you might be interested in this. We are asking all US newspapers to begin publishing poetry. It sounds crazy, but we believe it will help both poets and newspapers.
EWR & VNM I keep getting requests from musicians and bands to help them promote their music. Many times I'm unable to support their efforts. EWR tends to be limited in promoting music. So now we have a sister site designed with all you new bands and music lovers in mind: www.votenewmusic.com. Over 300 bands are part of EWR's myspace, and we want to thank you for your support by supporting you in your efforts.
Visit Votenewmusic.com, suggest a band, listen, and vote. It's simple and kinda fun.
Lastly, EWR has changed its classifieds, and the site is up for a complete redo very soon, check back every once in awhile.
Friends Miranda Sound are in the studio recording their 4th album. We love the creative process at EWR, and we are happy to promote this video of their new song "Sleep Fighting" and studio time.
This year I gave myself a gift of rewriting this poem. I first wrote it my Senior year in high school around xmas about 16 years ago. I've always loved the poem, but I could never get it "right." I can't say the second version is the one I'm looking for, but for now it is workable. Maybe in another 16 years I'll rewrite it and find what I'm looking for. I'll live with it for now.
The 16 year old poem is first. Today's rewrite is 2nd. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Diner Life
Welcome to my diner.
Step in,
stand up if you please,
Standing long?
Slip into my warmth and keep smiling.
Live among my conversations
sit among my constellations
of old swinging lamps
and delightfully arranged chairs
circled in booths of black leather seats
and complaints of long standing feet.
Perfect isn't it?
To call on my thoughts
of friends,
families,
first dates,
meetings at midnight,
and daring dances to jukebox music
by old Hank or Jimmy Reeves,
sad songs yes, but they play
so sweet to hollow hearts that linger
so late at night.
Here people have little
more to live for than gravy and fries
or continuous refills.
You see late night is my soul,
it flows in and out of me,
and with every cursing truck-driver and his one-night-lady,
It's been awhile. I'm working on something new. This is a poem to Sarah Vowell about her won-der-ful book Assassination Vacation.
Written to Sarah Vowell April 26, 2005 (While Channel Surfing)
I caught your Late Night Interview, And are you in love with Lincoln? Or Lewis Powell? They are all dead, You know, and I can't tell, as I'm flipping Through the channels if you are in love With the dead, death, murder or murderers? I'm confused.
Channel 26 "Deadly Storm Stories."
I don't see your fascination with all of these Presidential assassins or even just dead presidents. Is it love? Is it something else?
Channel 30 CNN "Baghdad Bombings."
The back of your book has a beautiful head-shot Of you looking either thoughtful or sinister? You Weren't thinking of killing or being killed or someone Else killing someone, or planning to kill someone Or someone who has been killed were you?
Channel 37 TNN CSI a man dusting a corpse with a delicate brush.
How confused I am with all of your travels. It's as if death was your main focus. "Assassinations" Can't be an escape. Can they?
Channel 41 "Worlds Deadliest Police Chases"
Did Booth Know? Are you in love with Booth? I'm a little jealous, and unsettled.
Channel 49 "When Animals Attack"
I'm not sure about your fascination with all this.
I'm just saying if you want a lover, A warm voice, in bed, whispering "I can't compete With a man immortalized on a plaque." Historical impotency, you're going to get it, And then will you be happy?
A poor eligible bachelor jealous of W.H. Seward?
Channel 78 Cinemax "Girls from Planet 9"
I didn't to make it back to your interview. Try to avoid being infatuated by men You cannot have.
Sometimes they just walk away. Sometimes they fade and jumble up get all starry like a January sky cold and clear like they could go on forever; although it is hard to let some die that way.
Sometimes they end before they begin. A man leaning against a press that stamps street signs starting to say how the woman he was with over the weekend, "Maybe someone I could spend the rest …," but the press gets him before the words come out. They go to the floor with screams and blood.
This can happens when a man asks a woman to dance, and she eyes him then laughs, or stares at him blankly until he leaves. Finishing the conversation in his head on his way back to his table, "Who the hell…"
Sometimes they last a whole life. Going on with a conservative calling a liberal talk show telling them Nixon was framed or Oliver North is a hero. Complaining about the country's values going to hell. This one ends in a hotel room with a prostitute the man flat on his back in moral outrage.
It's as good as the next, water cooler act shuffling along, complaining about foot powders, baby rashes, nothing to do with love just conversations that end with quiet nods, an inside, "Yes, I'm as bored as you are. Just keep talking."
The tragic one person conversations, a confession in bed looking at the ceiling holding onto the blankets and wondering when it will end. Guessing how long it has been since the ringing end of a conversation stuck in the mind. One that didn't walk away, or end with a scream and scatter into pieces of excitement or boredom on the floor.
End with one that matters. Like the conversation that got comfortable and quiet and fell against the cheek and went to sleep. Satisfied to have come and gone been alive in the mouth and in convincing someone to listen.
Just wanted to tell all of you about some new content that has found its way to the pages of EWR. A few new articles on formatting, finding new music, and on why writers need a website. Oh, and we've posted our 50 top literary magazines. For all of you who might be interested in submitting your work, we've BOLD typed the ones that take online submissions. Please stop by, www.everywritersresource.com. We'll have a list of the top online magazines soon as well as more articles for writers and new interviews.
I was wondering if some of you might help me out and drop by EWR's message board and leave a couple of posts. It would help a great deal. There will be a push with the site in about a week to be more "interactive."
On a different note, I'm sorry that I haven't been posting on a lot of your blogs lately. I will be back around very soon. I think I've lost my muse for a little while here. I haven't written any new poetry lately. I think it's the weather change. I've been writing for many years, and I know it is full of ups and downs. Every time one of these lulls comes around I always feel like I'm never going to write again. Anyone else ever feel that way?
