Some Advice on Time Travel

Wow, I think it's been nearly 3 years since I've bothered to submit and actually got a piece published in a place other than my own cancerously growing hoard of lit sites. This time its in my old favourite Feathertale. I'm really proud of this poem: Some Advice on Time Travel (an excerpt from Philip Roder's Let's Go to the Future, fourth edition, 2095)

Poetaster trivia!

Made some trivia for Poetaster on Goodreads. Was fun to go through an old book. Poetaster is quite a bit darker and raw than Zeus - kind of a shock to flip between the two.

Anyway, have a go at some poetry trivia! (Any poets out there interested in building a pub-quiz around poetry?)

Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea trivia questions!

Hey...this is cool. I can make trivia questions about mine, or other people's, books! Now that's promotion I can get behind!

Try out the ones I made for Zeus! Never before have questions been so trivial! Can you get 100%? Can you get 5%?

Saturday morning thoughts: Poetry as Jazz

Turned on the good ol CBC radio 2 app this morning and had this revelation:

It seems like contemporary poetry is a lot like modern jazz. Half the time when you turn on the radio or open up some journal you get this this overwrought, overthought construction that only musical theorists could love (and you still wonder if they actually do like it - or if they are just trying to impress themselves), and half the time (if you're lucky) you'll get that something smooth and meaningful, that something you'd actually want to settle down with on the couch on a Sunday.

Anyway it, and this ensuing blogpost, inspired this poem:

Saturday Radio Jazz time

Just looking for something

to waste the morning

reading poetry to

and all I get

is five guys

treating their gear

as an arsenal of noise

and running their fingers

madly

up and down

every key in their possession

like they were paid by the note

while I do the same

with the radio dials

just trying to escape

just trying to just find

something

Heartfelt

and Meaningful

not overwrought

or overthought

or overplayed

just something sweet

smooth

and true

like a girl alone

writing poetry in a coffee shop

somewhere

and not

overwrought

or overthought

or overplayed

like too much poetry is

these days.

It's out now! Get your copy quick!

Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea is now out!!

Get it while it's hot!!!!!

Beware the Podcasts, Pod-cats!

So I just finished my second podcast. The first is about Salvation (perhaps you've heard of it?) and the second about Malls (also known as shopping centers). They were pretty fun to do, and both turned out really well (though they were a lot of work, especially sandwiched between school, a book launch and an upcoming vacation before book launch! yipes.)

So why do a podcast? Well, the simple answer is because my book publicist asked me to. You know, to whet your appetite for more poetry and get you drooling over the delicious release of my new book, Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea this March. (I plan on writing more about the publishing process here later as well.) But I hope to continue doing them even after the book, because they are a great forum for reading poetry within a philosophical and entertaining context. Also, I bought this BAD-ASS microphone on Boxing Day and I was eager to use it! If you're a poet interested in doing recordings, podcasts or readings, I HIGHLY recommend you get it. It's easy and does amazing recordings, records straight to mp3 and so much more.

Anyway, I've put up a sample of podcast #2 for your entertainment. It's me reading a poem called On the Trail of Ibn Battuta about a mall in Dubai. That poem also appears in Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea.

I hope the first podcast (Salvation) will be up in the next couple of weeks, with Malls to be out in mid to late February.

Enjoy!

Next up, a new video involving my fridge!

Zeus Revealed! (and some publishing fun facts)

ZOT!

That's the sound of Zeus sending down a wonderbolt and making this the most amazing cover for a collection of poetry EVER!

Although, I suppose you could blame book designer Natalie over at kisscutdesign.com for the amazing cover design and idea, but Zeus probably wouldn't be very happy with that. Either way, I thank them both for their amazing work! If the hip cover makes even one person who wouldn't normally look at poetry pick it up and give it one quick chance, I'll be happy.

Why a giant Mexican, Zeus Word Voltron? The cover was inspired by a quote of mine from the introduction of my book, as listed on the kisscut blog here.

I'm excited to get into the process of ramping up promotion for the book... Promotion is something I've never been particularly good at - I rank it down there with clipping my toenails. It has to be done...but you could probably get away with not doing it for a long time...but you're really only hurting your pride. Wait...was that the metaphor I was looking for? Anyway, I'm not very good at it, and could use all the help I can get (especially yours, if you're excited about the book - tell your friends! Enemies! Local grocer!) Thankfully it's not just up to me this time: I had the chance to meet with the publicist for my book last week and she had loads of good ideas, so expect more on this blog (finally!), especially as I document this little book going from just a cool cover to a real live book out there on its own.

