Victor D. Infante's Blog, page 180
April 1, 2011
Thursdays Are For Pimping
Been covering my supervisor at work, so no time for a column. Instead, I offer this week's TWSN recs of Erin McKeown, Of Mice and Men, Dane Kuttler and Scott Holloway. Also, Craig reviews the Dropkick Murphys.
Over on Radius, there's poems by Deborah Edler Brown, Joseph Ross and Patricia Goodwin.
Lastly, my poem When the house was burning will appear in the next poetry issue of Pearl.
Oh, and it's snowing. Really.
Over on Radius, there's poems by Deborah Edler Brown, Joseph Ross and Patricia Goodwin.
Lastly, my poem When the house was burning will appear in the next poetry issue of Pearl.
Oh, and it's snowing. Really.
March 29, 2011
Damn ... Just .... Damn ...
Received our copies of
Knocking at the Door: Approaching the Other
today. Lea and her co-editor, Lisa Sisler, have been slaving on this thing for a year, and the payoff is enormous. Such a gorgeous book:
In addition to my poem, My Life as Rosencrantz or Guildenstern, there's amazing writing by Corrina Bain, Janet Barry, Barbara Benoit, Tony Brown, Edward J. Carvalho, Ann Cefola, Sam Cha, Jenith Charpentier, Amanda Chiado, Angie Chuang, Roland W. Coryell, Jamison Crabtree, Marylisa DeDomenicis, Jess Del Balzo, Stephan Delbos, Julie R. Enszer, Annie Finch, Michael Fisher, Nina Forsythe, Dawn Gabriel, Trina Gaynon, Corey Ginsberg, P. D. Goodwin, Colleen S. Harris, Nicole Homer, Randall Horton, Khary Jackson, Rachel Kann, David Keali'i, Susan Kelly-DeWitt, J. Keiko Lane, Anthony A. Lee, Daniel W. K. Lee, Donna J. Gelagotis Lee, Sara Lefsyk, Heather J. Macpherson, Alys Masek, Stephen Mead, Marcia Meier, Allene Rasmussen Nichols, Ivy Page, Nils Peterson, Steven Riel, Willa Schneberg, Lauren Scotto, Prartho Sereno, M. E. Silverman, Jill Stein, Dorinda Wegener, Arisa White, and Laura Madeline Wiseman.
Information on readings and for ordering is forthcoming, but for now, I'm just honored to be a part of such an amazing collection.
***
In addition to the anthology, my short story A Fable of Worcester is out in the British fantasy periodical, Theaker's Quarterly Fiction. It's available free for download, or quite affordable in print. Visit their blog for ordering/downloading instructions.
And since we're being visual today, this one also has a lovely cover:
***
The last few days have been a real powerhouse for Radius, with Ira Sadoff, Dorinda Wegener, Caroline Hagood in our signature feature, a poem in context by Beau Sia and a poem by Laltu translated from Hindi by Bharatbhooshan Tiwari. And, as always, more to come ...
***
Had every intention of catching Pandora Boxx, from Rupaul's Drag Race, performing at Envy, but alas, the night got away from me, as it seems to do a lot these days.
Nearly finished reading The Imperfectionists, by Tom Rachman, and it's breaking my heart in all the best possible ways. Lined up on the night stand are Jasper Fforde's One of Our Thursdays is Missing and Daphne Gottlieb's 15 Ways to Stay Alive.
In addition to my poem, My Life as Rosencrantz or Guildenstern, there's amazing writing by Corrina Bain, Janet Barry, Barbara Benoit, Tony Brown, Edward J. Carvalho, Ann Cefola, Sam Cha, Jenith Charpentier, Amanda Chiado, Angie Chuang, Roland W. Coryell, Jamison Crabtree, Marylisa DeDomenicis, Jess Del Balzo, Stephan Delbos, Julie R. Enszer, Annie Finch, Michael Fisher, Nina Forsythe, Dawn Gabriel, Trina Gaynon, Corey Ginsberg, P. D. Goodwin, Colleen S. Harris, Nicole Homer, Randall Horton, Khary Jackson, Rachel Kann, David Keali'i, Susan Kelly-DeWitt, J. Keiko Lane, Anthony A. Lee, Daniel W. K. Lee, Donna J. Gelagotis Lee, Sara Lefsyk, Heather J. Macpherson, Alys Masek, Stephen Mead, Marcia Meier, Allene Rasmussen Nichols, Ivy Page, Nils Peterson, Steven Riel, Willa Schneberg, Lauren Scotto, Prartho Sereno, M. E. Silverman, Jill Stein, Dorinda Wegener, Arisa White, and Laura Madeline Wiseman.
