It's going to be pretty crickety over here while I'm away at you know where.

If you'll be anywhere near you know where, here's where I'll be on Wednesday and Saturday.

Burlesque Detroit Night Pics

are up! New Burlesque record -- Caroline Maun received $55 for her hand-made silver necklace.

Interview & New Poems at The Scrambler

There's three poems and an interview with me up at The Scrambler. One note, I'm not one of the "best young poets in the nation" -- I'm one of the "most fabulous youthful-looking poets in nation" -- editors never get that one right.

That's right, I got carded tonight -- first time in years. Fuck yeah!

Where I'll Be Tonight

Burlesque Poetry Hour -- Detroit Night!

This Week at No Tell

Amanda Laughtland does more than twenty songwriters can put into words this week at No Tell Motel.

Atlanta Take Me Away

I cannot wait for some sweet 50 degree weather.

Spent most of the weekend holed up in my office writing a poem for the Pussipo reading on Weds. I am so intimidated reading with so many fabulous poets and so very much want not to suck that I'm putting unnecessary pressure on myself. It's what I do.

AWP Wednesday Night

PUSSIPO (after K. Acker) is a high-octane collective of 160 women poets who view poetry as an act of skilled knife-throwing. Pussipo is SUPPOSED to wreck you. Members hail from across the U.S. and Canada, and 20 of them will erect their carnivalesque midway at the sensational arts venue EYEDRUM (in The Mattress Factory), 290 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive (corner of Hill St.) in Atlanta (a five-minute cab ride from the AWP conference hotel) on Wednesday, February 28th 8-10pm. Get to town early, and come one, come all to the spectacle. Witness them sing loud their dynamo engines. Don't bring anything you’re not prepared to lose.

Books, manifestos, spangly creatures for sale, gift, and thrill! Suggested donation teeny-tiny $2 at the door.

DIRECTIONS to Eyedrum: 290 MLK Jr. Dr. SE, Suite 8, Atlanta, GA 30312, at the corner of Hill St. and M.L.K. Jr. Dr. 3 blocks west of historic Oakland Cemetery, on the west end of the Old Mattress Factory complex. Enter the chain linked gate, opposite DaddyD'z BBQ (the gate is open when Eyedrum is), look for the orange Silo drum just outside our door.

From downtown, heading east on Decatur Street / Dekalb Avenue
Turn right onto Bell Street / Hill Street
Turn left onto MLK Jr. Drive
Eyedrum entrance is immediately on left.
From downtown, heading east on Memorial Drive
Turn left onto Hill St.
Turn right onto MLK Jr. Drive
Eyedrum entrance is immediately on left.

AWP Saturday Night

Black Ocean (www.blackocean.org) brings together a spectrum of influences—from silent films to punk rock—and manifests that aesthetic in the books we print, the shows we produce, and the work we promote. In conjunction with our book releases, we stage parties, concerts, exhibitions and other celebrations around the country. Our readers will include Zachary Schomburg and Paula Cisewski.

No Tell Books (www.notellbooks.org) is an independent press specializing in poetry founded in 2006 by Reb Livingston, publisher and editor of No Tell Motel (www.notellmotel.org). Their readers will include: Bruce Covey, Jill Alexander Essbaum, Shafer Hall, Reb Livingston, Karl Parker, Laurel Snyder.

Octopus Books (www.octopusbooks.net) is a small press launched by the editors of Octopus Magazine. It publishes two full-length books of poems each year, in addition to solicited chapbooks, broadsides from poems published in Octopus Magazine, and other projects. Octopus #8, a set of 8 chapbooks, is currently available. Also, chapbooks from Lily Brown and Jonah Winter, and a full-length book of poems from Julie Doxsee are forthcoming. Reading for Octopus tonight are: Julie Doxsee and Lily Brown.

Pilot Books (www.pilotpoetry.com) is the paper cousin of the online poetry magazine Pilot. We strive to publish innovative work, and believe that innovative work demands innovative design. All of our limited-edition chapbooks and broadsides are designed and printed in ways unique and luminous to the manuscript itself. We use fine papers and construct all books by hand. Authors who will read: Lori Shine, Friedrich Kerksieck and Anthony Robinson.

