Great Northwest Reading Extravaganza!

I've never been to Portland, never to Oregon, never to the Great Northwest in general (but you can see, I do love coffee, so I'm sure I'll fit right in) (and I also love Twin Peaks and use it to shape all my preconceptions for the entire upper West Coast area, so I think everything will work out just fine) so what else to do but go tackle the state in a big bear hug and wrestle it into submission, just like the Bookhouse Boys would do.

I'll be at Oregon State leading a workshop for their MFA program and then reading that evening on Tuesday October 1st.

Wednesday I'll be in Portland for LitHop PDX at Common Grounds Coffee.

 LitHop has a great setup- a string of presses and venues, each having a 45 minute reading starting at the top of hour, with 15 minutes to mix,mingle, buy books, and move on to another venue if you so desire. Tin House, YesYes, Sister Spit and others are going to tear into this night like it was a piece of Norma's cherry pie at the Double R. A map and more available here- http://lithoppdx.com/info

Thursday I'm reading at Portland Community College and Friday I'll be enjoying all Portland has to offer. By then I should also understand Twin Peaks has nothing to do with Portland and will have come to love and cherish the city for its own charms.

Saturday is an offsite WordStock reading with Keith Leonard and Ocean Vuong at a place called Uchu Sushi and Fried Chicken, so I'm pretty sure you're gonna have to shut your currently agape mouth. See this whole lineup and more at Boyishly's YesYes page http://yesyesbooks.com/store/book/0000017/

Boyishly on GoodReads

I am not a Goodreader (although I am a good reader) but I'm happy to see Boyishly sneak its way into the Goodreads community.

Boyishly Goodreads rating: 4.17 (6 ratings)

If you Goodreads (honestly, verbing the names of internet sites is pretty amusing and makes English a much more interesting language) then stop by and visit Boyishly.

What I'm Watching- Top of the Lake

I know I'm supposed to be watching Orange is the New Black and I'm getting there, but first I watched Jane Campion's Top of the Lake on Netflix. I enjoyed it, thought it beautiful and atmospheric, wasn't too put off by its "weird for the sake of being weirdness", and liked the way the story unfolded and plot points simply fizzled out.

But the reason I am writing about it here is because I'm really interested in the performances by Peter Mullan (Matt Mitcham), Jacqueline Joe (Tui), and Holly Hunter (GJ). I thought all three of them were riveting- the performances where there was nowhere else to look when they were on the screen. And I thought a lot about how they did that. In Holly Hunter's case, the character was awful- speaking in platitudes when she did speak, stomping around mysteriously when she didn't- but I thought she was great. I'm interested in how she took what was an awful part and made it great.

Mullan and Joe were riveting because they made their characters so interesting, so alive. Hunter you knew was acting but was saving something from disaster. Mullan and Joe pulled that trick of being so inside a character, you didn't even know they were acting. I admire both of these skill sets and love to see them in action and think about them a lot as a writer. How do you take a poem that's flawed or a setup for disaster and save it? How do you imbue a poem with so much of its own life and energy it doesn't feel like a poem anymore?

Top of the Lake is definitely worth a watch but these three actors were what made me watch it so quickly, what made me gulp down their moments on screen.

How To Buy A Book of Poetry

Several people have asked me "the best" way they could buy a copy of Boyishly which led me to think about responsible poetry book buying. And it's hard to know. Amazon is right there and so easy, few bookstores stock poetry or at least the poetry you might want, and unless you are hearing someone read, how do you know what poetry to take a chance on?

So here's my quick primer in case you aren't sure of how to responsibly buy poetry in this day and age.

1. The first and easiest way is to pick up the book at a reading. This might happen in a bookstore or as part of a series. If it occurs in a bookstore, you'll have to buy the book from bookstore, which is fair enough, since their sponsorship of the reading should get you a new audience. The bookstore should buy the books from the publisher- the bookstore pays the publisher around 60% of the cover price and can return books for a refund at anytime. The publisher also covers shipping in these cases. Ideally, the bookstore would order a couple of copies to keep in stock or, even better, push the book by displaying it prominently or putting it on a Staff Picks shelf.