Information on readings and for ordering is forthcoming, but for now, I'm just honored to be a part of such an amazing collection.
***
In addition to the anthology, my short story A Fable of Worcester is out in the British fantasy periodical, Theaker's Quarterly Fiction. It's available free for download, or quite affordable in print. Visit their blog for ordering/downloading instructions.
And since we're being visual today, this one also has a lovely cover:
***
The last few days have been a real powerhouse for Radius, with Ira Sadoff, Dorinda Wegener, Caroline Hagood in our signature feature, a poem in context by Beau Sia and a poem by Laltu translated from Hindi by Bharatbhooshan Tiwari. And, as always, more to come ...
***
Had every intention of catching Pandora Boxx, from Rupaul's Drag Race, performing at Envy, but alas, the night got away from me, as it seems to do a lot these days.
Nearly finished reading The Imperfectionists, by Tom Rachman, and it's breaking my heart in all the best possible ways. Lined up on the night stand are Jasper Fforde's One of Our Thursdays is Missing and Daphne Gottlieb's 15 Ways to Stay Alive.
March 26, 2011
Drive-By Posting ...
Tired, and have millions of things to do, starting with dishes and dinner. On the other hand, I'm happy with the discussion generated by Tatyana Brown's essay on Radius, "On “Asking for It”: An Examination of Misogyny in the Slam Community." Tatyana had begun this discussion on Facebook, and there had already even been some thought-provoking discussions in its wake, a couple of which I may hit up the authors to see if they want to likewise adapt. I have a thing about when these important discussions get lost. I think the lack of documentation goes a long way toward the sort of perpetual short-term memory that grips poetry communities, why we seem to be revisiting the same ground every few years. I deeply admire Tatyana, and the sort of blunt honesty she displays here. I like that she can speak her piece without really vilifying anyone, which is really a gift. She's a good young writer (I swear, they're all young next to me these days), and I look forward to seeing more from her in the future.
***
Just finished and sent off galley edits for my short story, A Fable of Worcester, which is being published in the UK by Theaker's Quarterly Fiction , edited by the "not entirely reputable" and brilliantly mad Stephen Theaker. Stephen is the sort of editor with wonderfully offbeat taste and a willingness to try new things. Very much looking forward to seeing my story in his weird and cool magazine.
***
Tomorrow we go see "Avenue Q" at the Hanover Theatre. Cannot wait.
***
Just finished and sent off galley edits for my short story, A Fable of Worcester, which is being published in the UK by Theaker's Quarterly Fiction , edited by the "not entirely reputable" and brilliantly mad Stephen Theaker. Stephen is the sort of editor with wonderfully offbeat taste and a willingness to try new things. Very much looking forward to seeing my story in his weird and cool magazine.
***
Tomorrow we go see "Avenue Q" at the Hanover Theatre. Cannot wait.
March 24, 2011
Dear God, What a Week
A few odds and ends of note:
Newspaper Stuff: I talked to Shannon Kelly of AVARIEL; Craig talked to Steve Martin and also reviewed his bluegrass CD; and Intern Leigh explored the mysteries of the "Iron Poet" competition. IN TWSN, we have recs for all kinds of neat stuff happening, including Joey Belladonna (of Anthrax); the Hush Now and Geoff Kagan Trenchard. And to think, this is the same town that came off as a little dull in a recent Boston Globe column. Mind, the columnist had a City Councilor show him around, which is no sane person's idea of a good time. Except maybe if the councilor were Mike Germain. That could get interesting ...
Radius Stuff:Since last I updated this blog, there have been poems posted by Eric John Priestley, David Keali‘i, Irina Mashinski and Ben Nardolilli. And as always, more to come: the next few days alone will bring us Tatyana S. Brown, Dorinda Wegener, Ira Sadoff(!!!) and Beau Sia(!!!)
Other Stuff: My poems 300,000 Kilometers Per Second, Soccer at Nuremberg, Although My Tongue Has Forked No Lightning, Paris and Philophobia are all in the current issue of The Legendary , along with great works by the likes of Jane Cassady and Geoff Kagan Trenchard (man, that guy is everywhere, these days!) There are also great reviews of Jane and Shappy Seasholtz' books. It's a great, odd little poetry site, and I've been enjoying reading it immensely.
