Lou Schneider liked his manuscript of ‘Stamboul Blues’ and got him started as a published writer. It was the cold junky eye, the alienation and disillusionment, the unemphatic humor—acid but deadpan—that appealed to Schneider, though perhaps I’m projecting what appeals to me.
Archives for July 2022
A New Chapbook Series
Coming from Moloko Plus, This Is One of Them
‘Shall we / be lighthearted / to ward off / the shitstorm? / Tra-la la-la. / Or shall we / bite our elbows / to the bone? / Tra-la.
A Life as Yet Unfinished
“The leg is dead,” she says
and drags the left behind,
while the best of her —
impassioned lips and eyes —
gathers for the burial.
American Presidents
A Dirge for Their ‘Greatest’ Racist Hits
“One shocking, grotesque, and racist revelation after another reveals a history of the bigotry of American presidents and how complicit they were in legitimizing American racism.” — Randy Burman
Counter Culture Chronicles
Retro vinyl is a thing. But retro cassette? Does anyone still have or use a cassette player? Apparently some do. René van der Voort has produced more than 100 cassettes by a wide range of poets, writers, and artists. His label, Counter Culture Chronicles, lists audio performances by Aram Saroyan, Charles Plymell, Jürgen Ploog, Stuart Perkoff, Allen Ginsberg, Nanao Sakaki, Angus MacLise, Ed Dorn, Ken Kesey, Joel Oppenheimer, Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, Ted Berrigan, Peter Orlovsky, Gerd Stern, Ira Cohen, Michael McClure, Fielding Dawson, Steve Dalachinsky, Neeli Cherkovski, Ed Dorn, and ruth weiss. My own cassette has just been released. The recording runs for 30 minutes.
‘Burning Boris’ by David Erdos
Poem 6 from ‘The Bastards Charter’
Making an Impact on Elections
Listen to a podcast about Students for Justice. Its activist co-directors speak about what the nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization does and how it works. The program was founded in May 2020 to meet two urgent needs—the need to fight voter suppression and apathy, and the need to engage young people in the electoral process.
Essential Viewing
Jeffrey Sachs on Covid, Climate Change, Globalization, Oil, Ukraine, Russia, China, Taiwan, and South America
Speaking from deep experience and extensive scholarship, he excoriates American policies and leadership, and NATO’s.