Update: Canada is awesome because of universal healthcare and hockey, other things.

Feathertale, out of Canada, has the first of a couple of poems in this month's Egregious Newsletter. It's cool to be accepted in the Great White North.

Friend and fellow UMKC grad student Zac Gall has a blog--he's had a blog for a while, longer than I have. It's been added to the things you should try out. Over there, to the right.

UMKC hosted a group of current and former PhD students from Mizzou. I met Jeff Pethybridge. His work is excellent and he bought me breakfast on Saturday.

I feel burned out as of late. When this happens I read Bukowski, which I probably shouldn't read since he's bad for me. I read him for energy, but not for craft, and only his poetry and collected letters.

My roommate Robin's sister, Katie, got me a nice Buk haul from Half Price Books. I, at the very least, recommend Shakespeare Never Did This. Sometimes I dream my work is popular in Europe. Yesterday I ate at Golden Wraps with Joni and I told her about the book, how I daydream I am popular in Europe. First I described the book:

"This guy photographs Bukowski with his girlfriend all over Germany."
"Yeah? Is this the same girlfriend he kicked off the couch?"
"Yeah, but this is from a happier time--two years before all that. I daydream that I'm popular in Europe sometimes."
"And then you can have a book called Bukowski Never Did This."
"Yeah and maybe I can kick you off the couch."
"Huh?"
"Sorry, I didn't mean that. I'd never kick you off the couch."

I'd never kick her off the couch.

Tired, avoiding work. Thinking of Jet Airplanes

I feel bad about my last post.

AWP was wild and exhausting. I spent most of my time at the book fair and got a big haul of journals. My favorite stuff so far is the recent issue of Court Green, the dossier: Letters, and Sam Pink's I AM GOING TO CLONE MYSELF THEN KILL THE CLONE AND EAT IT. I have other shit I haven't looked at, like the first issue of No Colony.

I stayed in the Essex Inn with my friend Lewis--next door to the Hilton. I checked my email once and saw that Ben Tanzer has my poem up at This Zine Will Change Your Life.

I'm a little sick and need to work on my stuff.

A bit down

I wrote a poem were Larry Levis is a werewolf and lives in the bayou. He wonders what I'm doing there, in the Bayou, and decides to drive me back home where we I invite him to a bar. I then think about Josephine, this woman that's mostly unattainable and has shown up in all of my poems. This sounds more interesting than my most recent draft probably. I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I don't know what the hell I'm doing at all.

The weather is like spring in KC right now--rainy, kind of warm. I saw lightning earlier.

Shit dawg, Part 2

Front Porch 9 is live.

I got "A New Map of America" in the mail from The Cupboard. I started reading it last night--it's pretty solid.

Yeah.

Oh

I'll be at AWP. I'll be hanging around the New Letters desk and probably have to wear a name tag.

Quaker City

I have to read 243 pages of Quaker City by Wednesday. I've made progress but have taken a break and added a graphic to the top of the page (thanks to my sister, Miriam, who made it)--Jean Paul Belmondo from Pierrot Le Fou. I got depressed about my writing this weekend and tried to write about the final scene. Video Mania, this great video store in Westport, does not have Pierrot Le Fou on their Criterion wall. Unless it's rented out every time I go.

Front Porch sent me a proof of my poem "Roy Rodgers Never Laughed at Domestic Violence." It'll appear in Front Porch 9, which looks great and has poems from Sherman Alexie and Christopher DeWeese.

Thanks to Miriam, my sister, for the graphic.

I have not seen all of Pierrot Le Fou. Just that scene.

I don't know what to do with this thing. Or thang.