Human's Animal

Hello The Midwest

2011-10-06T06:47:00.000-07:00

Monsters of Poetry
Carmen Maria Machado, Brad Liening, Lily Brown, and Claire Becker
Friday, October 7, 2011, 7:30 PM
The Project Lodge
817 E. Johnson, Madison, Wisconsin

Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Lily Brown & Claire Becker
Saturday, October 8, 2011
brunch reading...somewhere
Please email for details.

Bonk!
Lily Brown, Claire Becker, with music by Marco Jimenez
Saturday, October 8, 2011, 6PM (doors at 5:30)
Racine Arts Council
316 6th St, Racine, Wisconsin

Good Evening Reading Series
Stephen Danos, Claire Becker, Lily Brown
Sunday, October 9, 2011, 3:30 PM (also my half birthday)
Three Peas Art Lounge
75 E 16th St, Chicago, Illinois

I wrore a poem called "I Feel Like Seeing the Moon"

2011-08-08T07:36:00.001-07:00

and I didn't see the moon, and the poem is on the internet: Everyday Genius

My book reviewed in detail in Open Letters Monthly

2011-08-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

This guy is good: Jeff Alessandrelli, All the Questions, a review of Claire Becker's Where We Think It Should Go.

I'm reading at Stain of Poetry Series

2011-04-14T07:46:00.000-07:00

Claire Becker * Jason Bredle * Cynthia King * Nate Pritts * Bill Rasmovicz * Paige Taggart

7 PM on April 29th @ Goodbye Blue Monday – Bushwick, Brooklyn

Click the links for details!

See you soon NYC.

Love,

Claire

Reading at SF State & downtown SF March 24th

2011-02-18T20:41:00.000-08:00

I’ll be giving two poetry readings on Thursday, March 24, 2011 for The Poetry Center at San Francisco State. Please consider attending. Details below; both readings are free.

Thursday MAR 24: Jennifer Martenson (Providence, RI) and Claire Becker (San Francisco)

3:30 pm @ the Poetry Center, Humanities Building, Rm. 512, SFSU

1600 Holloway Ave., San Francisco, CA 94132

7:30 pm @ The Green Arcade Bookstore

1680 Market St. (at Gough), San Francisco, CA 94102

2011-02-17T07:43:00.001-08:00

I have a blog about cereal: www.clairebrain.tumblr.com

Enjoy!

When I'm reading in D.C. during AWP this weekend if I make it there over the snow.

2011-02-01T14:58:00.000-08:00

Two readings on the same night. Maybe I'll see some of you there!

Reading #1

1913 * Action Books * Letter Machine Editions * Octopus Books
Friday, February 4
4:00pm - 6:00pm

at Comet Ping Pong
5037 Connecticut Avenue
Washington, DC
www.cometpingpong.com

Please join us for a reading AWP OFF-SITE reading celebrating the release of new books from Action Books, Letter Machine Editions, and Octopus Books, as well as the new issue of 1913 a journal of forms.

Action: Lara Glenum, Abe Smith
Letter Machine Editions: Juliana Leslie, Farid Matuk, Sawako Nakayasu

Octopus: Cynthia Arrieu-King, Claire Becker

1913: Julie Carr, Joe Hall, Jeff T. Johnson, Kathleen Ossip,
Ric Royer, Ronaldo Wilson

For more info visit http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=171785542864436

READING #2

Switchback Books, Coconut Books and Horse Less Press Reading
On the heated rooftop! Plus, come early and catch the Lame House/Binge Press reading at 6:00!

Friday, February 4
7:00pm - 9:30pm

Madam's Organ
madamsorgan.com
2461 18th Street, NW
Washington, DC

- Becca Klaver
- Brian Foley
- Bruce Covey
- Cathy Park Hong
- Christopher Salerno
- Claire Becker
- Daniela Olszewska
- Gina Myers
- Jennifer Tamayo
- Jen Tynes
- Marisa Crawford
- Natalie Lyalin

For more information, visit the Facebook Event page: http://www.facebook.com/events/create.php?eid=119112604822644

American Poet

2010-12-05T20:04:00.000-08:00

"Get Inner, Get You": Norma Cole writes about my work in American Poet Magazine's Emerging Poet Series, Fall 2010, Volume 39. It's made out of paper. Really cool. Issue also includes Cornelius Eady on Camille Rankine and Campbell McGrath on Jason Myers. Plus other great people on other great stuff.