This doesn't always happen. Bookstores will ask the poet to bring books in themselves; since most poets get paid in books, they can do this, but they are losing money. (A publisher should be making some money on the 60% price from the bookstore but the poet "loses" 40% if they provide the books.) Bookstores typically won't stock poetry books unless you are Anne Carson or Seamus Heaney. They simply take the stack of books you bring in, sell them that night, hand you back the rest, and cut you a check hopefully in a reasonable amount of time.

If the reading isn't at a bookstore, you should be able to buy a book (usually cheaper than the cover price) from the poet. Since the poet has probably gotten paid in books, this is handy for the poet and the buyer. But we've all seen poets who don't bring books, don't bring enough, don't hang around to sell books, don't mention they have books for sale or the price. This helps no one.

2. The next best way to score the book you want is to order it directly from the press. This works out well for the press- their backstock goes away and they can get an idea of who is buying and where. You can also get a sense of what the press is doing by looking at their other authors and work. Just as you may have a favorite writer, it's likely there's a press out there that speaks to you as well. Many presses offer series discounts (get all their books for a year at a discount price) and most offer free shipping when you buy more than one or if you order early. YesYesBooks is my publisher; I was thrilled to be with them because I like their philosophy and their lineup- they take chances on new authors and they are committed to making a beautiful product. As a reader, I'm in love with a lot of the lineup at Wave Books. I don't always love what they do but I'm always interested. But what if you want more than one book, not by the same publisher?

3. Wanting more than one book by more than one publisher is a good time to turn to SPD, Small Press Distribution. They are a distribution house for lots of small, quality presses. This is a great way to also buy some work you don't know. They make recommendations, have a best-seller list, and even offer a Mystery Box- 4lbs for 10$. Like a bookstore, the press doesn't make as much money per book, but libraries and bookstores and even simple readers like me and you often don't want to go from press site to press site; SPD works as a kind of validation and clearing house.

4. You can also theoretically order any book from a bookstore; again, this seldom works out. Unless it's some major distributor, bookstores don't like to order things. Some bookstores are exceptions to this- for instance, So & So in Raleigh is a very poetry friendly spot; Regulator in Durham not so much. Any chain, probably not at all.

5. Amazon- pays little to the press and is a hassle to deal with. But they are there and they are cheap and they do get you a book fairly quickly. I've used them too, but let's just admit you lose a little piece of your soul every time you do.

The bottom line is, read some poetry. It's good for you whatever way you get it. And it would make me particularly happy if you included Boyishly in that "to-read" list.

Tuesday August 6th- Omission Summer Literary Tour- Regulator Bookstore, Durham NC

I'm very pleased to take part in the Omission Summer Literary Tour when it roles into Durham on Tuesday August 6th. Join us at the Regulator at 7pm.

This one is special to me because Justin Boening, beyond being a great poet, was Boyishly's editor. Boyishly's brilliant editor. I owe him, the books owes him, a ton and I'm not only excited about hearing Justin reading from his National Poetry Society Chapbook Fellowship book Self Portrait As Missing Person I'm thrilled to get to introduce him to Triangle poets. We have a lot more to hear from him in the future, I know.

July 11th- Flyleaf Second Thursday Series

Mark Smith-Soto and I were the featured readers at Flyeaf Books Second Thursday Reading Series. This is a nice intro to readers in North Carolina- they consistently feature 2 NC writers with new books. Keep up with the series here

It was great to read with Mark- I was a PhD student at UNCG while he taught there (he still does) but we hadn't met formally before. He's a great reader and I loved the work he read from his new book Splices. 



They draw a nice crowd that is very attentive, very focused. It's lovely to see poetry be so vibrant in a community.

June 27th- Wax Wroth #6

Wax Wroth #6 featured a lineup of Durham poets, all reading to welcome kate pringle back to town.

The Carrack a great artist's gallery and all around fabulous space hosted this version of Wax Wroth, Brian Howe's occasional reading series. I was really happy to read for Wax Wroth #5 and was super excited about taking part in this one as it worked to welcome kate pringle back to the Triangle and say hello to her book fault tree.