When it Comes Down to it, I Didn't Stick Around Because I Was Afraid of an Anal Probe

I am never driving through Falls Church again -- ever. That town was built on an ancient burial ground, like freaking Poltergeist. The roads are cursed. It was Falls Church where Betsy and I were pulled over and almost tasered to death and today where the Happy Booker and I hit a gigantic crater while entering the highway *and* where I pulled in front of some guy in my blind spot. Our bumpers are scratched. It wasn't serious, but still. When I got home I called Chris and told him what happened. He asked if I called the police -- the other guy did, but we exchanged information and it was just scratches, both Booker and I needed get home to pick up our kids and I was terrified of running into the same cop from last month and getting cornholed -- so we didn't wait around. Chris pointed out that without a police report that guy can say I caused all kinds of damage. Now I'm stressed out. The guy seemed nice -- but one time in college Chris and I were in an accident (Chris was driving, so don't blame that one on the poet) and the woman Chris ran into seemed nice to him (she seemed bat shit crazy to me, but I'm sensitive) -- anyhow, she ended up suing Chris, as did her husband, something about not being able to have sex with her since the accident. This was not a terrible accident and sure, I could believe back and neck injuries, but well, it seemed like there were a lot of additional uterus complications one doesn't normally sustain in a fender bender, but I'm not a doctor and maybe I don't know what I'm talking about -- what I'm trying to say now I'm stressed about my decision not to wait for the cops. It seemed so sillly, it was a low speed, no dent, couple scratches accident. If I get a lawsuit from this guy's wife about how he can't get an erection, Chris is going to be all I told you so!

But before I drove through Falls Church, the day was quite lovely. We met DC poet Kim Roberts in the city and had lunch at Busboys and Poets -- a place I'd been trying to get to since, um, it first opened when I was pregnant.

Every Day is Valentine's Here

Gideon's new obsession: balloons. Can't get enough. Right now there are four balloons in my home, probably an all time record.

Been pretty busy. It's not easy being the perfect wife, mother, poet, editor and pubisher. It takes time. Effort. Lots and lots of spackle.

Stayed up to 4 a.m. last night answering interview questions for an online poetry/art magazine. The editor expressed gratitude for my responding and doing so promptly. Apparently not every poet does that. I don't understand, somebody out of the blue e-mails and says "hey, I like your work, would you answer a few questions for an online interview" -- what poet passes on that? Is everyone else getting tons of interview requests? Not me. I've received a few -- and always make responding a priority. I don't have enough readers to take any for granted, to pass up on an opportunity to find a few more.

AWP -- egads, seems like just yesterday I was weeping in an Austin elavator, totally exhausted, sleep deprived. Not this year. No book fair monkey table for No Tell Books. For hundreds of dollars less than the price of a table, I purchased a very smart messenger bag. You want a No Tell book -- look for me in the hotel bar where I'll be setting up my store front.

I'll have a limited number proofs of Shafer Hall's Never Cry Woof -- if you're interested in acquiring a review copy, rendezvous at above destination. The book should be available to the crazed masses mid-March, barring any disasters.

I'll be reading Wednesday night at the Pussipo reading and Saturday night at the Pilot/Black Ocean/Octopus/No Tell event. Will post more details about that soon.

Monday night is Detroit Night at Burlesque -- only two of the four author bios are up -- waiting for the other two. Hopefully they'll be up soon.

Now That's a Way to Sell Books

Buy them yourself!

