053: Nice and Smooth
First, Tha NEWS.
On an whim, I decided to blow up my entire web hosting experience. For the last six-ish years I've been using WordPress.com for my domain registrar and web host and content management. For non-nerds, that means I've been using the same company to keep the website named rickicummings.com, to store all of the stuff that makes it rickicummings.com when you see it, and to make edits to rickicummings.com without having to do all the nitty-gritty coding myself. WordPress dot COM and WordPress dot ORG are two different things. You see, the dot ORG is a software package, like Microsoft's Power Pages but different, that is used to manage the content of a website, so, again, you don't have to deal with all the code yourself. The dot COM is a service and host that handles things like registration and hosting (aka storage) and uses--mostly--the dot COM version to do the editing on your site.
WordPress.org is free software. WordPress.com is not because it is a business service. And I decided that the services I was getting were not worth the money I was paying, and since my registration and hosting plan expires in August, I'd start the process of moving over now and flip the switch in August.
And then ADHD kicked in.
I hyperfocused my way into learning standalone WordPress, reteaching myself a bunch of HTML/CSS, learning a little bit of MySQL (yikes), and migrating the entire site... Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Oh also I started migrating stuff away from Gmail and started a new Protonmail account. Whoops. But hey, it works now! AND I have a signup form for this here newsletter here in the header, which was the whole point of moving hosts and took me all afternoon Thursday to figure out! Hahahahaha! Then I had a migraine Saturday and Sunday. In the words of Hannah Hart: oopth.
ther things!
Welcome to the new folks! Hi hi hi! I'm glad you're here! Thank you for trusting me with your brainmeats.
For those of you wondering why I'm actually welcoming new people, it's because they came over from my friend Libby's newsletter, in which I did a bit of a guest column. If you haven't read it yet, please do! Because we're giving away four copies of my letterpress chapbook Hypersigil and four copies of THE FAILURE EXPERIMENT and Lib is giving anyone who signs up over there three free months of her paid-tier newsletter. It's pretty neat, all told! That Libby Walkup, she's good people.
I reread the first couple arcs of The Invisibles--for research--and I'm trying to avoid getting involved in the whole dang thing again, even though I've been meaning to reread it for a while. I'm in two books already and just bought three more (because I am a sucker and my friend could sell me a chest freezer in January) and I'm looking at a novella I saw on Bluesky. AND I'm considering a whole dang other book. I wish I could read as fast as I can acquire. Anyway. Invisibles. You should read it. Relates a bit to the whole Hypersigil thing. I mean, also THE FAILURE EXPERIMENT. I've said more than once that there's a lot of Morrison in my poetic voice, probably more than I'm even aware of, and if there's anything I love about works, it's learning about the influences of their influences (and so on down the line.)
Second, INTERLUDE.
Number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine
~ “Revolution 9”, The Beatles
Third, CONSUMPTION.
The books I picked up that I mentioned above: We Called Them Giants by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, One for Sorrow by Jamie McKelvie, and Free for All by Patrick Horvath. The first two are obviously books I've had my eyes on for a while, but the last one has possibly the single greatest hook I've ever heard. In a future utopia, everything is funded by the forced redistribution of billionaires' wealth. They are given a choice: give up half their wealth willingly, or fight to the death to defend it in gladiatorial combat against the last billionaire to successfully defend their money. The current winner has prevailed 22 times, but his current challenger is... his ex-wife. How do you not buy that book??
I have been exposed to entirely too much TV while I'm here, and I need to find something else to occupy my evenings (like reading! ~ me to me) because there's only so much violence, graphic medical emergencies, and sexual assault I can stand. I mean, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit alone has twenty-six seasons. That's not including every other police procedural, first responder soap opera, or chosen-one mystery-morality play out there, both on network and on cable, which is somehow worse. Gonna stick to my Bake Off, thanks. The real Horseshoe Theory is that people are so terrified of crime they'll elect a felon and rapist as president.
Haven't been listening to much new music lately as most of my tunes-time has been in the car, where I'll slap an album I've heard a million times on and just go. I have finally realized that Love is Dead might be my favorite CHVRCHES album, though. Still gotta get that Lauren Mayberry solo record. And the ones from Ed O'brien from Radiohead, for that matter.
Fourth, HUSTLE.
The new hotness is THE FAILURE EXPERIMENT, which you can get here. It’s a serial poem based in Philip K. Dick, JG Ballard, 20th Century cyberpunk, Jack Spicer, and, well, me.
confessions from a drainage ditch was released in late 2023 through Amazon, and is available in ebook and paperback formats. If you haven't picked it up, it's a great introduction to my more concrete and mainstream work.
There’s my chapbook, A Void and Cloudless Sky. By being a subscriber to this newsletter, you're also entitled to a free PDF version, which you can get here. If you want a hard copy, it’s available here.
If you're liking this whole project and want to support it directly, here is my Patreon. There are lots of little benefits you can get there, from poems written to your specifications to subscriber-only limited-edition chapbooks.
Finally, THE OUTRO.
Spring is truly starting in earnest up here in the northern plains. They're out planting at the farm, I have things to do out at my mom's, the dog's allergies have turned her into a lil snotball with itchy eyes.
It's a good reminder to take care of yourself while enjoying the world you inhabit. Take a walk. Talk to the pigeons. Notice the weird cloud formations in a storm. Sit with yourself in silence and allow yourself to just be. In a world that wants you to be constantly in motion and afraid so you don't notice the destruction of the beauty we need to protect--in ourselves and in the world--rest is resistance.
There's so much out there for you, for us. Take time to appreciate it--and you.