Spirit Vessels to Honor BP dead

Spirit Vessels

WHAT: A community art project for the Bayou St John community, to create a space of solace, healing and reflection in the wake of the BP Oil Spill, and to honor lost life.


WHEN: Friday June 25th, Meet at Fairgrinds Coffee House 7-9 pm to create your clay Spirit Vessel with guidance from local artist Jane Hill. Prayers and small animals also will be created

http://www.fsjna.org/2010/06/spirit-vessels-to-honor-bp-dead/


Sunday June 27th @8:00 pm

Meet at the banks of Bayou St John, at the Bridge opposite Cabrini. In a simple ceremony, the unfired clay Vessels created by the community will be lighted and released into the water of the bayou, carrying our intentions and wishes for the Gulf’s restoration before they dissolve and go back to nature.

Note: All materials used in this community project are biodegradable and will not damage the bayou in any way. Please note that this event is not a protest or demonstration space. Children are encouraged to participate, but parents should know this is not designed as a children’s clay class or art project.Rain Date is Monday June 28th at 8 pm

All-Hands-On-Deck BENEFIT for the GULF COAST REGION

17 Poets! Literary & Performance @ The Gold Mine Saloon, 705 Dauphine Street, New Orleans, LA, 70116, (504) 586-9745, www.17poets.com.


I*M*P*O*R*T*A*N*T ---- Please note, THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2010 @ 8:00 p.m. is our last performance of the summer. We return with our FALL 2010 Program on ---- THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 8:00 p.m. ---- with All-Hands-On-Deck BENEFIT for the GULF COAST REGION coordinated by Megan Burns and featuring a stellar array of performers, artists, & poets including musical guest ROCKIN' DOPSIE plus The Krewe of Dead Pelicans. All proceeds will go directly to DEFEND, PROTECT and RESTORE the vital marine habitat of our region.

FOR ALL INFO on how YOU can participate (or contribute) in All-Hands-On-Deck BENEFIT for the GULF COAST REGION, please contact Megan Burns, meganaburns@aol.com

THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2010: Poetry Reading

I*M*P*O*R*T*A*N*T ---- Please note, THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2010 @ 8:00 p.m. is our last performance of the summer. We return with our FALL 2010 Program on ---- THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 8:00 p.m.

17 Poets! Literary & Performance series presents a reading/performance by poet, playwright, puppeteer, storyteller & visual artist JONATHAN KLINE on THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2010, 8:00pm @ The Gold Mine Saloon, 705 Dauphine Street, New Orleans, LA, 70116, (504) 586-9745, www.17poets.com.






Poet, playwright, storyteller & visual artist Jonathan Kline grew up in Northern Michigan. He received an MFA from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago in Time Art. Kline has presented his works at venues in Boston, Chicago, New York, Seattle, New Orleans, Dublin and Cork Ireland. For more than a decade Kline's esteemed works, including When I was Twenty, The Terminal Hotel, The Nude Questions, and Six Eggs, have garnered praise from scholars, peers, and audiences alike throughout the U.S. and overseas. Kline's dedication to the art of storytelling and the oral tradition is second to none. Additionally, Kline teaches in the New Orleans community as an Art coordinator for elementary and middle schoolers.
Featured presentation will be followed by Open Mic hosted by Jimmy Ross (sign-up begins @ 7:30 p.m.)...storytellers, poets, fiction writers, essayists, vocalists & performance artists are welcome.

Open to the public.

Free admission.

17 Poets! Reading Series Features a Tribute to Bob Kaufman

b o b K A U F M A N
Bob Kaufman (April 18, 1925 – January 12, 1986), born Robert Garnell Kaufman, was an American Beat poet and surrealist inspired by jazz music. In France, where his poetry had a large following, he was known as the "American Rimbaud."

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Kaufman was one of fourteen children, the son of a German-Jewish father and a Roman Catholic Black mother from Martinique; his grandmother practiced voodoo. At age eighteen, Kaufman joined the United States Merchant Marine, which he left in the early 1940s to briefly study literature at New York's The New School. There, he met William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. In 1944 Bob Kaufman married Ida Berrocal. They had one daughter, Antoinette Victoria Marie (Nagle), born in New York City in 1945 (died 2008). Kaufman moved to San Francisco's North Beach in 1958 and remained there for most of the rest of his life. He married Eileen Singe in 1958; they had one child, Parker, named for Charlie Parker.

