Archive for September 2009

Host (v): To receive (any one) into one’s house and entertain as a guest.

Today I am hosting two great events at Fall For the Book.

Publishing in Local Journals Panel

Thu, September 24, 12pm – 1pm

Dave Housley, co-founder and editor of Barrelhouse, Reb Livingston, founder and editor of No Tell Motel, and others offer insiders’ perspectives on submitting to small presses and literary journals, giving a behind-the-scenes look at the individual publications’ reading processes. Moderated by Moriah Purdy, poetry editor at the Mason-based literary journal Phoebe: A Journal of Literature and Art. Co-sponsored by Phoebe.

Phoebe Launch Party and Reading

material (adj., n., and adv.): Of or relating to matter or substance; formed or consisting of matter. | Word (n): Things said or stated; something expressed in verbal form, whether spoken or written; discourse, utterance.

We spent a good part of Saturday setting up the Material Word exhibit for Fall for the Book and it looks incredible. All the pieces in the exhibit have a visual and textual component. Many of these include manipulated or made books, collaborative projects between poets and visual artists, visual poetry, and the like. Susan Tichy‘s tea collaboration Three Pots, One Hundred Teas with Adrian Lurssen and Alec Finlay is stunning in person (we published the poems and visual inserts in Phoebe for last year’s collaborative feature), and Alison Strub‘s pieces are incredibly intricate… Eric Pankey shows his visual talents (which we’ve heard tell of but haven’t witnessed much… I’ve only been privy to the pieces and sketches out in the open in their house when dog-sitting Mike). The pieces from the Book Arts course and Susan’s Bookish Beasts are incredible. They’ve put together a stunning exhibit and I highly encourage you to check it out.

The pieces I contributed are a part of a collaborative project with the ceramicist Stephanie Rozene, who is also Assistant Professor of Ceramics at Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY. Our project’s source material is the presidential chinaware of our presidents and their wives. Stephanie’s porcelain platters draws from the pattern work on the china and my two column poems (intended to be read down one side and then down the next and then across as one piece) lift language from a variety of historical sources on presidential entertaining. Here are the labels that will accompany each work (I will take images of the exhibit when I get there):

Here are the details as were delivered to my inbox this morning:

Material Word: an exhibit of book arts and visual poetry

Opening today, Sept 21, through the 25th, at Gallery 123 in the Johnson Center….

Gallery Talk & Reception – Wednesday Sept 23, 6pm

Gallery Hours:
Monday & Friday 12-4
Tuesday & Thursday 4-8
Wednesday 12-8

An exhibit featuring solo and collaborative works by more than 20 Book Arts students and 16 past and present MFA poets — including Nancy Pearson (who reads from her award-winning first book on Wednesday at 1:30), and Danika Myers, co-curator of the show. Also included are works by faculty members Jennifer Atkinson, Helen Frederick, Eric Pankey, Susan Tichy, and Margaret Yocom. We are especially pleased to include three works by Alec Finlay, a featured poet at last year’s Fall for the Book.

The reception will include gallery talks by Helen Frederick, Susan Tichy, Danika Myers, and Gwynneth Van Laven. Many of the poets and artists will be on hand to answer questions about their work, and about the Book Arts and Bookish Beasts courses. Refreshments served!

Return (v): To come or go back to a place or person.

UPDATE: Danika Stegeman, former Poetry Editor is BACK in the line-up for the Phoebe reading!

Line-up: The assembling of a number of persons in a line, e.g. for inspection or identification; an instance of bringing into a line; a list of players in a game, orchestra, etc.; the players on such a list. Also of things. Also fig.

