15.05.2012
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THE WORLD WILL DENY IT FOR YOU by Janaka Stucky (Ahsahta, 2012)

Image

Janaka’s book is a flammable mix of compression, directness, and metal.

“The truth is

We are perfect

…

I make with my mouth

The hour of your arrival”

It is a place where desire is an imperative that tests and distorts the self, pushes it into the utmost. There is nothing speculative about these poems. They are not cute. They do not draw images to wink and erase them in a powdery smear. They are not about the contours of the mind thinking itself or grandpa on the hill. They are going to be in the anthology of metal poetry that Gerald proposed once. What up with Trakl and Aase  Berg, with the poems’ sincere, original hells.

“The terrible mountain of needles

A lake of blood souls with human faces

Grow four legs and fall into

All the things we’ve ever done

Have brought us to this very point”

In many ways, I don’t see this book as fitting Ahsahta’s aesthetic. But maybe they’re letting out more rope for this, their new chapbook series. Given how good this collection is, hopefully they won’t real it back in.

27.04.2012
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6 AMAZON REVIEWS OF THE CONTAINER STORE: MORE NEEDED

Here is a sampling of the fine to very fine reviews of The Container Store Vols I & II by Joe Hall & Chad Hardy on Amazon.com.

As a consumer, it is incumbent upon you to articulate how this product did or did not meet your expectations. Please write your own review.

Dirk says: “As someone with serious storage needs (I live in a Dutch metropolis most of the year), I have to say this really is as low on the totem pole as one can get. I showed up around a week ago in search of a container to store some of the excess medical supplies I’ve accrued through various conferences over the past year. The exterior of the store should have been enough of a hint. Half the lights in the sign were out, and someone had graffiti-ed the entry display window.”

Tom raves, “Book gave me magic powers based on almost certainly intentional misinterpretation of wishes. Would not recommend. On plus side, poems pretty good.”

MS notes, “As my wife and I passed it–I don’t, now, remember where we were going, only that we didn’t want to go anywhere–there was a woman standing in front of the Container Store, wearing an ascot and a red blazer affixed with a large pendant of tangled gold, arguing with her husband, a short fist of a man. She spoke English in an accent I’ll guess was Armenian, and he did too, and their conversation went like this:

WIFE: We have to go to the Container Store to purchase some organizational materials.
HUSBAND: What?
WIFE: We have to go to the Container Store to purchase some organizational materials.
HUSBAND: What?

Etc.”

Mr. Ditchhook says about the author, “I tolerate such money-grubbing among my more destitute friends (as is plain to see) but abhor it in ultra-rich strangers. However, at this stage Joe is taxing my patience by selling out to those Arkansas bullies. So, buy this book– or these books– if only to burn them outside your next Occupy Walmart protest.”

And R. St Lawrence from Minneapolis lets the world know, “So then, naturally, I ask if she’ll set one aside for me for an hour til I get there. She says, “Our system is not set up to do that.” I tell her that I’ve never head of a store that wouldn’t hold something for a customer for an hour, and again she says, “We have such high volume, our system just isn’t set up to do that.” Huh? Pottery Barn and pretty much every other store will do that. I told her that it doesn’t even involve “the system,” since all she has to do is take one and stick it behind the counter, and again she says, like some kind of robot, “Our system is not set up to do that.””

Finally, one of the authors chimes in with this bit of advice:

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the transmission, transfer or processing of such
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Treasury log of may in your and/or terminated.
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for or other stored for subsequent whole in part
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10.04.2012
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Will Read For Women & Marc Cugini: VA & DC 4/14 & 4/15

Unlimited thanks to Siwar and Marc for plugging me into these two great events. Looking forward to hearing Sarah Browning, Kateema Lee, and Meg Ronan in VA and Eugene Cross, Carrie Murphy, and Gina Abelkop in DC.

A lot of people have described my work as very ‘masculine’ but to read for a feminist journal you got to be a feminist right? So hopefully this means a ‘masculine’ poetics can still be feminist. I don’t know. Nobody throw trash at me.

WILL READ FOR WOMEN: sat april 14 @ 8:30 PM / George Mason University, Johnson Center ‘Bistro’

Hear great poetry from exciting DC writers and help women in your community–come to Will Read for Women, George Mason’s first poetry reading/pantry drive!

