Through the Roof and Underground

I just watched the film "Wristcutters" and fell into love with the dreary backdrop, the desperate characters, Tom Waits (once again), and the soundtrack, particularly Gogol Bordello's, "Through the Roof and Underground." I can't stop listening to it, really. It's one of those songs where the lyrics are so intense they read like a novella. While the song is paired well with the movie, for cultural and deep psychological reference, it also stands beautifully on it's own and I can't stop thinking about it or the lyrics.

Somehow the lyrics fit how I feel about my surroundings and how I am always looking for escape in both poetry and mind:

When there's a trap set up for you
In every corner of this town
And so you learn the only way to go is underground
When there's a trap set up for you
In every corner of your room
And so you learn the only way to go is through the roof

Ooohoohoooh through the roof, underground
Ooohoohoooh through the roof, underground

And as we're crossing border after border
We realize that difference is none
It's underdogs who, and if you want it
You always have to make your own fun

And as the upperdog leisurely sighing
The local cultures are dying and dying
The programmed robots are buying and buying
And all secluded freaks they are still trying trying

Ooohoohoooh through the roof, underground
Ooohoohoooh through the roof, and underground

And as the boy scouts learn to read between the lines
The silver rabbits hop between their fathers' lies
And boy scouts ask "Where? Where do they go?"
They go to the country that they only know

Just like their meanings they lay between the lines
Between the borders their real countries hide
The strategigo's saw their advertise
Their strategy of being is one of in-your-face disguise

Ooohoohoooh through the roof, underground
Ooohoohoooh through the roof, underground!

And when their own walls they will a-crumble,
And all the systems will be discumbumbled,
Around the stump of bigotry, our own
Serebryanye zayazhy vodyat horovod! [Russian]

Ooohoohoooh through the roof, underground
Ooohoohoooh through the roof, and underground
Ooohoohoooh through the roof, underground
Ooohoohoooh through the roof! Underground!

Serebryanye zayazy vodyat horovod! [Russian]

Through the roof! And underground!
Through the roof! Underground!

Quote of the Day

people always say how you should be yourself, like yourself is this definite thing. Like a toaster or something. well if that’s how it is than fuck that. my toaster changes colors.--http://velvetcigarette.com/

Literary Spotlight #2

Yesterday I was reading the latest JMWW when I fell upon Nicelle Davis's poem, "The Wings Inside Our Stomachs." Let me just say, I have not fallen deep in love with a poem this way in a long time. For me this poem was one of those, "damn I wish I wrote that" pieces. But then thinking about it for just a minute or two it became the "damn I'm glad that poem was written" piece. It starts, "I'm not a monster, you say. The little girl in me agrees— / sits next to your boy-self on the curbside / of our childhoods." I love that I truly believe the poet can travel back to the edge of a childhood sidewalk and goes on to explore the memory of place in childhood. I also love the liberties the poet takes with the line break in this piece, kind of prosey, but smart and risky and the prose style is coupled with one to two word stanzas. Breathy.

Of course after this poem, I googled her work to see if her other poems blew me away with the same force. My other two favorites are published in http://www.escapeintolife.com, "As Songs Travel Past Their Singers (the reprise)" and "Dolly." In these two poems there's play with form and an element of surprise. I like that, when I read a poem and think, "there's nothing like that in which I've read before." When the imagery and syntax and element of the story just take the reader away into that magical place where one forgets they are reading and they are allowed to float in the world the writer created.

I eagerly await Nicelle Davis's first book and feel lucky for electronic publications because otherwise I might not have found her on my own.

shady side review fall 2010 issue

We did it! We released our fifth installment, the fall 2010 issue, with stunning cover art by Juliette Crane: http://www.juliettecrane.com/index.shtml. Her work makes me want to be a child again, discovering new colors and whimsy. More of her work can be seen here.

The fall 2010 issue includes prose by: Cate Stevens-Davis, Pin-Yi Ko, Nathan Leslie, Craig Medvecky, and Carolyne Whelan. And poetry by: Joanna Eleftheriou, Jessica Lakritz, Patrick McGinty, Marc Pietrzykowski, Ravi Shankar Rajan, and Janine Surmick.

