bloof books: news

Webhosting outage

2009-06-29T16:34:00.001-04:00

Apparently our hosting company is experiencing some kind of outage. (They're AWESOME, and this has never happened before.) So our site is down, and unless you're reading this blog through a feeder, well, you're probably not reading it.

Email to bloofbooks addresses also offline. We'll holler when it's back online. Thanks.

Despite all the rain, it's Warsaw Bikini season

2009-06-21T10:43:00.007-04:00

Nate Logan gives a shout out as part of No Tell's Summer Reading series:

"I've wanted to dive into this book for a long time and am now finally getting the opportunity. Simonds imagination runs wild in this book and it's a delight to tag along with her in the wilderness."

And from a new review in Coldfront by Jason Schneiderman:

"At her best, Simonds plays with the making of meaning, slipping around in the language until you both see how language can’t not mean, even though those unavoidable meanings are deeply unstable. The first poem is called 'I Serengeti You,' setting up precisely the kind of play she intends to engage in. And who doesn’t want to be Serengeti-ed? It sounds exotic and dangerous and intimate. [...] Simonds’s work has a kind of ferocity that barrels each poem forward of its own accord, never quite allowing the reader to find clear footing. Perhaps a better description is that the poems are seeking a reader who’d rather have the footing shift. [...]Simonds is brilliant at capturing the shallow and casual patterns of contemporary American speech and thought, putting pressure on them and presenting them back to us."

Get yours here.

Belatedly, some totally awesome news: Bloof awarded Second Galatea Resurrects Poetry Publisher Prize!

2009-06-18T12:43:00.007-04:00

Back in May, Bloof got a thrilling note from Eileen Tabios, publisher of Meritage Press and Galatea Resurrects:

I'm delighted to announce the recipients of the Second Galatea Resurrects Poetry Publisher Prize:

Bloof Books founded/edited by Shanna Compton

and Marsh Hawk Press, a collective of wise poets

This Prize is awarded to honor poetry presses that Galatea Resurrects wishes to support by raising attention to their books. Congratulations to the recipients. More information about the Prize is HERE.

Sweet, no? This recognition means a lot to us all, especially coming from a fellow poet/publisher/DIYer like Eileen!

& speaking of good news...expect a big Bloofy announcement about our 2009-2010 list very soon!

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2009-05-09T09:30:00.002-04:00

a poem was here

Mommy V: 6

2009-04-29T03:21:00.001-04:00

A poem was here.

25. [expired]

2009-04-27T22:43:00.006-04:00

poem went bye bye

24: [expired]

2009-04-27T22:42:00.003-04:00

poem wuz here

Mommy V: 5

2009-04-27T15:45:00.004-04:00

A poem was here.

Peter Davis: "Poem Addressing People Who Love Heavy Metal but Don't Know Anything about Poetry"...

2009-04-26T12:16:00.002-04:00

...has been uploaded.

(If you do not see it in the player, try emptying your browser cache and reloading. If you do not see it in your iTunes subsciption, click REFRESH.)

Read more of Peter's poems here.

Bloof Podcast Player

2009-04-26T12:14:00.000-04:00

Subscribe to Bloof's podcasts via iTunes! Use this RSS feed URL to add the subscription: feed://www.gabcast.com/casts/18718/rss/rss.xml

Instructions: Open iTunes on your computer, and look for "Subscribe to Podcast" under the Advanced menu. Paste the full green URL above (including "feed://") into the popup window. Click OK to confirm.

(POD)CAST OF CHARACTERS

STAN APPS is the author of Info Ration (Make Now, 2007), soft hands (Ugly Duckling) and Grover Fuel (Scantily Clad, 2008). He blogs at Freewill Applicator.

ANNE BOYER is the author of Art is War (Mitzvah Chaps 2008), The Romance of Happy Worker (Coffee House Press 2008), Selected Dreams with a Note on Phrenology (Dusie Collectifv 2007), Anne Boyer's Good Apocalypse (Effing Press 2006), and the forthcoming novel, JOAN (Bloof 2009). With K. Silem Mohammad, she edits Abraham Lincoln, and with Robert J. Baumann, she curates An Actual Kansas Reading Series. She will be posting poems here each day for the month of April and a corresponding prose work at odalisqued.blogspot.com. Use this tag to pull up Anne's poems.

TODD COLBY is the author of Riot in the Charm Factory: New and Selected Work (Soft Skull, 1999), Tremble & Shine (Soft Skull, 2003) and the editor of Heights of the Marvelous: A New York Anthology (St. Martins Press, 2000). He has appeared in numerous poetry anthologies, including Short Fuse: A World Anthology of Poetry, The Portable Boog Reader, Word Up: Spoken Word Poetry in Print, Verses That Hurt, Revival: Spoken Word from Lollapalooza, and Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café. He often posts new poems at his blog, Glee Farm. TODD'S PODCASTS: "This Morning" (4/6/09), "Breathing In the Brilliant" (4/14/09)