Kaufman, a poet in the oral tradition, usually didn't write down his poems, and much of his published work survives by way of his wife Eileen, who wrote his poems down as he conceived them. Like many beat writers, Kaufman became a Buddhist. In 1959, along with poets Allen Ginsberg, John Kelly, A. D. Winans, and William Margolis, he was one of the founders of Beatitude magazine.

In 1959, Kaufman had a small role in a movie called The Flower Thief, which was shot in North Beach by Ron Rice. In 1961, Kaufman was nominated for England's Guinness Poetry Award, but lost to T. S. Eliot. He appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson four times in 1970-1971.

In an interview, Ken Kesey describes seeing Bob Kaufman on the streets of San Francisco's North Beach during a visit to that city with his family in the 1950s:
I can remember driving down to North Beach with my folks and seeing Bob Kaufman out there on the street. I didn’t know he was Bob Kaufman at the time. He had little pieces of Band-Aid tape all over his face, about two inches wide, and little smaller ones like two inches long -- and all of them made into crosses. He came up to the cars, and he was babbling poetry into these cars. He came up to the car I was riding in, and my folks, and started jabbering this stuff into the car. I knew that this was exceptional use of the human voice and the human mind.

After learning of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Kaufman took a Buddhist vow of silence that lasted until the end of the Vietnam War in 1973. He broke his silence by reciting his poem "All Those Ships that Never Sailed," the first lines of which are

All those ships that never sailed
The ones with their seacocks open
That were scuttled in their stalls...
Today I bring them back
Huge and intransitory
And let them sail
Forever

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Please join us in celebration as 17 Poets! Literary & Performance series presents a reading/performance featuring works of legendary, New Orleans-born beat poet BOB KAUFMAN!!!

Feature will be followed by Open Mic hosted by Jimmy Ross (sign-up begins @ 7:30 p.m.)...storytellers, poets, fiction writers, essayists, vocalists & performance artists are welcome.

Oysters (In A Box)

This is what the world is coming to as P&J Oyster Co. lays off shuckers and the oil continues to destroy our way of life here in Louisiana. Normally, it would be pretty cool to sit at home and break out our oyster kits from the freezer. This time it was hard to cook and eat these babies without thinking about the boats sitting useless in their docks and all the families wondering what in the hell they are going to do now. 134 years of shucking came to a halt on Friday, so Dave and I pulled out our box o' oysters.

Our oysters came from Crystal Seas Seafood in Pass Christian, MS. As the website notes: these are hand-shucked oysters that are " cryogenically frozen in their own liquor and then glazed to lock in freshness." And what a sight that is to behold! These puppies will stay good in the freezer for up to 12 months, so stock up. Here's where to order. On the back of the box, it says a portion of all sales go to rebuilding programs associated with Louisiana. So, eat oysters, support New Orleans, help rebuild.

So, here's my review of my first experience with oysters in a box. Dave did the cooking, which involved getting the broiler ready and extracting the trays of frozen oysters in the shell from the box. Each box also comes with a package of Romano cheese and a packet of frozen flavored butter. Only one of our boxes came with the cheese and butter, so beware you may have naked oysters (another reason to buy in bulk.) The butter has to be defrosted and applied to each oyster before they go under the broiler. Then you have to add the cheese, generously, as the directions call for and put them under one more time. At the end, you should have a dozen beautifully broiled oysters on the half shell.

I had mine with some saltines and a Pellegrino. They were small, but yummy. And the cheese and butter were flavorful. They didn't taste to rubbery or odd. Overall, you could probably be served these in a restaurant and not know if they were fresh or not before they were broiled. I would eat these again, but I still prefer raw any day, fat and salty with a dipping sauce to clear your sinuses.