Live Blogging from Off the Shelf Books

2010-11-18T20:20:00.000-08:00

Merced, California! iPad country, America!

Thanks Nick and Lorin! This bookstore just opened and it's lovely especially the floor and books and ipads and snacks.

Here we are in Off the Shelf Books in Merced, Ca; this is an excellent space full of a skull and many new yorker magazines... Jared stanley is an amazing audience member and host! (-LB)

Thanks Lily & Cindy & students who got extra credit. :))))))::::::;(

Now to look for meteors and banned drinks.

Love,
Claire

my book is here on the internet

2010-11-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

My book is now available for looking at on the SPD website. Not sure when it will be there physically. But take a look.
There are going to be TWO colors! The one pictured and the secret other one.
Also check out the Readings sidebar! Some great readings coming up in California in November.

love,
Claire

Yr submission to Fence

2010-10-28T07:27:00.000-07:00

Dear Claire Becker,

Thank you for sending us "Grandmother's Libel, After Killer Cat, The Reel." We appreciated having the chance to read it, but feel that the piece is not for us.

Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Fence Editors

I can't believe I sent them poems...like 14 months ago. I don't even have a cat OR a grandmother anymore.

Love,
Claire

2010-09-23T05:47:00.001-07:00

Sorry friends, all six of you. More blog soon.

a poem from kansas

2010-09-17T06:59:00.000-07:00

Flint sparkling on its hill
low clearance
wind currents
around the curve,
fort, Big Red One.

For You & You

2010-08-19T04:28:00.000-07:00

For You

Move the old
to always
like a beard

see this chin
to see again.
You wait

while I
eat my
breakfast and coffee.

In one hundred days
morning
I could ignore you.

A poem would come
it would
be here again

like white hairs
falling to
white emptiness.

For You & You

I became self-sufficient,
no you or you
scaring me

just the waking
up, stirring
in the bed,

waking my dog up
to see the deer.
Then you

were okay with me,
okay.
I hadn’t

upset
one I loved
like a tiger-striped dog.

Because I couldn’t
know, didn’t
know, did know.

I miss you,
call you in the car.
I don’t know the advice.

2010-08-18T21:32:00.000-07:00

Some excellent poems at whisky is for friends, a few for me.

An Evening of Poems and Poetry and Fictions (lies) in Lincoln, Nebraska

2010-07-27T08:55:00.000-07:00

This is happening soon! And here's my low-tech way of telling you about it:

sp ce (14th and O--above Ali Baba's)
July 31 · 7:00pm - 11:00pm

sp ce presents another evening of poems with Claire Becker and Alisa Heinzman. Carlin Mackie will be reading some of his fictions as well!

This event will likely evolve itself as a going away gathering for me (Kyle J Karate), as I will be moving to Boise, Idaho the next day. Even if you hate poems (or Carlin), at least come say goodbye to one of your top 15 favorite Kyles.

-Claire Becker!

Claire Becker is the author of Where We Think It Should Go, forthcoming from Octopus Books, and the chapbooks Untoward (Lame House Press), Get You (Duration Press), Young Adult (Boxwood Editions), We Know in 2010, We Survive (Mondo Bummer), and The Werld (forthcoming, Horse Less Press). Her poems have been published in Tarpaulin Sky, The Cultural Society, Typo, The Poetry Project, Cannibal, and elsewhere. With Lily Brown, she edits RealPoetik. She lives in Oakland and teaches high school at the California School for the Blind.

-Alisa Heinzman!

Alisa Heinzman recently graduated from the MFA Program in poetry at Saint Mary's College of California. Alisa edits the journal, MARY, and has published poems all over the universe. Alisa is currently a big shot researcher at the University of Nebraska and is planning on heading East in the near future, with her sexy husband. She wears glasses and smokes cigarettes.

-Carlin Mackie

Carlin Mackie will be attending the University of Massachusetts in Amherst to pursue an MFA in fiction writing. Carlin has been known around town for some time, and this will be a going away reading of sorts for him. He will be reading some lies and some truths.

2010-06-21T13:15:00.000-07:00

I got an email today. It says I am a member of the AARP.

"You are receiving this message because you are a current member of AARP."

Finally!

