BATHTUB

It's back....

2010-04-14T15:23:00.001-07:00

♥ ♥ MFA Graduate Student Reading Series ♥ ♥

featured readers: Mary Stone Dockery, Benjamin Pfeiffer, and Amy Ash.

Sunday, April 18th, beginning at 6pm. The venue has been changed to the basement of The Eighth Street Taproom, which is located at 801 New Hampshire.

The chilluns haveth nary a script to read upon

2009-12-21T18:01:00.000-08:00

Dang! Laredo, TX's last bookstore (a crummy B. Dalton) is closing down! With almost a quarter million population, Laredo will soon become the largest book-less US city.

Check it: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/12/bookstore-laredo-texas.html

Now I feel like an asshole for posting what I posted yesterday. I'm like some...Henry VIII, gorging on literary turkey legs, while the less fortunate Texans till the barren soil of the books I own but haven't read.

Was Henry VIII the one that ate turkey legs? Does this metaphor make any fucking sense at all?

Let's see in the comments...

Reading in the intersession

2009-12-20T11:01:00.001-08:00

Another year! Jeez...

Hey, what to read this academic intersession? There's so much good stuff!

Wait a minute...isn't break like, 10 days or something? I seem to remember last year's break being long enough to beard up. I want a longer break. For reading! With a beard!

There are many things to read. What are you reading this break? Is there anything I should read? How do you read? I can't figure out what to read. I want to read. I can read.

Reading!!!!!

Duel! Oh, the typing!

2009-11-21T13:39:00.000-08:00

Location: Wescoe Beach, University of Kansas.

Main contenders: Ben Cartwright, Mark Petterson, Amy Ash, DaMaris Hill, Jason Robberson, and Kari Jackson.

Last writer typing: Jason Robberson, who, after four hours, moved his manual typewriter to a concrete ledge in front of Wescoe and continued to type in the dark, alone, under the stars and in the forty degree weather, as Ben and Kari drove off. The sound of typing, the unmistakeable click of the keys, could be heard echoing in the night. It was quite romantic, actually.

We began at 3:00. It began with a royal announcement on the megaphone. Thanks, Ben C. It was very official. We cheered. We "charged." And people stared as they walked by.

Skateboarders were doing tricks behind us, to the side of us. “These guys are practicing the ultimate form of civil disobedience,” said the guy who had been dressed up as a white bear to promote Greenpeace. “So are we."

And so we wrote, well, typed. And so commenced the trashtalking between Ben and Mark: "I don't hear any sound coming from your typewriter, Ben," said Mark. "I'm a poet, Mark. We reflect," replied Ben.

Other fun things that could be overheard behind the keyboards during the event:

"I don't want to be like Amy. I want to type." --DaMaris

"I just realized I don't know how to be exclamatory on here." Jason, realizing his typewriters lack of exclamation point.

"How long has it been since you've written a word, Ben?" Mark spoke into the megaphone, directed at Ben.

"I'm politicking," said Ben.

When you google "Kansas Bathtub," we come up first. "We beat out Home Depot," added Ben.

"Would you like to come out and add something to our Corpse?" Ben suggested a phrase to get the English professors to come out and participate.

"What are you doing?" People said, looking at us warrily as they approached the steps of Wescoe.

We had some fantastic students and faculty add to our community poem. Poetry is okay. In fact, poetry is cool. Why don't you help us write a poem? Okay, cool. Now maybe you'll go home and write your own poem because, we hope we're shown you, writing is cool.

Thanks to Nate for bringing us food. Thanks to Erin for bringing us hot drinks. Thanks to everyone who stopped to say, "What are you doing?" Thanks to everyone who wrote. Thanks to Wescoe for the electricity.

Thank you to everyone who pledged either an individual writer or the collective as a whole. We have plans in the works for WITS, and you'll be hearing soon about how your donation will help bring creative writing (and Bathtub) into Lawrence schools and out into the community. Soon, you will also be receiving an email notifying you of how long your writer wrote for and information on where and how to send your pledge money. If you didn't pledge but would still like to donate, you absolutely can. Email bkswriters@gmail.com.

Calls For Papers with Words on Them

2009-11-16T13:45:00.000-08:00

Hey Gang,

I mentioned this website to some of you once: http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/

People put in their calls for papers, and UPenn lists them, conveniently. I poked around on there and there are mentions of creative writing calls and whatnot. It will definitely be of interest to those of you looking to flesh out your Jane Austen/Buffy the Vampire Slayer theses.

I like critical writing. I'm not especially good at it, but it's fun; it seems like my creative writing "borrows" from it, or wears it like some sort of pagan skull-mask. Do you guys dread the academic essay task? Or does it do for you what it does for me-- titillate?!

There is a New Captain of This Starplane

2009-10-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

I really wanted something grand to announce my ascension to blog captain for these next couple of weeks, but grandness doesn't come easy in this day and age.

Nate "Honk If You're Horny for Golf" Barberick and I once briefly discussed how terrible a certain movie about a writer was, though I think both of us only saw the trailer.

I know I only saw the trailer.

A certain passage from this movie that was utilized in the trailer grated on me, burned into my memory and always seemed at the tip of my thoughts. This was in the early days of the Internet, when I was a full five inches taller (don't ask) and the sky was full of kicking horses. I thought about sampling the passage and trying out the baby Internet as delivery system for the ridiculousness that had been branded onto my brain--no explanation, just the passage, looped, on/in/within the Internet, a megaphone of hate.

I was under no illusion that the project would exorcise the passage from my being, but it seemed like it could be the next best thing to rebroadcasting my sleeping dreams, image-by-image-feeling-by-feeling (which I had dreamt about as a child and would still if I wasn't so jaded by the ugly realities of existence.).

So, I thought about doing it for a while. I lived in an apartment building that smelled like dogs because it was full of pit bulls. Most of the other occupants of the building seemed unhinged and/or special. Me? I was a fucking genius. I video taped a falling burning mattress thrown by a firefighter from a 6story window in the building next door to mine, then a man picking his nose near the scene. I ate Morningstar fake chicken every night, ladies!

At some point at my desk at work, I believe it was in the A.M. (as if it matters), I received what was then called an email that contained this link. I then realized a bunch of shit about the world and myself.

D. Rolf (Your Captain, Your Stomach, Your Lotion, for two weeks)

"The Power of Time Off" and A Personal Anecdote/Lament/Cry for Time and Space

2009-10-06T11:55:00.000-07:00

Having been engaged for the most part of the last eight years in a steady 9-5 job, the thirst for a large chunk of time to devote to my own creative work has been searing my edges.

Even though my professional life has been contained in academia where vacation time is relatively generous and my outside creative pursuits are actually valued and encouraged, having precious small amounts of time to devote to personal creative work compacts these times into sun-heavy nuggets in which productivity--actually producing tangible work--seems the only way to extract currency from these moments of personal freedom.

It seems harder and harder to find time for pure exploration, experimentation and play when time is packaged in this way. And even when I do allow myself to use this time for musing (however brief) the whine of escaped time is never far from earshot. The value of musing and playfulness, even when it yields valuable thoughts, feelings, etc., gets lost when projects are stalling and stories are sucking ass-butt on the floor. You feel me? Anyway....

