Three Things #15: Review, Launch, Open
1/ Another Review of Vessels
The Irish poet and critic, Billy Mills, has included a short, sharp review of Vessels in his most recent roundup at his blog, Elliptical Movements, here.
Please take a few moments to read his reviews of the other five books, if only to get a sense of just how keen and insightful he is. I’m always amazed at how much ground he covers in such brief reviews.
It’s an honor that such a formidable reader took the time to look at my weird book.
2/ Online Launch video
Last weekend’s online launch for Vessels went well. As with the in-person event, the best part was the amazing questions from the audience. Maybe I just know lots of creative people, but there was a lot of interest in my process, especially the role of chance and randomness.
I guess I can understand that: I’ve been fascinated with chance my whole life — from D&D in grade school, to tarot and runes in high school, to participating in dérives in college, to studying Fluxus, OuLiPo, and John Cage in my twenties, and so on. In a society notoriously obsessed with control and the power of the conscious ego, it can be unsettling to contemplate the enormous role chance plays in our lives, and it can be a challenge to accept the possibility that the artist is anything other than dictator. But in my experience, our best work happens when we get out of our own way, when we find the balance between discipline and abandon, and surrender to the flow. There are no mistakes, only choices — and sometimes the most astonishing choices are the ones the cosmos makes for us.
If you missed the online launch, or want to watch it again, rest easy! We recorded the webinar, and will be posting the video at my new (and still empty) Youtube channel soon. I will send another quick notice once it’s posted, and I’ll also update my Events page with a link.
3/ NAWP Open Mic
Speaking of events, it’s time once again for AWP, the annual conference and book fair of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs. Considering it’s been held annually since 1973, I think they may have something of a messaging problem, since I had never even heard of AWP until maybe five years ago. But then, I never look at the ads in Poets & Writers Magazine, and I didn’t attend an MFA program, so why should I have heard of it?
A few years ago, two wisenheimers (Queens poet Jared Beloff and basketball-obsessed Detroit poet Mitch Nobis) were kvetching about how they didn’t have the time or resources to attend AWP, so they were attending NAWP — Not at AWP — instead: from the subway, or the faculty lounge, or the laundry room.
And they were right: it is a huge investment of time and money. I looked into what it would take for me to attend last year’s AWP in Kansas City: just over two grand and a week off work. (This year, it’s in LA. I won’t be there, but my book will, at the Unsolicited booth.)
So for everyone who can’t make it to AWP, Mitch & Jared turned their running joke into a reality: NAWP. It consists primarily of virtual readings, including an open mic next Thursday, March 27th, at 6:30 CDT.
I will be one of twenty poets reading. Sign up here to attend. (Will it be recorded? Probably! Will they ever get around to posting the video? Who knows!)
That’s all for now. More news when there is some, and in the meantime, go make some interesting mistakes!