oh hey whatup internet

when I have to do something other than writing

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:45:04 -0400

Elegy with Lies

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 08:30:21 -0400

This lost person I loved. Loved for a hundred years.
When I find her. Find her in a forest. In a cabin
under smoke and clouds shaped like smoke. When I find her
and call her name (nothing) and knock (nothing)
and build a machine that believes it’s God and the machine
calls her name (nothing) and knocks (nothing).
When I tear the machine down and she runs from the cabin
pointing a gun at my memories and telling me
to leave, stranger, leave, man of hammers.
When I can’t finish that story. When I get to the gun
pointed at my head. When I want it to go off.
When everything I say to anyone all day long
is bang. That would be today. When I can’t use her name.
All day long. Soft as cotton, tender as kiss. Bang.

—Bob Hicok, from Elegy Owed

"Does it matter that what you’ve achieved, with your online special and your tour can’t be replicated..."

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 12:47:52 -0400

“

Does it matter that what you’ve achieved, with your online special and your tour can’t be replicated by other performers who don’t have the visibility or fan base that you do?

Why do you think those people don’t have the same resources that I have, the same visibility or relationship? What’s different between me and them?

You have the platform. You have the level of recognition.

So why do I have the platform and the recognition?

At this point you’ve put in the time.

There you go. There’s no way around that. There’s people that say: “It’s not fair. You have all that stuff.” I wasn’t born with it. It was a horrible process to get to this. It took me my whole life. If you’re new at this — and by “new at it,” I mean 15 years in, or even 20 — you’re just starting to get traction. Young musicians believe they should be able to throw a band together and be famous, and anything that’s in their way is unfair and evil. What are you, in your 20s, you picked up a guitar? Give it a minute.

”

- Louis C. K. on success and hard work, echoing F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous words that “nothing any good isn’t hard” and Debbie Millman’s sage advice that “things take a long time; practice patience.” (via explore-blog)

Right on, Louis CK, right on.

Note Left for my Former Self

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 09:27:49 -0400

I’ve seen a group of farm kids
hypnotize a rabbit
by pinning it on its back
then stroking its neck.

This is what I think of
when I see you in the night—

not the trick,
but the distress call
we manage to send out
while we are pinned
to our stillness.

—Michael McGriff, from Home Burial

When you ask me how my thesis is going

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 22:29:57 -0400

cwmfawtf:

this. this is my life.

Photo

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 08:27:18 -0400

"It’s a wonder why or how we’re ever even a little hard on ourselves or each other when it’s..."

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 16:11:07 -0400

“It’s a wonder why or how we’re ever even a little hard on ourselves or each other when it’s glaringly obvious that NO ONE knows what they’re doing at any point in their lives. There are no universal guidelines. The Bible is a book with words on a page, just like Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six. Yoga is just moving your body until it can pretzel. Alcohol is just fun poison. Drugs are just scientists trying to make your brian and body do things they wouldn’t normally do. Pizza is just saucy cheese bread.”

- Self Absorption at Discount Prices.: An Open Letter To Everything

apoetreflects: Artwork: Joan Mitchell, drawing to James...

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 09:44:59 -0500

apoetreflects:

Artwork: Joan Mitchell, drawing to James Schuyler’s poem “Daylight,” 1975, pastel on paper 14 x 9 in.; Private collection, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York

harperbooks: When the Harper Office Reading Nook guy (MF) has...

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 12:03:54 -0500

harperbooks:

When the Harper Office Reading Nook guy (MF) has an adorable new baby named Oliver, Baby Reading Nooks are soon to follow.

whelp. kill me dead.

thewordunheard: welp. story of my life.

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 12:57:05 -0500

thewordunheard:

welp.

story of my life.

fishingboatproceeds: other-wordly: pronunciation |...

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 08:01:09 -0500

fishingboatproceeds:

other-wordly:

pronunciation | ‘bal-ter

Oh that’s what it’s called when music causes me to move.

storyboard: Documenting Richmond’s Decay, Building by...

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 10:31:55 -0500

storyboard:

Documenting Richmond’s Decay, Building by Building

Richmond, Virginia, has seen its fair share of architectural tumult. During the Civil War, a quarter of the city’s structures were destroyed by the Great Evacuation Fire of 1865; in modern times, urban decay and economic downturn have left many more structures abandoned and forgotten. But it’s from that slow urban crumble that a group called Decayed Richmond has emerged — sneaking into old buildings and documenting their stories, in photos and words. For the past two years, the group of urban explorers has climbed, crawled, jumped, and rapelled their way into some of Richmond’s scariest locations — churches, schools, an abandoned mental institution — all in a quest for meaning. Do those old buildings mean anything? Do they have a story to tell?

Mostly artists and students who keep their identities secret, Decayed Richmond is now working on a Kickstarter-funded documentary that will follow them as they document the interiors of these derelict places. They are vigilante historians who give the decay a name and face. But they do abide by one over-arching mantra: Take only photographs. Leave only footprints. Here’s what they have to say about their mission and craft.

Why make a documentary about Richmond?

Richmond has a rich but dark history. Not to mention, abandonment is quite abundant here. There are so many little-heard secrets hidden in the tunnels and decaying buildings, waiting to be uncovered by those who wander into that darkness.

Read More

oh hey this is my city!

millionsmillions: In the distance someone’s asking why it...

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 01:14:50 -0500

millionsmillions:

In the distance someone’s asking
why it won’t stop hurting,
and the church is working like a round,
everyone trying to start
something new,
but all anyone can say
is what they’ve said before,
old stories, old prayers
all that’s breaking through.

From “Radiotherapy” by Jake Adam York (1972 - 2012). Deeply saddened to hear news of his passing today. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends.

apoetreflects: “The problem with love poetry is that it must be felt and written by humans, who...

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 15:59:45 -0500

apoetreflects:

“The problem with love poetry is that it must be felt and written by humans, who never feel one feeling at a time. I mean, love has fear in it. And guilt and misery and a special kind of hallucinating loneliness (says James Wright). The problem for the poet is how to get such a hodgepodge into one coherent space.”

—Adrian Blevins, from “How to Write Love Poems” by Jeremy Richards (Poetry Foundation, 10 February 2009)

YES. THIS.

#poetry #matthewdickman #sigh

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 20:49:24 -0500

#poetry #matthewdickman #sigh

updownsmilefrown: Ernest Hemingway, Winter of 58-59, Ketchum,...

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 01:42:16 -0500

updownsmilefrown:

Ernest Hemingway, Winter of 58-59, Ketchum, Idaho.

by John Bryson

hemingway gives exactly zero fucks yall

things I need:

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 12:32:19 -0500

thumbtacks, another bookshelf, self-discipline.

unfortunately only two of these three things can be purchased at target.

"First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely..."

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 11:08:55 -0500

“First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.”

- Vonnegut, adding to our favorite advice on writing. (via explore-blog)

"I hate tricks. … Writers don’t need tricks or gimmicks or even necessarily need to be the smartest..."

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 11:54:02 -0500

“I hate tricks. … Writers don’t need tricks or gimmicks or even necessarily need to be the smartest fellows on the block. At the risk of appearing foolish, a writer sometimes needs to be able to just stand and gape at this or that thing — a sunset or an old shoe — in absolute and simple amazement.”

- Raymond Carver, adding to our archive of insight on writing. (via explore-blog)

in which Mary Ruefle blows our cover

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 23:36:57 -0500

in which Mary Ruefle blows our cover