Eat New Orleans: Mondo in Lakeview

Dave and I went to the soft opening of a new restaurant here in New Orleans: Mondo owned by chef Susan Spicer. The restaurant is in Lakeview and is a family friendly pizza and New Orleans' food joint. Formerly home to Lago's, the new decor is light and friendly with light wood and soft greens and beiges. The decor is classy with a nod to its family low-key dining. One side of the restaurant is still given over to the bar area and the back opens up to a brick, wood-fired pizza oven. We sat in a booth and only brought our littlest family member with us. Issa promptly charmed the entire waitstaff, took a bottle during appetizers and slept till dessert. (Angel baby.)

Dave and I tried two starters: the steak tartare and the fried eggplant with aioli. The steak was delicious and came with thinly sliced potato chips lightly salted to counter the sweetness of the steak. The eggplants were lightly breaded, perfect for dipping in the creamy sauce.

We also had to try one of their pizzas. Below is the traditional basil, tomato and mozzarella. The basil was fresh and the crust was thin and crunchy around the edges. This size makes a pizza doable as an appetizer as well as a main dish.














For our main dishes, I got the braised duck leg on a turnip cake. I have never even heard of a turnip cake, but it was delicious. It was kind of like a flavored tofu cake. The kale with the duck was cooked wonderfully, and the duck itself was juicy and sweetly flavored. It fell right off the bone.













Dave got the fish of the day, drum. It was plump and tender and came with chunky potato wedges. The fish was cooked in a muddy water sauce, which kept the flavor of the fish and was not overpowering.













For dessert, I had the cinnamon beignets with a yogurt, honey and nut dip. We had to get it to go due to the baby getting fussy, but at home they were light and slightly sugared. None of the meal was too heavy, so we left feeling satisfied and not uncomfortably stuffed.
Two starters, two main dishes, one pizza, dessert, a cappuccino and a bottle of Pellegrino ran us about 85.00. They are definitely offering affordable meals that are still delicious and New Orleans' inspired.

The one detraction was that by the end of the meal the combination of the sun setting through the windows next to our booth and the fire in the oven made the room very warm. Most of the A/C was going out the two doors, one by the bar and one by the dining room. The baby got fussy, and we had to go sit in the car to cool off. They need to crank it up in there. It was loud as well due to the low ceiling and the close proximity between the main dining area and the large bar area. Dave found the booths uncomfortable as well, so we'll probably grab a table next time.

The wait staff and other staff were all very friendly and seemed to really be excited about the new place. We will certainly be back to try the rest of the menu. The kids have a great selection on their menu as well, so we will bring the other two next time and see how they like it.

Thursday 17 Poets! Poetry Reading: Berrigan, Fiorini, and Jones

THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 2010 @ 8:00 p.m.

Gold Mine Saloon
701 Dauphine Street
504.586.0745

Please join us as 17 Poets! Literary & Performance series presents a reading/performance featuring poets EDMUND BERRIGAN, JESSICA FIORINI and JAMEY JONES on THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 2010, 8:00pm @ The Gold Mine Saloon. And be sure to bring your luminous words & jests for yet another amazing evening of mirth, fantasm & reverie!

Feature will be followed by Open Mic hosted by Jimmy Ross (sign-up begins @ 7:30 p.m.)...storytellers, poets, fiction writers, essayists, vocalists & performance artists are welcome.

Below is a copied source from Lynda BelieveDat Woolard on facebook. It's very informative as to Gulf Information and resources regarding this BP disaster. Thank you to Lynda for compiling all of these great resources:


"For those of you who have the romantic vision of scrubbing turtles and rinsing off pelicans with Kevin Costner or Sean Penn, I'm afraid to tell you (Michael) that it isn't going to happen. The workers BP has hired as well as the volunteers with non-profits working on the response have all had hazmat or wildlife rescue training. If you have those skills, they definitely want you (call Tri-State Rescue: 866-557-1404)... otherwise there is a list of ways you can help below (which I will add to as more info becomes available)... it may be long, but come on man, I've done most of the research for ya... lol.

EASY TO DO: First the simplest thing you can do is text WILDLIFE to 20222 to donate $10 to the National Wildlife Federation. 97% of funds raised through this text drive will go directly to efforts rehabbing animals in the Gulf. (More info: http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Conservation/Threats-to-Wildlife/Oil-Spill/Mobile-Giving.aspx )

Second easiest thing to do is eat Louisiana seafood. There are still areas that are safe to fish in the Gulf and our fishing communities need the support. Whatever they're catching, go buy ya some!