~Quest~ A Special Edition of MiPOesias Magazine

Guest Edited by Evie Shockley http://www.mipoesias.com/EVIESHOCKLEYISSUE

A. Van Jordan
Aracelis Girmay
Brandon D. Johnson
C.S. Giscombe
Camille Dungy
Carl Martin
Cherryl Floyd-Miller
Christian Campbell
Christopher Stackhouse
Derrick Weston Brown
Douglas Kearney
Duriel E. Harris
Ed Roberson
G.E. Patterson
Geoffrey Jacques
giovanni singleton
kim d. hunter
Kyle G. Dargan
L. Teresa Church
Lenard D. Moore
Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon
Marilyn Nelson
Meghan Punschke
Mendi Lewis Obadike
Opal Moore
Raina Leon
Reginald Harris
Reginald Shepherd
Tara Betts
Thylias Moss
Tonya Foster
Treasure Williams
Tyrone Williams

This Week at No Tell

Jason Fraley draws a line the length of your driveway plus the spiral staircase this week at No Tell Motel.

Navigate Reviewed at Horse Less

Read entire review here

"A passage in the final poem lets all the voices and intentions of this narration collide:

I want to tell you how it felt
falling and knowing
what a bad idea it was
to have decided against the parachutes

ha ha

She truly wants to show this, and it is through the spirit of discovery just as much as loneliness, anger, loss. The joke is both a joke and not, the missing parachutes only a bad idea on one side of the punch line, which is itself a memory. I realize now that I haven't mentioned the author's name once, but Loudon has been buzzing and ghosting these poems the whole time, considering the "fly girls" to whom the book is dedicated, making this personal, and I imagine these final lines are no different. I know how it feels."

-Jen Tynes

Appetite for Cupcakes

Gideon turns 2 today -- at 5:35 p.m, to be exact. Just finished icing his cupcakes. Strawberry with buttercream frosting.

New Issue of GALATEA RESURRECTS #5 (A Poetry Engagement)

is here. 56 new reviews!

William Allegrezza reviews ELAPSING SPEEDWAY ORGANISM by Bruce Covey

"Humor, though, makes these poems stand out. Covey’s humor is quirky, paratactic, and interesting. He throws in lines that seem to come from nowhere, like “If your socks wear out, try my yellow ones” or “Is Hart Crane a style of kung fu?” The lines come at us sideways, so we have to step back and see what’s happening."

Jeannine Hall Gailey reviews NAVIGATE, AMELIA EARHART'S LETTERS HOME by Rebecca Loudon

"Acutely sensual, startlingly agonizing, these poems reveal an individual, likeable but idiosyncratic and aching with a desire for freedom even at the cost of life itself."

Ice Storm!

Got to sleep in today. Chris stayed home because the roads were slippy (not a typo, I'm from Pittsburgh, we say slippy).

This morning dreamed that our water pipes leaked in our ceiling again. In my dream, I went downstairs and Joe Piscopo (for real, I have no idea how that fucker got into my dream, it's not like I say him on TV recently) had already dry walled the ceiling although he hadn't found or repaired the leaky pipe. Water was still pouring down and I was all WTF?!?

This is notable because when I did finally get out of bed, Chris mentioned that he thought we had another leak in the pipes because right before it happened the last two times, warm water started came out of the cold knob in our our bathroom faucet.

Shit like this makes me want to move.

Maybe this is a sign I need to move.

* * *

Tonight we'll go out for our family Valentine's Day dinner. We go early and do Mexican because everybody knows Mexican isn't romantic so we'll be sure to get a table. A few years ago while walking down the street in NYC on VD I heard some woman freaking on her boyfriend about how dare he try to take her to a Mexican restaurant on Valentine's.

She had a point and I'm glad she said something. There's an entire future of Mexican VD meals in store once she has kids. What's the rush?

Vote

For the big AWP Saturday night reading/event (co-hosted with Pilot Books, Octopus Books and Black Ocean Books) -- shall the No Tell Books crew call ourselves:

Team Shush

--or--

Bedside Manners

Half-Assed Recap

I've been meaning to blog about last week's Atlanta reading, but haven't found much time these past few days. Luckily since I waited long enough, other people did it for me.

