JEAN VENGUA'S MINI-PAINTINGS OF MINI-CHAIRS!

Or maybe the painted chairs aren't "mini"?  Anyway, the paintings are mini!  What am I mmmmm-ing about?  Well, Blogger has fixed itself and I can post images again which means SitWithMoi is fresh with Jean's 2" x 2" paintings.  CHECK IT OUT, for more on this:

They are sweetly superb!  Thanks again, Jean!

EXTENDING THE BOUNDARIES OF THE BOOK!

Susana Gardner is featured with mini book art over at SitWithMoi!  Click HERE for explication of the following "winged prayer":

That feather might even tickle you ...

MADE WITH LOVE

is the title of my latest mini-book over at SitWithMoi, with the help of a book designed by Dusie's Susana Gardner (see prior post).  It's all so enchanting to ... make things with love!

"WITH OUR BACKS TO THE WORLD, ... HERMENEUTICS..."

After a teensy hiatus, things are back to rockin' and rollin' over at SitWithMoi!  Most recently, fabulous multi-media artist James Westwater contacted Moi to share some images of a new work, "With Our Backs to the World, We Bow: The Hermeneutics of Solitude", mixed-media, 2013.  Go HERE for the SitWithMoi post about this fabulously-titled mini installation, of which here is a relevant detail:

The image of a reader is relevant to us 9 billion Peeps, but I do encourage you to check out James' SitWithMoi Link to rediscover the importance -- and distinct pleasure -- of context!

Moi hearts artists!  Thanks for the input, James!

CONSTRAINT-BASED WRITING

And of course SitWithMoi--with its focus on miniature chairs and books--is just another form of constraint-based writing.  I like moi LATEST POST which veers across the wonderful Dusie project of Susana Gardner, the marvelous 80 Beetles by Mark Cunningham (which had been an unplanned addition), and of course Marthe Reed's latest chap, Florula Ludoviciana. 

That's what the best of constraint-based writing offers: a universe in a grain of sand.

MOI IS SICK

Well, we all knew that about Moi. But then she turned the matter into a mini-book! Well, but of course!

I know I'm behind on my write-ups, but you are still and always invited to "Books on Chairs"!  Forthcoming write-ups soon on Marthe Reed (with a nod to Mark Cunningham), Emily Dickinson (yeah: her!), among others.  Join them and us!

MUNIFICENT AMOUNT OF MUNIFICENT MINI-BOOKS!

Well, Woooot! SitWithMoi has reached a milestone of sorts -- it's received so many mini-books (thank you, Peeps!) that it's had to create a second summary post for the growing library of "Books on Chairs"!

So, for your reading and viewing pleasure, the ongoing Summary, as of April 1, 2013, is HERE. (This link includes list of mini-books I've received but not yet had the pleasure of "shelving" on chairs and blogging about such ... but you can check this link to see if I've received your mini-book(s) in case you sent one/some.)

And the archived Summary(from the project's inception on Jan. 12, 2013 to March 31, 2013 is HERE (surely one of the most beautiful posts out there on Blogger).

SitWithMoi would not have been possible with your involvement. Please continue to consider yourself INVITED to participate in "Books on Chairs"!

"...RACINESS AND FREEDOM AND HUMOR OF JAZZ..."

One of the many things I like about Jack Kerouac is shown HERE.  I love how one can travel in the universe just sitting on a tiny chair.  Here's an excerpt from Jack now safely in Heaven:

You simply give the reader the actual workings of your mind during the writing itself: you confess your thoughts about events in your own unchangeable way...did you ever hear a guy telling a long wild tale to a bunch of men in a bar and all are listening and smiling, did you ever hear that guy stop to revise himself, go back to a previous sentence to improve it, to defray its rhythmic thought and impact...he's passed over it like a part of the river flows over a rock once and for all and never returns and can never flow any other way in time? Incidentally, as for my bug against periods, that was for the prose in October in the Railroad Earth, very experimental, intended to clack along all the way like a steam engine pulling a 100-car freight with a talky caboose at the end, that was my way at the time and it still can be done if th ethining during the swift writing is confessional and pure and all excited with the life of it. And be sure of this, I spent my entire youth rehashing, speculating and deleting and got so I was writing one sentence a day and the sentence had no FEELING. Goddamn it, FEELING is what I like in art, not CRAFTINESS and the hiding of feelings."