Designer Stefan Sagmeister talks about his practice of closing his studio every seven years for a one year sabbatical and what it has done for his state of mind, his creative work and his design firm.

This talk is thought provoking about process--how we create what we create; inspiring when seeing the work that was created during his sabbatical; and a bit frustrating, because it seems pretty impossible to get the point where you can take a full year off.

Thoughts on process, time, the value of it, the measure of it, etc.?

D.Rolf (Your Mother, Your Axe, Your Ex, for two weeks)

rebuttal.

2009-10-03T14:50:00.000-07:00

Fundraising Ideas

2009-10-02T16:15:00.000-07:00

Ben Cartwright and Iris Moulton walk into a bar.

Ben Cartwright and Iris Moulton sit down in the bar.

Ben Cartwright and Iris Moulton drink drinks in the bar.

Ben Cartwright and Iris Moulton begin discussing financial issues with Bathtub, and propose that perhaps a thread/post should be started on the blog re: fundraising.

Ben Cartwright and Iris Moulton keep drinking, and brainstorm some ideas themselves.

1. Walk/Ride-a-thon: Bathtub members get sponsors, and walk/bike across Kansas. Imagine the inspiration we could glean from that there o'er yonder. (note: seasonal)

2. Write-a-thon: $5+ buy in from members, MFA-MA-PhDers (from all over Kansas, or the world!), and members of the community. Could be done in a variety of ways, but the game is "write for 24 hours." In SLC this was done by giving a writing prompt, then giving 24 hours for those who had bought in to write something, at the end of the 24-hours collecting submissions, hosting a reading/judging, declaring a winner, and potentially publishing a small chap book.

Or:

Get sponsors to pay a certain amount for however long you can continually write for; stick all of the writers in a room somewhere, writing away, with judges making sure we're all writing and sticking to our word.

Or:

Other variations.

3. Pub crawl, esp for St. Patrick's Day (reading Irish Lit) or other holidays (Horror/vamp stuff on Halloween, Xmas stuff on Xmas, etc). Work with pubs in some way, work our way down Mass.

4. Bake Sale-- Ben suggested baking these items, and selling them office by office in Wescoe during office hours. Each item could, potentially, come with a "stanza" or "paragraph" or "something."

5. Community read-a-thon. Hosting something somewhere, bring books, everyone brings snacks/booze/drinks/pillows/blankets, and we eat and read-a-thon. Charge a cover? Something?

6. Also in the works, as I understand it, is some sort of writing workshop. Something large scale with poets, fiction writers, guest readers, and us? Over the summer + breaks + charging admission to those who want to come to the Kansas Bathtub Writing Workshop. I like this, it's a big idea. How big could it get? Will this eventually morph into our version of the Mid American Review workshop? Only time will tell...

So, those are some things we came up with. I am sure, actually, we came up with others, but I can't remember. Perhaps post your own ideas here?

WOW I'M DUMB

2009-09-25T13:36:00.001-07:00

Ran across this on the internets.

Thought it might provoke your thoughts.

I can't say I get poetry, really, overall, I think.

If you search Christian Bök on the internet, you will find a lot of information on Christian books.

Computers don't know if Christians can spell or not.

I am really not adept at using a scanner, but if you click on the pictures they get bigger

2009-09-23T12:18:00.000-07:00

They came. They read. We thank.

2009-09-20T07:28:00.000-07:00

I must say that yesterday's intersection of Wichita State University writers and Bathtub was like a spot of warm sunshine on the living room floor.

Thank you to Jodie Liedke, Andrew Bales, and Ruth Moritz for reading their work at DotDotDot.

Thank you to Anna at WSU for helping me organize the exchange.

Thank you to Rebecca for coming along for the ride.

(And now this is sounding much like an acceptance speech...)

Thank you to everyone who came out with food or chairs or just themselves to support Bathtub and our Wichita writer friends. It was a great night, with lots of talk of books, writing, and life as a writer-student.

The exchange continues on Saturday, September 26th, as our very own Nate Barbarick, Ben Cartwright, and Mickey Cesar will give a reading at Watermark Books & Cafe in Wichita.

Aimee's Open Mic Night is in one hour!

2009-09-16T15:59:00.001-07:00

I just thought I'd re-post the information about the first Aimee's Open Mic Night of the semester here. Much thanks to Sam Bell and Dan McCarthy for hosting it!

Aimee's Open Mic Night

Date: Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Time: 8:00pm - 9:45pm
Location: Aimee's Cafe and Coffeehouse
Street: 1025 Massachusetts Street

Description: Everyone is welcome. Come with something (poetry, fiction, non-fiction, short-shorts, etc.) to read and/or to listen.

more flash than flash is flash

2009-09-16T10:30:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to congratulate Andy on winning the One Story Twitter contest!

Edit: Fixing post to include a better link

Yay Andy!

what have you been waiting for, and was it this?

2009-09-16T10:08:00.000-07:00

Mid-American Review is hosting it's Winter Wheat Festival on the campus of Bowling Green in November. They are now looking for panel/session proposals from anyone interested in presenting on any writing-related topic. To share your interest or expertise and propose a session topic, write festival coordinator Karen Craigo at karenka@bgsu.edu as soon as you can, or visit the Winter Wheat page of the website:

http://www.bgsu.edu/studentlife/organizations/midamericanreview/wwhome08.html

Just thought someone, somewhere, might have been waiting for this exact moment to come.

The Ultimate Weekend of Readings

2009-09-15T14:22:00.000-07:00

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 7pm

An Actual Kansas Reading:
Stacy Szymaszek & Megan Kaminski.
Reading Poetry.
At the Wonder Fair (which is under Casbah Market at the corner of 8th and Mass. in Lawrence)

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 6:30pm

Writers' Exchange:
Wichita State University writers in the MFA program
Ruth Moritz (2009-2010 Poetry Fellow), Andrew Bales (2009-2010 Barr Fellow & first-year fiction writer), and Jodie Liedke (third-year fiction writer).
At DotDotDot ArtSpace (1910 Haskell in Haskell Square in Lawrence).

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 6:00pm

Creative Writers Reading Series
Mark Petterson, Iris Moulton, and Abayo Animashaun
At Jackpot (943 Massachusetts St in Lawrence).

where were you on october 10, 2008?

2009-09-12T11:32:00.000-07:00

I know I will never forget 10/10/08.

I was driving to work at my first cool-sounding job ("oh me? I work at the Arts and Science Center, helping launch the Body Worlds exhibit... yeah, I know, it is...") and listening to the Diane Rehm Show. On this particular day was an interview with two former poets laureate Billy Collins and Donald Hall.

It was one of the most stirring interviews on writing, and poetry, I may have ever heard. Here are some highlights:

1. I learned that the plural for "poet laureate" is "poets laureate."

2. Billy Collins said the argument that no one reads anymore may feel true but it is actually rather thin, considering there are now more MFA and MA and PhD programs in the fields of writing and literature than ever before, more literary magazines than ever before, and more poetry readings than there have ever been. He said we only feel this way because of our audience: the audience for writers tends to be other writers. He likened this to attending a symphony, and everyone in the theatre seats is holding a violin case (or something... listen to it to double check the metaphor).

