Presses
AN INTERVIEW WITH BRIAN CLEMENTS FROM “FIREWHEEL EDITIONS”
brian clements from firewheel editions was nice and did an interview with me. feast yo eyes nah children.
(interview after break yo)
HTMLGIANT: how did firewheel get started and what is the origin of the name?
BRIAN CLEMENTS: >Firewheel started in a fit of manic energy
when I lived in Dallas and thought it would be a good idea to publish chapbooks that would have a hard time getting published anywhere else, whether due to their content, style, typography, unconventional design, whatever. The mission of the press morphed a bit when I began publishing
Sentence. I just recently revived the chapbook series.
The name came from either a sunstroke-induced vision of Sol’s conflagration or the name of the area in Garland, TX where I used to live,which, in turn, is named after a flower, I think–can’t remember which.
HMLGIANT: can you describe a physical reaction you have when reading what you feel is a great book? i tend to feel like i want to get on the ground on my side and do that thing where you run in a circle.
BC: Huh, I think I actually did that when I read some of your poems. Typically when I read a good book, like when I read John Yau’s Corpse and Mirror the first time, I press my face between the pages, shake it back and forth and
make that blubba-blubba-blubba sound with my mouth. Or sometimes I just stare into space and enjoy that feeling you get that feels like you’re really stoned. Sometimes I even read the poem again.
HTMLGIANT: what is it that you feel makes a great book or at least one firewheel would want to publish?
BC: I’ll pass on the difficulties of talking about what makes a book “great.” What makes me go blubba-blubba-blubba and/or want to publish a book, though, could be any number of qualities, including a novel sense of humor,
formal/stylistic innovation, or a level of thinking-in-the-poem that I don’t typically see in many poems in the journals or in most books. Basically, I want to be changed by the work; I want the way I think or the way I read from that point on to be changed.
HMLGIANT: is it ok to take a pickle from the jar using your fingers or should you always use a fork?
BC: Depends on whose jar it is and where my fingers have been recently.
HTMLGIANT: if you had to stop using paper to print on, what would you print on?
BC: Nanobots that navigate directly into the brain and create the illusion that a god/dess, ghost, demon, or evil twin is whispering in your ear.
HTMLGIANT: please describe the physical make-up of these three genres as if they were humans:
BC:
flash fiction: guy at the party who really doesn’t want to be there, then goes home and turns lead into gold
poetry: Anne Carson
short story: bloviating fat guy who sits in the seat next to you on the plane but to your astonishment occasionally transforms into Marion Jones. Then, alas, it’s the fat guy again.
HTMLGIANT: please write a four to six line theme song for firewheel
BC: Paa paa paa ta-ti-tum
Taa Taa ti-ti ta-ta dum
Pada pada pada pi-pi-pum
Ta-ta tada tada tedium
Bum bum Firewheel Editions!
HTMLGIANT: what is the first book you read that made you pursue writing/publishing?
BC: Writing: Seamus Heaney’s _Selected Poems_ in 1985, especially the bog people poems
Publishing: I’m loath to admit it was the whole “Best of…” trend back in the mid-90s that got me and Joe Ahearn thinking we could cash in with a Best Texas Writing anthology that would sell thousands of copies and enable
us to publish loads of other stuff we really liked.
HTMLGIANT: have you ever been in a fight in grade school and if so, what was the circumstance?
BC: Yeah, I took a couple of wild swings at an older kid who was badgering me on the basketball court in about 7th grade. He popped me in the eye and that was the end of that, except for the three licks I got from the coach’s
custom-made paddle.
Tags: BRIAN CLEMENTS, FIREWHEEL EDITIONS
me rikey rikey
me rikey rikey
Did anyone win that contest?
Did anyone win that contest?
Brian, I’m wondering if we were in school together. I grew up in Richardson. We bought our dog from a kennel in Garland. I got whacked with a paddle in 7th grade too at Wilson Jr. High. I was one of two Jews among 500 plus students. I knew David Jacobs, the guy who apparently killed his girlfriend and himself last year during the roids investigation. David Jacobs once chased me around Reunion Arena for a long time. He always wore fatigues and, at 14, looked 25.
Brian, I’m wondering if we were in school together. I grew up in Richardson. We bought our dog from a kennel in Garland. I got whacked with a paddle in 7th grade too at Wilson Jr. High. I was one of two Jews among 500 plus students. I knew David Jacobs, the guy who apparently killed his girlfriend and himself last year during the roids investigation. David Jacobs once chased me around Reunion Arena for a long time. He always wore fatigues and, at 14, looked 25.
Molly, do you mean the fight in 7th grade? or the Senence Book Award? or the Firewheel Chapbook Award?