As Brian so smoothly said it- kate cruelly broke our hearts when she moved to California a couple years ago but then crazy-glued them back together upon recently returning, somehow even doper and more famous than before. This headlining reading will be her first in the Triangle since reclaiming it as home.

The opening readers include a rogue’s gallery of old pringle pals and conspirators: Shirlette Ammons, Brian Howe, Fred Moten, Tanya Olson, Dianne Timblin, Chris Tonelli, and Chris Vitiello. Damn! you must be thinking. That’s a lot of poets. (It is!) But don’t despair. Before kate gives an ample 20-minute-ish reading, each opening poet will offer just 5 to 7 minutes of their hottest verses, back to back. That means you get to hear eight local poets in the same time usually allotted to two or three.

This was a great lineup and night. I also learned that night Fred Moten was stepping out of town so it was good to hear from him one more time again.

Mixtape- June 25th

I read from Boyishly and talked about the importance of going big in poetry at the Casbah on June 25th for Mixtape

Mixtape is a great series; it's been around in several versions. Originally, Brian Howe ran it and asked writers to read from works that had been important to them. It met in living rooms and was pretty informal although always fascinating.

Now Chris Vitiello runs it in conjunction with the Hinge, a literary group here in Durham. It happens at the Casbah and has a wider focus; all kinds of artists take part. Some talk about influences, some show their latest work, while others give a type of talk. I kind of combined all three, reading examples from the work of others and my own that illustrated techniques used in large, epic, ambitious poetry. I later gave a different version of this talk at the Duke Creative Writers Camp.

The others in the Mixtape lineup were also great. Francesca Talenti showed a sample of her work for the stage and in instiallation. Below is an example from her work A Bride For All Seasons.

Michael Itkoff showed a slideshow of his work, including a picture he took as a boy of David Robinson. Both artists were really great and I thought all three presentations worked well together. Below is a sample of his really fabulous White Board Project.

May 21- State of Things

On May 21st, I talked about and read from Boyishly on the State of Things with Frank Statio. You can hear the interview and reading here

The State of Things runs on NPR stations in North and South Carolina and has an arts and news focus. I enjoyed doing the interview- it was obvious that both Frank and the prep person had read the book and were interested in it. I was especially impressed that they both saw the book as active, as having real work to do. SOT regularly talks to artists of all stripes and is a show worth listening to online or on the radio.

Boyishly Launch-May 15th

Boyishly got a warm welcome to its Durham home on May 15th at the Pinhook

 Books screeched into town on the 14th (Despite the fact my street was closed by a traffic accident. The FedEx driver whipped it around the roadblock to deliver my book. Well done, good man.) and an all-star lineup tore the house down.

Chris Vitiello read dressed as the Pope

the Bull City Slam team proved they will be a force to be reckoned with again this year

 Jim Haverkamp graciously showed us When Walt Whitman Was A Little Girl,

shirlette ammons read and performed from her new album like the multi-media threat she is

and the Fuck Yeahs proved to be an outstanding houseband (seen with shirlette in the video)

It was a great start for Boyishly, a great send off for the Minor American Series (which has been bringing great work to Durham for several years now) and a brilliant evening of all the Bull City has to offer.

Boyishly- Available!!!! Here!!!!

I am happy to say that Boyishly is available to order here from the YesYes Books. They've done just a beautiful job with the book.




The cover photo (which runs over to the back) is by Eleanor Bennett whose work is amazing; she's a 17-year old photographer from England and her work consistently blows me away. She shot this picture particularly for the cover after reading some of the poems. It's perfect.

Alban Fisher did the design work; he does a lot of work for YesYes and I was so pleased with what he came up with.

It's thrilling to have my first book. It's even more thrilling that it's so beautiful and that the inside and outside of the book work so well together.

What I'm Listening To- Emergency Ward!, Nina Simone

This is Simone's album length response to the Vietnam War- cover songs, poems, discussion. It's smart and thoughtful and heart-breaking.



This album is stuck with me right now because it's what I want to do next as an artist; stop and explore where the country is, "a minute" (as in right this. . . .) book just like this is "a minute" album. A snapshot.