I have it on good authority that contributors copies of Knocking at the Door: Poems for Approaching the Other , edited by Lea Deschenes and Lisa Sisler, are en route. Very excited! I'll be among the poets reading at a number of publication readings for the anthology, including at 8 p.m. April 21 at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City, and at 7 p.m. May 29 at the Poets Asylum here in the still not boring city of Worcester.
Lastly, I'll be a guest on KUCI's Writers on Writing radio program at 9 a.m. PST April 6, hosted by the always remarkable Barbara DeMarco Barrett, and I'll be doing a feature for the Dirty Gerund Poetry Series at 9 p.m. Monday, April 25, at Ralph's Chadwick Square Diner, which is also here in Worcester and may be the least boring place in the city. Special musical guest that night will be keyboardist.singer the Sneaky Mister. For at least one of my two sets, I'll be doing the Toxic Waltz poems I've been working on. Thinking I may need to recruit someone to sing. Is there a female vocalist out there willing to belt out a little Michael Jackson, maybe a PJ Harvey tune and maybe something or other else for a beer? Drop me a line backchannel.
Reading List: Just finished the Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins, which I enjoyed immensely, even if parts of it are kind of clunky. Will probably get more into it, soon, as I've been meaning to get back to writing about heroes and culture, and these books have only fired me up to get back to work. Currently reading The Imperfectionists, by Tom Rachman, which so far captures the shoddy beauty of the news business brilliantly.
OK. That's enough. Dishes to do ...
Newspaper Stuff: I talked to Shannon Kelly of AVARIEL; Craig talked to Steve Martin and also reviewed his bluegrass CD; and Intern Leigh explored the mysteries of the "Iron Poet" competition. IN TWSN, we have recs for all kinds of neat stuff happening, including Joey Belladonna (of Anthrax); the Hush Now and Geoff Kagan Trenchard. And to think, this is the same town that came off as a little dull in a recent Boston Globe column. Mind, the columnist had a City Councilor show him around, which is no sane person's idea of a good time. Except maybe if the councilor were Mike Germain. That could get interesting ...
Radius Stuff:Since last I updated this blog, there have been poems posted by Eric John Priestley, David Keali‘i, Irina Mashinski and Ben Nardolilli. And as always, more to come: the next few days alone will bring us Tatyana S. Brown, Dorinda Wegener, Ira Sadoff(!!!) and Beau Sia(!!!)
Other Stuff: My poems 300,000 Kilometers Per Second, Soccer at Nuremberg, Although My Tongue Has Forked No Lightning, Paris and Philophobia are all in the current issue of The Legendary , along with great works by the likes of Jane Cassady and Geoff Kagan Trenchard (man, that guy is everywhere, these days!) There are also great reviews of Jane and Shappy Seasholtz' books. It's a great, odd little poetry site, and I've been enjoying reading it immensely.
I have it on good authority that contributors copies of Knocking at the Door: Poems for Approaching the Other , edited by Lea Deschenes and Lisa Sisler, are en route. Very excited! I'll be among the poets reading at a number of publication readings for the anthology, including at 8 p.m. April 21 at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City, and at 7 p.m. May 29 at the Poets Asylum here in the still not boring city of Worcester.
Lastly, I'll be a guest on KUCI's Writers on Writing radio program at 9 a.m. PST April 6, hosted by the always remarkable Barbara DeMarco Barrett, and I'll be doing a feature for the Dirty Gerund Poetry Series at 9 p.m. Monday, April 25, at Ralph's Chadwick Square Diner, which is also here in Worcester and may be the least boring place in the city. Special musical guest that night will be keyboardist.singer the Sneaky Mister. For at least one of my two sets, I'll be doing the Toxic Waltz poems I've been working on. Thinking I may need to recruit someone to sing. Is there a female vocalist out there willing to belt out a little Michael Jackson, maybe a PJ Harvey tune and maybe something or other else for a beer? Drop me a line backchannel.
Reading List: Just finished the Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins, which I enjoyed immensely, even if parts of it are kind of clunky. Will probably get more into it, soon, as I've been meaning to get back to writing about heroes and culture, and these books have only fired me up to get back to work. Currently reading The Imperfectionists, by Tom Rachman, which so far captures the shoddy beauty of the news business brilliantly.
OK. That's enough. Dishes to do ...
