This is the way I like to remember Elvis...

Before the sequins and capes, also doing a good job at singing a classic I love.

Youtube video

(for some reason blogger isn't accepting the embed code. The above opens in a new window)

What do you think made Elvis the icon he became? His early death? Maybe, but people don't file by MM's tomb and hold vigils. John Lennon's either, for that matter. What indefinable quality grabbed people and held them. His magic caught me as a teenager. I was in love with him then. Madly. Who can explain these things??

Payment for your Poetry

Fiction writings have an agreement up front with publishers for a certain percentage of the revenues. I'm curious how many of my poet readers have had the same offer for their poetry books, chapbooks, or just published poems. A friend of mine who's able to sell a lot of his book has had contracts for his books for a share of the profits, but he works hard with readings to bring in the publisher's costs and then some. Most people with chapbooks don't get a share since, to be honest, either the chap barely makes the publisher's costs, if that, or else the book is print on demand.

In the Fray is one of the few journals I've been in that pays for a publication. I know that Pedestal does, too, both unusual for online zines and both have funding from elsewhere.

What is your experience?

Send in the Clowns

During the summer I worked in Manhattan before grad school, I saw Anthony Newley on Broadway singing Send In The Clowns. It had a huge impact on me. The stage went black except for one spotlight on him. The audience was mesmerized. I searched youtube but no videos exist with him singing the song again. I listened to several. Judy Collins. Barbra Streisand. Frank Sinatra. Even Elizabeth Taylor. Glenn Close, of all poeple, gave the song the rich tone that I'd heard that night so many years ago. Anyway, here it is...and she's gorgeous!



...yet this was my favorite song in the show, the keynote to the singer's role in the musical. In this one, his face was painted half white, like a clown's , and his rendition was magical. I couldn't find a single version on youtube that came close, but here's the voice of Frankie Laine and some shots from showbills and some hokey filler images. Close your eyes and imagine another man, a man on a stage in Manhattan singing his heart out.

Halloween is upon us!

Published in Sketchbook Journal, Oct 2008

Sarah Palin does it again!

Thanks to Collin Kelly for featuring this youtube about troopergate. And this woman could be Vice-Prez?? No thanks!

The new Oranges and Sardines is out...

...and it sizzles. The new journal has everything from an interview with one of my favorites, Lucille Clifton, and the cover art by Drew Ernst sizzles. You can buy at Amazon soon or download a PDF version HERE.

For a download you have to become a member of the site hosting the PDF file.

Pris

New chapbook finally out.

Lummox Press has just published my latest chapbook, Hesitant Commitments, as part of its Little Red Book series. As described, on the Lummox site, the Little Red Book series is an on-going collection of books, designed to fit easily in your back pocket or purse. Some are illustrated. All are affordable (six dollars ppd). As stated on the site, the series features the work of American writers, primarily of poetry, who are most widely known in the Small Press.

Send check or concealed cash, with the name of the chapbook in a note, to
Lummox c/o
POB 5301
San Pedro, CA 90733-5301
(add 20 percent to the six dollars for extra postage if out of country)
or
buy online (via PayPal) at
Lummox Press

My book on the homepage serves as a link to the updated Little Red Books. Scroll down and you'll find my book with its own paypal link on that list.

Thank you again, Lummox!

Go to Collin's blog and check this out.

I'm not even going to say what he's posted there except that if you're a poet, posting on the Internet, your name may be in the link he describes (mine is) and the project is one that purportedly has Ron Silliman angry enough that he thinks we should sue.

Let Collin explain HERE in his blog.

The Wild Goose Poetry Review is out!

A wonderful issue. See it at Wild Goose Poetry Review

Thanks to Helen Losse, editor of The Dead Mule for announcing this in her blog, too!


Poems by:

Linda Annas Ferguson
Janet A. Baker
Pris Campbell
Ann Fox Chandonnet
Chella Courington
Brenda Mann Hammack
Helen Losse
Carter Monroe
Janice Moore-Fuller
Tim Peeler
Mark Smith-Soto
Harding Stedler
Nikolai von Keller

A special thanks to Scott Owens, co-editor for selecting my poems for this issue.

Sara Dreams About Paul Newman

He's wearing a pink shirt and dark tie
and he's supposed to take her to dinner.
Sara's heart raced when she saw his old movies,
knew he wanted her, not Maggie the Cat,
wanted her on the bicycle bars, played
pool with fat Jackie Gleason just to impress.
She hopes they will kiss, puts on pink lipstick
in case, but Paul Newman is crying, head
in his hands. The floor is black from his tears.
Sara knows he's crying because someone has died.
Just now, he remembers it was him.
Sara wants to hold him, tell him it's ok,
but Joanne leads them down a long crowded path.
Frail kids from the Hole in the Wall Gang
bear Paul on their shoulders.
People in rags, rich people,
old people, young people surround them.
At the end of the path,
Sara's dead parents stand waiting.
Sara tries to push the sun back to start
the day over, but the sun keeps on going.
Pink fades to gray, the path disappears
and now Joanne is the one weeping.