SHANNA COMPTON is the author of Down Spooky and For Girls (& Others), both available from Bloof Books. She is also the editor of GAMERS, a book of essays on the topic of video games, published by Soft Skull Press. Her poems and essays have appeared in such publications as Best American Poetry 2005, McSweeney's, Verse, No Tell Motel, Coconut, Abraham Lincoln, and the Poetry Foundation website. She's been playing NaPoWriMo (thanks to Reen) since 2004, with varied results! She'll be posting her poems here at the Bloof blog this month. Use this tag to pull up Shanna's poems. SHANNA'S PODCASTS: "[Don't get me started.] (4/20/09)

PETER DAVIS's book of poems is Hitler's Mustache. His poems have recently been in journals like Lamination Colony, Barrelhouse, Fou, and Tarpaulin Sky. He lives and teaches in Muncie, Indiana. His website is here. And he will be posting his poems to his blog this month too. PETER'S PODCASTS: "Poem Addressing Babies" (4/5/09), "Poem Addressing Conspiracy Theorist" (4/14/09), "Poem Addressing People Who Love Heavy Metal but Don't Know Anything about Poetry" (4/24/09)

KATIE DEGENTESH is the author of The Anger Scale (Combo Books, 2007).

K. LORRAINE GRAHAM is the author of three chapbooks, Terminal Humming (Slack Buddha), See it Everywhere (Big Game Books), and Large Waves to Large Obstacles, forthcoming from Take Home Project. Moving Walkways, a CD chapbook, is a limited edition from Narrowhouse Recordings. She will posting her daily poems at her blog this month.

CHRIS HANIS [bio to come]

JENNIFER L. KNOX is the author of Drunk by Noon and A Gringo Like Me, both both available from Bloof Books. Her poems have appeared in the anthologies The Best American Poetry (1997, 2003 and 2006), Great American Prose Poems: From Poe to Present, Free Radicals: American Poets Before Their First Books, and The Best American Erotic Poems: From 1800 to the Present. She'll be posting her poems at Ada Limon's blog (along with Ada!) this month.

REB LIVINGSTON is the author of Your Ten Favorite Words, editor of No Tell Motel and publisher of No Tell Books. Many of the poems from her upcoming book, God Damsel, were written during NaPoWriMo. Visit her blog to read her poems this month. REB'S PODCASTS: "Four Proverbs" (4/6/09), From God Damsel (4/17/09)

SHARON MESMER is the author of Annoying Diabetic Bitch (Combo Books, 2008), The Virgin Formica (Hanging Loose Press, 2008), Vertigo Seeks Affinities (Belladonna Books, 2006), Half Angel, Half Lunch (Hard Press, 1998), and Crossing Second Avenue (ABJ Books, Japan, 1997). Collections of fiction include Ma Vie à Yonago (Hachette, France, 2005), In Ordinary Time (Hanging Loose, 2005) and The Empty Quarter (Hanging Loose, 2000). She blogs at Virgin Formica.

K. SILEM MOHAMMAD is the author of Breathalyzer (Edge Books, 2008), A Thousand Devils (Combo Books, 2004), and Deer Head Nation (Tougher Disguises, 2003). His work has appeared or is soon to appear in various journals and anthologies, including The Best American Poetry 2004, Bay Poetics, and A Best of Fence: The First Nine Years. He maintains the blog Lime Tree and edits Abraham Lincoln, a magazine of poetry. Kasey pretty much always posts poems at Squirrels in My Attic.

MEL NICHOLS is the author of Bicycle Day (Slack Buddha 2008), The Beginning of Beauty, Part 1: hottest new ringtones, mnichol6 (Edge 2007), Day Poems (Edge 2005), and the forthcoming book Catalytic Exteriorization Phenomenon. Poems have recently appeared or will soon appear in New Ohio Review (/nor), Van Gogh’s Ear, Practice, and Abraham Lincoln. She has a blog called Illuminated Meat.

DANIELLE PAFUNDA is the author of My Zorba, available from Bloof Books, Pretty Young Thing (Soft Skull, 2005), Iatrogenic: Their Testimonies (Noemi, forthcoming), and the chapbook A Primer for Cyborgs: The Corpse (Whole Coconut Chapbook Series, forthcoming). Her poems have been chosen three times for Best American Poetry (2004, 2006, and 2007). Other poems and reviews have appeared in such publications as American Letters & Commentary, Conjunctions, the Georgia Review, and TriQuarterly. She blogs at Iron Caisson. Danielle will be posting her poems here at the Bloof blog this month. Use this tag to pull up Danielle's poems.

MICHAEL SCHIAVO is the author of The Mad Song (Shires Press, 2008). He blogs at The Unruly Servant. MICHAEL'S PODCASTS: "Not Never Falling But Rising When We Fall" (4/6/09), "We All Operate in a Ghost World Where We Are Maharajah" (4/19/09)

SANDRA SIMONDS is the author of Warsaw Bikini, available from Bloof Books, as well as the chapbooks Tomorrow’s Bright Bracelets (forthcoming, Kitchen Press), The Pyrotechnics of Madame Trotter (forthcoming, Coconut), Bananas and Spiders (forthcoming, H_NGM_N), A Teeny Tiny Book of War (Teeny Tiny, 2008), The Humble Travelogues of Mr. Ian Worthington (Cy Gist, 2007) and The Tar Pit Diatoms (Otoliths, 2006). She blogs at Sandra Simonds Swims and Swims. She will be posting her poems here at the Bloof blog. Use this tag to pull up Sandra's poems.

