Category: writing
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A visit with my younger self: 23 October 1998
Another stunning display of youthful insipidness masquerading as depth this week. When I interpret someone’s actions, I tend to interpret them in the manner most favorable to me. Does this apply to literature? Perhaps a story is here to be found (BusSongs?). I do wonder if there was something in my life that triggered this…
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New poem: Parrotland
My poem Parrotland was just published at Dodging the Rain. Inspired by this Dinosaur Comics, I found myself wondering what America would be like if it were Parrotland and came up with the poem that I wrote.
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A visit with my younger self: 11 October 1998
A brief entry, inspired by a story told in the dorm lounge by a classmate: I think I might like to write a setina about getting high in the desert at night. I still have somewhere the legal pad with the half-finished sestina and all the end-words arranged. I think it could actually be a…
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New poem: #66
This was one of those rare poems that is almost identical to the first hand-written draft (the only change was renaming Jimmy Two-dogs to Mikey Two-dogs). It’s a bit of a a tribute to the vanished world of the Chicago outfit, overly romanticized, sure. They were, after all, violent thugs, but at least they wore…
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New poem: Chicago Sonnet #26
My poem Chicago Sonnet #26 is out in the newest issue of Rat’s Ass Review. This is a rare bit of reported poetry in that I went out and talked briefly to one of the people in a homeless encampment (not the one that’s in the poem though) wondering how he ended up living in…
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Writerly resolutions: August status
My writing progress this month has been, to be honest, pretty miserable. A week on vacation with my kids plus a week of being sick have led to almost no progress. That said, I did finish a workshoppable draft of a new story plus of a chapter of the novel that’s been in progress most…
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A visit with my younger self: 20 September 1998
I still had some plans for my epic poem about the selection of the mayor of Chicago at this point, apparently: For “the king is dead”: white selects its kingly candidate with a poker game (seven card stud, no doubt). [illegible] Theͯ déck iͯs cút, men círcleͯ aͯroúnd.Fiͯftý-twͯo cárds [illegible] foͯr thé choͯice óf a…
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A visit with my younger self: 13 September 1988
Take one young would-be writer, full of himself, who has never undergone any sort of creative writing instruction to speak of, let alone workshop with a professor who not only allows abuse in the workshop, but perpetrates some of it himself and you get some seriously hurt feelings. Well, I’ve undergone the first real criticism of…
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A visit with my younger self: 7 September 1988
The fall of 1988, I enrolled in the only creative writing class I ever took until I started grad school. The class, under the direction of Robert Mezey, focused on writing metric verse. This entry is apparently one of my attempts. The waxen complexion gazes from its berth— A former | person, | bathed |…