2010-06-17T07:32:00.001-07:00

SUMMER TIME!

I'm finally finished teaching for the year. Now I can respond to some emails, scrub that floor, get my hair cut, get away to parts in between. See you on the road and the phone.

Goodbye toilet with view of the ocean. Hello old room. Hello memories.

Mabel

2010-06-12T12:40:00.001-07:00

and the old light
our sun's sending
to some souls

Mabel said that. She can see.

2010-06-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

FREE BASIC ADULT HAIRCUT with the purchase of an X-Large Pizza at regular price.

Live in other times.

2010-05-20T08:03:00.000-07:00

I do.

2010-05-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

Hello hello hello! There's so much grass growing in my backyard. It's May in California, anywhere. The dirt path and tons of tall grass all around it. And the magnolia tree shading it all most of the day. The mourning dove sitting on her trembling babies. The screen door squeaking at its hinge.

Chat with Amy Berkowitz

2010-04-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

me: hi amy, it's claire

Amy: hey claire

me: hey if i am going to credit my forthcoming mondo bummer publication

how do i speak about it?

Amy: oh

i think you can call it a chapbook

if that's what you mean?

me: yeah

journal/press ; poem/chapbook

so its just a very small chapbook

sweeeet

Amy: yes. very small chapbook from a very small press

and it will come out soon !

me: the new one from john sakkis looks good

i will have to buy some from you!

Amy: yes

!

i can send you one of his when i send you your author copies

me: neat. that would be great!

hey i have to take mabel to poo

but i will see you soon either in the midwest or the west

Amy: ok!

hi mabel

me: hope end of year is good

Amy: have a good poo

thanks!

hope alls well with you

talk to you later

me: can i put our whole chat on my blog to announce the publication?

Amy: sure

as long as you include the part with the poo

me: i wont leave anything out

2010-04-15T15:51:00.000-07:00

Young Adult

2010-04-06T23:28:00.000-07:00

My chapbook Young Adult is now available for purchase from Boxwood Editions for $8.00, which includes the cost of shipping. Written in 2009 in San Francisco, Young Adult is 20 pages, pamphlet-stitched, and hand-sewn with vellum cover, in an edition of 100. You can order the chapbook and pay using PayPal. Chapbooks will also be available at AWP at the Letter Machine/Counterpath Table.

Below, upcoming AWP offsite readings in which I am very honored to be participating:

DoubleCross Press, Lame House Press,and Slash Pine Press Poetry Marathon
Wednesday, April 7, 4:00-8:30 PM
Rackhouse Pub
208 S. Kalamath St., Denver, CO
http://www.slashpinepress.com/awp/

Readers include Abraham Smith, Kate Greenstreet, Malachai Black, John Dermot Woods, Anne Shaw, Jen Tynes, Farrah Field, Gina Myers/Nate Pritts, Matt Hart, Claire Becker, Matt Rasmussen, Brian Oliu, MC Hyland, Nathan Hauke, Dolly Lemke, francine j. harris, among others. 8 minute drive or 20 minutes by light rail + walking.

Dewclaw Off-Site Reading + Issue 2 Release
Thursday, April 8, 2:00-4:00 PM
Stella's Coffeehaus
1476 S. Pearl St., Denver, CO
http://www.lispservice.com/blog/?p=1067

Readers include Claire Becker, Dorothea Lasky, Blake Butler, Dylan Nice, Amina Cain, Matt Salesses, Claire Donato, Matthew Simmons, Jac Jemc, Jen Tynes, and Mike Young.

2010-03-31T18:29:00.000-07:00

I had a typo. Sorry if I offended you.

The Tasted Button

2010-03-13T13:25:00.000-08:00

Red gash on your neck. Start over.
Red shoes against the rubbish bin you
flower out of, your roots are
ancient flowers, stems were grasses, seersucker patches

close where the garage door was hanging from a blind cave
and bats were as bat-shaped buttons, black
and white. Forgoing the inventory

thief of omission sunlight cold sheets and
the horse on your shirt, pink.
What force was working on that button?

It's March!

2010-03-12T12:46:00.001-08:00

I might have told some people there was no rain in the forecast for 10 days. Now, two days later, it's raining. Sorry. When I grow up, I'm going to plant jasmine. I'm going to make the walkway up to my house into a keyhole surrounded by vines. I'm going to stand back and look at it from the street and then forget it's there. I'll be smelling jasmine, trying not to be stabbed by enormous cacti and succulents.

