a forum on The Artist in Wartime, to which I've contributed a piece.

From Larry Fondation's contribution:

[...] Upstanding citizens of the United States are not supposed to have a politics, an ideology.

It will take dynamite to blow up America's most pernicious myths.

American fiction writers fall easily into a similar trap: telling stories of the narrowest possible bandwidth, no broad canvas, no context, no politics. Bookstore shelves are stocked with primarily "parlor fiction," tales of private and personal drama. Most of this work--even the most critically acclaimed--is irrelevant and will not be read in 20, let alone, 100 years.

On the flip side, a contemporary Stephen Crane or John Dos Passos is hard to find. There is very little "public fiction" among today's well-known titles (though a great deal of truly agitational literature can be found in the small presses).

Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have done little to change that. "Inner emigration" is nearly always pandemic in America. Escapism is almost a national creed.

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Timothy Poyser

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From an email to Angela Genusa:

Yesterday, when I wrote about being crazy and sane, I didn't mean that you have to be both at every moment, of course, just that you need both qualities to be any kind of a writer. You have to be willing to stray in thoughts, sometimes even in actions, and I don't mean anything immoral, but your foundation or core must be sane, and I don't mean a generic or pedestrian but a radical, fierce and even ruthless, to yourself above all, sanity.


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Anne Boyer on Cheese

Orgy:




"Seconds ago, I was among the chillin'."

Linh Dinh's new book, Some Kind of Cheese Orgy, is some kind of cheese orgy. That is, cheese is not just the fluid that comes from the tits of cows, sheep, and goats which is then recombined with substances from these animals intestines in order to coagulate, but it is also that stuff that comes from the crevices in our human flesh. Asses are widely known to smell cheesey, as are feet. Belly buttons can appear to create cheese. Fat people are cheesier than thin people. Poor people, with all their trucking in the baser sentiments and brutally obvious struggles, are cheesier than the rich. Cheesey is an aesthetic: smelling like ass, gooey or spongey, a signifier of profound effort, like when someone tells you to say "cheese" to simulate a smile (see Abu Ghraib). To be cheesey is to be artless and sentimental, a brute and ineffective emotional force. To have a cheese orgy -- that's all the smelly obscenity without any of the sexy.

Welcome to the U.S.A.

[...]







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Did I die in Kansas?

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[Thank you, Phyllis Moore!]



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Muchos gracias

to Anne Boyer, for steering me to Kansas City, Kansas:

[My body was filthy, scabby practically, my clothes unwashed, my lenses and sensor mottled with stubborn, intractable dust, but my brain felt so well hosed.]

I just got back

from nearly three weeks on the road, passing through Chicago, Austin, Tucson, Los Angeles, Wichita and Kansas City. What warmth, generosity and candor I encountered. Thank you very much, Brooks Johnson, Hai-Dang Phan, Larry Sawyer, Gabe Gudding, Gene Tanta, Hoa Nguyen, Dale Smith, Angela Genusa, CJ Martin, Charles and Cynthia Alexander, Alex Garza, Frank Parker, Logan Esdale, Anna Leahy, Rei Magosaki, Jayson Chin, Robert J, Anne Boyer, Cara LeFebvre, Alex Savage and Phyllis Moore!!!

I'll see you

when I get back on 11/9. I'll be in Chicago, Austin, Tucson, Los Angeles and Kansas City. Cheers!--Linh

.

Well, thank you, Los Angeles!

T.J. Simers of the L.A. Times writes about Philadelphia:

Fox will be broadcasting the World Series and it likes to put the camera on the face of every single fan sitting in the stands, these fans as ugly as any in the country.

Nowhere in America are people more angry than those living here. During Game 3 they had their humorless furry mascot put on boxing gloves and take on someone who was supposed to be an L.A. fan, sunglasses, cellphone and all.

The furry mascot punched him out, much to the delight of the folks here who love a dash of violence with their sports entertainment.

During Game 4 the furry mascot took a small Dodgers blue helmet, placed it on the ground and then pulverized it, much to the delight of the locals. Same tired skits, by the way, they employed a year ago.

But this is considered entertainment here, the only bright spot if they draw the Yankees now, getting a look in the mirror at fans who might remind them of themselves.

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[More]






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If you're in Tucson on 10/30,

do come to this benefit for the excellent CHAX PRESS:

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Cheese Orgy

is out:

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My reading in Austin

will be at Possum Casa de Nguyen Smith
2208 Trailside Drive #A
78704

(512) 482-8277


Tuesday, October 27 @ 7 PM
(reading will begin just after 8 PM)


I will also have a discussion with Hoa and Dale about resource depletion and societal unraveling, issues that have preoccupied us for years. Remember to bring your favorite beverage, because it'll be a party! Hoa and Dale will provide food, and a fire if it's cold outside. If you are on Facebook, here is the event page:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=7930692&ref=profile#/event.php?eid=311743970009&ref=mf

I just got this letter from James Boggs,

of the Camden tent city:





TRANSITIONAL PARK
(FORMALLY TENT CITY)
C/o New Visions
523 Stevens Street
Camden, NJ 08103



October 14, 2009



We the residences of Transitional Park, (formally Tent City) of Camden, NJ, would like to express our gratitude for all the help you have given to us in our time of need.

It is with great pleasure that we individually and collectively add you to our prayer lists for your continued prosperity and favor from our Father God and our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. You have taken the time to reach out and provide abundantly to those who are faced with major trials of faith in our lives. In doing so, you have helped strengthen the belief that God is Jehovah Jira, our provider. We who lack the means to provide the basic needs of life so many are blessed to have now begun to see there is someone who cares for those less fortunate than themselves.

It has been difficult for many of us to find hope at a time when hope seems so distant. Now we have the knowledge that we are not alone.

Again, thank you for your faithfulness and we hope to express our gratitude in your presence as apposed to this letter which can not express how deeply we feel for you and yours.

Sincerely


The Residence of Transitional Park









.......................................................................................

[That's Lorenzo "Jamaica" Banks on the right, head of the tent city.]

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[More]







In a Bellows Falls diner, one old man to another, "The Patriots didn't make out too well. The Red Sox are done. Yankees won. The only good thing in the papers is my name's not in the obituary."

Graffiti in Brattleboro, "WE HAVE CUM FOR YOUR CHILDREN."



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[I'll be in Bellows Falls, VT, for a few days. Old mill town. The Greyhound bus leaves Philly at 2AM tonight. After a few delays, my Some Kind of Cheese Orgy book will definitely be out next week. It's at the printer right now.]