Dispatch from a Seattle Poetry Scene
I’ve been here since mid-April and there’s plenty of poetry all over. Some of it I see in person and some of it I see on the internet. More about internet poetry stuff later, I hope.
The places I go to see poetry in person, so far, are Vermillion (a bar and gallery), Elliott Bay Books (most prominent independent bookstore), and Hugo House (a writer’s organization).
I came to Vermillion for a cozy late-afternoon reading. It was either a Wednesday or a Thursday. I entered through the long white gallery. The audience was small and old and very supportive. I sat in the back and listened while smiling. The commercial space is in a nightlife area, across from thrift store that is animorphing into ugly condos even as I sip the $4 tequila-soda, in a religiously-calm moment after the performance.
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July 20th, 2017 / 12:21 pm
July 20th, 2017 / 12:21 pm
Setting A Scene In A Bar
Alaska Bar during the week it closed. Photo by Erik.
New York City, NY (resident 2010-present)
Ontario Bar
This is a classic dive with a suspicious Canadian theme. It sits across from a very fine Indian restaurant (fare of the northwestern subcontinent) on a long stretch of Grand Street in East Williamsburg, with many other bars–dives and otherwise. My normal procedure here is to drink a lot of whiskey sodas and say some friendly things to whomever is around. When I first moved to New York my colleague Bobo encouraged me to go to Ontario Bar, I think because it had more of a cozy neighborhood vibe (at the time) than places nearer to Bedford Avenue. He could sense that I missed smaller-city dives? In addition to serving other bartenders, staff are known to be friendly to dull-eyed, lonely men who work in production and creative services. It’s not a bad business model in Williamsburg. I once heard a bartender complain that she only makes money between the hours of three and four. Close later and change the whole experience of the night. READ MORE >
Goodnight nobody / Goodnight mush
I gladly add my voice to the chorus of Goodnight and Thank You to Gene and to Blake. Thank you, for creating this bizarre little hole that grew & grew, a hole I happily fell into time & time again. I didn’t post often, and haven’t in ages, but I visited regularly and learned a lot here–about books I would not necessarily have found otherwise, and presses, and people asking important questions and creating amazing things. Thank you to those of you I haven’t met in person, but feel I know vibrationally, which can be better than IRL.
I know there were flare-ups and hurt feelings, but if I’m going to be honest, I more often than not left this space with more–not less–empathy. Behind each voice, behind each screen, is an actual person, and therefore, I think it’s safe to say, a person in pain. Pain is a good teacher.
It might sound silly, but one of the things I learned from the past 4-5 years of clicking around here: the internet is the ultimate nobody & the ultimate everybody. HTMLGiant was a very good place for negotiating this weird, constantly askew binary. And I think, at its best, it was an exemplary art forum–many people here seem to know that the only way to talk about art, really, is to make it. Questions of good or bad, like it or don’t like it, generally didn’t resonate for long. People risked ridicule and criticism to talk about things that moved them.
People risked. I guess I can’t think of a higher compliment.
new lit/art mag– QUEEN MOB’S TEA HOUSE — JAAAARAAAAJRRRJJJJxoBLA Yeah Yeah Yeah
\\\\\\PENNY GORING DONALD DUNBAR MELISSA BRODER GARY J SHIPLEY REB LIVINGSTON RACHEL MILLIGAN LUCY BIEDERMAN PAUL CUNNINGHAM EDIA CONNOLE TIFFANY MIDGE ERIK KENNEDY LAURA WARMAN NATALIA PANZER & more TBAnew website launching Oct 29th… spearheaded by Russell Bennetts and Rauan KassnikraRaraclick herenew website launching Oct 29th…RARARA spearheaded by Russell Bennetts and Rauan Klassnik click hereJAJAJAJAnew website launching Oct 29th… spearheadedraRAraJAAA by Russell Bennetts and Rauan Klassnik click herenew website RAARRRRRlaunching Oct 29th… spearheaded by Russell Bennetts and RauanjaRArAAra Klassnik click herenew website launching Oct 29th… spearheaded by RussellAceBennetts and RauanOldDogKlassnik click here
click on image to hear a J-Cash inspired WELCOME ….
blah blahhhhhhh.. spearheaded by Russell Bennetts andjRJrJJJRRR Rauan Klassnik click herenew website launchingRaRAAA Oct 29th… spearheaded by Russell JAAARBennetts andRAAJ Rauan Klassnik click herenew website launching Oct 29th.xoxoxoxoxo.. spearheaded by Russellxxxxx Bennetts and Rauan ooooooKlassnik click herenew websiteblahblahhahahaha launching Oct 29th… spearheaded byAce RussellAce Bennetts andDogRauan DogKlassnik click herenew websiteRajJarJRRRR launching Oct 29th.JJJRRRJJJJJ.. spearheaded by Russell Bennetts and RauanHoHohOOOO Klassnik clickhere&more TBA PENNY GORING DONALD DUNBAR MELISSA BRODER GARY J SHIPLEY REB LIVINGSTON RACHEL MILLIGAN LUCY BIEDERMAN PAUL CUNNINGHAM EDIA CONNOLE TIFFANY MIDGE ERIK KENNEDY LAURA WARMAN NATALIA PANZER////
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October 23rd, 2014 / 6:53 pm
October 23rd, 2014 / 6:53 pm
Quilts (Part 2)
These are collages I made in 2013 and 2014. They were made with paper, tape, and an x-acto knife with a swivel blade. They all measure 12×12″. Click on images to enlarge.
For Part 1, see here.
Quilts (Part 1)
These are collages I made in 2012 and 2013. They were made with paper, tape, and an x-acto knife with a swivel blade. They all measure 12×12″. Click on images to enlarge.
For previous coverage of quilts on HTMLGiant, please see David Fishkind’s thoughtful post from April, 2013.
I’ll post part 2 next week.
Contributor Things
Our people do other things (or “thangs,” which is the way I recommend saying that word), and here are some of them. Feel free to support Htmlgiant in new, exciting ways by engaging our contributors outside of this domain. All of their shit is hot, and you should love them as I do.