Poncho Week

The 2011 poet laureate, Poncho Peligroso, visited Steve Roggenbuck, Brett Gallagher, and I in Chicago, and stayed at my place for a week. The first weekend we went to see Never Say Never 3D and to a sweet Columbia Poetry MFAs party. Poncho demonstrated his awe-inspiring yoyo skills and got covered in hearts. Steve got high on pixie sticks and was carried on a chair, crowd-surfed, and did the wheelbarrow. Steve's Google bomb meme, designed to make Poncho the #1 Google result for 2011 poet laureate, was covered on HTMLGIANT (hi, Mike Kitchell!) and a photo from the party was used. Poncho is now the #1 result on Google for 2011 poet laureate. Sunday night, a racy, life-affirming Ustream live broadcast went down at Steve's apartment. Poncho's Statcounter had orgasms all week long. Poncho and I ate together, tweeted together, and had a great time. The following weekend, the lovely ladies of phiLOLZophy.com came to visit, and their Tumblr friend Meredith joined us, and we had an epic, drunken, sexy time. Poncho is gone now, and I miss him, I miss everybody.

hula hoops forever

My friend, Michael Inscoe, has published "What the Fuck Does 'In Real Life' Mean If You Live In Front of Your Computer?" at his literary site, unsure if i will allow my beard to grow for much longer. Thank you, Michael. Includes the line "'What I mean is, you'd look good in baggy pants and a crop top, or something'" and the line "life is so stupid and exciting, yes."

My friend Steve Roggenbuck's forthcoming book/website, DOWNLOAD HELVETICA FOR FREE.COM, now has an official cover, by Osy Chung of Hong Kong.

Steve has also started a new tumblr called INTERNET POETRY and has released a doctrine explaining the thoughts and intentions behind the tumblr, which will publish submissions of internet poetry presented/created/distributed via guerilla tactics.

I just started reading Quartet by Jean Rhys. I have a shortage of books I really want to read on my bookshelf. I have read a lot of the books I picked up at used bookstores over the years, and I'd like to have new books/new authors to read.

I want to read The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis.

I want to read A Certain Lucas by Julio Cortázar.

I want to read more Bolaño.

I wish there were more authors I knew I wanted to read.

The more I think about the book(s) I want to write, the more I am unsure what I want to read, what I like to read.

I know I like when books make me laugh. I reread the opening to The Catcher in the Rye the other day, and I laughed the hardest I've ever laughed while reading it, at nearly every line.

I know I like in Beckett how the lines are striking and beautiful but also sad and alone and brusque and gallows.

I read this story by Frank Hinton recently that inspired me, "The First Time."

I want to read and write things that fill me up and excite me about knowing people and being alive, that make small mysterious gestures.

lets get 2gether b4 we get much older

Jessica Kirsch photographed Steve Roggenbuck and I by Lake Michigan for Steve's pre-release remix of DOWNLOAD HELVETICA FOR FREE.COM. As you can see, I hung from a tree branch with my legs spread wide while doing the Michael Jordan tongue as Steve held his poem. You can vote for your favorite "Steve's poem in real life" photo here.

I lost my goddamn motherfucking iPhone and am an idiot.

I love you

I've been working on some things.

I have an idea for my novel. I think it will be about a long-distance romance between two people who've never met IRL and then there will be a subplot/second strand re a relationship IRL. I think it will have 9 parts maybe. I'd like it to have 9 titles unofficially and 1 official title. Clarice Lispector, Tao Lin, J.D. Salinger. I don't know

I was feeling very calm and radiant before I lost my fucking iPhone (not looking for sympathy at all, just kinda miffed re loss of iPhone).

As Steve says, via Zen master Ummon, when he was sick, and someone asked him how he was, he said, "Sun-faced Buddha and moon-faced Buddha."

P.S. Poncho Peligroso is coming to Chicago next weekend and is sleeping at my house. Looks like I'll be not-sleeping/smiling a lot. Please feel free to suggest activities for Poncho, Steve, Brett Gallagher*, and I to engage in during Poncho's visit.

*Edited, bros