What about jazz and bop as influences?
Yes, jazz and bop, in the sense of a, say, a tenor man drawing a breath and blowing a phrase on his saxophone, till he runs out of breath, and when he does, his sentence, his statement's been made...that's how I therefore separate my sentences, as breath separations of the mind...I formulated the theory of breath as measure, in prose and verse, never mind what Olson, Charles Olson says, I formulated that theory in 1953 at the request of Burroughs and Ginsberg. Then there's the raciness and freedom and humor of jazz instead of all that dreary analysis.

CHARLES BUKOWSKI-ISH

Ahhhh....those Bukowski imitations.  A genre all its own, yah?  Grab a beer and go giggle snort over HERE!

POETRY SEEDS FROM POEMS-FOR-ALL!

Oh joy!  I received 38 -- yes, THIRTY-EIGHT!!!!! -- mini-books today in the mail for SitWithMoi's "Books on Chairs" project!  Here's a photo (I added a 39th by Ed Baker as his book comes from the same series):

These gems are from the wonderful poetry project, Poems-For-All curated by Richard Hansen.  Thanks, Richard, for the gift!

The group includes some unexpected gems.  Like, I was going to make a mini-book (using a Sixteen Rivers catalogue) over "16th & VALENCIA" by San Francisco poet lariat Alejandro Murgula.  But PFA beat me to it, which is okay and just illustrates how great minds (can) think alike!  I also noticed some "Rimbaud poems" by Sean Finney which I would end up publishing in Sean's first poetry book, THE OBEDIENT DOOR!  What a small world, a mini-world!

Anyway, please remember that you, too, are invited to SitWithMoi's "Books on Chairs" project!

MINI GRATITUDE WITH A MAXI HEART

Whenever the world sends JOY moi way, I am always grateful.  THANK YOU.

CUBIST POETICS

I'm sitting with David Hockney and Picasso over HERE, relishing the relationship to poetry.  You're invited to come over!

MOI BUYS POETRY ... FOR FODDER

Thanks to an earlier Ron Silliman announcement (I think on Facebook; Ron is one of only 12 of my friends as I only joined FB to monitor my son ... then I decided to friend Ron coz I was bored of teen knuckleheadedness on my Timeline), I picked up the Grand Piano Series for $75 -- a good enough deal to move the topic from the horizon to the under-my-nose spot for attention. I'd bought and read the first volume when it just came out but then failed to keep up as Life interfered. Anyway, it arrived all bundled up from Lyn Hejinian, one of the poets in the series. And now it's sitting, complete with its packaging material, on one of my kitchen counters like so:

I keep looking at the still life. I kinda have this hankering to create a mini-book from the packaging. I've done so before (and did it again on another mini-book that I've yet to blog about). As I write this, I'm wondering how to do a book cover that won't be ... brown. The other two mini-books' covers also rely on brown pieces of paper. Can't people send mail in scarlet or lavender?

Anyway, let Moi huddle with the Muse. They should be able to do something ... especially if they'd actually read the rest of the books (hah: what an idea!) ...

***

...and this all reminds me to do another update on my Recently Bought Poetry List, to wit:

THE RESERVOIR by Donna Stonecipher

BOUGH BREAKS by Tamiko Beyer

FLUX, CLOTH & FROTH, Vol. 1 (text) by John Bloomberg-Rissman

FLUX, CLOTH & FROTH, Vol. 2 (notes to poems) by John Bloomberg-Rissman

THE GRAND PIANO: AN EXPERIMENT IN COLLECTIVE AUTOBIOGRAPHY, SAN FRANCISCO 1975-1980, Volumes 1-20, by Rae Armantrout, Steve Benson, Alan Bernheimer, Carla Harryman, Lyn Hejinian, Tom Mandel, Ted Pearson, Bob Perelman, Kit Robinson, Ron Silliman and Barrett Watten,

FRAGILE REPLACEMENTS by William Allegrezza

UNPROTECTED TEXTS (SELECTED POEMS 1978-2006) by Tom Beckett

BLOOD SISTER, I AM TO THESE FIELDS: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Linda Hussa

Onward!

