Kraftwerk

Heaven is a place on the web.

And I recently posted the humble beginnings of a longer work at UMBRellA. Trying to find a pea of individual talent underneath these mattresses of tradition.

Da--nation! My Cousin's Reno--ation!

Listen to the Poet not working.

My Home, On the Web

Friends (and Swiss countrymen),

My cousin has begun remodeling his house, so I thought I should show you a picture of it. If you look through the windows, you can see the guest house in which I have composed all my poems since completing the The Picky Hound series.

I thought the most interesting facet of remodeling would be the exposure of various conduits and systems, but these turn out not to be as complex as I thought they would be. They are mechanical, Newtonian, not magical. The magical surprise, to me, is the mutability of walls. They can be opened up, torn down, moved, installed. Holes can be punched in them, and then they can be patched as if there never had been a hole. My cousin replaced a door (to a little bar-room) with a wall, and opened up the wall at the back of the bar-room. The room has been reversed, without being revolved, and is now a broom closet at the back of the kitchen.

Is anyone else fascinated with walls? The walls of my guest house appear in the poem "Apples of Sodom".

Bad Day to Be Chinese?

Imagine a world in which the likes of such luminaries as Aimee Nezhukumatathil, DaDooDoFlow, and Ron Silliman were not allowed to rant and rave at will.

My people call it China.

March 19, 2004 SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- China has shut down a pair of Web sites that were free-ranging user forums known as blogs, stepping up government attempts to control political discussion on the Internet, a media watchdog group reported even as one site reappeared Friday.

Ground Control to Major Jerk

While my affiliation with Crony and its ancillary worksheet UMBRellA, has been satisfying and stimulating, I wonder (here, aloud):

Is anyone actually reading/viewing MY blog?

Hello! My Name Is __________

Aaron McCollough bemoans the misspelling of his name and takes suggestions (Erring MacLachlan?) from readers.

Some people (mis-)spell me Gunter. What do they have against the H?

I think I'm going to start spelling my name Cancer Quaint.

Any other suggestions?

Spacing Out

Grids: Josh Corey's original (3/12/04). Aaron McCollough's (3/14/04). Gary Norris's (3/14/04). Umbrist Griddle (3/15/04-???).

my subjective experience

This is a graph of my subjective experience, reading poems:
x: Earplugs (+); Skywriting (-)
y: Calisthenics (+); Porphyry (-)
z: Seizure (+); Hangnail (-)

No poems today...working on a long one

Thanks to the winter birds (for sticking around).

ipod challenge results

Here is my biography, as writ by my ipod. Thanks to Malibu for passing the baton. The first 15 songs, shuffle on, no edits:

1. Blue Skies -- Noah Stone
2. Speak See Remember -- Pavement
3. Seine Saint-Denis Style -- Supreme NTM
4. Make Up -- Lou Reed
5. Do Not Feed the Oyster -- Stephen Malkmus
6. Mamma Mia -- Abba
7. Live -- Joey Chavez w/Iriscence
8. Shoot the Singer -- Pavement
9. Ball and Biscuit -- White Stripes
10. De Camino a La Verdana -- Buena Vista Social Club
11. A Secret Life -- Brian Eno and David Byrne
12. Judy and the Dream of Horses -- Belle and Sebastian
13. Mestizo Eyes -- Yesterday's New Quintet
14. You May Die (Intro) -- Outkast (ATLiens)
15. Allure -- DJ Danger Mouse (Grey Album)

3 out of 15 are Malkmus & friends.
4 out of 15 are Hip Hop.
2 out of 15 are foreign-language.
1 out of 15 is unpublished.

I hope I haven't revealed too much. Thanks again to Mal.

New Poems Out

Two poems coming out (now? soon?) at canwehaveourballback? More info when I return from Canada.

Sabbatical

I will be in the Switzerland of North America until Wednesday. If I find a cyber-cafe I will pop in. In any case, I will return armed with new poetry.

No poems today.

A new poem called poem

fans, romans, countrymen, Umbrists, and other interested parties: There is finally, thanks to yours truly, a poem on Umbrella, "the official poetry worksheet of the Umbrist poets."

Disco Inferno

Paine's Wheel