ROD SMITH [bio to come] is the author of ten books of poems, including Deed, Music or Honesty, Poèmes de l’Araignées and In Memory of My Theories. His poems have appeared in many print and online journals and anthologies including the Baffler, the Gertrude Stein Awards, Java, New American Writing, Poetics Journal, and Shenandoah. He edits the journal Aerial, publishes Edge Books, and manages the independent Bridge Street Books in Washington, D.C. Smith is also editing, with Peter Baker and Kaplan Harris, The Selected Letters of Robert Creeley. Rod blogs at Ghost Brain.

GARY SULLIVAN is a poet, cartoonist, and blogger. His DIY comic, Elsewhere—which he started drawing and writing in 2005— explores biography as an artistic construct. Sullivan lives in Brooklyn with Nada Gordon. Together, they wrote the book Swoon. Sullivan’s most recent book is PPL in a Depot. He blogs at Elsewhere.

EDWIN TORRES is the author of The PoPedology of an Ambient Language (Atelos Books), The All-Union Day of the Shock Worker (Roof Books), Onomalingua: noise songs and poems (Rattapallax e-book), and Please (Faux Press CD-Rom).

MAUREEN THORSON is the author of Novelty Act (Ugly Duckling), Mayport (Poetry Society), and other chapbooks. She is the publisher of Big Game Books and the co-curator of the In Your Ear series in Washington, DC. She will be posting her NaPoWriMo poems here, (as she has every year since 2002 when she invented the game. Big thanks to Maureen for founding our annual madness!) MAUREEN'S PODCASTS: "Figure 2.59 - Moth Balls and Sugar" (4/10/09), "The Lake of the Dismal Swamp" (4/15/09)

Mommy V: 4

2009-04-25T02:31:00.002-04:00

A poem was here.

23. [expired]

2009-04-23T23:22:00.001-04:00

blankness is a virtue

22. [expired]

2009-04-22T23:26:00.002-04:00

poem stayed up past its bedtime

Mommy V: 3

2009-04-22T16:00:00.007-04:00

A poem was here.

21. [expired]

2009-04-21T23:09:00.003-04:00

poem gone fishin

Mommy V: 2

2009-04-21T00:56:00.003-04:00

A poem was here.

20. [expired]

2009-04-20T22:56:00.003-04:00

goodnight, sweet poem!

Shanna Compton: "[Don't get me started."...

2009-04-20T11:27:00.001-04:00

...has been uploaded.

The text of this poem appears here.

(If you do not see it in the player, try emptying your browser cache and reloading. If you do not see it in your iTunes subsciption, click REFRESH.)

Read more of Shanna's poems here.

Mommy V: 1

2009-04-20T03:17:00.003-04:00

A poem was here.

19. [expired]

2009-04-19T22:53:00.002-04:00

poem expelled for truancy

Michael Schiavo:"We All Operate in a Ghost World Where We Are Maharajah"...

2009-04-19T10:53:00.002-04:00

18. [expired]

2009-04-19T00:19:00.002-04:00

poem moved, left no forwarding address

2009-04-18T19:08:00.000-04:00

A Black Cat Walking Across the Street Signifies

The human psyche embraces
symmetry and that is why famous
people die in threes. That is why
Stalin, Miro and Jacques Chirac
died on the same date. Chirac, bitten
three times by his clinically depressed poodle
named Sumo still asked
that the dog be present
at his funeral despite the trans-

gression. Why do we cheerfully accept that
without three the hum-
drum nature of the cos-
mos would be analogous
to a ceasefire between
tall but slender nations? Something
like a war
to end all wars.

Two men in North
Korea have wired together three
Playstations and a modem
to test launch their missile
which is a sign of three things—

that Fyodor
Dostoevsky's father was strangled
by his serfs, that the cat is indeed
going somewhere and that
what my great-
grandfather, who was a dyslexic
radiologist said was true, “the mind
will only allow what the body can stand.”

The Desire Spectrum is Dead to Me Now: 18

2009-04-18T03:27:00.002-04:00

A poem was here.

bloof books: news

Webhosting outage

Recommended

Despite all the rain, it's Warsaw Bikini season

Belatedly, some totally awesome news: Bloof awarded Second Galatea Resurrects Poetry Publisher Prize!

27. [expired]

Mommy V: 6

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24: [expired]

Mommy V: 5

Peter Davis: "Poem Addressing People Who Love Heavy Metal but Don't Know Anything about Poetry"...

Bloof Podcast Player

Mommy V: 4

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Mommy V: 3

21. [expired]

Mommy V: 2

20. [expired]

Shanna Compton: "[Don't get me started."...

Mommy V: 1

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Michael Schiavo:"We All Operate in a Ghost World Where We Are Maharajah"...

18. [expired]

The Desire Spectrum is Dead to Me Now: 18