ARSENIC LOBSTER AND MORE!

Gave two visitors yesterday a tour of Moi's mini-chair/mini-book museum and they were … awed. Tee-Hee. So, curating that museum’s collection of course is taking up much of my time. But I still manage to read non-mini books, and here then is the latest update of my Recently Relished W(h)ine List below. As ever, please note that in the Publications section, if you see an asterisk before the title, that means a review copy is available for Galatea Resurrects! More info on that HERE.



PUBLICATIONS
COUNTERPART, poems by Elizabeth Robinson (Wow: powerful stuff. I think it’s my favorite book of hers yet … and no doubt will be one of my favorite poetry reads for 2013—it’s sumthin’ that I say that and it’s only early March!)

YRTEMMYS & OTHER POEMS by Edric Mesmer (it’s not unusual sometimes to respond to a poem(s) by saying it’s difficult to understand; but with these poems, which I MUCH ENJOYED, I (also) had the reaction: these poems were difficult to make! All the more kudos to the poet!)

WORK FROM MEMORY. Poetry by Dan Beachy-Quick and Matthew Goulish (excellent!)

* POKING THROUGH THE FABRIC OF THE LIGHT THAT FORMED US: SONGS AND STORIES TO READ IN THE MIRROR, poems by Lora Bloom (laden with charisma)

*  KEPT WOMEN, poems by Kate Durbin (a fabulous deadpan-ness …)

CATASTROPHE THEORY, poems by Susan Yount (energetic and quirky in a good way. a bouncy read)

HANDBOOK FOR WITHDRAWAL, poetry by Erin Virgil (fabulous! go to link)

MINI BOOK, poem by Susan Yount (fabulous! go to link)

THE AUCTION, poem by Aileen Ibardaloza (fabulous! go to link)

LUCK, poem by Charles Bukowski (killer elegiac)

SANCTA, poems by Andrew Grace

3 CAST AFTER BASINSKI, poems by Nava Fader

3 FORMS, poems by Marten Clibbens

GALLOWGLASS, poems by Susan Tichy

OVERPASS, poems by Steve Davenport

* TRAMPS EVERYWHERE, poems by Amina Cain

* FRIED CHICKEN DINNER, poems by Janice Lee

* FUR BIRDS, poems by Michelle Detorie

* SACRILEGION, poems by L. Lamar Wilson

* SAY THAT, poems by Felecia Caton Garcia

* SOLECISM, poems by Rosebud Ben-Oni

* JACK LONDON IS DEAD: CONTEMPORARY EURO-AMERICAN POETRY OF HAWAI’I (AND SOME STORIES), Edited by Susan M. Schultz (a surprising-that-shouldn’t-be-surprising, and pleasing, calmness underpinning this project. A refreshing calmness…)

ARSENIC LOBSTER: POETRY JOURNAL 2013 edited by Susan Yount (I liked every single on of its 52 poems—a treat!)

ECCOLINGUISTICS 2.1, literary journal edited by Jared Schickling (fabulous zine)

YELLOW FIELD 7, literary and arts zine edited by Eric Mesmer (fabulous, as always. So present!)