It's hard though, which is why I admire this one so much. It's far from perfect, but yet it is perfect in that it is that exact moment. I know it is because Simone knows it is and tells us as much by the way she performs it.

That's the other thing I love about Simone, her ability to crawl into a moment, drag the song and the audience in there with her, and muck about.

Which is just as much what Eileen Myles says in a great new essay in The Volta. Myles does a great job of this too, this crawling inside and dragging you along with her.

So I"m thinking about these two works as guidelines and models. But they also leave me wondering how have we gotten to a place where we don't value this kind of artist anymore? We label them crazy or too personal and yet what they do is brave and crucial and dangerous.

What I'm Doing- Finishing Memes- Next Big Thing

kate pringle and L. Lamar Wilson were generous enough to tag me in there Next Big Thing responses and since I do have a book coming out, I thought I would jump on. How do you know a meme is dead? It finally gets to me.

What is the working title of the book? Boyishly. Not just the working title but the actual title, about to be birthed by YesYesBooks in May 2013. Did I steal it from Carol Mavor's Reading Boyishly? Little bit. Let's say adopted.

Where did the idea come from for the book? This is my first book, so it wasn't a book I sat down to write. Instead, I just wrote poems. Eventually, I started to feel like I had the number of poems that belonged in a book. So I tried to make them into a book. And I kept writing poems. Then I started to figure out that these poems had some things in common. So I put those poems together. And that's when I had the idea that I really had a book. Having worked backwards for the first book, let me say that working forward (exploring an idea in poems) is a lot easier.

What genre does your book fall under? Poetry. Other than that, I think poets spend way too much time trying to figure out what "kind" of poetry they write. Even worse, they spend more time trying to figure out which "kind" of poetry is poetic enough. Who is my book's poetic family? CA Conrad. Dorothea Lasky. Susan Howe. Claudia Rankine. And we all live together in a house way up high in a tree.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition? Who wrote this meme, James Franco? Characters present are John Brown, Andre the Giant, Gertrude Stein, Samuel Beckett, Muhammad Ali, Chang and Eng, and a Chinese vampire. Plus a young girl and adolescent girls and women. But I want Quvenzhane Wallis to read the audio book. And then I want her to spit out James Franco's bones at the end.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? All the things of the world that slip around unseen, that get labelled monsterous, talk back.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript? I wrote poems for probably 10 years. Once I knew what the book was, I worked, wrote and reordered for about 3 years.

Who or what inspired you to write this book? I wrote some as an undergraduate, but not well. When I became a grad student, I focused on becoming a better academic writer. I wanted to take some MFA classes when I was at UNCG but they wouldn't allow it. (MFA students took PhD classes, but it didn't work the other way around.) My first job out of grad school I taught creative writing and did the exercises with my students. Then I started going to open mikes and reading and discovered a deep need to write poems. Hasn't gone away yet.

What else about your book might pique the readers' interest? The cover is likely to come from a photographer, Eleanor Bennett, who is a 16 year old wunderkind from England. Her work is amazing and I'm thrilled to be working with her to find an image for the cover of Boyishly. http://eleanorleonnebennett.zenfolio.com/

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? No agency and not self-published. Boyishly will be published by YesYes Books in Portland OR.

What I'm Doing- Asking Elvis

I currently have two shrines at my house, one to Elvis, one to Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas. I use these shrines to show respect, to generate particular kinds of energy/mojo, and to help me think. Do Elvis or Gertrude really channel through my shrines? I think they do and I love having them both. (The next shrine I'm going to build is going to be for Thoreau and it's going to be a Three Sisters garden (corn, beans, squash) like Thoreau built for the newlyweds Nathaniel and Sophia Hawthorne when they moved into the Old Manse in Concord.

Today I lit the Elvis shrine and asked for release from Loserville. (Loserville is the handy term I use when I get on a string of poetic rejections. It can include other rejections as well but the poetic ones are usually the trigger.) Elvis told me "Loserville will let you go when it's done with you darlin'. Until then, keep taking care of business."

Thanks Elvis. I always find comfort in your advice.