2010-03-12T12:45:00.000-08:00

Hi Friends!

2010-02-26T16:52:00.000-08:00

I interview Lily Brown on the Studio One Reading Series Blog about poetry and old times. She reads Friday, March 5th at 7:30 PM with Joshua Marie Wilkinson.

(Pictured: using photo booth back in the naughts)

2010-02-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

Point Omega

2010-01-08T12:24:00.000-08:00

Why I like scrunchies.

2010-01-07T07:55:00.000-08:00

I went to Panama and found these deer.

2010-01-01T14:59:00.000-08:00

Need to talk resolutions. I don't know that I've made any yet. Last year, on New Year's Eve, we set up a typewriter at my house for guests to write their resolutions down. I didn't know most of the people there, and what they wrote was pretty amazing/chaotic. I've been meaning to take a look and post some of them, so look for that soon.

2009-12-08T07:42:00.000-08:00

New fall/winter photo coming soon to RealPoetik!

2009-12-03T07:44:00.000-08:00

Do you know of any poets or poetry scenes happening in Panama? Do you know of any schools for the blind in Panama? Do you know anything about Panama?

2009-12-01T19:36:00.000-08:00

Golpe de Estado was my favorite part of the day.

THE WERLD

2009-11-26T07:21:00.000-08:00

I told myself that I see the world. But the whole world was not accessible to my gaze, and I saw only parts of the world. And everything I saw I called parts of the world. And I examined the properties of these parts and, examining these properties, I wrought science. I understood that the parts have intelligent properties and that the same parts have unintelligent properties. I distinguished them and gave them names. And, depending on their properties, the parts of the world were intelligent or unintelligent.

And there were such parts of the world as could think. And these parts looked upon me and upon the other parts. And all these parts resembled one another, and I resembled them. And I spoke with these parts.

I said: parts thunder.

The parts said: a clump of time.

I said: I am also part of the three turns.

The parts answered: And we are little points.

And suddenly I ceased seeing them and, soon after, the other parts as well. And I was frightened that the world would collapse.

But then I understood that I do not see the parts independently, but I see it all at once. At first I thought that it was NOTHING. But then I understood that this was the world and what I had seen before was not the world.

And I had always known what the world was, but what I had seen before I do not know even now.

And when the parts disappeared, their intelligent properties ceased being intelligent, and their unintelligent properties ceased being unintelligent. And the whole world ceased to be intelligent and unintelligent.

But as soon as I understood that I saw the world, I ceased seeing it. I became frightened, thinking that the world had collapsed. But while I was thinking this, I realized that had the world collapsed, then I would already not be thinking this. And I watched, looking for the world, but not finding it.

And soon after there wasn’t anywhere to look.

Then I realized that, while I had somewhere to look, there had been a world around me. And now it’s gone. There’s only me.

And then I realized that I am the world.

But the world—is not me.

Although at the same time I am the world.

But the world’s not me.

And I am the world.

But the world’s not me.

And I am the world.

But the world’s not me.

And I am the world.

And, after that, I didn’t think anything anymore.

–Daniil Kharms, May 30, 1930, translated by Matvei Yankelevich, from OBERIU

2009-11-23T08:52:00.000-08:00

SALINAS, Calif - In the evening hours of Tuesday November 24th the Salinas Police Department, will be conducting it's 7th Annual Turkey & DUI Checkpoint at an undisclosed location in the city of Salinas.

Drivers who successfully pass through the DUI checkpoint may be given a turkey that has been donated.

The Salinas Police Department asks the public, in the interest of traffic congestion and holiday goodwill, that drivers refrain from repeatedly going through the checkpoint in an attempt to get one or more of the limited number of turkeys.

2009-11-15T08:32:00.000-08:00

A while ago, Amber DiPietra posted a poem of mine on the Kelsey Street Blog. I just noticed they have a built-in reader; a humanized voice will read each post out loud. As I write this, I'm listening to the computer read two poems by Steffi Drewes. People say these voices are hard to listen to, but I think after a while, one gets used to them. It's a good test of a poem, maybe.

three good questions in cleaning and laundry

2009-11-15T07:47:00.000-08:00

How can i clean my room in 15 minutes or less medium room and it takes me like a hour to clean it.?