But for now, just imagine that giant robo-zeus shooting poetic laser beams into your eyeballs. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. Now THAT'S poetry!

Zeus and the Word Voltron!

Voltron

So after a few months delay things are starting to roll again on my latest collection of poetry, Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea. Just a few days ago, in fact, I got an email from the designer who will be working on my book.

She had this crazy idea about putting a Voltron made out of words on the cover ‘with a zeus-like beard and possibly a mexican-like mustache, holding a beverage. Maybe inside a beverage?’ My first thought was ‘that’s pretty damn cool’ followed by ‘but how the hell is all that going to work together?’ So she sent me a sketch and I have to say it looks freakin’ awesome!

I’m really excited about it. Not only because it looks so damn good and hip, but how many other poetry collections have a giant Zeus Robot on the front with a Mexican moustache? Maybe only 2 or 3?

What I’m most excited about is how forthright it is in presenting what I really hope to say about poetry through my work – that it can be fun, hip, modern, interesting, funny, philosophical. Now this should not come as a surprise to anyone who reads, for lack of a better term, ‘underground’ or ‘alternative’ poetry, but to the general reading public poetry is seen generally as old, delicate and inaccessible. Publishers can get stuck too marketing to ‘poetry types’ because they are the ones that buy the books, however if you don’t break beyond that poetry never evolves, and we continue to accept and published the same poetry that still isn’t resonating with the wider world. I think that’s a disservice to the form, because before I started writing it I definitely fell into the category of ‘poetry is not for me, I don’t understand it, and won’t touch it with a ten foot pole except to mock its pretensions and phoniness.’

My point being, people DO judge books by their covers, and this cover promises to be cool and different enough that even non-poetry lovers will pick it up and crack its cover to see what’s inside. And if they read a couple of poems about Mexicans or robots I feel (hope!) they will see that poetry is bad enough to punch them in the teeth and buy them a beer afterwards. And even if they don’t buy the book that’s a success.

Of course, I could just be another deluded poet waiting for the ‘poetry revolution’. But, you know, we all gotta have dreams!

Look for more news about Zeus as it happens...

Bombshell

Bombshell...

They don't use that word much anymore
to describe girls like you
As if your kind just disappeared
when excess fell out of fashion
Though how they managed to lose a woman like you
in a sea swell of dainty girls
eating yoghurt in petite pants
I’ll never know.

Bombshell.
the sound of it
Rolling…
Exploding!
suggests ships of steel and gun powder
docked in the port and overpowering the horizon
with bulk and shape...
conjures up the fat arc of depth charges
rolling off starboard sides
and teasing a voluptuous fragroom of fish into the air
scattering the self control of men to the wind like seed
It’s the sort of nickname that causes uncomfortable creases in pants
like images of lingeried girls straddling planes as they fly over base
to the salute of sailor suits
and an extra helping
of thigh and breast and arms and lips and lots of it

Bombshell.
That’s the sort of powderkeg you marry
knowing
and maybe even hoping
it will end up in divorce
and not caring
because bombshells are meant to go off.
That’s part of their excitement
Like curling irons and high heeled shoes
and words you don't really mean
thrown against the wall in a hotel room
Like the sound sex being had in the flat one over
while you curl your finger around a red phone cord
Like you walking into a bar and everybody noticing
but no one saying anything because
lust and hunger
have been tamed by sex on TV
and a burger on every corner
because the war is long gone over and
they just don't make
bombshells anymore

The Morning After...

A new poem, Weird, up on YouTube. Check it out!



(Special thanks to Aidan for artistic help and camera work. Read his Traumatic(ly Random) Reviews here: http://traumaticreviews.blogspot.com)

Ok so...
last night
was weird
Wonderfully weird
Beautifully weird
and every awkward moment of it
broke me somehow
Tore the mile high brick wall
of my confidence
down
in one soundless breath

And as you lay there
naked
the taste of my cum still on your lips when we kiss
having unravelled the entire universe
with just the sound of your voice
you stare at me
daring me
with those dark eyes
like two burning constellations
to put it all back together
before you.

