OK, then…

1.
Pretty awake right now. I like that. It’s different.

2.
News reports about the latest photos from Abu Ghraib are starting to leak out, and they are pretty disturbing … including a whole raft of talk about multiple sex acts being performed before the prisoners; Lynndie England’s frequent presence in these is being cited often.

Let’s step beyond the whole Islamic culture-fucking in the name of interrogation that seems to be the raison d’etre beyond this stuff.

Does anyone see any twisted stuff going on here regarding the way Lynndie England is being portrayed in the media?

And if she was working under orders…jeez louise — what does that say about the stuff that went on there?

Does anybody still believe that there WASN’T a plan built by Psy-ops types at work here?

3.
About a year ago, I started receiving e-mails from a guy named Marlow Peese Weaver, asking me to submit poems for his anthology series on the work of younger poets, born between 1960-1982. (Barely make it into this category, by the way.)

I ignored him at first, but got several more — and they weren’t form letters, the dude actually knew my stuff, much to my surprise. He’d actually heard someone cover “Tomatoes” at a reading — which shocked me. No one except folks around here knows that poem; I’ve never published it anywhere. (Who the hell covered it in North Carolina? I still don’t know.)

I did some checking around and found that a handful of folks I knew were in some of the earlier volumes, including Marty McConnell and Ragan Fox. I also found copies of some of the anthologies in a local bookstore, and they were ok.

I think this is a labor of love for this guy. The contract specifies some remuneration, but of course, so many poets are in a volume that that’s not much. But it seems at least marginally better than Poetry.com, in that no money’s demanded of you, the book’s reasonably well put together, and you can actually buy it on the Web and in brick and mortar stores

So I finally said, oh, what the hell. And sent off a handful of poems, including, of course, “Tomatoes”.

Yesterday, I got a copy of the book — “In Our Own Words: a Generation Defining Itself” and there, indeed, one of mine was in there — but wouldn’t you know it? He didn’t pick “Tomatoes”, after all that! (“Political Art,” for those of you keeping score.)

I still can’t figure this out. I’m very leery of scams, and if this is one, he sure as hell can’t be making any money from it.

The only other name I recognized in the book this time around was Danika Dinsmore. There are lots of international authors as well.

I’ll keep you posted as I find out more.

OK, then…

1.
Pretty awake right now. I like that. It’s different.

2.
News reports about the latest photos from Abu Ghraib are starting to leak out, and they are pretty disturbing … including a whole raft of talk about multiple sex acts being performed before the prisoners; Lynndie England’s frequent presence in these is being cited often.

Let’s step beyond the whole Islamic culture-fucking in the name of interrogation that seems to be the raison d’etre beyond this stuff.

Does anyone see any twisted stuff going on here regarding the way Lynndie England is being portrayed in the media?

And if she was working under orders…jeez louise — what does that say about the stuff that went on there?

Does anybody still believe that there WASN’T a plan built by Psy-ops types at work here?

3.
About a year ago, I started receiving e-mails from a guy named Marlow Peese Weaver, asking me to submit poems for his anthology series on the work of younger poets, born between 1960-1982. (Barely make it into this category, by the way.)

I ignored him at first, but got several more — and they weren’t form letters, the dude actually knew my stuff, much to my surprise. He’d actually heard someone cover “Tomatoes” at a reading — which shocked me. No one except folks around here knows that poem; I’ve never published it anywhere. (Who the hell covered it in North Carolina? I still don’t know.)

I did some checking around and found that a handful of folks I knew were in some of the earlier volumes, including Marty McConnell and Ragan Fox. I also found copies of some of the anthologies in a local bookstore, and they were ok.

I think this is a labor of love for this guy. The contract specifies some remuneration, but of course, so many poets are in a volume that that’s not much. But it seems at least marginally better than Poetry.com, in that no money’s demanded of you, the book’s reasonably well put together, and you can actually buy it on the Web and in brick and mortar stores

So I finally said, oh, what the hell. And sent off a handful of poems, including, of course, “Tomatoes”.

Yesterday, I got a copy of the book — “In Our Own Words: a Generation Defining Itself” and there, indeed, one of mine was in there — but wouldn’t you know it? He didn’t pick “Tomatoes”, after all that! (“Political Art,” for those of you keeping score.)

I still can’t figure this out. I’m very leery of scams, and if this is one, he sure as hell can’t be making any money from it.

The only other name I recognized in the book this time around was Danika Dinsmore. There are lots of international authors as well.

I’ll keep you posted as I find out more.