Show Me That Smile

Apologies for the delay, but as usual, technical difficulties plague me. All writing's been analog for your humble narrator, which is fine by me. Anyway...

apparently we are all witnesses. Holy playoffs! & apparently the Cubs (otherwise known as the Chicago Cancer) produce better prize-fighters than ball players. But i digress...

I shouldn't discuss sports on my blog I know. It's all about careerism here! "publicity is everything!" Or so I heard. Gee, I thought it was about imagination, ability & execution. But apparently I was wrong; it's all about putting your face forward, putting your mouth where your eyes should be.

Anyway, the letters persist. Letters letters letters. How May evaporates schoolless & underfunded. I know i should go corporate, but I'm waiting for corporate to come to me, so I can just say No! just like ol' Nancy learned me.

I had so much to say but sadly going to have to keep it brief, as I write you courtesy of B Love from the new Shark reef. Yes, the new practice digs are up to both snuff & fire code, which is an improvement of sorts. First, to our Machinist, who has been holding down nobly, yes?! & the rest of our dis-possessed friends everywhere:

it is wise, I think, to mourn what might have been, in our own ways, but then we must display faith in proving that the stories of our past, mourned loves & fortunes can be understood, made our own & realized. "No more dying."

Second, Kate found this little tidbit in Anime Insider & I thought I would, as I do, forward it on to you true believers for consideration & comment:

"Of the 50,000-plus kanji in use in Japan, there are only around 3,000 approved for use as personal names! Japan's Family Registration Law states that parents can only name their children from a government-maintained list of kanji. Applications that use kanji not on the list will be rejected."

Lastly, in response to reports of a press surfacing out of this ring of hell, yes. There shall be publication(s) afoot, eventually. To gain traction for larger future projects & to proliferate the circle, I proudly announce Fifth Circle's first running feature, FRIENDS OF V, referring to many things, specifically the Roman numeral for five. Ha! What is this beast, you ask? Well, details will follow shortly, after conference with your humble Machinist. Safe to say regular poems, interviews, ditties. New faces for sure. More later, as always.

from the hunting grounds, rc

Infernoland!

that's right. i'm a minor demon running an amusement park in the fifth circle of hell. shit, at times this semester it has certainly seemed like that is the case. but alas, after tonight's workshop, I am officially one class (plus) away from my MFA. anti-climatic? sure, but don't we all need something to look forward to these days?

anyway, here's something to look forward to: i just passed my username & password for this ol' nook of hell to your friend & mine, a pillar of Midwestern virtue, Woody Loverude (of Glamour Arrives fame). as i mentioned a couple days ago, he has, for the moment, abandoned his blog due to lack of available time. point is, now he has access to this blog (if he chooses to use it) & i am certain things will get severe & vastly more interesting the minute he shows up. i hope you're all still chanting his name-- WOOD-Y! WOOD-Y!

i'm also chanting his name 'cause he sent me a copy of his MFA thesis manuscript (speaking of being done) & i must say i am pretty moved. hopefully most of the poems will get out into the world via journals or, satan willing, in book form. he is my brother & my hero & one of the reasons i always feel compelled to write. so thank you woody. & speaking of done, tonight is (most unfortunately) Ed Roberson's last class at CCC. while i am always compelled to write, what usually has come out is rarely worth a damn. but thanks to Ed, i have learned to write. again. the way i want to write. so let me take a moment to publicly thank Ed Roberson for helping me to be more articulate, being incredibly generous with his poetic eye & ears, & his deep wisdom, and for raising the bar for me & i think everyone he comes in contact with, both as a craftsman & as a human being. my greatest hope for the summer is that he will be around the city awhile longer & hopefully we can keep in touch. he is easily the most significant influence on my work & in my opinion, one of the best poets alive in this country. probably anywhere, in any language. even in Infernoland.

sadly, though, i am sure his ticket's not been punched for this ride. hell has no place for that man. & he will be missed. woody & i will be here for the duration, so stayed tuned, true believers! things are about to get a whole lot more interesting in hell. who are the people in your neighborhood? bring 'em down for discount thursdays!!

oh yeah, we need a catchy nickname for woody if he's gonna be working here, like "the foundling" or "rc cola" or as Sharks call me, "the truth." suggestions welcome!

end transmission.

Correspondence

Greetings, all! So what are we learning so far this spring? The NBA is back, the Cubs are a disgrace & the White Sox will most likely repeat. The White House "shake-up" goes on & will soon be catching on with all the kids & replacing "grinding" as a popular form of dancing. The Red Line is completely fucked. Radiohead tickets are going to be ridiculously expensive, thanks to all you Nazi fucking ticket brokers out there. But don't anyone go jumping in front of a train just yet (unless if you are a ticket broker; then, be my guest). "Keep hope alive...