March 17, 2011
Thursdays Are For Pimping
I usually get to this earlier in the day, don't I? Seems like the entire week has been an uphill slog. Lots and lots of work, although I did have a nice dinner at Sarah and Dave's with Lea, Kae and Bex, followed by the ritual viewing of Top Chef All-Stars. It's not shaking out the way I expected, but I do have to admit I'm enjoying it. Also enjoyed Glee on Tuesday, even though I expected the original songs to completely drain the fun out of the show. Couldn't have been more wrong.
In the Telegram today, I put forward my nominees for who should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Craig talks up the new R.E.M.
In TWSN, recommendations for Helmet, Joe Bonamassa, Yucky Octopus, Holmes, the Reduced Shakespeare Company and the Harlem Globetrotters.
In Radius, poems by Scott Wannberg and Jade Sylvan.
Lastly, was sorry to hear that Long Beach rapper pioneer Nate Dogg had died. RIP.
In the Telegram today, I put forward my nominees for who should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Craig talks up the new R.E.M.
In TWSN, recommendations for Helmet, Joe Bonamassa, Yucky Octopus, Holmes, the Reduced Shakespeare Company and the Harlem Globetrotters.
In Radius, poems by Scott Wannberg and Jade Sylvan.
Lastly, was sorry to hear that Long Beach rapper pioneer Nate Dogg had died. RIP.
March 15, 2011
Odds and Ends ...
*Any day that entails spending time in a periodontist's office can only be construed as being so-so, at best. Evidently, though, I only have the fairly typical brand of gum disease, and surgery may be avoidable. Whee!
*As a person who gets bent out of shape about politics pretty easily (I'm working on that), I have to say, this bit from the Fuck Yeah, History Major Tumblr makes me very happy:
*On a less-happy note, I was sad to hear that former Worcester poet Frank Miller had passed away. I don't know any details, but he was a good sort, and he'll be missed.
*Lots of stuff in Radius, including an invented form by Jane Cassady, a noisy Saturday from me where I chimed in on the Rankine/Hoagland discussion, and added my two-cents on The Guardian's "Ten Best American Poems"; and Tony Brown pondering permanence in poetry.
*As a person who gets bent out of shape about politics pretty easily (I'm working on that), I have to say, this bit from the Fuck Yeah, History Major Tumblr makes me very happy:
*On a less-happy note, I was sad to hear that former Worcester poet Frank Miller had passed away. I don't know any details, but he was a good sort, and he'll be missed.
*Lots of stuff in Radius, including an invented form by Jane Cassady, a noisy Saturday from me where I chimed in on the Rankine/Hoagland discussion, and added my two-cents on The Guardian's "Ten Best American Poems"; and Tony Brown pondering permanence in poetry.
March 10, 2011
RIP James Amar
I was saddened to hear the news that T&G copy editor James Amar had passed away. I don't know the details, but he had been in poor health for some time. Still, it was a bit of a shock. It always is.
James was one of the people who taught me the fundamentals of newspaper page layout, back when I was laying out the Montachussett Telegram & Gazette twice a week (in the days way, way before the Telegram Towns papers.) I found the process insufferably slow, at the time, and took much better to computer pagination, which James never really took to. Still, I owe him a lot for those early training sessions, and I don't think I ever told him that.
Mostly, I'll be happy to stick with computer pagination. It suits the way my mind works. But I do still keep a pica stick and proportion wheel in my desk, just in case, and I'll probably always think of him when I come across them.
James was one of the people who taught me the fundamentals of newspaper page layout, back when I was laying out the Montachussett Telegram & Gazette twice a week (in the days way, way before the Telegram Towns papers.) I found the process insufferably slow, at the time, and took much better to computer pagination, which James never really took to. Still, I owe him a lot for those early training sessions, and I don't think I ever told him that.
Mostly, I'll be happy to stick with computer pagination. It suits the way my mind works. But I do still keep a pica stick and proportion wheel in my desk, just in case, and I'll probably always think of him when I come across them.
Thursdays Are For Pimping ...
First, something very important:
OK. Now other stuff, of the pimping variety:
*In Radius: Oscar Bermeo wades into the Rankine/Hoagland debate, plus a poem by Marc Olmsted!
*In What You're Listening To, I talk nerdcore and electronica with Jon Wolf; also, Craig talks about the newest from Bright Eyes.
*In The Weekend Starts Now , recs for Elton John, Krizz Kaliko, Dave Feeley, Blue Machine, Political Animal, a Worcester Art Museum tour and the St. Patrick's Day Parade.
OK. Now other stuff, of the pimping variety:
*In Radius: Oscar Bermeo wades into the Rankine/Hoagland debate, plus a poem by Marc Olmsted!
