BEATNIKING AROUND FOR LAUGHS

Man Preparing To Leap From A Mirror

September was an interesting month. Can report I've now finished entirely with the final, the polishing, rewrite of The Man In the Mirror and wrote a plot outline for it too. It's ready to be sent around. Also, just this month entered Angie's Choice, in two literary contests. Goodbye 50 bucks! I don't have much hope for it in contests since it's closer to commercial writing and less like workshop writing. My progress was like that for me with my MFA when I learned how to write a publishable poem, and, sure enough, some of my poems began to find markets. Did I get better or did I only learn how to please editors who looked for poetry like they wrote and, of course, would think was good poetry? From my own experience with editing, editing is one way to learn about where you rank among poets in your own mind. Also, last month, as reported elsewhere, Toni Partington, Christopher Luna,  Eileen Elliott and I were featured readers at the Angst Gallery celebration for 100,000 Poets For Change/William Stafford Centennial.   A combined affair. September was a busy month.

BEATNICK SILENT GETS HEAD BLOWN OFF TWO TIMES

Oh, good heavens, Minerva! I'm at Black Rock. Planned to work on my best selling novel, Manning and discovered my brain farted again, left me with soiled frontal lobes. I carry my novel back and forth between laptop work at coffee shops and desktop work at home on a thumb drive. Sometimes, I forget to load the most current Manning file onto the thumb drive for transport. Today, I'm stuck here, drinking my soy Chai latte, with yesterday's Black Rock file on the thumb drive. This morning's home work remains there. 

My forgetfulness is a minor inconvenience today. Worse when I spend a couple of hours reworking Manning and discover, I've been working on an older version of the novel. Then I've got new work in an older version of Manning and a previous rewrite in a separate file. The two versions are irreconcilable, beyond mere copying. They cry to be rejoined. Sayeth, yon Romeo:

Chris and Toni

See how she leans her cheek upon her hand. 
O, that I were a glove upon that hand
That I might touch that cheek!  

On a happier note, my piece of creative non-fiction, "The Kiggins and I Were Meant For Each Other", appears in Feb's Vancouver Vector, and a poem appears in Ghost Town Poetry Anthology, II, eds: Toni Partington and Chris Luna. Coincidental is the fact their photo appears near a mention of  "Romeo and Juliet". Fortunately no family feud  intervenes. 

Speaking of family. No more nasty family could be found as Siyar's murderous bunch in last night's PIFF film, "Before Snowfall". The last scene, a wedding, blew the top of my head off. Still stunned, recalling it.

MINIVIEW OF GHOST TOWN POETRY ANTHOLOGY 2004 - 2014

Just finished my copy of Ghost Town Poetry Anthology, Volume Two, edited by Christopher Luna and Toni Partington, published by their Printed Matter in Vancouver, WA. What a wonderful job they've done. A solid production all the way through between kaleidoscopic covers. 

Read the anthology over a three day period, reading slowly and joyfully an hour or so each time, drawn in by poet after poet and disappointed that there were not more poems by each poet for my enjoyment, but that's the nature of an anthology—to give the reader a taste so that the reader wants more. A problem for this mini-viewer is that I can't begin to name one poet's work without feeling I've left out too many others. As I read, at first I jotted down names of poems and poets that most captured my attention, planning on mentioning them, but the list grew so long it might as well include all the poems in Ghost Town and this is only a mini-view. 

If I were a name dropper and began there, you'd be surprised, perhaps, by the number of notable poets who have been featured readers at the Ghost Town Open Mic in Vancouver and whose poems are included in the anthology. Then again, if you know Toni Partington and Christopher Luna, you won't be surprised by their contacts among the poets of this region and beyond. My reading of their publication was one long celebration between my ears and down to my dancing slippers so I backed off that plan and, instead, invite you to read for yourself the diverse, intelligent and emotionally engaging poetry put together by Chris and Toni in this anthology. 

Get hold of a copy of Ghost Town Poetry, Volume Two and read it. The anthology can be found at Cover To Cover Books and, of course, can be ordered at your favorite independent bookseller. Cover To Cover Books is the home of the Ghost Town Open Mic, the second Thursday of each month. A featured reader is always present in the midst of the opening and closing open mic celebrations.  

GHOST TOWN ANTHOLOGY: A CELEBRATION TO BOOM

Vancouver, Washington, I said.
You mean, Vancouver British Columbia, don't you?
No, I mean Vancouver, Washington, that little city across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon.
So?
Well, I got an interesting poetry anthology to tell you about that hails from that city. 
Oh, no! Not poetry?
Shut up your face and listen.

Christopher Luna (recently named Clark County's Poet Laureate) and Toni Partington have put together a collection of poems selected from the poetry of those who have read at the Ghost Town Poetry open mic from 2004 through 2010. The open mic which includes featured poets from California to Seattle (and points East of the Cascades but West of the Rockies) takes place the 2nd Thursday of every month at a little book store in North Vancouver, called Cover To Cover Books. Google if you don't believe me. Mostly free verse, the collection—Ghost Town Poetry: Cover To Cover Books 2004-2010: An Anthology of Poems from the Ghost Town Open Mic Series—is a lively representation of all that poetry has to offer in the Pacific Northwest. You can't help but be entertained while you get an idea of the kind of poetry that the West Coast has long been known for. Production values are top notch so it's a good-looking book to hold in hand as well as a handsome read. Also, friends, if you've never experienced an open mic event, I tell you that a read through Ghost Town Poetry will give you a delightful taste of that experience. So buy the book and go to an open mic event. You'll be glad you did. 

PS: In January 2014 look for another Ghost Town Poetry anthology by means of which Christopher and Toni will mark 10 years of putting together open mikes at Cover To Cover Books. 

PPS: The Silent Boomer will have a poem in this one.