3. One of them, I think Mr. Collins, said something lovely about death in writing. When we sit down to dinner at a restaurant and there are flowers at the table there's a moment where we reach out to touch them. Why do we do this? he asked, To see if they are real. If they are real, they will die, and are therefore somehow more beautiful. And if they are fake, we aren't as impressed at how that beauty came to us, and that it will be here forever.

And... that's about all I can remember. I hope that link works, and if it doesn't, that you can find one that does. It is very much worth listening to, no matter what you write.

Billy Collins talks about how the central theme of poetry is death in this interview which took place in November of 2005

Another wonderful interview: with fiction writer Antonya Nelson (KU alum!). I delayed my Valentine's Day activities to finish listening to this one.

i know it's hard, but it's probably nothing to kill yourself over. but way to finish the thesis.

2009-09-09T15:18:00.000-07:00

Poet Joe Bolton, having just completed his MFA thesis at the University of Kentucky, killed himself. (1990)

Joe Bolton was from Cadiz, Kentucky. It may sound like a strange place to be from, and I imagine it is, but some of the happiest time ever spent on earth I imagine was spent by me, and in Cadiz Kentucky, a few months before I would ever hear of Joe Bolton.

Joe received a Masters from the University of Florida, and a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Kentucky. His work is the subject of a graduate thesis by Joe Schmidt.... already.... lesson being that the sooner we can pull off dying, the sooner our work can be studied.

His work, I should mention, is quite lovely.

He remains, in his native Kentucky, a bit of a cult classic.

He published three books of poetry: Breckenridge County Suite (1987), Days of Summer Gone (1990), and Last Nostalgia Poems (1987-1990). Last Nostalgia Poems combines the two books, and other unpublished poems.

I would recommend picking up a copy.

I would also recommend not killing yourself.

be about town.

2009-09-08T16:02:00.000-07:00

well, lawrence, kansas, collectively, we have some readings coming up:

wednesday september 9 @ 7pm @ the lawrence public library:

bryce benedict will be reading and signing his book, JAYHAWKERS, THE CIVIL WAR BRIGADE OF JAMES HENRY LANE . know your history, or... else.

and friday, september 17th @ 7pm @ Wonder Fair, we have:

[[[[ ........ and......]]]]]

a poetry reading from Stacy Szymaszek and Megan Kaminski

Read-a-thon

2009-09-04T10:51:00.001-07:00

The Oxford American (southern magazine of good writing) has come out with a list of books that have "knocked [their] socks off" for the month of August. We have a long weekend coming up, and I envision curling up and watching the rain with a blanket, coffee, and a great book. Some of us (ahem) have taken vows to do nothing that resembles lesson planning or teaching. That means more time for fun, and fun can mean reading, and reading can be fun!

The books they examine range from flash fiction to a profile of an indie label, to novels and short stories. Head on over and see if there's something you might want to spend your time on...

p.s. remember read-a-thons? we should have one.

Diversity and Bathing, and Diverse Bathing

2009-09-02T20:40:00.001-07:00

Yo, to mah brotha's and sista's. Andy and I were talking on the phone, and I was like "Woah, the shit that's been happening with Bathtub makes me want to break my face off, because I can't handle this awesome-ness." And Andy was like, "Woah." And I was like, "Yeah, woah." Then we had a moment of silence, or two.

Anyway, we decided to give Bathtub blog some virtual liposuction. The general message of the facelift is, "Come join us in an ethnically-diverse pool of suds." I hope this is a message that everyone can agree on.

Give some big-ups to Ben for rockin' the shit on the new website. Love from the South.

kansas bathtub goes live.

2009-09-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

kansas bathtub-- a more streamlined, professional, etc, answer to this here blog-- has gone live. thanks to ben Pfeiffer, of MFA @ KU fame.

Collective-ers are invited, encouraged, to visit the site, explore it, create an account, and give feedback. Feel free to post comments here if you like. Some of the ideas kicked around @ the mosquito-infested but otherwise lovely get together we recently experienced: why do we want this website? (something to put on a card to hand out @ AWP, for example) how will it differ from the blog? (it essentially wouldn't, but it could, as much as we want as designers-- it could, for example, have a basic and "professional" face, with options to click into this kind of madness if one so chooses-- and an informative sidebar with profiles of members or profiles of what we are doing would be an option).

I don't even know what the options are, I'm just guessing.

Ben is open to suggestions and ideas, so if you have a favorite collective's site, post it here: we can compare and contrast it.

Well, get over to our fledgling and check it out.

Going to Kansas City, Here I Come

2009-09-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I am going to Kansas City on September 25th.

The Writer's Place (3607 Pennsylvania Kansas City, MO 64111-2820) is hosting a reading starting @ 7pm.

Poets Robin Behn, Michelle Boisseau, Andrea Hollander Budy, and Jo McDougall read from When She Named Fire: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry by American Women (Autumn House Press 2009). Robin Behn, creative writing teacher at the University of Alabama, is the author of Horizon Note, winner of the Brittingham Prize from the University of Wisconsin Press. Michelle Boisseau, professor and director of creative writing at UMKC, is the author of the recently published A Sunday in God-Years (University of Arkansas Press, 2009). Andrea Hollander Budy, Writer-in-Residence at Lyon College, is the editor of When She Named Fireand author of Woman in the Painting (Autumn House Press, 2006). Jo McDougall, Associate Professor Emerita at Pittsburg State University, is an award-winning poet whose prose memoir, Daddy's Money, is forthcoming from the University of Arkansas Press.

This one will be at the castle:

Oops. I mean:
Feel free to post how you're getting there, if you have room in your vehicle, or if you need a ride. Bathtub, away!

Online Bathtubs

2009-08-31T15:12:00.000-07:00

Hi, everyone,

My name is Ben Pfeiffer, and I am working on a website for the collective, KansasBathtub.org, which will hopefully help us raise the collective's profile. That is, make us more visible, professional, and give us a new place to post to each other and to the world.

For this fabulous new site, I am recommending a powerful Content Management System (CMS) -- programed by a race of highly advanced aliens -- called Drupal. Yes, I know the name is stupid. But wait 'til you see what it can do! This is the CMS that powers RedRoom.com. Forums, blogs, etc., etc., even complete integration with Google Calendar and with your own, personal blogs. For an overview of how a drupal-based site works, you're welcome to click over to RedRoom or to our struggling online literary journal, The Pocket Review, and test out some of its more interesting features. By the way, if anyone's interested, what Pocket Review needs is submissions of poetry and fiction. Managing editors Jen Edwards and D. Gilson have been starved for good reading lately, which is why we haven't put out an August issue.

Now, where was I? Drupal allows for a wide range of themes. You can dress up the site however you like. Nice and simple is best, I must say. But if you'd like an overview of our choices, you can click over to THEMES on the Drupal page and check out the (free) options.

That's the best thing about Drupal: It's free.

Comments, questions, rants, and personal attacks are encouraged. If you have an idea, please, don't hesitate to share it with everyone... It will help.

First and foremost, I need to know about Bathtub's professional aesthetic: That is, which do you like, an antique marble bathtub (pictured above) or something sleek and new (pictured below)?

