Justin Taylor—
Walked out of the coffee shop and saw the neighbors were having a stoop sale–again. Last week I bought a copy of Derrida’ Writing and Difference as well as The Philip K. Dick Reader and a thick paperback book of erotic photography from Carroll & Graf. Today I picked up Sontag’s On Photography, Charles Simic’s book on Joseph Cornell, two volumes of Taschen’s 20th century erotic drawings, and Bruce Springsteen’s Pete Seeger sessions album with a bonus DVD. Total outlay: $4. (Aside: Why are these people apparently unloading all of their erotica? Why do I own all of it now?) Then I picked up the mail and found that my awesome new friend the publicist at Alfred A. Knopf, who earlier this week sent me Philip Levine’s new collection, News of the World, sent me two more books: Easy, a new collection of poems by Marie Ponsot, and Robert Altman: The Oral Biography by Michael Zuckoff. I’m excited about all these books, but maybe the Altman most of all. It’s cold and wet here in NYC and the train service is interrupted and pretty much everything sucks. And yet I feel like a million bucks. Thanks, literature!
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Ryan Call—
Stacey Harwood wrote a letter to Poets&Writers in response to the MFA program rankings they published.
(via @notell)
Justin Taylor—
The great Bill Hayward–film-maker, regular NOON photography contributor, all-around badass, and occasional collaborator of mine–has been staging his ongoing multi-disciplinary work, The Intimacies Project, from the Northwest wing of the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The project went up on the 20th and lasts till the 29th. Now Bill’s got a couple of poets–illustrious poet-couple, Claire Donato and Jeff Johnson–blogging the experience live from the site, mostly in verse. From the site:
THE INTIMACIES PROJECT at 41st Street & 8th Avenue is a daring multi-media event about relationships and the impossibility of love. This visual art installation and live performance is a rare look at the danger of intimacy expressed through dance, music, film, images, and audience participation. The installation incites individuals to focus on emotion while they are in motion. Commuters and passersby are invited to participate by sharing their thoughts and feelings in response to questions about relationships and love.
Ken Baumann—
Max decided to go for a quick bike ride before dinner. He was going to tell his mom he was leaving, but then didn’t, oh well. She was busy with Gary anyway. Gary, her chinless boyfriend, was lounging on the couch, drinking red wine and watching one of those ludicrous musicals. Every night was some musical. Disgusting, untrue, wrong in every way.
first paragraph from an excerpt from the Where The Wild Things Are novel by Dave Eggers.
Adam Robinson—
Does it seem like there are an unusually high number of posts here today, I mean for a Friday?
Ryan Call—
Yesterday, my composition students brought up something called ‘writer’s block’ and shared with me different ways they try to overcome it. Some said they liked to eat a snack. Another girl said she liked to take a nap. Another girl said she liked to return to her research and read more. I said that during the summer of 2007, if I felt stuck on something, I took a shower. This led to my taking several long showers each day. I ceased this practice once my wife showed me the utility bill. What do you do to overcome ‘writer’s block’?