Just another writer
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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 1988
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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Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta (St Therese Chinese Catholic Church)
One of the wonderful things about Catholicism is just how catholic, it can be. Come up with an assumption about what a parish will be like and the parish will say nope. Earlier this week, St Gregory broke my hypothesis about traditional architecture and traditional liturgy being inversely correlated, today, Saint Therese Chinese Catholic Church…
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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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Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Saint Gregory the Great
I had commented recently that it seemed like there was an inverse relationship between how traditional a church’s architecture was and how traditional the liturgy was. St Gregory the Great apparently decided that they should prove me wrong. I think probably the biggest indicator of traditional liturgy is the presence of lace: Lace mantillas on…
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Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Saint Giles
Saint Giles is my home parish, I guess. I’m actually registered elsewhere in Oak Park, but this is the parish where I do music, although for the Mass that’s held in the church hall or gymnasium, not actually in the main church. St Giles himself was a hermit who lived in the woods with his…
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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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Upcoming reading: Friday, 5 September, Chicago
I will be reading at the After Hours 25th anniversary celebration/issue 50 release party on Friday, 5 September at RLM Studio, 4042 N. Pulaski. Ste 1, Chicago. The event begins at 6p and runs until 8.30. Featured readers for the evening are poets Simone Muench, Virginia Bell and Molly Sturdevant. I’ll be reading my poem from…