Reviews of the reading:

"I almost want to say they were delightful, but Reb would probably make a face at me calling her "delightful." How about "sexy bitches?""
-- Collin Kelly

"Carly has done something kind of brazen. She has imagined a voice, a spirit and a body. She has made a book out of moments and images. There’s God in there, and loss… but the book isn’t heavy handed, and so the spirit and sadness are more real. More poetry."
--Laurel Snyder at Jewcy

------------

Famous poets in attendance: Collin Kelly, Laurel Snyder, Ashley VanDoorn, Laura Carter and Julie Bloemeke.

------------

My Atlanta Fashion Disasters
Wore a long cream sweater over a black shirt and skirt -- the sweater pilled everywhere and I was disgraceful, fuzzy mess. Even the (black) strap of my messenger bag was covered.

I lost one the diamonds in my engagement ring.

That's right boys, I'm 1/6th single! Start sketching your homemade Valentines.

Acceptable this week only: rhyming love poems.

This Week at No Tell

Jill Stengel is left with: writing paper, a pen, what she started with this week at No Tell Motel.

Saint Elizabeth Street Issue #5

Interview issue with interviews (and poems) by Adam Clay, Andrea Baker, Bruce Covey, Kate Greenstreet, and Jen Benka.

www.saintelizabethstreet.org

Lolita & Gilda Do Hotlanta

Bruce Covey wears a tie






Dorm Art Sampler

Stay Tuned

Atlanta debauchery update coming soon.

from THE BLIND CHATELAINE'S POKER POETICS:

"Also, while it may be worth noting that I applied my M.B.A. and financial analytical skills to my involvement in poetry, this Poet’s Income Statement really can’t help reflect what I believe to be true about Poetry: that it ultimately is a Gift Economy."

Attention Atlanta: Carly & Reb Coming to Your Town

Thursday, February 8 -- 7:30 p.m.

What's New In Poetry Series
Emory University - Dobbs Hall - Parlor Room
586 Pierce Drive

Readers: Carly Sachs & Reb Livingston

Refreshments!

Absolute Bollocks

"Leading the charge is Heidi James, the 33-year-old owner and sole employee of Social Disease, a new kind of publishing company. It does most of its marketing and talent scouting on the internet and relies on new print on demand technology to keep its costs sufficiently low to ensure that, even if it can't compete with the publishing behemoths, it won't be crushed by them anytime soon either.

James sums up Social Disease's raison d'être as: "Zadie Smith is not fucking interesting", and neither are Monica Ali and the dozens of other writers of similar social comedies that emerged in the wake of White Teeth's huge success. "All this postmodern irony is just so dull," James explains. "And I realised that I really hate the homogeneity of the publishing world where it's next to impossible to get genuinely interesting work published. The big publishing houses would have you believe that there isn't a market for new and exciting work that takes a few risks and makes a demand on it's readers, but that's bollocks. Absolute bollocks.""

Get Your Two Poet Valentine Truffles

here.

I've sampled these wares -- they're outstanding.

(If by "sampling" I mean 15 or more pieces.)

Can't You See I'm Busy?

Virginia Ain't Pittsburgh

I'll never get used to schools closing for 1-2 inches of snow (that fell overnight, not even in the morning). Yeah, it's cold, but it's been cold all week. Why do I care that the schools are closed? Because when Fairfax County schools are closed so is my pilates studio. I didn't want to get out of bed this morning, but I did. And I didn't want to shovel-sweep my front steps, but I did. Nor did I want to clean off the car, but I did. And for what? A locked door and no workout.

Last night at the hopping mall playground, a little boy was wearing a superman costume -- that wouldn't be especially notable, except this one had fake chest muscles. I know he was the most popular boy crawling on the Looney Tunes choo-choo train, but damn, he freaked me out.

How Cold is It?

This evening I went through the agony of packing and strapping Gideon into the car seat so I could drive to the other end of the parking lot.

Atlanta on Thursday

Carly Sachs (aka Lolita) and I will read at Emory University on Thursday. Here are the details.

Come hear us! Or bring earplugs and just look at us. Or wear a blindfold and make up a story about a killer flashbulb. We'll have no idea.