The Gathering Was Bloody

2009-08-31T11:33:00.001-07:00

Hey All-

Just wanted to say it was great kicking the semester in the stomach with all of you last Friday.

You all were and you all are! And for that I thank you all, and love you all, deeply, all of the time, forever, amen.

Here are some pics from the evening:

do you have a thing for twins?

2009-08-30T13:05:00.000-07:00

Whilst sitting in my doctor's waiting room, reading only the cartoons in April's New Yorker, I stumbled upon a chilling photo of two young men. They were so... haunting... that I read the title of the piece (Couplet by Rebecca Mead). Upon finding out they were, in fact, twin poets from Portland, Oregon, I began to frantically flip the pages of the article, and read all of the paragraphs to it, in no particular order. Why I read the article this way I could not really explain, except perhaps that I felt at any moment I could be called back by the doctor, and was skimming it urgently for the best parts.

Matthew and Michael Dickman have shared the same home, the same city, the same upbringing, and much of the same genetic code. But only one of them has kissed Allen Ginsberg in a hotel room. (Seriously, you should probably read this NYrker article).

Oh, and they were the creepy twins from Minority Report. The "precogs" or whatever. I had to look that up, though, cuz I haven't seen it.

Some facts:

* They both went to UT Austin for MFAs because it was the only school that took both of them.

* They work to not be associated with each other, as writers, but are oft mentioned together (see: all the articles ever when you google them, + this blog entry).

* I can tell them apart when looking at them, but I mix them up when I read them. I'm having a hard time picking a favorite.

* A lot of their poetry is about the rough-and-tumble bad parts of Portland.

* Their mother's stepfather was the father of Sharon Olds. Sharon Olds writes a lot about her father/grandfather. Whenever their class was asked to read Sharon Olds, the boys were excused, because their mother didn't want them to learn about the men in their family in a negative poetic light.

Here's a tiny photo of them being playful!

So... I stole the New Yorker from my doctor's office.

I'm not sure that I am in love with their work (I haven't yet read it extensively, and love takes time), but I love poetry, and I love this story. In the end, they may be more famous for this twin-as-phot-op thing than their work, but hey, great photo ops. and i will be reading both of their books, eventually.

I bequeath my blogly duties to the dust...

2009-08-29T09:21:00.000-07:00

...with one of my favorite Steven Jesse Bernstein poems. R.I.P. S.J.B.

Juked Contest Deadline

2009-08-21T19:10:00.000-07:00

Attention fiction writers and poets:

the literary magazine JUKED 's writing competition deadline is August 31, 2009. That is also their Issue #7 submission deadline.

Better start licking some envelopes and stamping some corners.

I Rarely Dream But When I Dream I Dream of You and You and You and You and You and You and You and You

2009-08-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

I had a dream last night that was bathed in a dim yellowy light and many of you were in it. I think there were storms outside.

There was a couch. The couch was extremely long. It should not have fit in the room. Many of you sat on it, but I’m not sure how many. I couldn’t see to the end of it though I could see the wall which should have been the boundary.

The wallpaper was ornate: laurels surrounding a Victorian streetlamp, repeated vertically, bounded by unbroken vertical lines on each side. This was a house in a flat neighborhood.

I was on the couch. There was a TV. The screen just looked yellow. Kari was next to me watching TV. Nate was on the other side of Kari also watching TV. I could hear Andy talking about theory concerns I didn't have the vocabulary to understand. Others were beyond Nate probably also watching TV. I could see countless feet resting on a coffee table.

I looked out of a window. The outside was ominous, bulging, flowing rancid butter. I noticed I could see through the walls so I stopped looking out of the window.

Rob and Chloe went through a swinging door laughing and punching one another in the stomachs playfully. The door didn’t quit swinging which caused me unease.

Some anonymous girl that reminded me of Marlene Dietrich if she had grown up with a big pickle jar on her head (the top of her head was very flat, the rest of it fairly cylindrical) came into view and looked as though she might laugh in my face but she tripped and fell and left the dream.

I wanted to leave the house. Everyone else wanted to stay. I would have to walk alone. I knew there were cameras outside—on the peaks of houses, on barely audible helicopters moving through the skies.

***

[No need to put me on a chaise lounge and tap a pen on your knuckles though. The dream's meaning is apparent. The dream means we need to solidfy a day for a our kick off gathering.]

--A week from today? (Friday August 28)
--Two weeks from today? (Friday September 4, a full moon, by the way).
--Or some other day that doesn't start with F?]

This is what I'm trying to do

2009-08-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

I liked this post on Dan's blog saying what he is trying to do with fiction.

This is what I'm trying to do:

What about you?

There IS an Ur-calendar! Dreams can come true.

2009-08-19T19:35:00.000-07:00

As Kari pointed out in her comment to my earlier post, the Dusty Bookshelf puts out a monthly literary calendar for these here environs. You can download it here:

http://www.thedustybookshelf.com/services

What kind of habit do you have?

2009-08-19T18:55:00.001-07:00

NO, not that kind of habit; your writing habit.

I was at a meeting today and Joe Harrington talked about how he tries to write for at least half an hour a day, whether it be criticism, creative work, etc. I think this is a good idea. A half hour seems like a nice piece of time to me. Even when things are getting insanely busy, midway through the semester, it seems reasonable. So, I was wondering if people would mind commenting on this post and writing a little bit about their writing habit?

Do you write every day? What is your ritual for writing? Is it centered around a certain place, or room? A certain time of day? I read an interview with Kim Stafford once, and the interviewer was asking him about his dad, who was legendary for getting up early every morning and forcing himself to write a poem a day. In the interview, Kim pointed out that this activity of hid dad's is often misunderstood. He explained that his dad made himself write a new poem each day, even if it was awful, because it made him feel like a working writer--as if he was actually being productive and honest with himself--and also so that his guilt about not writing wouldn't interfere with actually writing, every day. I really like this interview. For me, if I haven't written anything, or edited anything for a few days, or even a few weeks, if I'm traveling, I tend to feel so guilty that it's hard to get back into it. If I remember correctly, the other thing William Stafford is often quoted as saying about this early morning writing practice is that he liked sitting down to write something just after waking up, when his mind was fresh, or just having had a dream. Something along those lines.

For me, I write better in the mornings, but not just after I've woken up. It's better if I do something for a couple of hours, and then I work. That's why I like teaching morning classes. I wake up, then teach, then work. That seems to work best for me. I think that's my most productive time. I'm no good in the late afternoons or evenings. My wife is also a writer and she things I'm absolutely crazy to want to write in the mornings.

How about you? What are your ritual behaviors surrounding your writing life?

Getting published all day long...

2009-08-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

A Rhoads Elliott Stevens story can be found here.

To date, this is probably my favorite Elliott story. I really loved it. It made me feel feelings. Please read and then high-five our esteemed colleague.

Is an Ur-calendar of reading events even possible? Dare I speak its name?

