Read this brief on point essay from 2008 about poetry slam. I’m at work, bored and found myself conversing with the article in my head. “The oral traditions of poetry are in trouble, and performers like this are to blame, performers who believe that as long as words are being performed, they don't have to …
O.P.P.
OTHER PEOPLE'S POETRY, YO!: Take a poem you like. Delete every other line. Write an original line to replace what you've erased. Now erase all that remains of the original poem. Re-write what's left. That's a dope prompt. I tried it yesterday and kinda liked what came out. I almost printed it here, but I …
The Last Haul
my grandfather was my first employer. he worked as a landscaper and yard man for home owners along the Oakland Hills Piedmont, Berkeley. I was with him every summer between late grade school and Jr high. his drove a muscular Ford truck carpeted with spilled malts and holes candy wrappers, Styrofoam bowls for Big Macs. …
Friday the 13th Part 18: Jason Goes To Home Depot
Friday the 13th Part 18 Jason Goes To Home Depot Jason fingers the new gas-powered chainsaws & the Chinese steel hacksaws like new pornography. He recalls how easy petals of flesh would open, pollenating the air with blood. A young man timidly approaches him, asks May i help you and Jason turns, and quietly notices …
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Hold The Phone
Hold the Phone - Jcagney There used to be one in every house with its own end table or altar. ours was a wire stand crammed with phone books-- the first internet. if you remembered to clean it you'd wipe it down like a baby – its umbilical cord would braid itself over all the stories …
Alaska Stories: Cathedral
Cathedral Keeping monks hours, I arise at midnight to a false dawn where the sun pauses at the horizon and creeps sideways like a crab. Our crew chief materializes at the door salmon roe dripping from his palms. Midair, he draws the sign of the dollar. Then, I am Lazarus summoned and …
The Secret: I Can’t Write Right Handed
Full of optimism and hope, I submitted some poems to a literary magazine. Long before deadline! Hot damn, I accomplished something! Hot damn, these are good poems!! Then I get an email from the editor from the mag saying: I just wanted to send you a quick note because, after logging in all of …
Alaska Stories — Land Shark (formerly Crazy)
When I can't write, I become like a badger and start digging around. Maybe there's something in the past I can revisit/improve since I can't think of anything new. To me, that counts as exercise. Literary calisthenics. Years ago, I worked on a fishing processor in Alaska. Instead of taking photographs, I wrote a lot. …
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The Dirty Rat 