VOLUNTEER: I did speak with someone at the main response center today and volunteers are needed now. Tasks that untrained people can do include administrative work, taking inventory, pre-beach cleaning (no idea what that means), and translating.

Sign up here: http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/page/2931/46359/ and call to follow up if you get antsy: 1-866-448-5816.You can also sign up with one of the various groups working in the area. Efforts seem to be largely coordinated through the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. Visit http://www.crcl.org/ and fill out a volunteer form or call 1-800-LACOAST (1-800-522-6278) or 225-767-4181.

Alternately you can see the other groups they are working with and sign up through their websites here: http://lagulfresponse.org/home.html or here: http://action.sierraclub.org/Oil_Spill_CleanUp

Birdwatchers have a special job being asked of them through eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/survey-gulf-coast-birds. They are looking for people to visit beaches and report findings on the state of the birds there... this does not include touching or disturbing the wildlife... watching and monitoring only. You can also have a nice meal at a restaurant in the beach community while you're visiting and help support the locals.

Organize a food drive. I know I've been banging this drum for a year now, but because of state budgetary cuts made last year, our food banks have been depleted for quite some time and need more food than ever now. The Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana is leading this charge: http://no-hunger.org/ There is information on their website about how to conduct a drive or you can give them a call and they'll be happy to set you up. If you live in Marrero, the West Jefferson Medical Center is collecting cans. Bins for food donations will be located in the hospital's atrium, the Fitness Center, Cafe Jefferson and the Physician's Center through May 31.

Here are some additional specific volunteer hotlines to call: To report oiled shoreline : 866.448.5816 To report oiled wildlife: 866.557.1401 To submit alternative response technology, services or products: 281.366.5511

To submit your vessel as a vessel of opportunity skimming system: 281.366.5511

Additionally, if you are in an effected area or have a boat and are going out in the Gulf, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade has created an "Oil Spill Crisis Map" that will allow Gulf Coast residents to report fishers out of work, endangered wildlife, oil on shore, oil sheens and other effects of the oil spill. The map can be viewed at http://oilspill.labucketbrigade.org/.

Reports can be made at that site, or by texting 504.272.7645, e-mailing bpspillmap@gmail.com or tweeting with the hashtag #BPspillmap. Eyewitness reports for the map require a description, and location information such as an address or GPS coordinates.And while there is debate as to whether or not these will ever be used (why the heck not, I ask???)

The Ritz-Carlton New Orleans is working with Matter of Trust: http://www.matteroftrust.org/, an environmental nonprofit group, to collect donations of nylons, hair and fur, which can be used in making booms for containing oil. Drop off donations at the Ritz-Carlton, 921 Canal St. Call 504.670.2817 for more information.Monitor other opportunities to volunteer by checking out this group on FB: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=103141509730378

DONATE: These are all fabulous groups working on the oil disaster at various levels. Please support them if you can.Gulf Restoration Network: http://www.healthygulf.org/
Tri-state Bird Rescue: http://www.tristatebird.org/
Voice of the Wetlands: http://www.voiceofthewetlands.org/
Gulf Aid: http://www.gulfaid.org/
Second Harvest: http://no-hunger.org/
Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans: http://www.arch-no.org/
The Greater New Orleans Foundation: http://www.gnof.org/

LEGISLATIVE : Without getting into the politics of offshore drilling, there is still a very important piece of legislation that calls to your congressperson and senators could help. Right now an effort to up the liability cap for oil companies is stalled. Your calls can make a difference. Find your congressman here: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml and your senator here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

See story here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/03/robert-menendez-pushes-bi_n_561011.html and here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/25/gulf-oil-spill-frustratio_n_588556.html

STAY INFORMED

Finally, I have to say there are too many sources of info on this issue to list, but there's a pretty comprehensive list of what the Obama administration has done so far here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/5/23/869212/-What-Obama-is-doing-about-the-BP-oil-spill (P.S. Glad he's coming to Louisiana this Friday cos I still want more!). And if you're on twitter, you can get the latest here: http://twitter.com/Oil_Spill_2010.

