“I was recently denied a writing prize because, they said, I was lazy. What they meant by lazy was that I used too many contractions:” – Lydia Davis, “Can’t and Won’t”
Happy Friday! If you’re in the service industry, I hope you absolutely clean up in tips this weekend. I hope some rich jerk gets you free food somehow. And I hope your unwind method of choice is fruitful.
What I’ve Been Reading This Week:
Still on The Last Voyage of Somebody The Sailor by John Barth and The Butterfly Lampshade by Aimee Bender. Told y’all I’m a slow reader. I did read this week that Jaren Jackson Jr. has blocked 83 shots in 26 games this season, an absolutely absurd number that had me questioning what numbers meant for a second. In lieu of a book cover, let’s watch some JJJ highlights:
LINKS!
Please read the story of Celso Dionico Ignacio, who was laid off during the pandemic and began volunteering at the Pilsen food pantry. He recently passed away, and Pilsen neighbors are mourning his loss. If we honor people by telling their stories, this is a story worth reading.
Howard Rambsy II on John Keene as a jazz poet. Not only is John Keene an award-winning, fascinating, and thoughtful poet, he is also an incredibly kind person. Pick up one of his books.
This week’s Behind the Bastards, here on Substack, on Mythopoetic Men’s Movement and Robert Bly. Poets rarely get famous, I can’t imagine being the thing I get famous for as a poet being seeding the Men Right’s Movement. Very accurate of Sophie to point out the Iowa Writer’s Workshop as a red flag.
On the episode of The Line Break that comes out next week, Bob and I mention we both need to read more of the late Charles Simic, who is rad and passed away recently. This essay on prose poems is a great start.
This week’s Secretly Incredibly Fascinating podcast on Maps is a must-listen for sci-fi and speculative fiction writers, especially for the section on “counter-mapping.”
Speaking of writing sci-fi and speculative fiction, check out this excellent writing constraint from Matt Bell, here on Substack:
Saw this on Twitter and if this is what final projects look like, give this prof all the awards:
Sorry you got an email,
Chris