How many literary institutions spam you weekly, or even many times a week? And which? And for what?

over at her Tumblr Thais Benoit, answering a call from Alt Lit Press, offers up a kind of manifesto of thoughts about and definitions for Alt Lit:

“Writing that is happening outside of traditional publishing, mostly online and in digital forms.”  

“Alt Lit fits in perfectly with historical literature context.  Alt Lit is challenging the norms of the past, and can be compared/contrasted easily to the Beat movement of the 60s. We see authors using their lives as the set of their writing.  Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac did things (many of which seemed taboo or ‘wild’ or eccentric) and then wrote about them, and they wrote about them in a way that was real to their readers at the time.  Please compare Taipei to On The Road: it’s fun.”

“More than anything else, Alt Lit fills a hole created by the commercial publishing industry. ” 

“works by authors such as Jonathan Franzen and Zadie Smith, do not connect with many readers today. . .

WE DO NOT IDENTIFY.

WE DO NOT IDENTIFY.

WE DO NOT IDENTIFY.”

read Thais’ entire post here

Does anyone have a good argument for using a money clip over a wallet?

“Perhaps if I avoid critical reviews (not merely negative ones), what I acknowledge is that I am afraid that I will actually be read carefully, deeply, and that the results will complicate my endeavor. But surely a complication of that sort could materialize (with any luck) in one’s very next poems. It might improve them.”

— Joshua Marie Wilkinson’s thoughts on poetry criticism over at The Volta are I think legitimately splendid, of a shiny clarity, and they make me feel shitty about how often I’ve let opportunities/invitations to do more nuanced critical work slip by because they promised to take more time/work than manic imploring.

here’s an excerpt from an update on the Facebook Page created to help gather support of Sandra Simonds’ call for the Poetry Foundation to do more to help poets in need:

“This afternoon Jenny Gropp Hess participated in a conference call with Elizabeth Burke-Dain, the Poetry Foundation’s Media and Marketing Director, and Ydalmi Noriega, the Special Assistant to President Robert Polito. Burke-Dain and Noriega communicated that the letter and petition introduced a real need for the Foundation to change and refine some of its processes, such as figuring out how to better support programs like Poets in Need and (more…)

Here’s something that has nothing to do with lists: Brooklyn Poets raising funds to launch THE BRIDGE, a social network that will allow new poets to find mentors, get critiques, and form communities with other poets. Contribute here and prove how comfortable you are.

Build The Bridge from Brooklyn Poets on Vimeo.

The NYTimes is starting a series about independent poetry publishers. The first interview is with Copper Canyon.

Over at a mock Poetry Foundation Jim Behrle’s chimed in about the Kill List: his being upset about it, among other things, as well as his attempts to contact the publisher(s) to see if they’d “comment on any efforts they made to fact check the poem?”

I mean, really? Really? And I’m with Mark Johnson 1000 literal (ha ha) % when he says that Behrle’s piece is “so embarrassing.”

And how embarrassing, also, the way in which so many others have reacted to this Kill List. And how embarrassing, also, that CAConrad’s heaped abuse on Mark for speaking up in the poem’s defense, comparing (after other insults) Mark’s “stupidity” to the “plaque on very filthy teeth.”

And how embarrassing (but not surprising) that Conrad’s little drones let him get away with shit like this.

This Kill List’s turned out to be a great litmus test, indeed. Blah, blah.

selling 10 original sexts for charity. each sext costs $10, except for one of them — level 2 — which costs $1000.