Also, for those of you in my district, I have to say Congressman Cao is on top of this thing and has been a great source of information. Check it out and sign up for updates here: http://josephcao.house.gov/OilSpill/"

New Orleans This Week: Art Panel, Book Signing, and Photogrpahy!

If you are feeling helpless and overwhelmed with the destruction of our way of life here in Louisiana, please feel free to join in any of these artistic community events to restore your soul. Art may be the only thing that saves us; certainly BP, the Army Corps and the Federal Gov't will not.


Arts Education Panel:

"Please join us at The Front , 4100 St Claude St. New Orleans, on Thursday, May 27th @ 6:30 pm for the second installment of Back Talk at the Front. This month's discussion is on the topic of Arts Education in the Greater New Orleans Area. Facilitating this discussion will be a panel of arts educators from public, private, high school, grade school, university level, and extracurricular institutions. As our arts community enjoys this period of growth, we must be diligent in our support of every available opportunity to expose students to The Arts. On the 27th, we will explore some of these current opportunities, address some of the needs not being met, and discuss what can be done in the face of an ever-shrinking budget. As always, audience participation is welcomed, and everyone is invited to add to the conversation.

Back Talk at The Front is a series of monthly lectures, brought to you by The Front, focusing on topics important to the cultural community of New Orleans. This series is free and open to the public. Please stay tuned each month for more information on Back Talk."

Book Reading/ Signing:

You are invited to book reading/signing at McKeown's Books
Thursday - May 27, 2010 - 6:00 PM
That Powerless Feeling by Aaron Handy, Jr.

Local author Aaron Handy has written an autobiographical
Vietnam war narrative about the day to day interactions
of a group of young combatants. Come join us as we celebrate
the launching of this powerful anti-war book.

McKeown's Books and Difficult Music
4737 Tchoupitoulas
New Orlean, LA 70115
895-1954



New Photography Exhibit at NOMA:

NOMA presents the exhibition The Therapist: Photographs by Donald Woodman from May 22 through July 11. The exhibition consists of sixty-one photographs spanning four-year period (1997-2001) during which Woodman photographed his therapist, Dr. Donald Fineberg in Santa Fe, at the beginning of each of their sessions together. Says Woodman, "The relationship between therapist and patient served as a vehicle for exploring interpersonal relationships and personal identity. The images reflect both the tenor of the session and the emotions of the moment ranging from humor to pathos."

Marshes are dead. They won't come back.

Dear BP: Fuck you, you fucking fucks. May you choke for eternity on this mess.

Oil Spill Closing Beaches and Killing Marshes

The beach at Louisiana’s Grand Isle State Park was closed because of oil, according to a listing yesterday on the state Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism’s website. The state Department of Wildlife & Fisheries also announced additional recreational and commercial fishing closings yesterday.

Pictured: Paper Plate Covered in Oil on Beach, From AudubonMagazine.org

Read full article about Grand Isle Beach Closings.

"Billy Nungesser, president of Louisiana's Plaquemines Parish, toured the oil-polluted marshes of Plaquemines Parish on Wednesday and said:"Had you fallen off that boat yesterday and come up breathing that stuff, you probably wouldn't be here today.

Oil started washing ashore in Louisiana this week, approximately 50 miles northwest from where the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank. In a part of Plaquemines Parish in an estuary called Pass a Loutre, reeds in the marshlands that were normally green with life, are now brown and dead, saturated with oil. P.J. Hahn, the director of the Parish Coastal Zone Management Department, reflecting on the environmental disaster:"It's so sad when you look around here and you just think of what was here, what's happening to it now and what's eventually gonna happen to it. Unless we stop that oil out there, it's just going to continue to keep coming in here and wipe out everything we have. ... I think we're just starting to see the first wave of what's really coming and what's really coming I think is going to be devastating."

Environmentalists are especially concerned about Louisiana's Breton National Wildlife Refuge. Established in 1904 by President Theodore Roosevelt, it's the second-oldest refuge in the country. Located north of the parish, the refuge is part of the Chandeleur Islands which are situated in the Gulf of Mexico. A nesting ground for tens of thousands of birds, including the brown pelican, the marshland has for time immemorial provided a sanctuary for the wildlife of this region. '

-From Examiner.com

Biggie smalls - juicy and Alice Notley-Supa Juicy

I watched the Notorious bio on biggie smalls last week. A few days later Dave was watching a bio. on Abe Lincoln on the History channel. The announcer made some comment as to Abe's belief that a person could be anything they want to be. And I told Dave that I got the exact same impression from Biggie: "Sky's the Limit." Who knew those two had so much in common. Thanks to Dorothea Lasky who reminded me on her FB page that Friday would have been Biggie's 38th B-day.

