{alsace-lorraine}

don't laugh

2008-07-23T10:45:00.001-07:00

...it's been stuck in my head all day. for the first time in, like, a decade.

i have so much to do! and i am excited to get all of it done! i wish summer were finished.

i bought a new deodorant yesterday because it was next to the tom's and it was 33 cents cheaper. arm and hammer? all natural? i mean, basically, i'm just worried about the aluminum. which this does not have. but let me tell you, i put some on at 7 last night, and i am still smelling that very light application, after i slept, after i did a class and after i taught aqua- in the pool. it's not an unfriendly smell, but it's definitely a smell. and i love tom's of maine, but in the summer time, it pretty much stops working after i've driven somewhere in the afternoon. we'll see. i don't like big changes when it comes to my daily hygiene.

chapbooks

2008-07-21T19:21:00.000-07:00

...adam is buying me chapbooks today. he has purchased five as a going away gift to me, the day before he leaves. as another gift, he has opened himself to the idea of importing my cocker spaniel, mainly because loki is irreplaceable (or, as adam just said, "irrepressible pain in the butt") and i am having crazy heart palpitations at the thought of leaving him with people who won't talk to him and coddle him like a fat kindergartener.

also. adam wanted me to blog about his new "remastered" (whoo!) pixies cds. ass needs to get a damn blog of his own, instead of reading over my damn shoulder with his brandy and coffee stank breath. git.

i love my husband. he just said that the last seven or so words i wrote make him sound like a "clutch of stinkin' fannies." you can't PAY for entertainment like this.

and i will live in oxford in less than two months

2008-07-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

me: "do you recognize the name cornmarket street?"

adam (flipping through a magazine on the bed with his back to me): "yes, why?"

me: "there's going to be a flash mob."

spoiler: it's a pillow fight.

i am going to move to oxford. i am using videos on youtube to get excited. sigh.

ideas, not so bright?

2008-07-20T07:02:00.000-07:00

this morning i woke up feeling like i'd like to try to collaborate with someone. by someone, i mean a lady with similar sensibilities. by collaboration, i mean poetry. by waking up this morning, i mean just barely... and later than usual. maybe i'll feel differently about some or any of this in a few hours...

creative types

2008-07-19T22:17:00.001-07:00

... via some good people, three interesting-sounding places to send poetry over the next month-or-so...

sweet pine press- an unbound anthology of poetry

i can't be your girlfriend, for girls (and those who self-identify)

tilt press- currently accepting chapbook submissions from first-time poets

... go forth and celebrate the printed word.

morning song

2008-07-19T08:45:00.000-07:00

jane and serge

2008-07-18T07:37:00.000-07:00

my dog hates your poetry.

2008-07-17T05:41:00.000-07:00

furthermore, he thinks you're an asshole.

pretty new things

2008-07-15T04:53:00.000-07:00

yesterday, when i checked the mail, i had copies of this, this and this. fuselit's fox issue is byfar the prettiest poetry journal i've yet to receive. i keep picking it up and flipping through it. it's hand-painted, evenly trimmed and pocket-bible sized. i am so inspired, i keep thinking of ways i can rip off their design (and give credit, like, every time).

also, at-large's fame issue has been posted, and i'm in there with two very short reviews of new online poetry journals. lovely-enough, fou deals with foxes, too. rohin has outdone himself (if that's his layout-- the layoutperson outdid themself, is what i mean to say), and there's poetry by gina abelkop (behind finery), robert perry ivey, mike stutzman, jessy randall and rena priest. i haven't read any of this, yet. from my bio on the site:

"She hopes to see Greenland, Johnny Depp, and a real ghost for herself before she dies."

...um, duh.

visa to settle in the uk

2008-07-14T15:15:00.000-07:00

... i just got an email telling me that ups will be delivering my passport to me with a british visa stamped onto one of its pages. now i can go live in the uk legally with my husband, yes?