What I'm Reading-Alcohol and Poetry

I read for the first time Lewis Hyde's excellent Alcohol and Poetry: John Berryman and the Booze Talking  and loved it for several reasons.

First, I like it as a piece of criticism. I wonder why this sort of plain-talk assessment has fallen out of favor, tumbled into the venue of comical literary columnists, instead of entrenching itself in academia. Its voice is smart and strong without being over the top and elusive. It isn't afraid to make statements (even if I don't love all the statements it makes. The leaking of drunken psychology into poems doesn't always convince me) and it isn't afraid to make big statements. Hyde makes statements about his understanding of alcoholism (don't buy all of those either)- that therapy can't cure it, that AA is the best way, that there is a spiritual component to recovery- and moves from them. I even enjoy that he's willing to identify and use an author to understand Berryman's work. There's some truth to what he says about who Berryman is and what it does to his writing that acknowledges that a real, flawed human being sat down and hashed out those poems in a place and time. Brave. His talk about "spirit-helpers" and the pull to stay with them as a guide instead of forge your own path is as insightful as it may be inaccurate.

Second, I like its voice. As I noted above, Hyde says things. he doesn't equivocate or apologize or hand it off to someone else. And he does it responsibly, unlike talk radio shows, about the only place you hear people put forth explicit world views and statements any more. Talk radio though makes statements to entertain, to amuse, to infuriate. Hyde makes statements to explain and elucidate. I can disagree and read on, momentarily step into the world he builds, even if I know I plan to step out later. Hyde doesn't yell or try to move eyeballs to his blog. He simply states what he understands- jump on and you know you can still jump off at the end, at least having witnessed the scenery. "A good spirit does not just change you, it is an agent of growth."

Third, I like that it takes poetry seriously. Poetry was Berryman's work to do and he didn't do it-  he chose the drink instead. That matters to Hyde- something real was lost, never created, or created askew because Berryman drank and kept on drinking. Even though Hyde begins with the generic link between literature and drinking, it's apparent that it isn't inevitable. No matter what those folks told themselves, they didn't have to get drunk to get to the place where they could write. In fact, getting drunk to get to that place meant they couldn't really come back at least not with everything they could have sober. It is both sad and infuriating that we buy this connection and while not explicit about it, Hyde argues that literature has lost, we have lost because of the decisions these authors made. "An anaesthetic is a poet-killer."

Strangely, it made me want to read both Recovery and The Dream Songs. The first bit of  Recovery  was infuriating and sloppy but I do want to finish the rest. It's refreshing though to see a smart piece of criticism that makes a real argument that is respectful of poetry's power. We need to demand this attitude from media and culture, as well as write poems that deserve the public's attention.

What I'm Fretting About- Grow It On Up, Boys

The point of this blog is to keep a list of things that I am reading, hearing, watching, seeing, thinking about while I am working on a new manuscript. Mostly I want to be able to go back and see how ideas sprouted and grew throughout the process and you're welcome to peek in as well if you like. I've been keeping a short list to catch up on during the end of the semester, so they'll be more this week.

But this entry is about what's driving me crazy right now, what I feel particularly sensitive to, what I'm noticing to my irritation. And it comes in two separate but related stages.

The first is men who dress like boys. I went to a reading the other night and both men, fully grown with university jobs, wives, children, partners, etc. had on some version of jeans, t-shirts, sneakers, headphones and other children's wear. Now, there's nothing really wrong with jeans and a t-shirt and the occasional pair of sneakers (although I still think those need to be reserved for the gym or other special events) and I have no more love for ties than I do for sneakers.

But what I'm really talking about is dressing like a little boy. Converse/Keds/hipster idiot sneakers. Vintage t-shirts (that the adult might have worn as a boy) of TV shows or bands or toys. Stupid filthy-looking jeans. Why this wears me out is directly related to the second part.

Both these guys read a series of works by other authors, many of which featured emotionally constipated men who ironically commented on everything from a great distance. There was not a real emotion to be found. (The one nice exception to this was a reading from Invisible Man. That's right- the man who could not be seen was the most emotionally present character of the evening.)