And I have this little fantasy that Alice Notley really likes her some Biggie Smalls. It's lines like this that facilitate this fantastic notion: "The womb a vibrant/ pocketbook with a clasp to lock you in" from Dancing in the Dark (read it in your very own copy of Muthafucka 2).

Support small press

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Muthafucka Issue 2





Sam King, John Niekrasz,Angel Escobar,Kristin Dykstra,Mohammed Khair-Eddine,Pierre Joris,Alice Notley,Dot Devota,Phil Cordelli,Norma Cole,Quinn Latimer,Matthew Klane,Hoa Nguyen,Lucas Farrell and more








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Cannibal Books makes really beautiful hand sewn chapbooks. Support them as well.

Poetry Bombs and Mother's Day

From the New York News Today, an article reminding us that neither poetry nor your mother is a chore (bore?):

"Mothers Day Poems Needn’t Be a Chore

No money for a mother’s day gift- no problem all you need is a pen, some paper and some coloured pencils. Now look, your mother has been looking after you, loving you, giving you guidance, offering solutions to all your problems since before you could open your mouth to cry for some more breast milk. So the very least that you could do is show your appreciation by giving her a cheerful smile and a little poem to show your gratitude and do you know what, showing her a little gratitude will make her want to look after you until at least next mother’s day."

Wait, what is this about?

I've lost my train of thought. This article is too cerebral for me. In other news...

The poet, S.A. Griffin, and the bomb, Elsie, will be in New Orleans this weekend. Read more about the Poetry Bomb project. The Poetry Bomb reading will be on Sunday, May 9th at 3 p.m. at the Maple Leaf bar.

Here's an interview with poet S. A. Griffin.

My copy of the anthology Not For Mothers Only from Fence Books came in the mail today. They didn't lie; they did get it here by Mother's Day! And it is amazing. I wish I had read some of these poems seven years ago when I first became a mother, but better late than never. I love that the editors open with Mina Loy, namesake for our first child, Mina Evelyn. At least, I had her insights into motherhood seven years ago.

And a small poem for our newest little girl, Issa Mae:

For Issa

hiccuping sigh
oil on dark water
fragile days

four fingered grasp
for one of my fingers
locked love's lullaby

rock-a-bye baby
all the world gasps
a sea barren

17 Poets! Featured Readers

You can now follow 17 Poets! on Facebook.


Thursday, May 6, 2010
Please join us in celebration as 17 Poets! Literary & Performance series presents a reading/performance featuring novelist and short story writer MOIRA CRONE and poet DAVE BRINKS (Dave's Birthday Party!) on Thursday, May 6, 2010, 8:00pm @ The Gold Mine Saloon. And don't forget to bring your luminous words & wisecracks for yet another amazing evening of mirth, fantasm & reverie!




Moira Crone is a widely published short story writer and novelist. She received the Robert Penn Warren Award for Fiction from the Southern Fellowship of Writers in 2009 for the body of her work.A native of Eastern North Carolina, she lives in New Orleans.

Her publications include, What Gets Into Us (2006), Dream State (Jackson: The University Press of Mississippi in 1995), A Period of Confinement (New York: G.P. Putnam and Sons, 1986, Paperback, New York: Harper and Row, 1987. French Translation: Paris: Gallimard 1986); and The Winnebago Mysteries and Other Stories (New York: The Fiction Collective/? Braziller 1982).






Dave Brinks was born in ‘67 and raised in New Orleans, poet and essayist Dave Brinks’ heritage is Acadian French and Choctaw. Brinks is editor-in-chief of YAWP: A Journal of Poetry & Art, publisher of Trembling Pillow Press, director of 17 Poets! Literary & Performance Series, and founder of The New Orleans School for the Imagination. His poems and essays have appeared in dozens of magazines, newspapers, journals and anthologies in the US and overseas, and have been translated into French and Romanian. In addition, Brinks' works have aired on NPR’s Hearing Voices and PBS’ News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and also have been featured in National Geographic Traveler and Louisiana Cultural Vistas. He is the author of six books including the acclaimed The Caveat Onus (Black Widow Press 2009), as well as two new collections forthcoming from Black Widow Press: The Light on Earth Street and The Geometry of Sound.


