poems

“Joys of Doggerland and 5 other poems in Word for/Word

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Online literary journal  focuses on experimental visual and text works. The new issue #31 is out. I’m pleased to be part of this one with six poems: “Joys of Doggerland,” “Dimming of the Haruspex,” “Standing Stone,” “Electromagnetic Pulse,” “Efface the New Caesar,” and “Cold Fortress.” You can read them here.

All these pieces are based on various lost cities or civilizations around the world. This series was inspired by current US affairs, which really made me think about the fragility of languages, cultures and nations.

“Rabbit Lies Scheming” in Mad Swirl

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I’m pleased to announce that online poetry journal Mad Swirl published my poem “Rabbit Lies Scheming” today. You can read it here.

I wrote a few poems with a trickster rabbit as a main character–not so much inspired by Bugs Bunny as the Mayan Rabbit. In this one, Rabbit plots a hold-up, “dreaming of a better life so you won’t have to.”

“Taking Home the Pictures” and two other poems in Anti-Heroin Chic

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Very pleased to report that online journal Anti-Heroin Chic published three of my poems today: “Taking Home the Pictures,” “Ouija Gets Bent,” and “Sorry No Obi.” You can read them here.

The lead poem comes from a cross country road trip back in the 90s with two of my best friends. I believe we were in El Paso when the TV showed footage of OJ Simpson escaping police in Los Angeles. For some reason that seemed kind of funny, but a couple weeks in a Metro Geo will do that to you.

The Ouija piece is another of that series featuring the eponymous planchette as a “real girl” having metalingual adventures. I wrote “Sorry No Obi” after listing a compact disc for sale on Discogs and realizing that descriptive phrase would make a good poem title.

“Cosmic Convenience Store” and two other poems in Outlaw Poetry

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I’m pleased to report that online journal Outlaw Poetry published three of my poems today: “Cosmic Convenience Store,” “The Clover Trick,” and “Discount Radio.” You can read them here.

The first one features Ouija, the metalanguage planchette engaged in some intergalactic communication–part of a series of pieces featuring this character. The others are more or less surrealistic rants about something or other.

Gonch stuff published in Otoliths

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Very pleased to see the new issue of Otoliths released today. This is number 49, the “Southern Autumn” issue. It’s another huge compendium documenting the international “scene” for out-poetry in text, video, image and other (unknown) formats. Editor Mark Young titled my section of Gonch materials “The World According to Gonch.” That’s a phrase I wish I’d thought of myself. Anyway, it encompasses three text poems and eight images from the Gonchlog (example above).

The text pieces are all written using a language deriving from the nonsense phrase “All Gonch,” intending to explore the language and culture of a post-American landscape. In another phase of the Gonch project, I go through consumer magazines to remove the five letters of “Gonch” and affix them to accounting paper. The name of the magazine, its publication date and issue numbers are noted. So far I’ve done about 200 of these images.

You can check it out here.

3 Gonch poems in Zoomoozophone Review

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Very pleased to announce the latest Zoomoozophone Review has been released today. This is issue 16 of the experimental poetry journal, including great text and visual work from a host of familiar “scene” figures: Mark Young, Sanjeev Sethi, Clara B. Jones, billy bob beamer, Heath Brougher, Stephanie McElrath, and Xan Schwartz, among others. There are also three of my Gonch poems: “Hoc Analla Hoc,” “Allonach Gonchon Canca Gohl,” and “Achanalla Chaanlang.”

You can check out the whole issue here.

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All the Gonch pieces were written using a vocabulary limited to words invented from the nonsense phrase “All Gonch.” It’s an attempt to create a new language, imagining also the culture behind it through the shape and structure of the words, that might arise after the death of the current (American) culture and language.

 

Gonch poems and images in Angry Old Man journal

Gonchlog-pic-aomThe third issue of Angry Old Man journal was issued yesterday, this one including work from two phases of my Gonch project in a special section. This includes three Gonch text poems based on a vocabulary improvised from the phrase “All Gonch,” as well as images of the word “Gonch” spelled out ransom-note style in letters cut out from consumer magazines.  The texts are “Gallonchan, Anc Nochal,” “Anch Angollach, Llanach Ang Ganallah,” “Ganchanallach Anchon Naalano.” You can read them here.

From my note to editor Drew David: “I go through consumer magazines and cut out the five letters of “gonch” and glue them onto accounting paper. The intention is to draw out that key nonsense word from these propaganda vehicles in order to find the way forward. Or something like that. I’ve done about 200 of these images so far; the ones here are the first six that I did.”

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Definitely check this issue out. Angry Old Man looks to be one of those journals of record for the contemporary avant garde scene, much like Otoliths. Not to be missed.

“Crushed Bits” video in Gnarled Oak

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Today, my video poem “Crushed Bits” appeared in online poetry journal Gnarled Oak. This journal focused on shorter works. You can see the publication page here.

The text of the video comes from one of my “Civilization’s Lost” poems, “Cold Fortress.” The imagery is taken from a World War II documentary. I was trying to make a connection with the socio-political events of the present day, but it’s up to the viewer to decide the success of that.

“Hell Comes Down Like a Train” and 2 other poems in Unlikely Stories

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Very pleased to return to online poetry journal Unlikely Stories with three poems: “Another Golden Child,” “Hell Comes Down Like a Train,” and “When You’re Hooked in the Night, Forget About Me.” You can read them here.

All three pieces involve some sort of social commentary. “Another Golden Child” deals with the influence of wealth over average lives. “Hell Comes Down” includes words actually spoken to me by a former boss. “When You’re Hooked” describes a real experience meeting a homeless guy on the DC street one night while on the way to a jazz concert curated by Transparent Productions–possibly Ellery Eskelin’s group at the old Food for Thought in Dupont Circle. I probably would have given the guy my money, but I only had a bag full of quarters to pay for my admission, and I didn’t think the guy would appreciate all the change.