So I would like to officially announce I have had it right up to here with the emotionally absent male character- see my entry on Drive. Why have I reached this place? If men feel compelled to remain children who are incapable of recognizing or feeling their feelings, what is it to me? Obviously there are important ramifications for my life- I have a nephew, I have to live in a world primarily shaped by these men, and I truly believe everybody is typically happier when they are somehow aware of what they are feeling and have some healthy way to express that. I even feel bad that so many American men live in a world where that isn't possible for them. And these are all important effects.

But today's topic is how I  hate the effect this attitude has on literature, particularly poetry. I think poetry requires bravery- a poet has to be able to dive into and swim around some messy, messy places and then come back and talk about it. That's the poetry I'm interested in writing and reading. And I don't think all poetry has to do that- ironic, comedic, distanced poetry has a place. But the problem now is it has all the space.

This I blame on MFA programs. Emotionally-retarded boy poetry has somehow become the standard that all poetry is supposed to be- it's chalkablock in lit mags. I'm not saying it should all go away but neither should it be the only kind of poetry that finds a home, is taught, wins prizes, and gets reviewed.

It's even worse because I think the lionization of this kind of poetry is also at the expense of women. Women particularly are mocked and degraded if they don't produce what I've come to think of as 12-year old boy poetry, although there is also that strange arm of whispery, nature poetry that's open to women.

So I've decided to put this at the feet of American men. Men need to start acting like grown men, grown men who feel their real feelings, express them in healthy, respectful ways, and allow others to do the same. That might start with what they wear. If you don't want to live as a boy, don't dress like a boy. Grow up, boys, and drag the world of poetry along with you.

What I'm Watching: The Sound of Insects

I watched this film on streaming Netflix the other day and found it really beautiful. The Sound of Insects is a movie based on a Japanese novel; in turn, that novel is based on a diary of a man who starved himself to death.

The movie is a slow series of images, some atmospheric music, and a narrator reading passages from the diary. The voice alternates between detached, analytical of what it is to starve to death (it doesn't go the way he thought he would) and ruminating and poetic- what it means to live/die, the existance of god, how much a self needs a body.

I found it all beautiful and intense. It left me thinking about a variety of extreme situations- Diana Nyad swimming to Cuba, Tibetan monks immolating themselves in squares, explorers who died trapped by ice. I've just finished putting another round of edits and adjustments on Boyishly (currently called Monstrum but we'll leave Boyishly as the title here right now) and have been wondering what I would write next. I love the idea of starting with these kinds of situations and seeing where that takes me.

The Village Voice called this film the anti-127 Hours and I see their point- calm and muted where Boyle's film is speed and flash. I found Sound of Insects meditative and watchable, a great find off the instant list.

What I'm Researching- Feral Children

Researching is my favorite part of writing. It doesn't feel the best (like the actual writing or giving a reading does) but it's the most fun, least painful part of the process. Right now I'm reading about feral children. I'm currently working through Feral Children and Clever Animals by Douglas Keith Candland. It's much more philosophical/psychological than I care to be on the topoic but it is a nice summary of some feral children stories and some smart animal stories.

I also read The True Story of Kaspar Hauser by Catherine Lucy Wilhelmina Powlett Cleveland (Duchess of Cleveland). her father kept Hauser before he was killed and she attempts to clear the father's name. I love researching old, strange topics via Google Books- all these great, long lost tomes written in often, radically different times. I got interested in this topic by reading Bram Stoker's (yep, that one) Famous Imposters a collection of tales about people who pass, often as lost members of royal families. I love Stoker and love that he wrote this book. What is everyone in Dracula but an impostor- the fear is not being able to recognize an impostor and believing that s/he is really who he or she claims to be. Sane. Buying real estate. Sitting on a park bench. No one in Dracula is ever really doing what they claim to be doing and everyone is slightly frigthened they will be discovered. Secret loves, agendas, and stories crowd the narrative.

Anyway, feral children are now knocking on the door of Stay and I'm very excited about letting them in. Poking about in old stories, taking notes, and beginning to see what takes shape, what sticks together, what voice starts to emerge is a blast. I wish I could spend more time doing it. So far, I'm interested in the set-up of the children's identities- The (Animal) Boy/Girl of (Location) and am currently stuck on  the idea of The Bear-Girl of Fermanagh, although it was actually a sheep-boy who lived in Ireland and the Bear-Girl was from somewhere in Germany.