Burlesque Hits the Big Time (in free DC publication)

Taking It Off for Your Art, by Sandra Beasley (text only)

Or if you want to see all the pretty pictures (you know you do), view the PDF here.

"Celebrating its second year in 2007, Burlesque Poetry Hour challenges the conventions of arts nightlife in Washington, DC. “I think people are looking for more fun and sexy things here,” observes cofounder Carly Sachs, who hosts the series under the name Lolita. “DC can be a button-up town at times. What I love best is that people stay afterwards and drink and chat together…I know this is a strange way to build community, but I think it does.”

Reb Livingston, the cofounder otherwise known as Gilda, recognizes another benefit to the auction element: “The money goes directly to the poet. It’s his or her payment for reading and encouragement not to suck.”

This Week at No Tell

Boyer Rickel hears inside himself the scream of a horse this week at No Tell Motel.

Recently Acquired by My Grubby Hands

Living Things by Charles Jensen (Thorngate Road)

Harmstorm by Karl Parker (Lame House)

Brief Weather & I Guess a Sort of Vision by Anthony Robinson (Pilot Books)

Inkblot and Altar by Laura Van Prooyen (Pecan Grove Press)

One the Fly by Amy King (Flux Bouche Press)

the music we are by Alan King

Dredging for Atlantis by Eileen Tabios (Otoliths)

Big Crisis by Nate Pritts (A Publication of Forklift, Ink)

a half-red sea by Evie Shockley (Carolina Wren Press)

case sensitive by Kate Greenstreet (Ahsahta Press)
Learning the Language by Kate Greenstreet (Etherdome Press)

Locket by Catherine Daly (Tupelo)

Crush by Richard Siken (Yale)

Collected Poems with Notes Toward the Memoirs by Djuna Barnes, edited by Phillip Herring and Osias Stutman (Wisconsin)

Ladies Almanack by Djuna Barnes (Dalkey Archive)

We Speak Silent by Hannah Weiner (Roof)

Midwinter Day by Bernadette Mayer (New Directions)

A Wordly Country by John Ashbery (Ecco -- proof)
Forty-Five by Frieda Hughes (Harper Collins -- proof)
The Collected Poems 1956 - 1998 by Zbigniew Herbert, Edited by Robert Hass (Harper Collins -- proof)

Tough Heaven: Poems of Pittsburgh by Jack Gilbert (Pond Road Press)

32 Poems (Fall/Winter 2006, Vol. 4, No. 2)
effing magazine 5
Sentence (No. 4)
Barrelhouse (Issue 3)

Big Game Tinysides (21 - 25, Joseph S. Cooper, Cathy Eisenhower, Ryan Walker. Sarah Manguso and Anne Gorrick)

Check Out the Meat Hooks on this Kid

For those of you who use Lulu

Vote for the option of matte covers.

Yeah, I'm sorry I "upgraded" to the new blogger -- what a piece of crap.

What Goes On After Burlesque

Hot group collaborative found erasure poetry!

Pussipo Reading - February 28th

Pussipo is a high-octane collective of 160 women poets who view poetry as an act of skilled knife-throwing. As founder Anne Boyer notes, “Pussipo is SUPPOSED to wreck you.” Pussipo’s members hail from across the U.S. and Canada, and 20 of them will erect their carnivalesque midway at EYEDRUM at 290 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Atlanta (a five-minute cab ride from the AWP conference hotel) on Wednesday, February 28th 8-10pm. Come one, come all to the spectacle, and witness them sing loud their dynamo engines. Don’t bring anything you’re not prepared to lose.

Books, manifestos, spangly creatures for sale and thrill! Readers include:

Rosa Alcala, Anne Boyer, Susan Briante, Catherine Daly, Lara Glenum, Kate Greenstreet, elen gebreab, Janet Holmes, Kirsten Kaschock, Amy King, Reb Livingston, T.A. Noonan, Danielle Pafunda, Meghan Punschke, Evie Shockley, Sandra Simonds, and Sarah Vap