One Down, One Up

If I told you I have a tape of - A Gorilla Reads A Poem - Who do you think the poet would be? http://www.laist.com/archives/2006/08/17/a_gorilla_reads_a_bukowski_poem.php Why are people writing haiku about "Snakes on a Plane?" And why do they all seem to include the word "motherf-----?" http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/15302305.htm

Words Without Borders: The Online Magazine For International Literature presents their second "noir" issue. TEMPERS AND TEMPERATURES RISE August 2006 In the murderous summer heat—when, to quote Raymond Chandler, "Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks"—we invite you to chill with the icy killers, con men, and cops of our second noir issue. Giampiero Rigosi's hustlers board the "Night Bus" in Bologna, and Leonardo Padura's burned-out Cuban policeman confronts Hurricane Felix and his own tropical depression in "Havana Black." Tonino Benacquista' s Parisian gallery worker wrestles modern art and a modern art thief in "Framed," Gianrico Carofiglio's weary Italan lawyer tries to stop smoking and go straight in "A Walk in the Dark," and Marek Krajewski's laconic inspector finds corpses in walls and ghosts everywhere in "End of the World in B...

Hey, I made the list of Cleveland's noted poets. The proof's here: Criminals At Large Steven B. Smith's Farewell Artcrimes Is His Best Ever Free Times http://www.freetimes.com/story/562 ...many of the area's best poets claim a page or two. Maj Ragain, Daniel Gray-Kontar, Chris Franke, Michael Salinger, Amy Sparks, Ben Gulyas, John Byrum, John Stickney, Ray McNiece, Jim Lang, Peter Leon and many others add extraordinary works, often sandwiched between vapid, puerile — crap. Or, when I awaken from my butterfly dream, will I discover that - I am the vapid, puerile - crap betwen the extraordinary once mistakenly overlooked poets?

Missed out on tickets for Tom Waits Akron show. Saw him twice way back in the late 70's. Great showman. Last Sunday's NYT had an article on Smokey Hormel (his grandfather invented Spam - the meat sub not the computer meat message). Here's what he said about his time with Mr.Waits - Mr. Hormel’s tenure with Beck proved useful during the next phase of his career, when he had to learn to adapt, fast, to unusual requests. In 1999 he was hired by Mr. Waits: “He said to the drummer, ‘You’re the plumbing.’ To the bass player he said, ‘You’re the electrical.’ And to me said, ‘And Smokey, you’re the drywall.’ I’m thinking, ‘O.K.’ ” The drywall, cool.

My story "Reading the Footnotes" is live on Thug Lit, Issue #8. http://www.thuglit.com/home.html#