Or Maybe It's Just the Wine

The thing is, the poetry is already there.

Everyday, everywhere. You just have to know where and how to look. Or, at the very least, you have to want to try.

For some it comes easy; some are born with the ability to see. Others have to work at it. Many don't give a damn one way or another.

I believe the true poet has the ability to use words to create doors or windows or signposts that help reveal the poetry that already exists to those who, for one reason or another, might otherwise have missed it.

Words used in such a way are magic.

The problem is, so often we write stuff that we want to be poetry but it ends up just being cumbersome and unwieldy, serving only to obstruct and cheapen the poetry that already exists. Words become walls of brick and layers of concrete that bury the original beauty underneath.

Sometime the page is best left white.

That's all.

Hello And Welcome To Low Quality Video Theater

Here's a video of myself reading some of my work included in the poetry anthology Down This Crooked Road.

Also, check out the gift shop for Lummox Press. If you don't want to take the time and bother to actually read the book, you can buy a shirt or a mug or a coaster featuring the cover image. And really, what could possibly be a better holiday gift than any or all of these fine products?

Did I mention the refrigerator magnets?

Todd Moore Reviews Down This Crooked Road

Iconic Outlaw Poet Todd Moore wrote a kind review of Down This Crooked Road, the poetry anthology I recently edited with Lummox Press. It's been posted at Outlaw Poetry and Free Jazz Network. Have a look. The volume could well make someone a very nice holiday gift. (Hint, hint.)

That's all.

New Review of The Hunger Season

The good folks at Prick of the Spindle have posted a review of my latest book, The Hunger Season.

I found the review to be surpringly insightful and thoughtfully written.

You can read it here.

That's all.

Down This Crooked Road

Down This Crooked Road is now available. It is a poetry anthology I edited with RD Armstrong of Lummox Press. I hand picked the poets myself, and I truly think they are currently producing some of the best work out there. All of these writers I can't recommend enough:

MK Chavez, Christopher Robin, Father Luke, Miles J. Bell, Hosho McCreesh, Christopher Cunningham, and um, me.

The collection is currently available through the Lummox Press site, as well as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Ordering info. and some sample poems are available here:

Down This Crooked Road



I'll be reading in Santa Cruz on Friday, Oct. 16 with Christopher Robin and RD to help celebrate the release and hopefully sell some of the things. On October 17th I will be reading as part of the Litcrawl event here in San Francisco, which closes out the annual Litquake festival. More on that later. That's all for now.

Hunger Season Now Available

Some News:

The Hunger Season, my new book of poetry, is being released by Sunnyoutside Press on August 20th. They are currently accepting pre-orders, if you are interested in receiving the book on or around the release date. More information here:

http://www.sunnyoutside.com/releases/042/o.html

The Hunger Season is my first full length book of poetry since Words For Songs Never Written was published in 2007. David from Sunnyoutside and myself put a lot of time and work into the collection, and I'm really happy with the results.

If you like my work, and/or are interested an supporting one of the best independent presses out there, please consider having a look. I humbly thank you.

I'm having a release party/reading at Modern Times books here in San Francisco on Wednesday Sept. 9. If you're in the area, come on out, I'd love to see you. I'll be reading with Joie Cook and Chelsea Martin, both really amazing writers.

What To Wear During An Orange Alert has posted a review/interview concerning the new book.

I just finished co-editing, along with RD of Lummox Press, an anthology of some of my favorite poets: MK Chavez, Christopher Robin, Father Luke, Hosho McCreesh, Christopher Cunningham, Miles Bell, and, um, me. It's called Down This Crooked Road and should be available sometime in September. More info. soon.

O, and I got laid off again.

Love,

Bill

Pomes & Pitchurs & Stuff

It's true, I haven't updated for some time. But I knew it would be thus, so I'm not stressing too much about it.

Have been working the new job, which is decent enough. The way things are right now, especially in California, I'm truly grateful for a paycheck. Nice to be working at a little independent bookstore again. The owner is a bit neurotic, but aren't they all.

Anise has the summer off, so have been spending a lot of time hanging out with her, so haven't been getting as much writing done, but I'm managing here and there.

Spent today sitting around with Anise and drawing while listening to Bill Evans and Eric Satie. As pleasant a day as I've had in quite a while.

The fruits of my scribbling:

And, what's more, to prove I have not been complete creatively idle these past many weeks, I have a new poem posted at Rusty Truck.

As well as a new piece on Poesy Magazine's site. (My piece is the second poem that appears on the page). The poem appears in the hardcopy version of the new issue as well, which is guest edited by Debbie Kirk. It contains quality work by a lot of good folk, and the issue remembers the late poet Dave Church. Give it a look, why doncha?

What else? O yeah, I'm on another Cormac McCarthy kick...working my way through the Border Trilogy. I'm about a third of the way through The Crossing, and it might be my favorite yet. We'll see.

That's all.