...before coming home and checking my email, we were at whole foods for the third time in five days. for dinner this evening:

a bottle of red for him
a bottle of white for me (currently in the freezer)
a hunk of some smelly cheese for him
a hunk of some smelly cheese for me
a loaf of bread (scholar's inn in bloomington. num.)
some grapes
some olives
a some scarlet begonias. adam got them for me. he had no idea about the song. i did, and i picked them out.

we are going to watch films. i wish i had apocolypse now on dvd. i feel like watching some long-drawn war film. with marlon brando.

this will be a pretty good night...

loki goes international

2008-07-14T11:26:00.000-07:00

...loki's smiling mug is featured on some chicago girl's blog. heh.

...adam, in making vegetable soup for us, broke my mother's hand blender.

...so far, adam has made very yummy food. too yummy. my stomach almost can't handle it.

...and i've discovered the almost-instant joys of drinking cold brandy.

half of me is ocean/ half of me is sky

2008-07-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

...when you grow up in indiana, you grow up listening to tom petty. i was thinking about this song (and i have no clue why)-- but i can't find it on itunes, and i can't find the original video (which i think featured a big top theme and some elephants?) on youtube. it might be one of my favorites, anyway. it's one i've been singing in the bathtub, along with me and bobby mcgee, clementine, oh me, china cat sunflower and dancing days. sometimes, i'm in the bathtub long enough to sing all those songs. i don't think that's an indiana thing...

...wait. i found it.

husband checklist

2008-07-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

a.) electric kettle pulled down from above the oven, wiped off, rinsed out.

b.) big ol' box of plain black tea.

c.) shiny new produce from grocery store to fill in embarrassingly empty fridge.

d.) red beans and rice made up in case he's hungry tonight.

e.) poor attempt at sugar cookies baked up in case he's... feeling adventurous tonight.

f.) dog bathed, to give dog a fighting chance in his plight for husband's affection.

g.) clean sheets. that do not smell of dog.

h.) towel hanging on rack. cleaned out drawer in bathroom for manly toiletries.

i.) freshly shaved legs. painted nails.

j.) poetry projects stacked neatly, not to be looked at... until... tomorrow night?

k.) music mix for car made up. sheer americana.

l.) o shit. i forgot the altoids to carry around in my purse for him...

airport

2008-07-10T02:47:00.000-07:00

...i am going to the airport twice today. once at six in the morning to drop off min mor and once at eightish/nineish this evening to pick up my husband. loki goes both times to keep me company. there may be a stop at dunkin' donuts involved this first time around. the second time around, i will smell nice.

beautiful dreamer makes me sad

2008-07-09T19:05:00.000-07:00

... i think it's because i think of tennessee williams and the ol' south.

The first
dream stirs
me before
the sky. I open
the front
door: smells
of Paris,
of a thin clean
burning in the blue
diesel blur,
Where's the car?
Busted
milk bottles
leak underfoot:
bloodstream from
a jumper’s
ear. Nobody’s
there:
the first
of the unpin
pointeds
I can no longer
overlook.

my dream house (but you can live there, too, if you buy it for me)

2008-07-06T11:00:00.001-07:00

...every time the photo show gets to the clawfoot tub, my eyes well up all over again. the furnishings in this house manage to remind me of all my favorite parts of america, scandinavia and england. i want all of it. i don't want one paper umbrella to be missing from this house when i win the lottery today and contact the agent to purchase it. this house is a home. this house is haunted by friendly ghosts. this house has rainbows growing from its lawn (look!). this house makes me crave pumpkin pie. i would always wear a dress if i lived in this house. i would always be taking a bath. i wouldn't be afraid of the telephone in this house. i would let the local montessori children come over and pick fruit, if i lived in this house. i could enjoy a proper winter in this house. i would get over my fear of fire and use the fireplace in this house. i would probably start going to church or something silly, if i lived in this house. just because it'd be nice, one day a week, to go someplace where everyone talks and sings about how to be more wholesome. i would host a salon at this house. there would be wine-making. and flower drying. i wonder if any bank would give me a half a million dollars to buy this house. if i promised to bake the officer a pumpkin pie every day for the rest of his/her life?

fearless/ you'll never walk alone

2008-07-05T10:28:00.000-07:00

my personal favorite pf song, from meddle, my personal favorite pf album.

i'm never fearless these days. i miss being fearless. this summer, everything feels up in the air.