Were does the word blanket come from?

How do you keep cockroaches out of your computer?

2009-11-14T09:25:00.000-08:00

Redbud buds.

2009-11-12T07:51:00.000-08:00

What do you have planned for the last month and a half of the decade? Do you let traveling and holidays distract you? Today is one of the most stressful days of the year in South Korea. At the end of something, it's hard to look backward.

2009-11-05T07:05:00.000-08:00

I forgot I had a blog. But the blog didn't forget.

2009-10-14T12:47:00.000-07:00

George Lakoff's Conceptual Metaphor WWW Server is really cool. I found it in Heather Christle's Reading Room in the new incarnation of Slope (The Collected Issues--click on 26).

Here's a sample from the first thing:

A Problem Is A Body Of Water

Source Domain
body of water
Target Domain
problem
Note:

Investigating Problem Is Exploring Water

-- 1 He dived right into the problem.

-- 2 He really immersed himself in the problem.

Difficulty In Solving Is Difficulty In Exploring Water

-- 1 The problem itself is murky.

-- 2 The murky waters of the investigation frustrated him.

Trying To Solve Is Looking For Object In Water

-- 1 He'd been fishing for the answer for weeks.

-- 2 He kept coming up empty.

Solving Is Finding Object In Water

-- 1 Finally the answer surfaced.

The Solution Is An Object In Water

-- 1 The answer's just floating around out there.

Jane Espenson

2009-10-06T22:29:00.000-07:00

Poems of leaving and staring at The Poetry Project: 5 Poems by Claire Becker

2009-10-02T15:26:00.000-07:00

Place I've never been to for a reading:
Mrs. Dalloway's Literary & Garden Arts
It doesn't say they carry poetry on their website, but maybe that falls into the category of "renowned local authors."
Poetry reading by Joshua Beckman and Graham Foust
2904 College Ave.
Berkeley, CA
Thursday, October 22, 7:30 p.m.
Is this real?

2009-09-25T19:31:00.001-07:00

Graham Foust

Poemas

(Traducción de Claire Becker)

(Mandorla #12 appears to be out.)

2009-09-13T19:20:00.001-07:00

The wonderful people at Octopus Books are going to put out my first book. Look out in fall 2010 for the book, probably called Where We Think It Should Go. It's raining in Oakland. It's practically winter. It's practically the end of the decade. Welcome new decade! Love you already.

2009-09-08T21:50:00.001-07:00

Part of a poem for my sister. Happy birthday LCB!!

Wasn't it done then undone, by
us and to us, enveloped, sid-
erated in a starship, listing
with liquids, helpless letters–
what else–pouring from that box,
little gaps, rattles and slants

Like mountains, pretty much worn down

-Michael Palmer, from "Letters to Zanzotto"

2009-08-05T12:54:00.000-07:00

GET YOU

2009-08-04T17:25:00.000-07:00

My e-chap Get You is now available at Duration Press.

2009-07-23T00:39:00.000-07:00

Check out Lauren Levin's Flaming Telepaths in H_NGM_N #8!

Not Thirty Yet

2009-07-22T20:45:00.000-07:00

Ann Arbor is practically Detroit, which you can get to from Chicago, and isn't that far from Canada, Buffalo, Cleveland, Toledo, Pittsburgh, Saginaw, Kalamazoo, or Grand Rapids. But don't be fooled. It's all very far.

Ow!

2009-07-18T12:41:00.000-07:00

2009-07-12T21:10:00.000-07:00

More art from my school! This is L's dragon. Lily & I start posting poems at RealPoetik as of now. Send me an email if you want to be added to the listserv.

2009-07-08T17:55:00.000-07:00

"I can't wait to see this. Michelle Pfeiffer has been awesome since I discovered her in 'I Am Sam'!"

2009-07-07T14:17:00.000-07:00

the Pacific from a toilet on Stinson Beach

2009-07-06T22:52:00.000-07:00

Dewclaw Issue 1 is now available.

2009-07-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

"I cut down the milk and added ranch dressing, italian seasoning, garlic powder, and cheese. Much more flavor!"

2009-07-02T15:32:00.001-07:00

"I would love to be a sellout if only someone would ask."

2009-06-25T15:38:00.000-07:00

More art from the school for the blind.
Happy summer. Oakland has it.