I'm not sure who is going to have the voice in the poem. In this manuscript I'm interested in sort of glimpsing the folks with a sidelong glance. Chang/Eng get talked about by a sailor who brings them to the States and then by a woman who spots them at a fair. I'm not sure if the feral child will get that same treatment. I miss having the big voices of people direct like I did in Boyishly, but I'm liking this sideways version of the stories too.

What I Watched- Drive

This is more of an entry about what I don't want to do. Last night I watched Drive. I would link you to the trailer here, but, honestly, it contains almost all of Gosling's dialogue in the whole movie, as well as any facial expression which is not the frozen mask he wears throughout. (In a nice touch he does wear a mask of someone else's face as part of the plot and it is, smartly, almost impossible to tell it's a mask. This was the most intelligent move in the whole film.)

Mostly though, it's just another film featuring a monosyllabic, emotionally retarded white boy who somehow manages to have a magnetic personality that everyone is attracted to. (He glances at Carey Mulligan in an elevator and she feels compelled to track him down.) I am officially over this character type because there is no other story there. I'm also afraid that it's a source of so much that is repellent about white boy masculinity- the frozeness, the fear of any sort of emotion, the muteness.

I'm currently attracted to works that are big and don't apologize for their emotional core or movement. (I did love Albert Brook's character in the Drive. The scene where he walks into the garage and says "I was so excited about having my name on a car" felt like the best scene in the whole movie. He felt and wasn't ashamed of feeling.) Those are the works I want to write. They feel something and won't apologize for their bigness.

Unrelated to my weariness of what was ultimately an uninteresting (but pretty) movie, was a dislike of its fonts. Is 1980's pink semi-handwriting making a comeback? Let's not.

What I'm Reading- A Moment in the Sun

A Moment in the Sun is John Sayles new, monstorous epic that captures the American  moment of imperialist expansion. Running from 1897-1902, it focuses on the the coup in Wlmington NC, the Yukon gold rush, and  staged U.S. wars in the Philippines and Cuba. It runs 935 pages and alternates between gripping, confusing and blah.

There are few women characters in it and none that are developed- Sayles tells only of  a man's man's world then and the presence of women solely from the sidelines seems a real loss. I think the character of Hod and his story has proven the most compelling so far- his story of entering the gold rush fields in the Yukon starts the book and has the feel of both an old rip-roaring yarn and a modern, psychological short story. I'm less interested in /able to follow clearly the war in the Philippines  (This may not bode well for apparently the war in the Phillippines is also the topic of Sayles's next film, Amigo. On the other hand, I can also imagine that this section would work much better on film. It's confusing because it's hard to track- who is who and where everyone is is important but not easy for me to picture.)

What I love about the novel is the language- each section does has a unique feel and sound (although there is also a monotony at times to all the war speak) and most of the language is rich, exotic, and beautiful. I think too few authors try for big anymore and I appreciate that Sayles has. It's a joy to lose yourself in a novel for an hour and know that you still have hours of story to unfold before you. We mostly get that kind of temporal displacement from TV series now, which may partially explain the popularity of shows like The Wire, Deadwood, Mad Men. There's a great joy from getting outside yourself and living in another place, time, and mind. Perhaps it's Sayles work as a filmmaker and writer that allows for him to imagine this grand a stage. A Moment in the Sun is one of the few new books that, like Ulysses, allows for temporal and psychological displacement in such an extended manner.

What I would like to steal from this book is its bigness and grandiosity. Too few writers go big anymore and I want to bring back the big topic, big line, big book, big ambition. What I admire most is what feels like the accuracy of the language. I know how hard that is in a poem- to tackle it in almost 1000 pages of prose seems amazing. I'm neither a huge fan or hater of Sayles's film work, although The Secret of Roan Inish is one of my favorite films to watch. But I like the way his interest in a variety of mediums talks to each other here. A Moment in the Sun argues for the importance of reading, watching, and listening widely.