Timothy Green's Blog
July 27, 2009
Since the KPFK archives only last 90 days, host Lois P. Jones asked me to make a permanent home for the show I was on last week. Here is the first segment, with Peggy Dobeer — I thought she deserved her own page.
Peggy Dobreer is an educator, poet, public speaker, and artisan who works and teaches in the Extension Program at Loyola Marymount University. She was a leading force in the educational vision of the Center for the Advancement of Nonviolence, from 1997-2004, and co-wrote and edited 64 W
July 25, 2009
July 24, 2009
Someone had to kick the Mickey Mouse out of our heads.
–William Packard of NYQ on Charles Bukowski
That's a good quote, but I hate Bukowski. And it's not even for his poetry, which is mostly garbage, littered with gems. Or his novels, which I mostly haven't read.
I woke up at 6:30 a.m. this morning, thinking it was 10 a.m. That's three hours sleep for me. Too tired to do much else at first, I thought I'd watch a documentary, and I came upon Born Into This, the 2003 biography by John Dullaghan.
July 22, 2009
July 21, 2009
When Andrew McGregor, founder of the Tiziano Project, asked if I'd help out with a poetry reading fundraiser, I couldn't say no. The non-profit might be the most efficient and effective program for social change I've ever come across. They train members of underreported and in-conflict communities to be citizen journalists, donating equipment and credentials, and providing them the means to have a voice of their own. The empowering effect is exponential, creating jobs and skills to people who
July 17, 2009
Several people have commented recently on the subtitle of this blog: "Poetry Editor and Struggling Poet." Tim, they say, how can you possibly be a struggling poet when you have a book that's just been published by a good press and a full-time job in the poetry industry? Or as G. Tod Slone puts it, "Why would you be a 'struggling poet'? Hell, the machine is paying you a salary, isn't it?"
Obviously that tag isn't referring to money — anyone who's seen my gut lately knows I'm not struggling to e
July 9, 2009
Speaking of reviews, I was informed of, and then completely forgot to mention, this really nice review of American Fractal by Jeanne M. Lesinski on NewPages.com. Most fun for me is the paragraph where she talks about "The Bending of Birches," which is really the first time I've seen anyone dig into the minutia of one of my poems, the way one might in an English class:
The poem mingles aural and visual music: The caesurae [unable to be reproduced here:] audibly create rhythm, while visua
July 8, 2009
I'm pasting below my review of Aimee Nezhukumatathil's At the Drive-In Volcano, which appeared in Los Angeles Review #5 last fall. It's the only review I've ever published — they asked me to write it. I won't go so far as to say that it will remain the only review I ever publish, but I didn't like the experience, and I'm not quite sure why. Rereading this 8 months later, I still agree with everything I said — my reaction to the book is still disappointment in a poet who's obviously much more
July 1, 2009
The forthcoming winter issue will feature an interview with Molly Peacock, and I love one of the things she talks about, which I'll preview for you here.
PEACOCK: The shimmering verge is for me the place between two states of being or two emotional states. I opened my one-woman show by asking people to imagine a paint chip and that paint chip is green, and then I asked them to imagine another paint chip and that paint chip is blue, and then I asked them to get one greenish-blue and one blueish-gr