*In What You're Listening To, I talk nerdcore and electronica with Jon Wolf; also, Craig talks about the newest from Bright Eyes.
*In The Weekend Starts Now , recs for Elton John, Krizz Kaliko, Dave Feeley, Blue Machine, Political Animal, a Worcester Art Museum tour and the St. Patrick's Day Parade.
March 9, 2011
Driving by ...
*Was braced to hate tonight's Glee, which would have been a shame, as there was a Prince number, and I love Prince. But as it turns out, I enjoyed it immensely. "And remember. Everyone has a random." BWAH!
*The poetry workshop series for the Worcester Adult Education Program has been canceled. Not enough registrations, although I suspect that might be in part because it was impossible to easily direct people on how to register. I don't know. Hopefully, the workshop series will pop up again independently, because it was a pretty good looking program, and one I think people would pay a few bucks a class, for. Hell, for the folks at Ballard Street, I'll gladly work for tips. They do good work.
I actually have a bad history with those sorts of programs. I took a couple of poetry workshops through one of them when I was in my early teens, but I had to drop out because I couldn't afford it. In retrospect, I don't think I ever asked anyone in my family for help, but I was young, and always hated asking for anything, back then, especially something that seemed as frivolous as a poetry workshop. (Who knew it would turn out to be the cornerstone of my entire life?) Still, learning how to ask for help was hard. I'm still not great at it. I keep wondering if there's some teenager like I used to be, wondering around Worcester, who could use that sort of workshop, and then I remember that they have that, here, what with Alex Charalambides' work with the youth slam, and the workshops he Nick Davis do occasionally through WCPA. Kids are luckier these days. That's a good thing. I'm glad people like Alex and Nick are out there.
Still, I'm up for a beginner's workshop series if other people are.
*Lea and Lisa's anthology, Knocking at the Door , is imminent, and I'm very excited. Lots of good poems in there, by a very unlikely collection of poets.
*Radius is near bursting with good stuff, including a poem by Rachel McKibbens, two poems by Randall Horton, and Robert Bohm's Kashmir journal. And still lots of good stuff on deck.
And of course, Radius is always open for submissions. Just be sure to take a look at the guidelines, as our needs are rather specialized.
*The poetry workshop series for the Worcester Adult Education Program has been canceled. Not enough registrations, although I suspect that might be in part because it was impossible to easily direct people on how to register. I don't know. Hopefully, the workshop series will pop up again independently, because it was a pretty good looking program, and one I think people would pay a few bucks a class, for. Hell, for the folks at Ballard Street, I'll gladly work for tips. They do good work.
I actually have a bad history with those sorts of programs. I took a couple of poetry workshops through one of them when I was in my early teens, but I had to drop out because I couldn't afford it. In retrospect, I don't think I ever asked anyone in my family for help, but I was young, and always hated asking for anything, back then, especially something that seemed as frivolous as a poetry workshop. (Who knew it would turn out to be the cornerstone of my entire life?) Still, learning how to ask for help was hard. I'm still not great at it. I keep wondering if there's some teenager like I used to be, wondering around Worcester, who could use that sort of workshop, and then I remember that they have that, here, what with Alex Charalambides' work with the youth slam, and the workshops he Nick Davis do occasionally through WCPA. Kids are luckier these days. That's a good thing. I'm glad people like Alex and Nick are out there.
Still, I'm up for a beginner's workshop series if other people are.
*Lea and Lisa's anthology, Knocking at the Door , is imminent, and I'm very excited. Lots of good poems in there, by a very unlikely collection of poets.
*Radius is near bursting with good stuff, including a poem by Rachel McKibbens, two poems by Randall Horton, and Robert Bohm's Kashmir journal. And still lots of good stuff on deck.
And of course, Radius is always open for submissions. Just be sure to take a look at the guidelines, as our needs are rather specialized.
March 8, 2011
RIP Mama Maria McCray
Just got the news that Maria McCray had passed, and I'm a little in shock. I only knew her slightly, but was always delighted to hear her read. That sense of calm dignity in her performance, that sense of sharpness. She was one of the first poets at Nationals to make an impression on me, and I held her and her work in the highest regard. She was kind, smart and a hell of a writer.
Many, many condolences to the Chicago crowd, who are probably feeling her absence immensely right now.
Damn. Just ... damn.
Many, many condolences to the Chicago crowd, who are probably feeling her absence immensely right now.
Damn. Just ... damn.