I've been keeping my hope alive in the form of these little "letters" I've been writing that are passing for poems. So far, two of them from the original addressee, Twin Falls, have been picked up for publication & have prompted responses from at least two other towns/cities/etc--Columbus & New Lennox. I've taken a shine to this lil' epistolary form & written to other bergs throughout the land & thought I'd take some space in my nook o' Hell to post the only one to be addressed to more than one person. I am always very interested to know what you good folks out there think about my ditties (& even those of you of ill repute!). So PLEASE, fire back any comments; have no fear, let me have it 'cause I'm dying to know what you all think. Of course, any kind of reply is always most welcome here in Infernoland. Thanks.

xoxoxo, your friendly neighborhood foundling


Dear Columbus, New Lennox, Twin Falls--

Hope everyone's Cinco de Mayo was on par w/
National Prayer & May Days. May oh my! So many anniver-
saries to keep & track. But doesn't everyone love a scoundrel?
Just a name, like forks n' knives, Guy Faux, a string section.
Midwives. We remember & birthday even for those we lose.
& lost. Just years, depending on ancestry & astrology. Except
for angels, for whom nothing earthly applies. Isn't it time we
develop better shoulders to carry______? Alas! I must tarry
off for tix to the hot ticket of the summer: feel good the getting
is not. But 5 years ago on the first of August (& hottest day of
summer, Aught One) I slept & tarried not. Suffered the sun's
duration, the recycled water. & after Radiohead walked off, I
stood in the middle of Michigan Ave, traffic blocked for miles
north & south, and despite all dis-, a victory. Achieved & able.
One night no one was a saint or a street or a thief. Just angels.
It was as it is: no holiday. But that victory's still out there, o'er
the ramparts, over the Lake. Just a song past the farthest pier.

Early to rise,

Quad Cities

Don't Call it a Comeback...

word is born.

yes, it's been that long true believers. Hope all in cyberland are well. Columbia Poetry Review #19 is out & the launch reading is today. At long last glory. Looking forward very much to seeing Bertram & hearing her read, welcoming B. Love back to CCC for the reading. Should be good times. Mi madre is even coming to the city for this little shindig. All's I know is I get to introduce Ed Roberson to kick off the reading. What's Wayne & Garth say? Oh, that's right: "We're not worthy!" My sentiments exactly.

But nothing sentimental today. Brief updates:

1. For anyone who doesn't know, I am no longer playing shakes suburban rock with Lifelike (& my apologies if you still get email from them. Write them & tell them to remove you from the list. Unless you don't want to). I am now a member (with B. Love) of Sharks. You can visit us here. Hopefully soon we'll have a couple tracks from a live recording we did uploaded, but for now it is what it 'tis.

2. I landed my first national print publication. I'm hesitant to say too much now, but suffice to say it's on the level & more details will be posted as they arrive.

3. No, I am not dead, nor was I ever dead. As Riley said on The Boondocks, "first of all, I'm a live forever." Not really, but I am, as far as I can tell, very much alive.

4. Woody is finishing his MFA at NYU, at let me be the first to extend to him public congratulations. We will miss him at the launch reading today, but shall toast him repeatedly once it's finished. & will also be the first to declare the Save Woody's Blog! Campaign; he's too busy to do it all himself, but we miss him so, don't we? With any luck, true believers, perhaps we can persuade him to occasionally visit my little nook of the Inferno & grace us with his verbiage. WOOD-Y! WOOD-Y!

5. Game 6 tonite in Chicago. Gotta have it. GO BULLS!!!!!!

6. Chloe turned 7 years old this past Sunday & we had a beautiful party down in Carbondale. The rain broke just long enough for her. & yes, she is getting big.

Anyway, time to run, but I promise to not be so neglectful in my duties this summer. Oh yeah, if anyone out there can help with getting Radiohead tix for June 19 & 20 in Chicago, PLEASE let me know. To close, here's a bit of interesting wire service. All love & best, my dearies...

R Collins


ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — U.S. Judge Leonie Brinkema sent Zacarias Moussaoui to prison for life Thursday, to "die with a whimper," for his role in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The convicted terrorist declared: "God save Osama bin Laden — you will never get him."

Brinkema and the unrepentant Moussaoui capped the two-month trial with an intense exchange that will mark the defendant's last public words before his incarceration in a maximum security prison in Colorado.

A day earlier, a jury rejected the government's case to have Moussaoui executed, deciding instead to should spend life in prison with no chance of parole. Not all jurors were convinced that Moussaoui, who was in jail on immigration charges Sept. 11, had a significant part in the attacks, despite his boastful claims that he did.

Brinkema firmly refused to be interrupted by the 37-year-old defendant as she disputed his declaration from a day earlier: "America, you lost. ... I won."

"Mr. Moussaoui, when this proceeding is over, everyone else in this room will leave to see the sun ... hear the birds ... and they can associate with whomever they want," she said.

She went on: "You will spend the rest of your life in a supermax prison. It's absolutely clear who won."

And she said it was proper he will be kept away from outsiders, unable to speak publicly again.
"Mr. Moussaoui, you came here to be a martyr in a great big bang of glory," she said, "but to paraphrase the poet T.S. Eliot, instead you will die with a whimper."

At that point, Moussaoui tried again to interrupt her, but she raised her voice and spoke over him.

"You will never get a chance to speak again and that's an appropriate ending."