2009-08-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, while living in Lawrence in the past, I've felt like I never know where the readings are, when the readings are, or even what the readings are. This isn't Lawrence's fault. (Don't worry, baby; I still love you, and your Kaw River, and I'd never speak ill of you in public). I think there are a few simple institutional and social reasons for my frequent befuddlement. Part of my frustration (and this doesn't pertain to Lawrence specifically, but pretty much any university town) is that I seem to get trapped in some kind of hyphenated world. I imagine this to be sort of like the phantom zone that Superman villains are sent to, where I'm spinning in a constant prison of the "university-reading" as opposed to the "bookstore-reading" or the "library-reading" or the "Hall-Center-reading," or the "reading-at-a-local-gallery-hosted-by-one-sexy-m*********er," or the literary-arts-center-reading, or even the "unstable-guy-standing-on-the-street-with-a-book-reading."

I think part of the problem (actually, it's not really a problem, so much as the state of things) is that libraries, universities, bookstores, etc., can become quite large entities, or at the least, extremely busy entities, and they're focused on things other than communicating with other reading-hosting entities. Also, some universities don't like to talk to other universities, or bookstores sometimes don't like talking to universities (who could blame them?), bookstores maybe don't like to talk to other bookstores (particularly if there's an independent bookstore and a chain bookstore), etc., etc., ad nauseum. SO, here is the skinny, and my ultimate (perhaps farcical) dream:

I wish there was a list of all the different readings happening in and around the place where I live, regardless of institutional affiliation, etc., so that I could decide which readings I would genuinely enjoy the most and then go to those readings.

That's all. I had some grand scheme for actuating that, but I'm not so sure it would work. Any ideas?

links to writing resources on the wide, wide world of web

2009-08-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

Would people be willing to post some links to places on the interweb they visit when doing one of the following?:

thinking about writers and writing/avoiding writing/starting to write/starting to edit/editing to start/writing to avoid/thinking about avoiding/voiding/editing voids/interweb thinking/avoiding writers/avoiding voiding, etc.

I thought we could pool our resources? Also, big lists of links are sexy. Maybe people could post some links and brief descriptions of links in the comments section of this post?

Here, I'll start:

KCRW Bookworm interviews archive. I like to listen to interviews with writers, even though they frequently make me feel lazy. And I can put them on my Ipod for free. Free is good.

PennSound, the ambitious online audio archive of writers reading their work, etc. from the University of Pennsylvania.

UbuWeb is a large archive for avant-garde writing resources, founded in 1996 by poet Kenneth Goldsmith.

SO, how about it? What are bathtub writers looking at on the internet? Blogs of writers? Pages with good writing prompts? Online journals? GoogleEarth images of their apartments?

I hope people list a bunch of links so that I can avoid unpacking the rest of the boxes in my apartment.

PLEASE. You're my only hope.

WARNING! Local reading on Saturday may blow your mind, change your life forever, improve your concentration and cause you to levitate.

2009-08-14T07:09:00.000-07:00

What: A reading by Daniel A. Hoyt and Iain Ellis
Where: The Raven Book Store (8 E 7th St)
When: Saturday, August 15th @7pm

Tomorrow I am going to the reading at the Raven. There are several reasons for this. Reason number 17 is that the Raven is an amazing bookstore. This will be my first reading in the U.S. after living in China for a year. It's not like China doesn't have bookstores, but there's nothing in the universe quite like Lawrence and the people who pulse around its flickering, light-filled center. Also, sometimes at readings in China, "shit goes down," and not something enjoyable, like the things I imagine used to happen at Bukowski readings, or the one reading I went to where Gregory Corso read with Ray Manzarek from the Doors at my undergrad university, and my friend picked up Gregory Corso from the airport and he was already drunk.

I'm not going to lie to you, even though this is the internet. I haven't read anything written by either of these writers. This makes me feel like a chump, but it's okay. I like going to readings when I haven't ready anything by the people giving them, and then becoming interested in their writing. Less guilt, more reading attendance, I say. I think that I am going to enjoy it. Last night after feeling a little bit jumpy being around so many people speaking English after a year functioning as a mute in China's Detroit, I felt a little pressure to produce on this blog. As a result, I've been reading an awful lot about Daniel A. Hoyt and Iain Ellis.

* Here is the write-up on the Raven's site about the reading.
* Here is the description of Hoyt's collection of stories Then We Saw the Flames from his publisher, UMass Press.
* Here is an EXCELLENT column on Cab Calloway written by Ellis.
* Here is an article from the Pitch with descriptions of Ellis' reaction to the Slits show at the Replay.
* Here is a good description of Ellis' book Rebels Wit Attitude on his publisher Soft Skull Press's site.

Top 3 possibly embarrassing reasons why I am excited about this reading:

1. Researching this blog post reminded me to listen to my Slits albums.
2. The write-up on the Raven's site mentions that these two writers met at the Replay in Lawrence. This makes me inherently trust them, even though maybe it shouldn't.
3. Ellis was born in Manchester, and I like the accent of people from Manchester, even though my cousins are from Dorsett and my friend Sarah is a Brummie.

In conclusion, I hope other people decide to go to this excellent reading.

You Know How We Do...

2009-08-03T17:08:00.000-07:00

Yeah, that's right, we're going up against the big boys now. Actually, I'm not sure that has much relevance, but Bathtub Writers' Collective's panel proposal on collectivism has been accepted for AWP 2010! Uh huh, we're going to tell the nation (of writers) how badass we are, and just how we do it. Denver is going to make Chicago look like a little silly baby. The panel consists of the very talented and very attractive: Andy Anderegg, Amy Ash, Robert Baumann, Kari Jackson, and Jameelah Lang (bringin' it back from the South). DaMaris Hill will be kickin' ass and taking names as the moderator. Pretty awesome.

And just in case you forgot how hard we rocked Chicago, check out this display of badassness.

And here's how hard we rock in general.

For more info. on AWP 2010 check out http://www.awpwriter.org/conference/2010awpconf.php.

Oulipo on KCRW's Bookworm

2009-06-07T13:44:00.000-07:00

Heyagain folks,

Summer is the opposite of bummer: this we know. There is so much fun to do, so much to read or know or say. HERE is a link to Bookworm's interview with 6 members of Oulipo (Ouvroir de littérature potentielle). If you aren't familiar with this group, I urge you to become so immediately.

Here is some Wikipedia action.

Here is a pretty wicked palindrome.

Cowboy hat tip to Chloe J. for the keen internet eye.

A history of creative writing programs

2009-06-06T13:29:00.001-07:00

Found here.

A brief excerpt of a chat between myself and this article:

New Yorker: Can creative writing be taught?
Me: Ummm...seriously?
New Yorker: Yah, srsly...
Me: Well sure. Have you ever heard of "reading"?
New Yorker: Well, yes, I'm familiar.
Me: Yeah well you get to do that there.
New Yorker: ok...brb
New Yorker: but what about writing, smart guy? :(
Me: Yeah it's the same thing. Reading/writing...makes a thing called "literacy."
New Yorker: Not seeing yr point.
Me: Increased literacy...
New Yorker: Don't follow.
Me: Focused study through reading/writing = increased competency
New Yorker: So...programs teach competence?
Me: brb
Me has signed out.

Hat tip to Mr. Robert Topinka.

2009-05-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

"I think every word we write is made to go toward saving our lives."