ON A CLEAR DAY, art monograph by/on Max Gimblett (with one of the best monograph essays I’ve ever read -- this, by another artist, Matt Jones)

CHAIRMANIA: FANTASTIC MINIATURES by George M. Beylerian

CLEAN, novel by Alex Hughes

THE BLACK BOX, novel by Michael Connelly

THE PANTHER, novel by Nelson DeMille

THE LION, novel by Nelson DeMille

TOUCH & GO, novel by Lisa Gardner


WINES
2010 Laura Hartwig cabernet reserva Colchagua Valley
2009 Tarima Hill monastrell Alicante
2009 Dancing Hares cabernet NV
2008 Birbanera Amantis Montecucco Rosso
2010 Layer Cake cabernet
2010 Tres Picos Borsao garnacha
2010 Catena cabernet High Mountain Vines
2009 Domaine De La Janasse Terre D’Argile Cotes Du Rhone

KILLER ELEGIAC

Charles Bukowski joins the SitWithMoi Line-Up!


Yep, got a little sumthin'-sumthin' for everyone ...

And you really should check out Bukowski's poem "Luck" -- it's killer elegiac.

MOI SECOND ENCYCLOPEDIA

If you know I've written books called "BRICK" as well as "SON OF A BRICK!" (by my publisher's very forgiving managing editor-heh), you shouldn't be surprised to know that I also toss off write encyclopedias.  The first draft of my first encyclopedia took me about 16 years to complete (with tinkering on that first draft, it should take more than two decades to get to the final draft). 

However.  It took but six minutes to create my second encyclopedia.  Curious?  Then GO HERE for details. Granted, it's only eight volumes.

Not to worry, my first encyclopedia -- once released -- will have the ability to sink a shipping tanker ...

THE EMPTY CHAIR =====> POETRY

Of course it was always Moi intent for SitWithMoi to simply be a new way to generate and/or discuss poetry.  AS IS THE CASE HERE with my cohort-in-crime, poet and engineer S.S. Prasad.  Recommended reading for any poetry lover...

ONE OF MOI 9 BILLION PEEPS COMMENTED

recently at -- and about -- SitWithMoi:

Eileen, what a wonderful past time to make beautiful little mini books and then share them page by page on your Moi blog. Luuuhhhhv it. In this day and age when electronic books and blogs are becoming more and more popular, it's nice of you to make, hold, read and share, here online, your hand made, hand held mini books

Yes, and I replied that what's great about the internet is its ability to share information about one-of-a-kind projects, like the mini-books. 

Anyway, talk about doing it slant.  I created that blog to focus on a mini-chair collection.  It will continue that focus but, so far, its more popular facet seems to be "Books on Chairs."  Well, click on the link for your invitation to participate!

Here's a running tally so far for BOC's Library-in-Progress.  It's a great link -- often showing how each mini-book is made.  Such sheer Joy!

THE 4TH ALLEGREZZA MULTIPLE

Well, I wondered in a previous post how next William Allegrezza shall multiply!  And yesterday's snailmail prolvided the answer!  To wit:

That's right!  Believe moi hand and ruler!  Bill sent over five -- FIVE! -- mini-books for SitWithMoi's "Books on Chairs" project!  Not expecting that bounty, I was absolutely (what's a phrase I never use?) gobsmacked!  That's right: gobsmacked! 

But thank you, Bill.  And do please notice how all of his books use a single staple binding.  Which is to say, it need not be complicated to create a mini-book and avail yourself of Moi invitation HERE!

Do join the Party!  So far, Ed Baker, John and Kathy Bloomberg-Rissman, Tom Beckett, Susan Yountz, Aileen Ibardaloza, Erin Virgil, the Holy Bible (thrice), Marton Koppany, jim mccrary, Marthe Reed, Alice Brody, Leny M. Strobel, Jennnifer Donovan, artist Cynthia, Ten Thousand Villages in Bangladesh, Elizabeth Marraffino and Jukka-Pekka Kervinen have joined the avatars for my dead grandmother, my live brother, my dead mother, the restaurant Coi, Joanne Kyger, Eleni Sikelanios, Juliet Cook, Perla Paredes Daly, among many many others.  Doesn't this sound like a party to crash? 

But no need to crash!  You are invited!  To Sit With Moi ...

... and the vino is always excellent!

I CALL POETS "BORING"

over HERE WHERE I SIT. 

After all, Moi's got nothing better to do ...

Yawn ...