Prowling The Internet Like A Mountain Lion

I gave myself until 11 pm Kansas time then it's bedtime:

-I just sent Elimae a piece called "On Sex." It's a part of a series of little things I'm writing. Others include "On Clouds," "On Motion Sickness," and "On Marriage." If Elimae rejects it, I'll probably post it here.

-Looking through this online journal, We Are Champions Issue 3: Sasha Fletcher talking about birds, Gregory Sherl wrote a poem about Oregon Trail and Mel Gibson, Donora Hillard with three cool sections (though the "eating dust and vaginal yeast" part seemed out of place).

-Mike Young has been posting some pretty sweet little pieces on his blog. I love the bend of each piece, the layers piling and twisting together. Very enjoyable, quotable, thinkable.

-I started The Art of Recklessness by Dean Young today. Already 65 pages in. Really awesome so far. This guy smacks together words in a way that truly hits me.

-Just found out my buddies The Bonesetters officially signed with Mossback Records, home of the super cool Cowboy Angels.

-I'm definitely ready to be home. This trip has been cool, but I miss some people.

Thoughts On The August Issue of Elimae

Steve Stringer's "I Can Only Do Great Things If You Die" does heavy things. It's quirky, but it's so nice. It's an narrative, but it's really not. It's an elegy, but only kind of. Beautiful stuff.

J.A. Tyler seriously brings it with "You Sometimes Reverse Me." But really, the dude always bring it. I have no clue how to talk about my marriage. This little piece might help.

I really didn't like this poem. Cool epigraph though.

Amy Bergen's 181st and Cabrini rules. I love this speaker. Here are a few examples of why:
"I think I could stay and let the car shine right into me or go climb the gates of the George Washington Bridge or get my feet wet. I weigh too much to be a speedboat on the river"
"Human beings gum up the walkway with strollers and canes and bikes. Human beings are radiant."
"A gold spray-painted bicycle was chained to a Stop sign and I thought it was one of those bikes they put up where a cyclist has died, an angel bike, but probably it was a just a gold spray-painted bicycle."

Site Work by Scot Siegel paints a tiny picture and man it is tuff.

Woah just woah.

Remains by Jesus Castillo shouts "I am important AND beautiful."

HEY "This Is Not A Celebration of Our Fathers" WAS CHURNING SOME COOL BUTTER THEN BOOM THAT ENDING THING WANTED TO BE ALL DEEP AND TOUCHING AND I DIDN'T LIKE IT. THE REST THOUGH SERIOUSLY COOL.

Metropolitan Diary by Mike Topp is like a really good joke that somehow makes my head hurt. Ouch.

Ryan Ridge can talk about any part of the house any day.

Note to self: Write a poem using the word shtick. It won't be as cool as this one by Brian Beatty.

It's late and I can't really think of what to say about "Leaky Roof" by Philip Brooks, but I know I like this poem a lot a lot a lot and it uses exclamation points well. I don't know.

3 Cool Salamanders on a rock

1. Kim Chinquee is a cool cool writer. She edits Elimae, writes touching little stories, and answers questions at The Collagist blog (again).

2. Bye Indiana come Friday. Hello, RV. Hello, Open Road. Hello, Colorado and Utah. Hello, non-Indiana disc golf. Hello, Tattered Cover Book Store. Hello, family time. Hello, hot outdoors. Hello, reading time. I'm diving into some books (blog post to come?). See you mid-August real world.

3. NO AGE IN BLOOMINGTON WITH OSTEOFEROCIOUS 10 DAYS BEFORE MY BIRTHDAY!

Not quite the zing

Elimae is the journal that sends me the nicest rejection letters. In honor of that, I'm reading their July issue (and because they are one of my favorite places for wordz.)

15. by Rufo Quintavalle makes me feel smarter (doesn't every poem? no). And, I had no idea where it was going: the turn after "To be something less than dead" was killer.

My favorite things from each of these poems by Lysette Simmons:
1) "I lead a life that likes the fact that I lead it."
2) "I'm bent double, throwing/up into a box/I made myself."

Do I have to say it again how much I love Elysia's story? Okay, I love it like this -----80-8-8-8-8-8-0-08-8-7fogofgogf. That's symbolism.

Alex Cigale translated 9 poems by Velimir Khlebnikov and I was hooked when things spilled from the tote bag onto the floor.

Eugenia Leigh's poem "Portraits of Holy" does some cool things. One, it is a section poems, which are COOL. Two, it talks about saying "I love you" as a gift, and it's not lame at all! Three, this stanza: A real live tiger and teeth/studying a human who bends into its face/to read the dog tag, which says,/Yes, really.

Shapard and Thomas have done a flash/short short/sudden fiction collection of Latino writers? Cool.

Tension tastes good in Joseph Rippi's "I Am." What a heart stopping line here: "I stared down the barrel to Old Farmer Ed's open mouth and checked the safety." The ending tailed off a little for me though. I want something more than hearts and wet eyes.

This Brian Beatty character is something else. This tiny little poem is heavy like a coffin. I know Beatty can be funny too, like these jokes.