Lydia Davis is judging this contest! SUBMIT!

2009-05-21T13:15:00.000-07:00

Indiana Review ‘1/2 K’ Prize

Deadline: June 1, 2009

Entry Fee: $15

Web site: www.indianareview.org

E-mail address: inreview@indiana.edu

A prize of $1,000 and publication in Indiana Review is given annually for a single prose poem or a work of fiction under 500 words. Lydia Davis will judge. All entries will be considered for publication. Submit up to three poems or works of prose with a $15 entry fee, which includes a one-year subscription to Indiana Review, by June 1. Send an SASE, e-mail, or visit the Web site for complete guidelines.

Indiana Review, ‘1/2 K’ Prize, Ballantine Hall 465, 1020 East Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, IN 47405-7103. Jenny Burdge, Editor.

Bathtub Writer Wins Residency, Bathtub Goes to South Carolina

2009-05-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

Our very own Jameelah Lang is the 2009 Writer in Residence for Hub-Bub (a group of artists and writers who formed an immensely successful arts community in “Hub City”, South Carolina)! She is taking the Bathtub to Spartanburg, SC! The HUB-BUB A. I. R. (artists in residence) program brings three visual artists and one creative writer to Spartanburg to live for 11 months, join the staff at HUB-BUB and perform a variety of community service projects for 10-15 hours a week and work on their art, funded! Jammelah will be working with The Hub City Writers Project and blogging, as well as working on her theisis to finish her MFA and walk down the hill with those of us graduating in May. Congratulations and REPRESENT!!!!! More information on the residency (which Jameelah found out about in Chicago at AWP!!) is here: http://www.hub-bub.com/air/.

Writing Workshop Information

2009-05-06T11:39:00.001-07:00

THIS SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Writing Workshop!!
more info::::::::::
bkswritersworkshop.blogspot.com

Published Bathtub-ers

2009-05-01T13:10:00.000-07:00

Cote Smith:
"Hurt People" (story). One Story 118.

DaMaris Hill:
"Little Black Ballerina in Mississippi Clay" (poem). Mourning Katrina: A Poetic Response to Tragedy. Ed. Joanne V. Gabbin. Buena Vista, Virginia: Mariner Media, Inc, 2009.

Amy Kierzek Ash:
"Public Rest Area, I-90" (poem). Red Clay Review

Kari Jackson:
"Assessing the Damage," "Trying Patience," "Counterfeit," and "Elizabeth" (poems). Touchstone.

THESIS FRIENDS

2009-04-22T13:11:00.000-07:00

Big congratulations to Cote, Elliot, Louise, and Chloe-- who are defending their theses this week!

Bathtubbers: pat them on the back/buy them foods and drinks/think praise of them. They will soon be famous and will remember your deeds.

WELL DONE, GANG!

All that was AWP

2009-04-02T16:42:00.000-07:00

We write. We dance. We stand on our heads. Sometimes we do all three at the same time.

Well, there wasn't really any time at AWP to do any actual writing. We learned during the day at sessions on all things pertaining to writing and writing programs and writers and teaching writing. It all happened in the Chicago Hilton, where we stayed and spent our days trying to get into fancy elevators (with TVs) to get to sessions on time.

When we weren't in sessions during the day, we were working KU's table at the bookfair. We met lots of really cool people: other writers, some editors, some KU almuni, other programs. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to talk to us! We really enjoyed it.

When we weren't working the bookfair, we were browsing the bookfair. I can only speak for myself, but it was amazing to talk to so many different editors of journals and magazines. It really opened my eyes to all of the possibilities for publishing. And everyone was so nice. I came away with probably a dozen issues of different journals and a nice stack of submission guidelines and contests. It was fabulous.

In the evenings, we went to readings and receptions. We walked down Michigan Avenue, ate pizza, and drank drinks. We got cold and wet in the rainy wind those first few days. We met up with our UMKC and Rutgers and Alabama writer friends for evenings of camaraderie in our hotel rooms and in our floor's library and out around the hotel. We went to the dance party (with free first drinks for the first hour) at night. Oh, yeah. We danced. A program that dances together, stays together. You would love to dance with us: in a circle, in a line, to "Single Ladies."

Our professor, Deb Olin Unferth, came on Friday. She gave a reading on Friday and then went to dinner with us. She's cool. She was our biggest seller at our bookfair table. Then she spoke on a panel about the short short on Saturday. It was like our short short class...only displaced...with Robert Olin Butler...and Ron Carlson. Again, we learned.

Amy went to sessions on Writers in the Schools, a program we want to start up in Lawrence in the fall. She's really gotten us all excited about it, and from what I got to hear at their reception, it can really make an impact on students' relationship with creative writing and writing in general. So special thanks to Amy for all of her efforts with WITS, and we'll keep you updated on our progress with it in Lawrence.

What else happened? Many, many things that I'm forgetting or just don't have space for here. All I can say is that I had an amazing time with everyone. We make a great group. We all like each other. We all hung out together in Chicago. People asked us where we were from. Kansas, we said. Yes, all of us.

(Hey, Bathtub, please add your experiences at AWP to this!)

Hi.

2009-03-26T12:49:00.000-07:00

Kari here. I'll be the Blogger Captain for the next fortnight.

We've had so much going on this year: AWP, benefits, Mirth readings. Amazingly, we were talking last night about our lack of plans until summer. Have no fear, though, we have some ideas. Check our calendar for what's planned.

If you're wondering what's going on in Kansas right now...we're preparing for up to six inches of snow this weekend. Definitely not on the scale of North Dakota's problems, but how are we suppose to get into cheery, spring moods when flakes may fall on us at the end of March? Personally, I'm excited to make use of my patio and plastic furniture for writing/reading time. But not in snow. Or anything below 78 degrees.

AWP recap coming soon...

Updated Calender

2009-03-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

Hi ya'll.
I updated the Google calender with the readings list for the next couple of months. Also, here are some Junot Diaz things that I love:
"Alma"
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2007/12/24/071224fi_fiction_diaz
"Homecoming, with Turtle"
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/06/14/040614fa_fact1
Bookworm Interview on Drown
http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bw/bw961219junot_diaz
Bookworm Interview on The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bw/bw071108junot_diaz

Interview with Cote!

2009-03-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to the interview Cote Smith did with One Story to hype the upcoming issue that features his totally kick ass story "Hurt People."

http://www.one-story.com/index.php?page=story&story_id=118

Hurray Cote! Hurray KU MFA!

2009-02-04T09:24:00.000-08:00

Hi all

this should be a really exciting attractive show all around. Jameelah and Andy are going to read some shorts.

please come- cans of free beer for you/good vibes

check out this link for the curatorial statement and other info

peace all

links to life

2009-01-31T12:59:00.001-08:00

Nameless LeTTer.

I find ephemera all the time in the books I go through when I'm working at The Dusty Bookshelf. We keep the cool things, the interesting things. I leave original receipts in the books for the new owner to delightfully (or annoyingly?) find. We've found, probably, thousands of bookmarks over the years. In the Manhattan DB, there is a large shoebox full of these bookmarks. So now there's this site where you create a particular bookmark for a particular book and put it out there for someone to find. It's akin to the project where people put whole books in public places with notes for people to find and read and then put in another public place for someone else to find and read. It's sharing literary love.