As if all this was just a game!
As if the need for oxygen
was just a myth!
You smile at me
nonchalantly
while inside Im Fumbling
Asphyxiating
Burning
in the vast expanse of your bed
clinging to you in the dark
for fear that if I let go
I might just drift away
into nothingness

I love that you break me
into a million little pieces
I love that you can just so carelessly pull apart
the fabric of space and time and
my pitiful little place in it.
Though it scares me
Though it terrifies me

Last night
was weird.
It was exactly everything
I didnt expect it to be
And just when I thought
Id got it all figured out
Just when the world began to bore me
It was something new again
Something Strange
Wonderful
Confusing
Weird
Scary
and awkward...

But wonderful.
Wonderfully weird.
Beautiful.
and beautiful
and wonderful
wonderful in ways
I hope I never understand.

Beware the Edmonton Poetry Festival!

I will be reading this year (my third) at the Edmonton Poetry Festival. The EPF is a steadily growing festival in this city of festivals and brings out some pretty decent poets. I'm particularly excited about this year for two reasons.

1) it seems a lot more hip and with it this year than in the past (I mean...check out that poster!) Those of you have heard me rant and rave about poetry being boring and inaccessible...well, this is a good sign. Maybe things are spicing up?

2) They're bringing back the Poetry Sweatshop this year! Sadly absent from last year's festival (perhaps due to lack of venue? The Sweatshop was not allowed, in its second year, to return to its first year venue due to rowdiness!) the sweatshop is like theatresports, but with poetry, in a drinking establishment...with punishment. It's pretty wild, and if you ever wondered if poetry could be exciting, naughty and reckless all at once...well come out and find out!

This year the EPF runs from April 19-27th (seems to be getting longer and longer). Check out their site for all the scheduled events.

I will be reading at:

• The Blinks (80 poets, poems in 30 seconds or less!) on Monday, April 19 at the ARTery (Edmonton's coolest venue?), 9535 Jasper Avenue. 7pm-10.30 pm.
• The Poetry Sweatshop on Saturday the 24th, also at the ARTery. 3-5 pm.
• and Three Bananas Café, 9918 102 Avenue, Sunday, April 25th. 3:30 pm.

I hope to see you there!

Athabasca University Press to publish my new book!

Yes! I have fooled another publishing house into believing my work is ‘visionary’*! Oh frabjuous day! Oh supercalifragilisticexpialidotious!

This is good news indeed! AU Press is a pretty good feather to have under your cap – not only are they one of the few academic presses in the country to publish fiction/poetry, but they are also very well regarded for the quality of their publications. It will be an honour to be part of their list. I’m fairly certain they have good distribution too, so you may even see Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea in a bookstore! Wild.

Actually, I received word sometime last week that the press had decided to publish my second collection of poetry, but knowing the small press, and considering my previous history, I didn’t want to say anything until the papers arrived and I had signed them for fear of jinxing it all. They still need to be signed off by the press, but…well, I couldn’t hold it in any longer.

I have confidence that they will go ahead with my book, though, because of the quality of the assessor reviews. Before accepting a book, AU Press sends it out to two or three experts in the industry (other authors, etc…) and asks for their feedback. Based on that feedback, they either accept the book, or ask the author to respond to the assessments and then make a final decision. In this case, though, they didn’t even ask me to respond…which is something of a literary slam dunk! Both assessments were VERY positive, and it was kind of surreal reading almost full essays on my work - a book that’s not even published yet. Weird, too, because I’ve never even had one essay written about any of my published work. Very cool experience.

Anyway, I’d like to post some of that here, but I’m not sure what I can and cannot share at this point. I’ll be talking with the fine folk at AU Press over the next few weeks to figure out how we go ahead…and give you some updates and maybe a few poems from the collection and what the reviewers thought, if I can.

*Yes, this word was actually used in one of my assessments! I’m going to inflate my head right now to maximize my ego before it gets popped.

Red Fez Phones Home!

Picture this:

You're at a bus stop and you just broke up with your girlfriend. You're a strange combination of mad, sad, bad and rad. You're frustrated. You're done crying, you're done punching the pillow, and there's nobody around who wants to hear about your relationship troubles anymore...but you still need something...you need...a poem...about a messy breakup, to make you relate, to make you feel better! But where do you turn?

Red Fez to the rescue!!

You whip out your mobile phone, go to m.redfez.net and skim through the poetry by theme section and skim through the 'love/romance' category. Reading through a few amazing poems on the subject you flip your cell shut and, feeling better, say Bah! Who needs relationship anyway? When you have RED FEZ ON YOUR PHONE?

