a short poem of no more than twelve lines, reflecting who you were at eighteen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eighteen

Eighteen is a gate. Nineteen
is a shadow. Twenty is a locked
door. Twenty-one is a blank
wall. I’m no different from anyone else
at eighteen: certain that I’m different
from everyone else, certain that
music is a torch, certain that fucking
and doping are some kind of key, and
hopeful as hell
that a pen in the hand will work as well
as dynamite.

Read The Zero Point Zero Regular Coulmn!

It’s better than poetry!

After a year of being away from it, I’ve revived the Zero Point Zero column.

When Ryk, Sou, and Victor started their gotpoetry columns, it stopped (at last) the nagging feelings of guilt I had had since I walked away in late 2004. I was burned out at the time; didn’t think I could keep going with it and was feeling like I had stopped doing a good job.

It was the right decision, but as a good Catholic boy, I still felt guilty.

I’m coming back to it now from a different angle. First off, it’s going to be a monthly column (a weekly one was insane — what the hell was i thinking I was doing back then?). Second, I’m bringing the focus back on to my personal proccess — a monthly examination of how I approach the creative process on a single poem. I expect it will also lead me to consider more general issues. I’m already thinking of an extended thesis on the relative benefits of Scotch and Bourbon whiskeys for writing two-fisted poems o’ masculine despair a la Hemingway.

Some of the old examination of the scene, of the place of poetry in the community, etc., I think is being handled far more thoughtfully in Victor’s column than it ever was in mine. I’m going to stick to what i do best — navel-gazing introspection and existential dread as expressed through ruthless self-critical recrimination.

It’s gonna be fun, and I hope you keep reading us all.

Read How to Succeed as a Failing Writer!

It’s better than success!

Read Chrysanthemum – a serial novel!

Sea Sponge!

 
Read Bilbio – Other Bible Stories!

It starts in the Old Testament, and evolves from there…

In addition to the monthlies, there are also two more sporadic columns by Paul David Mena on the art of haiku and a generous helping of the wit and wisdom of Joe Fusco, the Central Massachusetts area’s favorite poetic supermarket manager.

Read Got Haiku? – the Regular Column!

Because 17 syllables are over rated!

Read Aisle 9 – the Regular Coulmn!

Because retail has killed lesser men!

It’s gonna be fun, and I hope you keep reading us all.

I know I speak for all of us when I say that I am forever grateful to John Powers and gotpoetry.com for putting up with me, and with putting up all of us in the first place. gotpoetry.com is a great resource that can become so much more if the community as a whole gets into using it. I’d like to see that happen; I’d like to think these columns are a way of making it an even more valuable Web destination for us all.