Sadly our Phoebe reading next Thursday during Fall for the Book has fallen prey to the busy lives our esteemed alums lead, and the original concept (the three previous poetry editors of Phoebe plus a contributor from the current Phoebe and a contributor from the upcoming issue) has changed slightly… that said, I am pleased to announce the new LINE-UP:

Wade Fletcher - former Poetry Editor

Emily Viggiano – current Editor

Nancy Naomi Carlson - Finalist and honorable mention, Greg Grummer prize (judged by Bin Ramke)

Theodora Danylevich - work forthcoming, Spring 2010

So the new line-up, it would seem, represents both poets currently involved, and poets recently involved, in Phoebe.

I hope you can join us, Thursday, September 24th. See details at Fall For The Book

fall (v): To descend freely (primarily by ‘weight’ or gravity): opposed to ‘rise’.

…also, to fall in love, and (n) the season after summer.

Next week is the DC-area literary festival Fall For the Book and there are lots of exciting things happening. The biggest highlight, for me, will be the reading with Ron Silliman and Rae Armantrout (Rae, by the way, is Phoebe’s next judge for the Greg Grummer Prize, submissions due this Spring). That will be Wednesday night at 8pm.

Of course I’m also thrilled to be more a part of the festival this year than just the behind-the-scenes volunteer (although, I’m doing that, too!)…

I get the extreme priviledge of hosting two Phoebe events. I’ll be moderating the Publishing in Local Journals panel (Thu, September 24, 12pm – 1pm  in the Johnson Center, Dewberry Hall South) which will include Reb Livingston of No Tell Motel, and Dave Housley from Barrelhouse… THEN I get the incredible priviledge of hosting the Phoebe sponsored reading (Thu, September 24, 1:30pm – 2:30pm Johnson Center, Dewberry Hall South) featuring previous editors Wade Fletcher and Shawn Flanagan as well as contributors Nancy Naomi Carlson and future contributor Theodora Danylevich.

Also, throughout the week is the Material World exhibit in the Johnson Center, Gallery 123 curated by Helen Frederick, Susan Tichy, and Danika Myers, which will feature book arts and visual poetry by so very many talented artists and poets. It’s particularly exciting because two pieces from a collaborative project I am working on with good friend and ceramic artist Stephanie Rozene will be exhibited in the show. The sets are from a larger project in process tentatively called “CONFLICT: An investigation of presidential china patterns”, which aims to explore the various conflicting ideals, paradoxes, and personas implicit in the very complex roles presidents and presidential wives play as host and hostess of the United States.

And I’m also so excited to help close out the week at the So To Speak-hosted Fellows reading (Sat, September 26, 6pm-7pm, Old Town Plaza, North Street Route 123), including my esteemed peers Rebecca McGill, Allyson Armistead, Priyanka Champaneri, and Hannah VanderHart. Now if only I knew what to read…

It’s going to be an exciting week… there are so many other events I have yet to mention, but with any luck I’ll get to blog through the week… so stay tuned!

flux (n): A continuous succession of changes of condition, composition or substance.

Oh hi, blog.

I write this first entry on the cusp of a lot of things… there are countless horizons I seem to be reaching toward, and many are shrouded in fog and very unclear and my depth perception is likely way off… but I like it. Stasis and stability and clarity are… well… boring. Things have to be in flux for me to feel as though I’m really getting anywhere good, and there is A LOT of flux in my life at the moment.

I plan to use this blog, in part, to navigate through this state of flux I’m in… and while there might be brilliant moments of clarity, I’ll warn you I might subject you to a lot of wandering considerations as well. I do, however, hope to point you in lots of directions to increase (in good ways, I hope) your sense of flux… for example, had I started this blog yesterday I would have informed you all about the American Hybrid reading at Bridge Street Books, which featured Cole Swensen, John Taggart, Rod Smith, and Mark McMorris. Hybrids are born in the midst (or are a certain presence of) flux… and this anthology disrupts more than it settles the state of things, which is, in part, why I enjoy it so much. I might also subject you to some things you don’t want or need or are entirely uninterested in, and for that I apologize in advance… if you spend a bit of time to comment or let me know what you DO like, I’ll try to take that into consideration.