2009-06-19T08:47:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post some photos of some great student art from my school's art show in May. Here's the first installment.

2009-06-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

Bear--"Not to Scale"

2009-06-15T17:20:00.001-07:00

Mabel post-bath.

2009-06-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

These days I'm reading submissions for RealPoetik with Lily Brown. We'll be taking over the reins this summer from current editor Ana Bozicevic. RealPoetik has been around as a listserv, now also a web journal, since 1994. If you would like to submit poems, please email 3-5 to clairebeckerATgmailDOTcom. Otherwise, send me an email--I'll add you to the listserv. You'll receive approximately one poem per week in your personal email inbox. If you've never been a part of a listserv, this is a wonderful opportunity.

2009-06-04T22:01:00.000-07:00

otherwise, books just look insane!

2009-05-23T17:37:00.000-07:00

I stole this off someone's facebook.

2009-05-11T23:15:00.000-07:00

I'm moving to Oakland because 2008 is over, and I need to be less social for 2009--no more strangers in the kitchen. Need to spend more time talking to animals and imagining what they say back.

2009-05-04T17:41:00.001-07:00

Mrs. Maybe reading this Sunday, May 10th! See below for details. Sorry moms. 3 PM! Food!

2009-04-29T06:58:00.000-07:00

I was interviewed for Thunk .

I was in Mexico before swine flu.

2009-04-27T18:06:00.000-07:00

We had a French visitor today at school.

Mrs. Maybe Reading

2009-04-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

To hear some of the contributors to Mrs. Maybe in their natural habitat, please consider attending a reading celebrating the release of Mrs. Maybe the Second.

Featuring The Claire Becker, The Bill Luoma, The Catherine Meng, The Erin Morrill, The Cynthia Sailers, The Andrew Kenower, and perhaps some other kool "bands-without-musicians"
or what-have-you type artists.

Sunday, May 10th
3pm

Catherine Meng's backyard

1825 Derby Street Apt. D
1st block west of MLK on the right.
ph: 510-981-0495

Grilled foods and/or red beans and rice will levitate if you use a fork.

Book Made a Forest

2009-04-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

Book Made of Forest, Jared Stanley's first book, is out today.
Publisher: Salt Publishing
Extent: 80pp
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 5 mm
Weight: 120 gms
Check it out, California. I hear an ice cream truck in Merriam, Kansas. A train.

2009-04-09T12:29:00.000-07:00

This will be the cover of my book of poetry, Lane Hair. Actually that's just my middle name and "hair."

Lighten up, Authors. Get with the times.

2009-04-07T12:24:00.001-07:00

Reading Rights Coalition Staging Protest in NYC Over Threatened Removal of Text-to-Speech Feature

Hundreds of Disabled to Protest Outside Authors Guild Headquarters -- April 7th

NEW YORK, April 6 /PRNewswire/ --

WHAT: The Reading Rights Coalition, representing millions of
disabled people who cannot read print, will protest the
threatened removal of the text-to-speech function from
e-books for the Amazon Kindle 2 which promised for the
first time easy, mainstream access to over 255,000
books. Hundreds of disabled Americans (the blind and
people with dyslexia, learning difficulties, spinal cord
injuries, seniors losing vision, stroke survivors) will
march to demand that the Authors Guild reverse its
decision.

WHEN: April 7, 2009 - noon to 2:00 p.m. EDT

WHERE: Outside the Authors Guild headquarters in New York City
at 31 East 32nd Street

AVAILABLE TO
INTERVIEW: Coalition spokesperson: Dr. Marc Maurer, President,
National Federation of the Blind Various coalition
member representatives

DISABLING THE
DISABLED: When Amazon released the Kindle 2 electronic book reader
on February 9, 2009, it promised the device would be
able to read e-books aloud using text-to-speech
technology. Under pressure from the Authors Guild,
Amazon has agreed to give authors and publishers the
ability to disable the text-to-speech function on any or
all of their e-books available for the Kindle 2. This
decision has serious discriminatory and censorship
implications for the disabled and is simply bad
business.