On Saturday, April 14th, So to Speak, a feminist literary journal, will host a reading drive to benefit a local domestic violence shelter. The reading will feature poetry by Sarah Browning, Joe Hall, Kateema Lee, and Meg Ronan, with an open mic to follow. Audience members are asked to bring toiletry items and other pantry necessities to donate to the shelter, Bethany House. The list of suggested items follows.

The Johnson Center Bistro is a cafe on the first floor of the student center at George Mason’s Fairfax campus. Parking is available nearby in the Mason Pond, Shenandoah, and Rappahannock parking decks. We’d appreciate your support in reaching out into the community and getting this event off the ground! Contact us at sotospeakjournal@gmail.com with any questions.

Reader bios:
Sarah Browning is director of Split This Rock Poetry Festival. Author of Whiskey in the Garden of Eden and co-editor of D.C. Poets Against the War, she is an associate fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies, poetry co-editor of On the Issues Magazine, and co-host of Sunday Kind of Love, a monthly poetry series at Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC. She has received fellowships from the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities and the Creative Communities Initiative and is winner of the People Before Profits Poetry Prize.

Joe Hall was born in the woods and is devoted to Cheryl. Black Ocean Press published his first book of poems, Pigafetta Is My Wife, in 2010. With Chad Hardy he wrote The Container Store Vol. I (SpringGun 2012). His poems, fiction, book reviews, and essays have appeared in Gulf Coast, Octopus, HTMLGiant, The Colorado Review and elsewhere.

Kateema Lee is a Washington D. C. native. She is a University of Maryland graduate, a Cave Canem Fellow, and an associate editor for the Potomac Review. She’s also an English instructor, and she teaches women’s studies courses for the Montgomery College Women’s Studies Program. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in print and online journals such as Poet Lore, Word Riot, Pirene’s Fountain, So to Speak: A Feminist Literary Journal, and others.

Meg Ronan’s poems can be found in West Wind Review, SpringGun, Shampoo Poetry, Cricket Online Review, Interim, LEVELER and other lovely journals. She teaches, sells things, and gives tarot readings in & around the DC metro area.

Requested items include:
Baby wipes
Adult wipes
Lotion
Shampoo
Conditioner
Combs
Bleach
Dish detergents
Dishwasher detergents
Razors
Tweezers
Lip balm/Lip gloss
Vaseline
Brushes
Toothpaste
Toothbrushes
Mouthwash
Bath soaps
Laundry detergents
Toilet paper
Paper towels
Napkins
Diapers (size 3-6)
Pull-ups (size 2T-5T)

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THE THREE TENTS READING SERIES: sunday, april 15 @ 6:00 PM / The Big Hunt / 1345 Connecticut Ave NW / DC 20036

EUGENE CROSS (www.eugenecross.com) is the author of the short story collection “Fires of Our Choosing.” He was born and raised in Erie, Pennsylvania and received an MFA from The University of Pittsburgh. His stories have appeared in Narrative Magazine (which named him one of “20 Best New Writers”), American Short Fiction, Story Quarterly,TriQuarterly, and Callaloo, among others. His work was also listed among the 2010 Best American Short Stories’ 100 Distinguished Stories. He currently lives in Chicago where he teaches in the Fiction Department at Columbia College Chicago.

CARRIE MURPHY (www.carrie-murphy.com) received her BA from the University of Maryland and her MFA from New Mexico State University. She is the author of PRETTY TILT (Keyhole Books, 2012) and a chapbook, MEET THE LAVENDERS (Birds of Lace, 2011).

JOE HALL was born in the woods and is devoted to Cheryl. Black Ocean Press published his first book of poems, Pigafetta Is My Wife, in 2010. With Chad Hardy he wrote The Container Store Vol. I (SpringGun 2012). His poems, fiction, book reviews, and essays have appeared in Gulf Coast, Octopus, HTMLGiant, The Colorado Review, and elsewhere.

GINA ABELKOP is a Pisces living in Northern California. She is the founder/editor of the feminist press Birds of Lace and her wayward books of poems, Darling Beastlettes, is out now from Apostrophe Books. You can also read her in Encyclopedia Vol. II: F-K, Two Serious Ladies, Octopus, and Action, Yes, or visit her online at themoonstop.blogspot.com.