Some Poems

I've got some poems up on The Awl—which apparently should not be italicized.

Celebrity Poets

A few questions: Can we hurry up and sell-out already? Do we have to have sold-out in a different medium in order to write a marketable book of poetry? Did you know that Billy Collins's first book of poetry was called Poker Face?

Or, as Anne Carson suggests, I'm not sure if we can avoid it. We've already sold out--and were willing to do it for free. Or, rather, for true love:



Do we have to go back to being romantics again in order to secure a larger audience? Or is that itself the problem?

That primal dove that rises above the golden heap will be our mascot! We will race forward into a new era of the essence distilled. Spring shall be our flag and Death shall be what happens to these leaves that we notice, most acutely, in autumn. O, forlorn departments, weep for me. O, dire merchant, spurn us. Let us keep us in the arms of poesie.

Is there another sort of love that the masses love?

Q: What does everyone love?
A: Yoko Ono.

Oh, Yoko:



(I'm sorry about that. Rinse:
)

I've been having this circular conversation a lot lately. My solution is this poem:


If you would like to give me money, please interact with this "poem." I am not actively asking for money except in the sense that I am the poet putting on the persona of one seeking money. I ask your assistance in language, but not in actuality. The 'I' of this poem is not 'I.'

The Other Poems

For the sake of your radar, I just wanted to announce that my second book received the Fence Modern Poets Series Prize and will be coming out this Fall 2011 from, well, Fence Books.

Things you may want to potentially know / do:

1. There's a cover. / Look at it.

2. There are some sample poems. / Read them.

3. Marjorie Perloff likes it. / Like it.