READING RIGHTS
COALITION: Coalition members include: American Association of
People with Disabilities, Association of Blind Citizens,
American Council of the Blind, American Foundation for
the Blind, Association on Higher Education And
Disability, Arc of the United States, Bazelon Center for
Mental Health Law, Burton Blatt Institute, Digital
Accessible Information System (DAISY) Consortium,
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF),
IDEAL Group, Inc., International Center for Disability
Resources on the Internet, International Dyslexia
Association, International Dyslexia Association--New
York Branch, Jewish Guild for the Blind, Knowledge
Ecology International, Learning Disabilities Association
of America, Lighthouse International, National Center
for Learning Disabilities, National Disability Rights
Network, National Federation of the Blind, NISH,
National Spinal Cord Injury Association, United Cerebral
Palsy, and Xavier Society for the Blind.

SOURCE Reading Rights Coalition

(Thanks Jenny W. for sending this. Apparently the protest is right outside her window. It's probably because they know what a print book fanatic you are.)

2009-04-06T10:05:00.001-07:00

2009-04-05T10:32:00.000-07:00

Someone put a roll of toilet paper in the kitchen because we ran out of paper towels. I went upstairs, and they have a roll of paper towels in the bathroom up there because they ran out of toilet paper.

2009-04-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

"The sea anemone dreamed of something, filtering the sea water thru its body..."

-Oppen

Circle Shirt

2009-04-04T10:48:00.000-07:00

This is my sister's badass shirt.

2009-03-26T20:56:00.000-07:00

Some great books arrived lately written by friends. Areas of Fog, by Joseph Massey, and Futuring, by Mike Sikkema. They are lovely so far, and I recommend staring at them a lot. Areas of Fog is about twice as long but Futuring is wider.

Happy Birthday Lily Brown! History of Poetry

2009-03-20T07:05:00.000-07:00

For Lily's 28th birthday, I unveil to the public, "The History of Poetry." Return in 2010 for Section One. That's all we have, so we should probably write some more.

THE HISTORY OF POETRY

Preamble

I need to tell you things. I wish I could sleep. I have a blank wall in my room.
This is the history of all poetry—it begins with one blank wall and continues.
Until three walls are blank. Until there is a bank of walls.
And the walls are the minds blank, filled up, in banks.
On display sort of but only as excerpts of the walls, a light fixture
from the John Donne room, Wallace Stevens window, George Herbert dustpan.

2009-03-17T12:30:00.000-07:00

Audio of me reading is up at New Lakes Audio (from Catherine Meng's house in Berkeley, March 2008, Rob Schlegel and Brandon Shimoda recording).

I had some trouble getting it to load on a Mac (could be the horsehair in our walls), but it works on the state's trusty HP.

A bit about those poems:
"Your Face": a re-imagining of events in and outside of Lyon dormitory (they always said it was designed by people who built prisons), Pomona College, 1999.

"Examination of Physical Space in the Notebook" takes place on Haddon Road, Oakland, 2007 and thinks back to Bolivia, sloths, 2001, and "the past."

"The Face Transplant" takes place alone (afraid of dogs, whistling to ward off mountain lions) and with Lily Brown on the ridge trail in the Redwood Preserve in the Oakland Hills, October 2006, after I had started my very real job.

2009-03-13T07:22:00.000-07:00

My chapbook Untoward, released in December 2007, was reviewed by Cristin Bishara at Xantippe . Xantippe is now an electronic outpost and mostly does reviews. I may have another chapbook coming out soon...

the sun is shining straight onto my eyes to burn up my corneas

2009-03-07T08:18:00.000-08:00

I am going to have some Spanish translations of poems by Graham Foust along with the originals from As in Every Deafness in the upcoming issue of Mandorla . If you click there now, you will not see anything that confirms what I say. Mandorla has been around since 1991!

Go to Oakland

2009-03-05T11:36:00.000-08:00

Don't miss this reading for all your sickness or mine.

Studio One March 6

Joe Massey
Jared Stanley
Donna de la Perriere
video from Tommy Busch

365 45th St.
in a big new or redone building in Oakland
Friday
7:30 PM

This is your chance to catch Joe Massey reading outside of Arcata, to catch Jared Stanley reading outside of Merced. So much poetry in various yards in California to catch.

Futuring

2009-03-04T22:54:00.000-08:00

I am behind. But I'm expurgating the past and so excited to tell you about Mike Sikkema's full-length book Futuring just out from BlazeVOX. Mike, I miss you and your poems, and I fear the future, and it's raining, and I love Celia from a cell phone camera of the past. Read Mike's book. You can totally look inside it on Amazon, but that's not enough.

