If you live near Oxford Mississippi

Tonight is the Kitty Snacks #2 release party. Check it out.

I should not make fun of other poets.
I have not written much lately.
I pay to much attention to fantasy football.

When in Japan, in 2005, I was compared to a Bulgarian sumo wrestler

Writing is slow and terrible right now. When I teach sometimes I have moments of fear that I will become what I don't want to become one of those white, middle-aged male poets who write narrative poems--descriptive purple prose non-stories with line breaks. I think that this fear is created because I am narrative. At least I will never write about fly-fishing. This comment should not apply to B.H. Fairchild, who I think is excellent.

Working Words went well--I read poems from my project about a suicidal minor league basketball player. I don't know how well they were received. We all bowled afterward, I rolled a strike during a 70. My second game was only 46. By this point I had stop paying attention, drank a lot, and talked to Michael Pritchett in between turns. I played air hockey with a new student from Charlotte, NC--her fiancee works as a mechanical engineer.

"Jesus Christ is the only true literary critic"

I don't how often people wikipedia John Berryman, but in the outside sources at the end of the page someone provided a link to an interview that appeared in the Paris Review after his death in 1972.

As long as I live in the Canada part

So if the U.S. does break up, then Ugly Duckling Presse will start producing cool looking American poet anthologies and books of Dean Young right?

I watched "The Big Bang Theory" last night and still lack a simple knowledge of science

A panda suggested to a white middle-aged couple they eat Wanchai Ferry frozen Chinese food as opposed to going to a buffet. The panda eats sour chicken with them says, "I'm glad we decided to stay in."

Tony Hoagland enters the house and approaches the panda. "You lack the screen presence of Ling-Ling. All pandas who have ever appeared on TV are mere imitations of Ling-Ling--you are a part of the cult of Ling-Ling." Tony Hoagland takes a bite of the panda's sour chicken.

The largest outburst of mass violence in Canadian history involved box lacrosse.

One would susepct the larget outburst of mass violence in Canadian history would involve either Louis Riel or the Banjo Bowl.

In The Big Bang Theory last night ended with the scientist played by the actor better known for his role as David on Rosanne and the blond in the first role that I have ever recognized her in eat Chinese take-out together. They secretly love each other in the show's overall arc. In the episode, the blond goes on a date with the scientist's friend--a guy who works at a comic book shop. The scientist gives the comic book guy bad advice on how to treat the blond, because he is in love with her. The comic book guy goes on the date. The next day the scientist asks the blond how the date went--she stands in her doorway in pink boy shorts and a bathrobe, tells the scientist it's none of your goddamn buisness what goes on between me and the comic book guy. The scientist runs to the comic book store. The comic book guy says the date went well--they shared two bottles of wine and made out in his car and the blond got wet but shouted out the scientist's name, not the comic book guy's name. At the end of the episode, the blond asks the scientist to pass the orange sauce. She says scientist, pass me the orange sauce. He asks her what she called him--she says I called you the scientist. That's right, the scientist says.

Possible titles include "Spring Break Shark Attack"

My friend Amy, she lives in Cincinnati, said I sounded pretty down on KC.

I hope I didn't sound too harsh. The women I know are pretty great--what I mouthed off about are women I don't particularly know very well or ones I don't interact with now. I don't think I would've learned anything about writing if I didn't come here.

Kansas City is still not what I thought it'd be.

My friend Greg Lamer made a chapbook of my work called Gem City/Fountain City for an Echos show I read at in Dayton in May 2008. He plans on making another edition--same poems, all older stuff (poems that appeared in Origami Condom and Feathertale) and a new poem or two, with a new cover. I'll give another update when Greg gets together the proof. It'll be available through this blog and his. It will release under his new Rabbit Catastrophe imprint.

I'm also working on a new chapbook that I sent to a press already and might send to contests.

How to avoid huge ships

From Abe Books' Weird Room.

An Actual Kansas Reading Series

An Actual Kansas Reading series returns Friday, September 18 with Stacy Szymaszek and Megan Kaminski.

Working Words, UMKC's graduate student reading series, also kicks off on Friday, September 18 at the NW corner of the Kansas City Public Library Plaza Branch. This month's Working Words will comprise of an open-mic format, with several graduate students showcasing their work.

Choose wisely.

I have realized that just because a city has multiple major-league sports teams, they are not a major city

I've lived in Kansas City for two years--moved July 2007 to 40th and holes--and the only bar I ever felt comfortable in has been Dave's Stagecoach Inn on Westport Rd., east of Broadway. Their founder died in December 2007. They contested the smoking ban and recently just got a 3 a.m. liquor license to stay open. They might have a photograph of me on their wall soon--my friend Greg takes photographs. Now there's an ordinance proposed by the city to revoke liquor licenses of local bars, and to force people to come downtown to Power and Light if they want to drink past 1 am.

Kansas City has not been what I hoped. This is probably why I have been able to write at the clip I have the last two years, and why I have any publishing credits at all. My personal life has been minimal beyond a small group of friends. There's very little time to dick around, or very little opportunity to dick around--I just stay inside and read. The Kansas side, where the money is and where people don't pay city taxes, controls KC. Most come into town in their Escalades and party at Power and Light then go back across the border. Then, when the city--residents of Jackson County Missouri and KC itself--shoots down proposed taxes for upgrades to Arrowhead or Kaufman, the Kansas-side asks why they do it. Kevin Kietzman yells and almost cries on air. It's also a tough town to get laid in.

People in their mid-30s ask me about Dayton, Ohio--usually about Guided by Voices and The Breeders. They lived in Kansas and decided to move to Dayton in 1996--like my hometown was a proto-Portland, Ore. That, of course, has not lasted. There are moments, like this Pitch article, where I get kind of nostalgic for the rust belt and where I lived. When the economy fucks you, and GM fucks you, you soften up and become a better person in some ways. People in Ohio know that other shit matters--not to get too raw with it. You try to be better to other people and you go from a red state to a blue state. This doesn't happen all the time, but I feel it more when I'm back in Dayton. Also, the women in Dayton, like the men in Dayton, want to get out. They think beyond material availability sometimes. Girls in KC, and Kansas, seem content. They get enough of everything--KC has decent shows come through, has a lit scene based around poetry about cows and jazz (by old people--this does not apply to the people I've met from Lawrence since they're young and also not from KS), has college towns nearby, and bars made out of plastic in a downtown district that looks like the set of Pluto Nash.

There are good things here--like New Letters, and UMKC faculty, and the friends I've made. If I saw him again, I'd probably strangle my old poetry professor from undergrad. It's just not enough. This is not a cool town. No wonder Zach Greinke went insane and no wonder no Major League Baseball free agent in their prime wants to come here.