Or picture this!

You're waiting at the mall for your friend. She's late again. But she'll be there at any minute...you just don't know when. You don't want to just sit there looking uncool, you want to seem cool, like you have friends and a purpose for sitting on a bench. And you've been feeling kind of nostaligic for your childhood lately. So what do you do?

Red Fez to the rescue!!

You whip out your mobile phone, zip over to m.redfez.net and skim through the 'childhood/nostalgia' section of the fiction page. Lo a behold, pages after pages of sweetly scripted stories on childhood. Then your friend shows up out of nowhere. Dammit! Why did she have to show up so soon... I was reading RED FEZ ON MY PHONE!

But wait! Surely such deeply meaningful entertainment at my fingertips costs money!

Bah! Bah, we say to you! This is free! Yes, stop being so cynical! Stuff is still free and the universe has so conspired so that you can have free entertainment at any place where there is wifi or cell reception!

Hell, how great is that? I'll tell you how great. It's as great as m.redfez.net

Sites of Resistance - filmed in Fabulous Poeti-Scope!

Just when you thought it was safe to go onto YouTube and not see the latest and greatest video by yours truly, Leopold McGinnis, poet, author and wearer of neato eyeglasses...IT IS NO LONGER SAFE TO GO ONTO YOUTUBE AND NOT SEE THE LATEST AND GREATEST VIDEO BY YOURS TRULY, LEOPOLD MCGINNIS, POET, AUTHOR AND WEARER OF NEATO EYEGLASSES!

You've been warned.

*Filmed in fabulous Poeti-scope*


Sites of Resistance (from my poetry book, Poetaster)

In my kitchen
A spoon in the fork drawer
Mismatched chopsticks
A knife operated toaster

In the living room
A painting by nobody important
askew by 2 degrees
Books arranged with complete disregard
for the dewy decimal system
Or any system for that matter

In the bedroom
A drawer full of dead batteries
and elastic bands
Coins in jars taken out of circulation
and stored under the bed frame

In the bathroom
Mold that creeps into the tiles
A clogged drain
A toilet paper roll too far
from the toilet seat

These are sites of resistance.

I can beat-budda-beat my feet
on the pavement one thousand times a day
and make nary a crack
nary a scratch.
I can scream at the top of my lungs
Uptown! Downtown! Crosstown!
and reach nary an ear

But these are my sites of resistance
They may be small
But together we will fight
The Tyranny of Order!
The Hegemony of Structure!
The Fascism of Eternity!
Everyday
In the kitchen!
In the bedroom!
In the bathroom!
In the living room!
These are sites of resistance.

New Video!!!!

Just in time for Halloween!

Yes, it's been over a year since my last video...but it's always been my goal to another one done. This one looks particularly great. The text is below the video. Enjoy!

Put a flower in your hair

lover

so I can see you at night

as you creep through the graveyard

re-animating the dicks

of the dearly deceased.

Trapped deep in the ground.

they are pushing up more than just daisies

when your black black soul passes by.

If only they could speak!

If only they could sneak a peak

through the dirt

beneath your polka-dotted skirt…

if only they could feel more

than the touch

of your black stilettoed heel

thudding in the overworld

If only they could comfort themselves with more

than the clip-clop clip-clop clip-clop

of you fading away

the sound haunting their memory so long

they’d swear it was their heartbeat

starting up again.

Mama always said to stay out

of dark places

but that’s where you shine

baby doll

Even your dark dark hair

is washed out

in the bleach of that awful awful sun

but at night

let the wolves howl for you

the moon leads the way

to tonight’s show

don’t ever let them tell you no

life lives where the living don’t go

so please

put a flower in your hair

for me

when you pass by my grave.

Zues and the Giant Iced Tea submitted!!

So I bit the bullet and submitted my manuscript to the press yesterday afternoon with fingers crossed. Here are some wacky stats on the manuscript:

Title: Zues and the Giant Iced Tea

Length: 129 pages (but that's with lots of page breaks - they are poems, after all)

# of poems in the collection: 48

Longest Narrative: The Sultan Poems

Most Controversial poem: A Brief History of Gandhi

# of poems about luchadores: 1

# of poems about arms dealing: 2

# of poems about Mexicans: 3

# of poems about robots: 3

# of poems with an Asian or Middle Eastern flavour: 27

The Artist Worries about the Quality of his work!