Then there's another site: FOUND Magazine. Ephemera. Life left in books, in records, in life.

AWP Off-Site Events.

2009-01-26T21:28:00.000-08:00

This list is not even comprehensive. For instance, there's a cool event at Myopic Books that features poets featured in Coconut Mag Online and Coconut Books.

On Thursday, I really want to go to the Quickies reading, and/or the MAKE Reading and Dance Party (it's at The Hideout and features one of my favorites, Abraham Smith).

Friday, I'd love to hit up the Red Rover Series Small Press Showcase because my friend Scott Pierce's effing press will be there, as well as Ugly Duckling Presse, Action Books (they did Tao Lin's first book of poetry), and others. A lot of the presses at this showcase focus on young writers, contemporary work in translation, underrepresented poetries, etc., and they all produce gorgeous books.

Saturday, there's the aforementioned Coconut event at Myopic, which is competing with the Fence Magazine event.

What do other people want to do?

For Jameelah and Co.

2009-01-26T21:06:00.000-08:00

I was talking with Jameelah over pasta and mentioned this video. I thought I would share it. Why's nobody blog-postin'? (Maybe I'm going nuts with the school-blog.)

The following should be queued up to just before an interview conducted by Charlie Rose between David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Franzen, and Mark Leyner. It's about how they viewed "contemporary" fiction in 1996. It's interesting to hear big-time authors from the past talking about their present. Is fiction dead yet?

Please notice these things:

DFW's face at Rose's introduction, moving from surprise to elation to anger to stoicism in 1.5 sec.
Mark Leyner looking, acting, talking, and theorizing much like a man who would sell you a Jeep Cherokee.
Charlie Rose's complete and total WORSHIP of DFW.
Jonathan Franzen sounding like the pragmatic uncle I have never had.

I hope those of you who look at this enjoy it.

COUNT DOWN

2009-01-15T20:16:00.001-08:00

MySpace Countdown Clocks

Did you do good reading?

2009-01-15T12:03:00.000-08:00

Man, first day back to school. Is it all downhill, or uphill from here? What about plateauing? Nobody talks about plateauing.

Are there good books to read? Did you read any of those over academic intersession?

Let me imagine you at a windowsill, under a quilt pattern drinking spiced tea. What good reading did you do at that time?

New Year's Resolutions 2009 Anno Domini

2009-01-13T13:35:00.000-08:00

These early days of the year have been a time of sober reflection for we collectivistas. How much food did we eat? The crease between this year and last is surely bulging--we can't go back!

I have informally gathered resolutions and goals for the coming year from various members of the Backrub Collective. Responses have been anonymized.

Check them off with us!

Stop winning all the time.
Buy pet.
Build flower box and grow spices in it.
More corn in diet.
Inappropriate comments???? Not for me!!!!!! Appropriate comments only!!!!!!
Be less d-baggy.
Jog.
Rearrange domestic objects astrologically.
Be more grad student-y.
Coin at least one new swear word.
Find out if Prilosec is right for me.
80 pp/mo.
I would like to start smoking and take more baths.
Quit faking the familiar and being less than judicious. Go Jayhawks!!!
Wear exclusively hemp-based clothing.
Dump crummy BF.
Note everything, otherwise not sure.
Pleasure book a week.
Watch entire DVD series of particular TV show.
Go wind sailing for once.
Keep taking it easy and doing the awesome.
Finish my book of poems and bind it.
Stop starting and delaying and instead start then finish.

I have informally gathered resolutions and goals for the coming year from the University of Kansas English Department faculty, staff, and hangers on. These have been anonymized by near-unanimous request.

Check them off with them!

Stop murdering the language.
Donate more.
The first thing to do is fix the kitchen floor, then, cook a big meal for my family on it, then, get leaves in bags on the side of the house cleared away. Take the kids to Perry before it snows again, back up hard drive, get new office chair squared away. Then, finish my article, then read some things my sister sent me. Other than that, have a positive healthy year! Let me know if you have any more questions.
Establish contact with a wine investment.
Bills stuff.
See mother and brother in Vermont.
Buy more local meats.
Take down Monsanto.
Establish solution groups interdepartmentally and establish orientation schedule for new solution group hires with similar interdepartmental foci.
Absent of apples/We will plant a tree/Near the driveway
Fix broken life.
Stop getting angry at television and books.
Manage withdrawal symptoms, lift more.
Be more professor-y.

What's YOUR NYR 2009 AD?

Blogging for Louise.

2008-12-22T14:08:00.000-08:00

posted because by me because blogger hates Louise for some reason:

Here are some questions I asked everyone to answer, and Deb did it first! Read her's, then follow suit by posting your answers in the "Comments" box.

1. What is a cool sentence from something you are reading right now? Or maybe a bad one?

"Another army of sluggish minutes dragged by."

from The Big Sleep.

I like "another army" and the idea of an army of minutes.

This is a good and bad sentence. Bad because why repeat the sensation of slowness with both "sluggish" and "dragged." And armies don't drag, really, do they? Besides "dragged by" is a cliche.

2. What do you tell yourself when you are feeling discouraged?

I am a fuck up.

3. What author do you own the most books by?

Counting duplicates. DOU.

4. When is your favorite time of day to read?

Depends. Who's there with me?

5. What is the longest span of time that you have ever read for without stopping?

Oh, I won a contest for this. I read for 37 hours. I'll show you the ribbon.

6. What about writing?

Well, it was so long that the judges gave up and left. We may never know.

7. What is one thing that you wish you could change about your habits as a writer?

I wish I were Marcel Proust.

from Deb

2008-12-20T11:13:00.000-08:00

Me mucho links for you.

2008-12-13T12:34:00.000-08:00

A meaningless story by Tao Lin.

Where to buy chapbooks.

Someone in Lawrence who I know might publish things by you, you should submit, I can't make any promises.

Michael Kimball is coming here in April. In this interview he talks about a novel that he wrote in letters (an epistolary), which is like what DaMaris is doing.

Spots for Woodland Pattern's 15th Annual Poetry Marathon are filling up fast and Karl didn't even tell me about it. Who is coming with me?

Do you want to store something you know you don't need you don't want anymore?

Metafiction.

Let's kill this person.

MetaYouTube.

Hot (highly suggested: "Shea Stadium").

Do people like Kim Chinquee's work? I don't know if I do.

Let's kill this person.

Are you "rice ready"? Does anyone even know what that means?

Possibly two of the greatest paragraphs ever written in fiction

2008-12-10T09:54:00.000-08:00

are from Denis Johnson's Jesus' Son:

No more pretending for him! He was completely and openly a mess. Meanwhile the rest of us go on trying to fool each other. (140)

and:

The Vine had no jukebox, but a real stereo continually playing tunes of alcoholic self-pity and sentimental divorce. "Nurse," I sobbed. She poured doubles like an angel, right up to the lip of a cocktail glass, no measuring. "You have a lovely pitching arm." You had to go down to them like a hummingbird over a blossom. I saw her much later, not too many years ago, and when I smiled she seemed to believe I was making advances. But it was only that I remembered. I'll never forget you. Your husband will beat you with an extension cord and the bus will pull away leaving you standing there in tears, but you were my mother. (66)

I have to admit that on more than one occasion while reading this book I asked myself, "Why, again, does everyone love this book so much?" But then, time after time, I'd get to the end of a story (the second paragraph above ends the story "Work," for instance) and my heart would be in my bowels and I'd have to fish it out, thinking, "What the fuck did he just do to me? How can I be more like him?" Him being Denis Johnson, of course. I don't envy Fuckhead in the least.

