neomodernist

Waldo Jaquith, web developer to The Virginia Quarterly Review, wanted to demonstrate that using clichés in your poetry won’t get you published. Ironically, he ended up proving the exact opposite.
Jaquith compiled statistics on poetry submissions “covering clichéd topics,” presumably to discourage poets from submitting any more poems about blood, cats, or poetry to the […]

After more than a decade together, my dad and Miss J. finally decided to get married. They further decided to get married on February 29th, in Detroit, at a beautiful Victorian inn, with a non-traditional ceremony. That’s just how they roll.
In January, my dad asked me if I would write a poem to […]

The Saddest Girl in the World
Every freak has a story, true or false.
Every act has a concept, an angle, a hook
to hang your hat on, to bait your trap.
Some freaks frighten, some frolic.
Some fold their bodies flat as farmland.
The saddest girl in the world freezes
in August, shivers in the dry, airless heat.
The sun hangs over […]

The Armless Girl Speaks
I don’t invite pity nor require any
assistance. I have taught myself
how to use all the necessary tools:
the knife and fork, the comb and brush,
the hook and eye, the catch
and release. An extraordinary body
can still live an ordinary life, and I do,
in my way. In this carnival I may be
just […]

Jessica posted about some holiday sales in the online poetry world, which inspired me to list some poet-friendly gift ideas.

I can’t say enough good things about Kristy Bowen’s book The Fever Almanac, available from Ghost Road Press for just $13.95.
Kristy is running a January special at Dancing Girl Press. Seven chapbooks for $25.
If […]

Lost Fun Zone ~ John Parish & Polly Jean Harvey
Working Class Hero ~ Marianne Faithfull
Small Town ~ Morcheeba
Strangers ~ Portishead
Come to Jesus ~ Mindy Smith
Jubilee ~ Patti Smith
Uncle John’s Band ~ Grateful Dead
Life Is a Carnival ~ The Band
Dear John ~ Aimee Mann
Odessa Bulgar ~ 3 Legged Backporch Collective
Carnival Town ~ Norah Jones
Gatekeeper ~ Feist
The […]

It’s still me inside the 2006 Wicked Alice Print Issue. Order your copy today.

Or, at least, my poem which vaguely references Elvis lives! Gargoyle #51 is now available for purchase. Order your copy and see why 50,000,000 Elvis fans can’t be wrong.

Culinary deconstruction seems to be the hip new trend in high end restaurants and on television cooking programs like Iron Chef America and Top Chef. After seeing deconstructed sushi and deconstructed caesar salad and deconstructed martinis, I thought it might be interesting to apply the techniques of culinary deconstruction to a poem.
Here’s my first […]

Another phobia poem:
Water Is Dangerous
Despite its ordinary appearance,
its omnipresence in the world,
water attacks, kills you
in your own bathtub, or in a heavy rain
(if you fall face down or lie, unconscious,
with your mouth open). A person cannot breathe
underwater; the human lung is a device
designed to process air. Water can be a device
of torture. […]