As a perfectionist, this was difficult because I felt I could still review, tighten and improve some of the work included, particularly the Sultan Poems, which started off as 3 poems and I hoped to merge into a complete 'story' of about 6 poems. When I submitted it it was 19 poems!! Yikes. Ideally I could put them aside for a month and then come back to do some final tightening up...but at some point you just have to submit, and I was months behind. If they like the manuscript, I'll get the chance to tighten those up at that point.

The Artist worries his manuscript will be a Comedy at the Oscars!

As a worrier, I'm not entirely sure, at the end of this very long journey, that I have put together a manuscript that is right for the poetry series the press is creating. That's probably just me worrying. I really like the concept of the collection - they are narrative poems and I'm very pleased with the quality of all of them. But as such, they are much less personal than those in my last collection and, as most critics and reviewers are want to do, could be considered 'lighter, less serious fare' (although I think that's unjust.) I think I also consciously stayed away from the darker stuff this time around, because I have more range than that and wanted to explore these narrative type works. However, the ultra personal, dark poetry of Poetaster is what made them ask me to submit something. So, essentially, I worry that this is going to be like submitting a comedy for an oscar nod. It could be the most brilliant film ever made...but if it's funny then it doesn't deserve any awards. On the other hand, comedy's are watched by way more people.

The Artist posts a poem from the collection in celebration of its completion!

The Two Xs

Dos Equis

The two exxes

The dirtiest man

South of Al Hambra

And North of it too

He was born

in the desert dust.

No woman’s son

He was foreign to the ways of women

No man’s son

He was lost amongst his brothers

They called him Dos Equis

The two exxes

Nobody ever saw his eyes

under the wide brim of his black hat

His skin was cold to the touch

beneath his black vest

and jeans

and snake black boots

Dos Equis

He was given a life

without direction

without answers

When he signed his name

he signed an X.

Twice.

He was given a life

without direction

without answers

He was only given

Two Exxes.

Listen to THIS!

In conversation with a friend the other day, it was asked why I didn't make audio recordings of my poetry, as she preferred and 'got more out of' my poetry when it was spoken. And so I told her "I do!" and "I have!"

That said, I haven't done a new audio recording in quite some time (partly because the mp3 player I was using to make them was stolen, and partly because I got more into the video poetry), however, her comments encouraged me to, at least, pull out the ones I'd previously created and post them here, if not do some more in the not too distant future.

Anyway, for the time being, here are two mp3s of me reading my poetry that used to be on my old site, for your listening enjoyment. (Both these poems are found in Poetaster)

Mall Thing

McMohawk

What am I working on these days?

A friend of mine reminded me that, on my old site, I had a little box that listed projects I was currently working on, and asked if those had changed at all. Yes and no. I'm always working on multiple projects - some rise to the fore, some fall to the back. Some get completed, some get dropped, some never get out of the state of being worked on. Here are the ones that are receiving top attention lately:

1) Zues and the Giant Iced Tea: A new collection of Poetry, tentatively titled, for a local press. They've only asked me to submit something, so no promise of publication at this point, but I'm 97% done the manuscript and I'm pretty damned excited about it. It's a collection of narrative poems (ie, poems that tell a story, either individually or collectively) and, in a lot of ways, is a more mature collection than Poetaster

2) Newborn - my graphic novel. I haven't been able to work on this in almost 2 years, due to the craziness of my life. But in the last few months I've managed to get back on the wagon and am having a blast with it. I'm about 22 pages in right now...will probably be a couple hundred pages long at least. It's slow going, due to my work life, but I'm hoping to start revealings parts of it here as I proceed. Keep posted!

3) The Last Days of Naomichi Onada: I'm hoping to have time to finish my first final draft of The Last Days of Naomichi Onada, a full length narrative poem about a Japanese soldier stuck on an island in the Atlantic, who still thinks WW2 is going on, based on a poem I included in Poetaster, The Lost Orders of Onoda Hirou, based on a real story. For quite some time this has been my anticipated 'next publication', but invitations to put together poetry collections for publication keep trumping it. An embarrassment of riches, really, but this project edges closer to completion.

4) Other stuff. Other high priority projects that I'd like to, but aren't necessarily being worked on right now include another couple collections of poetry, a full length novel, and my father's novel, which is quite good, but just needs to be put into a final draft.

So...that's what's going on right now*.

*valid until September 2, 2009