What Johnson does best in JS, I think, is to interrupt what are already compelling descriptions of places (The Vine), people (redhead naked, we know she is flying), happenings (the bunnies squashed all around in Fuckhead's shirt), etc. with tenderly morbid thoughts that seem connected to the story only in that they are undeniably resonant, and so is the rest of the story--sort of like the quotes above. He's able to zoom so far out from the narrative in such a small amount of space, but in a way that also allows him to come right back to that narrative. It's not unlike what Rebecca Curtis does at the end of many stories in Twenty Grand, but Johnson often does this within the stories in Jesus’ Son, so we get a lot of little gifts along the way, not just one big payoff at the end (not to diminish Curtis’ achievements).

There's also the whole thing narrative-as-memory-mash-up thing going on. Like, halfway through the story "Emergency," after several pages of describing a drive-theater that Fuckhead mistakes for a graveyard with angels rising out of it, we get the sentence, "Or maybe that wasn't the time it snowed" (84). Through this device, Johnson (1) allows us to experience several narratives somewhat simultaneously, like what might happen if we cracked open Fuckhead's brain, and (2) tricks us into thinking he is advancing 'plot' so we are perhaps more accepting of the sentences, when what he is really doing is building character. (I don't know why (or if I really do) I think readers are less patient with sentences that develop character as opposed to ones that 'advance plot'-- I guess I'm just thinking of the whole 'page-turner' phenomenon. I don't think I, or most of my literaphilic friends favor either of these types. Maybe 'mainstream' readers do.)

I think that is all I will say about that.

For all the haterz:

2008-12-09T11:48:00.000-08:00

This is poetry, too:

Pacman down skeezin’ on dem whitecakes when dat Firebox from da corner office tell him shit be back on.

OH YEAH, SHIT BE BACK ON.

We gon shine. We gon take dat shit and we gon make it FLOOD. We gon make a MONPOON. We gon take dem fisty girlz and stick it up in dat azz loco-style. AIN’T NOBODY GON LEAVE DA PARTY TILL ALL DAT AZZ BE DRAINED.

And we gon drank. HAY-ULLS YEAH, WE GON DRANK. We gon chomp dem power dots and chase dem ghosts till dat Blinky stop dat blinkin’. We gon ABABABABABABA till we come out da otha side of dat azz. Shit be smokin’ round the rim when we break that shit off. Den we gon light up like Level 5.

AIN’T NOBODY GON KEEP US FROM FISHIN’ ON DAT PUSSYDOCK CAUSE WE GOT DA RODZ. PACMAN DOWN WIT IT. HE GOT DA DONGBAIT TO MAKE DEM CHERRIES BOUNCE ALL NIGHT LONG.

HOUSE THAT SHIT.

"Stories . . . aren't supposed to do anything, really."

2008-12-07T20:34:00.001-08:00

Joy Williams said that in an interview once. She also said, "All fiction can do is to just show the anomalous in life and to show the reader that life isn't as simple as it seems."

She said she wants fiction to do more. I think that is a lot for fiction to do in the first place.

When I started thinking about this, I thought about Deb Olin Unferth's "Sick of the Revolution" thingy, how that struck me, in some way, as "trying to do more" but as if the piece itself found that doing more is nearly impossible to do. From what I know, it's based somewhat on Deb's own life experience in Nicaragua, and while throughout the piece I felt like she wanted to teach us something about the dark underbelly of indigenous revolutions that "liberals" like to connect with "ideologically," it ends up saying more about "our" inability to learn anything -- to truly get outside the deeply personal, to rewire ourselves in a new setting, etc.

What do people think?

OMG Business Letter.

2008-12-05T08:56:00.000-08:00

Icelandic poet Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl is doing some funny and interesting things. He has lots of poems and videos up on his site; Anne recommended the video of him reading his poem "IMF! IMF! OMG! OMG!", which was "a treat."

I thought it would be especially good for "us writers" to look at his poem called "I am a letterhead" (which I am not pasting here because of spacing issues, just click on the poem title). I think it works on a lot of levels.

First, when we realize what he is doing here--writing a "business letter" by writing sentences that describe their own function in first person--it becomes immediately pleasurable because it is like a puzzle that continually unfolds as we go. Because we are (probably) subconsciously aware of the tenets of a business letter to some degree, we sort of know what to expect next, but remain excited to see how he--Eiríkur himself--a specific nuanced being--will render what we already know. This is not dissimilar from how a "good" action film works, maybe. We all know the basic set up of the Hollywood action film, but a good one will keep giving us gifts of awesomeness along the way until the final gift (or twist) is bestowed. I am trying to think of a good way to talk about The Dark Knight as a good action film, but am struggling to articulate here. Hopefully you get the point.

When we arrive at the final twist or climax of Eiríkur's poem (arguably: "I am an offer of sexual favours."), it is subtle, brief, and unexpected. Its position in front some of the most predictable lines of the poem--"I am a description of place and time. I am a phone number. // I am a formal greeting. // I am a signature / I am a name"-- make it resonate as we get through those final syllables, which bring us back down from the climax.

One way fiction can succeed is to create good characters and then complicates their lives. Although it is not identified as a piece of fiction, "I am a letterhead" accomplishes this in a unique way: the character is actually our perception of our own intelligence, i.e. what we think we know about the business letter form, etc. Eiríkur brings our knowledge (the character) to a unique point of danger starting with the line, "I am the squandering of vague threats." At that point, we start to become less and less able to predict how the authorial voice--with which we had become familiar--will render the subconsciously familiar subject. It is possible to shock us, hurt us in some way, leave us questioning the the 'way we were raised' via what precedes this point in the poem. We all of a sudden realize that what we've learned cannot really prepare us for actual experience. Our subconscious, education, and language fail us.

Eiríkur's use of first person (as opposed to saying "This sentence is ___________") moves the poem beyond the realm of criticizing a genre or 'the business world' and into a much darker world of how 'misuse' of language breeds denial, inequality, and manipulation. I could probably go on about this, but I won't.

It's possible I'm being very dramatic here. Most times, though, I feel that when I try to be serious about poetry, describe how it functions within itself, affects a single reader, or acts in the world, I feel silly. I guess I just need to attach myself to the idea that this was 'interesting' for me to write, even though it probably isn't interesting for you to read.

That's the conditioner, hand me the other bottle.

2008-12-03T17:22:00.000-08:00

It's Gummo! In the tub! There's bacon on the wall! Some dessert!

Blogging from the bathtub.

2008-12-03T17:15:00.000-08:00

I am happy to be the inaugural "featured blogger" on the BATHTUB Writers Collective blog. I'm Robert J. Baumann.