It's a real stunner, this one. As always, I'm really excited to be a part of this project. Each issue makes me more and more proud, mostly because of the work of our submitters, but also because of the support and enthusiasm from my fellow editors, Sarah Grubb, Amy Holwerda, and Athena Pappas.

Discover literary goodness here: http://shadysidereview.com/fall2010/

Wearing Literature/ Poetry and Apparel

(Image from SVA Magazine)

Lately I want to wear my poetry. To dress myself in my words, to be a walking statement of something other than black and white, my cut off shorts, or the mustard velvet dress I just purchased. I want to be looked at for my verse, recognized for art. Not to say dressing isn't an art, it is in many cases, but that does not stop me from wanting to drape myself in my creations.

I feel more connected to my work than the fabric that lays heavy on my skin. The heat has not allowed me to switch over to my fall wardrobe and I'm foolishly tired of wearing flip flops and shorts (I know, woe is me). I also want to be recognized for more than the expression that comes through in my clothing. I'm sure a good part of this has to do with feeling lonely in this new town. I miss the comfort of being surrounded by other writers and being able to discuss literature face to face, coffee cup to coffee cup. I haven't been as proactive as I should be in finding a writing community in Tyler.

With a lot of free time on my hands, and the tendency to reorganize my closet a lot, I have started to think about my clothes as my memories-- in the way the poetry I write serves as a memory retrieval. In this light, I was curious to consider the ways literature and fashion go together. This idea is not a new one, I found as I internet perused.

How Dressing and Verse Come Together

http://amyuhrich.com/2010/10/08/what-do-women-want/
Amy is a friend of mine from graduate school. Her interest in fashion and literature are much more developed than my own. I am always amazed to see what she is wearing and writing. She is also part of what inspired this blog entry.

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19780
Poets.org offers a whole listing of poems and fashion (Kim A's "What do Women Want" included). I'm a huge fan of Honor Moore's "Red Shoes."

http://www.trendhunter.com/photos/12514#1
I love the idea of "book bags" as the style reminds me of my high school days when tin purses were popular. (My best friend, Kristin had a Reese Peanut Butter Cup tin purse.)

http://www.contrariwise.org/
Literary tattoos? Yes!

http://www.amazon.com/Shoes-Autobiography-Alice-B-Shoe/dp/0821223194
Andy Warhol's "Shoes" read like little poems. My Aunt MJ gave this book to me as a gift when I was a teenager and I treasure it.

Paper Darts, an online and print magazine has a fashion component: http://www.paperdarts.org/fashion/

Model and writer: http://velvetcigarette.com/ "She can read. She's bad." Love the tagline!

I've included a poem I wrote (still in its rough stages) in reflection of clothing as identity and working in a beauty salon. As I commonly find myself working in customer service, I also find myself comparing my work identity with my writer's identity.


What Happened to the Orange

These heels complete this outfit,
tight purple dress with black leggings—
and this eye shadow, this eye shadow
is perfect: purple on the lids, gold on the brow.
Catch a glimpse in the mirror, and I find myself in:
I play the role,
I am a receptionist, I check people
in, I make appointments, I call the upper class
to tell them about their upcoming color and cut.
When nothing is going on, I stare out
the door, into the square, where a police sheriff
leads a prisoner in stripes,
and they both get into his truck,
my boss tells me they drive them to the jail that way,
and I watch as they make a left onto the brick road,
say, “I thought jail uniforms weren’t made like that anymore
I thought they were only orange."

On Ideas and Looking for Inspiration

Coal Hill Review Publication

I have a new poem published in Vol. 7 of Coal Hill Review. This one is about internal conversation in a work place, titled, "If my co-worker asked, I'd answer." I'm pleased as a pickle to be published by Mike Simms, Editor in Chief of Autumn House Press in Pittsburgh. Autumn House has published some of my favorite books of poetry including "Lucky Wreck" by Ada Limon and "A Theory of Everything" by Mary Crockett Hill. This press does a really beautiful job. I'm a fan of their online journal too (that picked up my piece). Yes. Yes. I am so very happy to be published along side of some of my favorite people I met while in Pittsburgh. Volume 7 volume includes poems by: Athena Pappas, Siobhan Casey, Sarah Ansani, Kelly Beahm, Laura E. Davis, Dalenna Moser, and John Venturella, among others.

Go on then. Read.