Mrs. Maybe #2

2009-02-12T12:36:00.000-08:00

It's very lovely like bananas and includes poems by

Bill Luoma, Alli Warren, Sawako Nakayasu, Catherine Meng, Elisabeth Beasley, James Shea, Logan Ryan Smith, Daniel Ostmann,Cynthia Sailers, Joseph Massey & Jess Mynes, Genevieve Kaplan, Erin Morrill, Brandon Shimoda, Andrew Kenower, Dorothea Lasky, Christopher DeWeese, Trevor Calvert, Claire Becker, Jessica Baron, Nathan Hoks

and letters to Mrs. Maybe and my longest or second-longest poem.

Seven bucks.

Photo by Lauren Levin & Tony Valadez

I'm not going to AWP! I will miss you friends. There's a pillow fight or something I need to attend.

Love,
CB

2009-01-27T07:28:00.000-08:00

There's a lovely new issue of my favorite, Octopus Magazine .

2009-01-26T23:39:00.000-08:00

National Reading “2666” Month

a blog at www.newyorker.com

I better hurry and finish. National Flight of the Conchords watching month's pretty good too.

I can edit Word documents on my phone.

2009-01-26T20:18:00.000-08:00

Visit Andrea and Patrick's badass Etsy shop . They will take your handwriting and turn it into a usable font for a very small price!

Do you find your handwriting useful or distracting? I'm growing more attached.

Animals Make Us Human

2009-01-22T13:26:00.000-08:00

Temple Grandin

2009-01-14T18:26:00.000-08:00

Oakland - BART Police Officer Faces Murder Charge

New Year, I Resolve

2009-01-12T11:21:00.001-08:00

to learn about money, large and small.
to write more, re-see more.
to be less social.

I have been successful with past resolutions. I changed cities in 2008 (February) and rode a bike (April). 2008: more meetings on the street, more windswept. I had foot surgery, was destroyed, and I recovered. Different. Learning to be windswept and old. I was “more social” in 2007. 2006: probably poetry. 2005: too young to care.

2009-01-09T12:25:00.000-08:00

"The tombstone of Roland Burris, age seventy-one, carries the Illinois state seal and is etched with the words “Trail Blazer,” along with a list of positions held (first African-American Illinois attorney general and state comptroller) and an adjacent stone ranking “Other Major Accomplishments.”"

Old with You

2009-01-05T20:22:00.000-08:00

by Lily Brown
Kitchen Press

2008-12-31T12:18:00.000-08:00

Look deep into this nog. It will tell your future. 2009!

2008-12-31T12:11:00.000-08:00

I have strongly encouraged some of my students to get guide horses. Guide horses wear shoes! But my students want guide dogs. You have to get a new guide dog about every seven years, but guide horses can live for forty years! They need fresh air. NY Times: Creature Comforts .

2008-12-31T11:27:00.000-08:00

Bear Parade

A lot of good html books on that site by Tao Lin, Matt Rohrer, and more. You could probably read them on your phone.

SF Readings

2008-12-29T11:24:00.000-08:00

Monday the 29th
Lily Brown & Joshua Marie Wilkinson
Gravel & Gold (store)
Wine
7pm at 18th and Treat Street
3150 18th St
San Francisco, CA 94110

Tuesday, December 30 promptly at 7:00 PM, $2.00
Hotel Utah
500 4th St
San Francisco, CA

Featuring: Melissa Benham, Alan Bernheimer, Brandon Brown, Xochi Candelaria, Norma Cole, Sarah Anne Cox, Del Ray Cross, Brent Cunningham, Donna de la Perriere, Steve Dickison, Stacy Doris, Steve Farmer, Gloria Frym, Susan Gevirtz, Rob Halpern, Javier Huerta, Scott Ignuito, Andrew Joron, David Lau, Joseph Lease, Dana Teen Lomax, Bill Luoma, Laura Moriarty, Stephen Ratcliffe, Barbara Jane Reyes, Cynthia Sailers, Leslie Scalapino, Lauren Shufran, giovanni singleton, Suzanne Stein, Chris Stroffolino, Elizabeth Treadwell, Stephen Vincent, Alli Warren, Chet Weiner, Rob Wilson & more!
hosted by David Buuck & Small Press Traffic.