David, I got whacked with a paddle in England, AR in about 1978. Didn’t move to Dallas area until ’94, when I began enjoying the many benefits of the Dallas JCC. Never had the pleasure of being chased by David Jacobs, but I did get an “I’m going to kill you” look once from Troy Aikman when I was talking to his date at Javier’s.
Molly, do you mean the fight in 7th grade? or the Senence Book Award? or the Firewheel Chapbook Award?
David, I got whacked with a paddle in England, AR in about 1978. Didn’t move to Dallas area until ’94, when I began enjoying the many benefits of the Dallas JCC. Never had the pleasure of being chased by David Jacobs, but I did get an “I’m going to kill you” look once from Troy Aikman when I was talking to his date at Javier’s.
Whoops, I meant the Firewheel Chapbook Award.
Whoops, I meant the Firewheel Chapbook Award.
An announcement is due any day, as soon as I confab with the design editor.
An announcement is due any day, as soon as I confab with the design editor.
Good Aikman story, man.
You missed out on Big D’s glory days. When we first moved there, the guy across the street from us scared the hell out of us with his 10 dobermans. My mom said stay away from him. A few months later he walked into a Wendy’s and shot up the ceiling, thankfully doing no other damage.
One guy I still keep in touch with from D going on 25 years now…is an attorney and looks remarkably like the schmo D attorney recently on the bachelor (the guy who bawled at the end when he didn’t get picked). He will be hearing about that for awhile.
Good Aikman story, man.
You missed out on Big D’s glory days. When we first moved there, the guy across the street from us scared the hell out of us with his 10 dobermans. My mom said stay away from him. A few months later he walked into a Wendy’s and shot up the ceiling, thankfully doing no other damage.
One guy I still keep in touch with from D going on 25 years now…is an attorney and looks remarkably like the schmo D attorney recently on the bachelor (the guy who bawled at the end when he didn’t get picked). He will be hearing about that for awhile.
Exciting! Can’t wait to find out who goes home big!
Exciting! Can’t wait to find out who goes home big!
oh david you did not just admit to knowing who the fuck was on the bachelor did you?
my god man. watch porn or something.
oh david you did not just admit to knowing who the fuck was on the bachelor did you?
my god man. watch porn or something.
jereme, you don’t have to worry about my porn viewing. it’s quite varied and consistent.
yes, i watched a bit of the bachelor where the guy looked a lot like my friend. i think shows like that and dancing with the stars (AND American Idol) are what makes this country tick. Without them, what would people watch? Movies with subtitles? Would they read to their kids at night? Play with them?
jereme, you don’t have to worry about my porn viewing. it’s quite varied and consistent.
yes, i watched a bit of the bachelor where the guy looked a lot like my friend. i think shows like that and dancing with the stars (AND American Idol) are what makes this country tick. Without them, what would people watch? Movies with subtitles? Would they read to their kids at night? Play with them?
jereme:
maybe he was jerking off to the bachleor guy crying, then he’d have us all beat. haha.
dave:
i watch the idol auditions then i stop. there’s something about getting your dreams and self worth and self esteem crushed by paula abdul and simon cowell in front of 22 million people that is extremely appealing to my senses. never watched dancing though.
jereme:
maybe he was jerking off to the bachleor guy crying, then he’d have us all beat. haha.
dave:
i watch the idol auditions then i stop. there’s something about getting your dreams and self worth and self esteem crushed by paula abdul and simon cowell in front of 22 million people that is extremely appealing to my senses. never watched dancing though.
barry i like how you pointed this out.
simon is very truthful and negative and (perceived by some) mean.
yet millions and millions of people love to watch him.
then they shit on him as a human being for being what he is.
funny.
barry i like how you pointed this out.
simon is very truthful and negative and (perceived by some) mean.
yet millions and millions of people love to watch him.
then they shit on him as a human being for being what he is.
funny.
I jerk off to all kinds of stuff. I would rather remain a little mystery about the content.
Yeah, the people that shit on Simon are hilarious. I used to watch the auditions. I love watching hopes/dreams crushed. The last 20 minutes of “Extras” hit on this well.
I jerk off to all kinds of stuff. I would rather remain a little mystery about the content.
Yeah, the people that shit on Simon are hilarious. I used to watch the auditions. I love watching hopes/dreams crushed. The last 20 minutes of “Extras” hit on this well.
Retain.
JFC.
Retain.
JFC.
i don’t know about you david but the internet has ruined me.
i have to see some crazy shit to keep my attention hard.
regular non-aggressive coitus just doesn’t do it any more.
i don’t know about you david but the internet has ruined me.
i have to see some crazy shit to keep my attention hard.
regular non-aggressive coitus just doesn’t do it any more.