Failure Loves Company

Small Press Distribution puts out a monthly list to show the bestsellers in Poetry and Fiction and there’s something missing: Dodging Traffic.  This is where you come in.

If you’ve enjoyed my work whether online or in print, whether it was fiction, flash fiction, or poetry, then you should get a copy of Dodging Traffic.  E-mail a copy of your order from SPD to senryujournalist@gmail.com with your mailing address and I will mail you something special as a thank-you.  It could be a CD.  It could be a chapbook.  It could be a custom poem just for you.  Believe me, I’ll appreciate the support.

P.S.: After getting some Dodging Traffic, you should also check out other fine Ampersand Books, including Under What Stars, Do Something! Do Something! Do Something!, When You Say One Thing But Mean Your Mother.

Last night, I did my performance and book launch in St. Pete at The Studio @ 620 and I had a fantastic time.  First, Tod Caviness kicked two of his poems and a Matthew John Connolly cover, “The Tenuous Nature of Reality”.    Then came my set, which consisted of:

1. Would You Like To Take A Survey?

2. Reciprocation

3. Valedictorian

4. The Kama Sutra of Glenn Beck

5. You + Me = Awwwww Yeah

6. Check Yes

7. Stellar

8. Taking Civil Liberties

9. Doing It Norse Style

10. Do What You Want Me To Do

11. Contest

12. Pre-nuptual Agreement

13. These Are Vows

14. What Makes A Man A Man

15. Another Poem About China

16. Tailor Made

17. 25 Random Things…

18. A Letter From the Department of Health

The show was awesome from the venue to the organizers to the audience to my opener, Tod Caviness.  Everything was amazing and I want to get back to St. Pete for more shows.  Thanks to The Studio @ 620 and my publisher Jason Cook for putting all of this together.  Below are some photos:

This is where I wonder if something/someone will smite me.

This is what part of The Studio @ 620 looks like.

This is Jason Cook, publisher of Ampersand Books and The Ampersand Review. He is awesome and can beat you up - or at least out drink you.

This is me coming on stage for my set.

Would You Like To Take A Survey?

Unleashing a poem from Dodging Traffic

Tod Caviness kicking back some brews at FUBAR with the rest of The Ampersand crew.

Also: Jason Jordan was nice enough to shout out Dodging Traffic; why haven’t you gotten your copy yet?

Finally, five of my poems are in PANK Magazine.  Read them and then read the rest of the issue (this is the first one I copyedited/proofread).  I guarantee you this issue is packed with awesomeness.

Tonight’s the big night.  9ish at Stardust Video & Coffee (1842 Winter Park Rd) will be the big release party for Dodging Traffic.  I will have copies on hand to sell and sign (and a laptop available for those who don’t have cash on hand – my publisher will set something up so we can take credit cards at the show through the site).  I may have some poets who attend kick a poem for me.  I will also perform a 30-45 minute set of poems from the book.  Can’t wait to see all of you there.

1. Those who say that the winner is poetry probably lost their bout; I know this from experience. That’s why humans invented flasks full of Jameson, to coddle them and inflict necessary brain damage in times of loss.

2. Just because you lost your bout doesn’t mean your poetry sucks. Take comfort in knowing your judges did not have taste, even if they had taste.

3. The liver is an amazing organ and can take an abundance of punishment, much like your sister for a negotiable fee. It is important to pace yourselves, drink water or Gatorade between rounds, lest you need a transplant after NPS (let me assure you poets are below the elderly on transplant lists).

4. There’s nothing worse as being ground zero for a new sexually transmitted pandemic. Poets please always remember: no glove, no love. The last thing we want is an STI named after Shappy.

5. Mooching will not be tolerated; thanks to this economy we are all broke and poor so if you need food or drink, barter for it. Your foreskin is not acceptable nor is your slam poem; we want something of true value.

6. When participating in a cipher or poetry tag (because they break out like jock itch or herpes), do not tag in your friends; tag in a stranger. Also, no slam poems in poetry tag. We will have our bellies full of poems in the slam genre this week and we will wish our stomachs kicked because of this. Let’s hear something interesting.

7. Failure is an invaluable learning tool.

8. Have fun in Florida; you’ll find we not only can count but do so very well.

P.S.: telling the truth at a poetry slam is like finding a unicorn: fun until you get gored by the facts.

Click here for more details.

Earlier, I did a show at Austin’s Coffee to a pretty good crowd. My set consisted of the following poems:

1. Would You Like To Take A Survey
2. Check Yes
3. Juno MacGuff to Bristol Palin
4. Reciprocation
5. Count Von Count to George W. Bush
6. I Don’t Wish Death Upon You
7. You + Me = Awwww Yeah
8. Stellar
9. Contest
10. A Letter From The Department of Health

I recorded the entire show so I will be cutting the poems out of the banter and giving them over to my editor for a listen. We may add this as a bonus CD to the first 25 copies of Dodging Traffic since all but one poem on this list is in the book. My legs were killing me afterward but I came off the stage like I rocked it. I’ve been reassured by many the show was really successful but I hold hands with doubt out of reflex, not out of want. I will probably book more of these shows so I can really work the kinks out and improve my banter so when the book comes, I rock faces off.

Recommended Reading: Check out the first issue of Line4: The Journal of the New American Epigram (!). As you read it, you will feel punched in the face by a four fingered pugilist and want more eyes so they can be blackened too.

It is not your successes that make you. It’s the way you handle failure that defines who you are and the art you create.

The above words are my mantra when I have a tough month like last month. Rejections held my arms and worked my gut over until it looked like a wok at a slaughterhouse. Four days into April and an e-magazine and an anthology accepted my work. Not a bad start.

http://readwritepoem.org

http://rachelmckibbens.blogspot.com

If you have some more, feel free to post them in the comments.

Alright, poets. Show me what you go. Post in your comments your before and after.

Make The Elements of Style your bible.  Supplement it with Eats, Shoots & Leaves (porn for punctuation fetishists).  Trust me, your work will thank you.