...followed by you'll never walk alone, another favorite song, period. this one's gerry, tho elvis and judy do it up pretty big, too. obviously, this version reminds me of unchained melody, but i don't really care for unchained melody. it's kinda like how i always compare susan sarandon and meryl streep in my mind, and i prefer susan. they have nothing to do with each other, do they? it's personal, isn't it? everything is, isn't it? including this very weepy blog post. sigh.

sexpot muxtape

2008-07-04T12:48:00.000-07:00

screw britney and gwen and fergie and all those other chumpettes.

boys will be boys- goldfrapp
the facts of life- black box recorder
sour times- portishead
train- goldfrapp
atomic- blondie
koko- goldfrapp
brutality- black box recorder
sunday girl (french version)- blondie
new trouble- slumber party
die young stay pretty- blondie
never the same- supreme beings of leisure
child psychology- black box recorder

-why, yes! i did put portishead on my muxtape. i have good, very-very early morning memories of this song. actually, most of these songs are pretty old. and this is the line-up after i weeded up the abba and bacarra...

...two of my poems were accepted to appear in finery #5. i had to do some digging around, but if you pop over here, you'll see that the prods are pretty schmancy. special thanks to niina for mentioning the call for submissions on her blog!

the motorcycle boy reigns

2008-07-02T22:34:00.001-07:00

yes, still.

snodgrass on sexton

2008-07-02T05:17:00.000-07:00

...i smiled at this, and, in a silly, teenagery kind of way, felt fifteen percent more validated in my weird repulsion from anne sexton.

"You knew her well?

Yes, and as time went on it became less of a pleasure. There were more and more demands. Oh, she would write me and say, "Here's a new poem. Tell me, De, is it the real Anne?" And I would feel like, "For Christ's sake, let's hope not!" It got pretty troublesome."

this post is not a surrealist

2008-07-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

brian james foley's chapbook, this tornado is not a surrealist, is now available from greying ghost press. dudn't it look fekkin smart?

this is how i jump on the bed

2008-07-01T09:49:00.001-07:00

i slept in until ten this morning, and i haven't done that in... well, since sometime in the winter. but i'm in a very good mood. anyone who pissed me off yesterday can just go... stick their car keys into an electrical outlet.

because i am generally a very happy person, i hate feeling angry about a person or situation. i usually have nightmares about it. i didn't have annnnny nightmares this morning. i probably had racy dreams, actually, and that's why i slept so late. who's to say?

notes during strings, percussion and celeste

2008-06-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

...from a new project under the (working) title crude agitator, inspired in part by bartok and in part by crude agitation.

EROS & PSYCHE

Our tongues: today, rotund.

Tomorrow, robust.
Tomorrow, our tongues:

salves melted over our lips—
your spearmint sugars. My milk saps.

Hedone, slung shot,
is at some sober point

aborted again.

blue meanies

2008-06-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

today, i love only two people and one dog unconditionally. i need a mothertrucking song, and a nap, to cheer me up.

yes, i enjoy the fourth of july

2008-06-29T06:26:00.000-07:00

...personally, i'm a fan of the fourth of july, mostly because the midwest (namely, hamilton county, where i've lived for the past twenty years) does it up big and in earnest. i think i went through my this-is-really-stupid phase already, in high school, so it's out of my system and i no longer roll my eyes when i see folks tearing up over the national anthem kinda thing. i like to see people having fun, and celebrating in such a way that feels... retro. i like eating summer junk food and watching children turn cartwheels in the grass and watching old people slow dance under the stars and stretching out on an old blanket with my dog. i'm going to see parades this week (i love seeing marching bands in parades) and fireworks (none of this side-of-the-road-and-light-em-in-yer-driveway-bubba bullshit) and tons of people just milling together in civic squares and city parks. i know this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but i'm pritty fucking excited, yep. so here's some animal collective, and some lightning bugs (you might know them as fireflies, which sounds infinitely poetic, but is something i've never been able to make my mouth say aloud- it'd be unfaithful to the memory of louie the lightning bug, see) to get me in the mood this morning (when it all starts).