THANKS, GR, AND WHINES

THANKS to brilliantly lyrical painter Ron Ehrlich who titled a painting after one of the words he discovered in The Light....the word is "Bayan" (Tagalog for "Homeland") and you can see the painting at the Stephen Hallery website (you have to click under artists for Ron Ehrlich's name and then see the images of his paintings). I'm so pleased by Ron's gesture; I'm honored as he's one of the few painters out there who still pays attention to poetry. And, Woooot! Apparently, "Bayan" is now in some major art critic/collector's collection...!

THANKS as well to Lars Palm whose prose poems over at PFS riff off some of the "footnote poems" in the ENGLISH BRICK. The footnote poems were printed at the bottom of an otherwise blank page in the BRICK, as it'd been my hope that people choose that opportunity to write/create what presumably my poems were footnoting....


THANKS as well (just full of gratitude today) to Pam Brown for supporting the Tiny Books program with THIS.

Now that THANKS are outa the way, let Moi nag y'all again, please, with checking out the review copies for Galatea Resurrects. We've been receiving mucho lovely items. Indeedy, we've just received our first review set of a movie on DVD, with DARK BRANDON with production and editing by Brandon Downing, Music by Rahul Dev Burman - Pinky Shale, and starring Robert Bailey, Ron Casella, Jana Klenburg, The Flarf Collective, J.D. Rage, Emily Glen and Madhubala. The synopsis begins, "Johnny Reeves, a simpleton from Fremont, CA wins all the competition in poets' conference....." and goes on to note "Dr. Flarf, probably the direct descendent of Mr. Alladin who used to do miracles with his lamp has a brain no less than this lamp...." How can you possibly not be curious? Do check out all of GR'S REVIEW COPIES HERE!

On to whining: Some folks have queried whether, when I say I "relish" a publication on moi Relished W(h)ine List, that means I think it's great or what. Actually, my threshold for putting a publication on that list is simply that I completed it. Often, I do think a publication is great and enjoyed it. Other times, I think it's mediocre....but, for some reason, I finished it. That's enough to get on the Relish List, for having contained something that made me finish reading the book. I say this as someone who begins but don't always finish reading a book, in which case those books don't end up on the Relish List. Kapischkie?

And with this post, I expand the Relished W(h)ines List to Three Categories -- I didn't do this last year because of too many big, burly men in the backyard....but, this year does mean this City Slicker once more -- and to the horror of Martha Stewart -- will attempt to garden. Hence, the new category "City Slicker's Harvest" -- as you can see by its first entry below, Martha has cause to shudder (the last time I did this, my gardening skills were so bad I could count the number of basil leaves I was able to eke from the plants. Basil, if you don't know, grows like a weed but I had to scramble to get enough to cup on a single palm. C'est la vie!)


CITY SLICKER'S HARVEST (TO DATE)
One strawberry (oh shut up, Peep. The appropriate response here is a sympathetic groan, not a bwahahaha!)


PUBLICATIONS
ENTER MORRIS IMPOSTERNAK, PURSUED BY IRONIES, poems by Eugene Ostashevsky

THE DEAD EMCEE SCROLLS: THE LOST TEACHINGS OF HIP-HOP, poetry by Saul Williams

FORGET READING, poems by Anthony Hawley

ALL THAT'S LEFT, poetry by Jack Hirschman

CLIMBING BACK, poems by Dionisio D. Martinez

FOURSQUARE, Feb. 2008, Edited by Jessica Smith

BAMBOO RIDGE:JOURNAL OF HAWAI'I LITERATURE AND ARTS, No. 91, Eds Eric Chock and Darrell Lum

PLYWOOD CHATEAUX, art monograph by James Westwater

TEN LITTLE INDIANS, short stories by Sherman Alexie

TEACH LIKE YOUR HAIR'S ON FIRE: THE METHODS AND MADNESS INSIDE ROOM 56, how-to-teach-guide by Rafe Esquith

A YEAR WITHOUT "MADE IN CHINA": ONE FAMILY'S TRUE LIFE ADVENTURES IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY by Sara Bongiorni

SHATTERED DREAMS, BROKEN PROMISES: THE COST OF COMING TO AMERICA, interviews by Michael Viner

LOST CITY RADIO, novel by Daniel Alarcon

THE ZOOKEEPER'S WIFE: A WAR STORY, novel by Diane Ackerman

REMEMBER ME, novel by Laura Hendrie

PREPARED FOR RAGE, novel by Dana Stabenow

THE HEARTS OF HORSES, novel by Molly Gloss

MARKER, novel by Robin Cook

CRISIS, novel by Robin Cook

SCENT OF MURDER, novel by Cynthia G. Alwyn

THE ABDUCTION, novel by Mark Gimenez


WINES
2004 Dutch Henry "Argos"
2003 Peter Michael Belle Cote chardonnay
2004 Peter Michael Ma Belle Fille chardonnay
1992 Dominus
1995 Henschke shiraz Mount Edelstein
R.L. Buller & Son Fine Muscat (a solera)
1994 Henschke Keyneton Estate
2005 JJ Prum Wehlenuhr Sonnenhur Spatlese
2005 Mad Hatter (barrel sample)
1985 Mouton
1985 Conterno Cascina Francia
1995 Rubino della Palazzola
1966 Palmer