On Jan 19, 2010 Brinks and his wife, poet Megan Burns, celebrated the birth of their third child, daughter Issa Mae!

Post-K still and then what...

Dave took this picture when he came in to check on our house in Sept. 2005. This is the train track at the end of our block that separates us from Greenwood Cemetery.

I keep thinking back to those days in part because we have been watching Treme on HBO and in part because it's easier to go there than to sit and watch the gulf fill up with oil.

They are tearing down a house just down the street. We've watched so many bulldozers come in and level homes. We sit next to a gutted house, across the street from a gutted house, and behind us: they have finally torn down and prepared a lot for rebuilding. It's been five years and some people are just starting.

When they tore my mom's house down; they broke open the roof to find the wooden bassinet that I used as a baby sitting in the attic. She had forgotten it was up there. The bulldozer scooped it up and set it down at my mom's feet. I think about that image a lot. The cradling of the bassinet in the yellow bucket, and the hoses pumping water, and the silence after the storm, and the trees holding our memories in their rings.

Tree Removal

We had to remove a giant Hackberry tree from our backyard today, and it's Dave's birthday. What a strange gift. The trunk was infested with borer beetles, and apparently while the tree is quite hard, any damage can quickly rot the inside. The trunk, especially at the base, was almost hollowed out and extensively rotten. It took a crew an entire day to hack away at the tree taking it down. I watched from our back bedroom window, and it was like watching a death.

This is a picture where you can see the Hackberry growing over the back of our falling down garage, post-K. The sad thing is our garage still looks like that only flatter on the roof as Hurricane Gustav dropped a huge limb from the Hackberry on it. Now you can see straight over our garage roof to the house. It's a huge vacant spot where that giant tree stood.

It's sad to think that we took this out of the picture and left in its place a small pile of wood chips and a rotten stump. I keep thinking it was our responsibility to take care of the tree and that we can plant a new tree, but it's strange to be in charge of removing something that has been around longer than you. We saved two huge slices from a healthy, thick limb for the kids. That tree stood in eight feet of water for three weeks after the federal flooding of New Orleans. I think that's when the infestation started, the toxic water probably weakened the trunk. Five years out and things are still falling victim to the storm's carnage.

In other good news though, New Orleans now has a new mayor. They said it would take five years for New Orleans to recover from the storm and here we are. Hopefully, the next five years turn a corner on lingering problems and fallout from Pre-Katrina and Post-Katrina days. And the oil spill grows and pushes its way to shore...

I felt like this portion of this Whitman poem watching our tree shrink to just a bare, naked trunk as the day went by.

From Song of the Redwood-Tree:

"But in my soul I plainly heard.

Murmuring out of its myriad leaves,

Down from its lofty top, rising two hundred feet high,

Out of its stalwart trunk and limbs—out of its foot-thick bark,

That chant of the seasons and time—chant, not of the past only, but the future."

I wonder if the birds and squirrels notice the vacancy. Where something once was is now empty space. The air has to expand to feel/feed the place where the tree sat for so many decades, and now the sun's rays fall in a different pattern across our backyard.

Whitman loved his trees, from Specimen Days:

Aug. 4, 6 P. M.—Lights and shades and rare effects on tree-foliage and grass—transparent greens, grays, &c., all in sunset pomp and dazzle. The clear beams are now thrown in many new places, on the quilted, seam’d, bronze-drab, lower tree-trunks, shadow’d except at this hour—now flooding their young and old columnar ruggedness with strong light, unfolding to my sense new amazing features of silent, shaggy charm, the solid bark, the expression of harmless impassiveness, with many a bulge and gnarl unreck’d before. In the revealings of such light, such exceptional hour, such mood, one does not wonder at the old story fables, (indeed, why fables?) of people falling into love-sickness with trees,

Audubon Zoo: Language of Conservation, Poet Mark Doty

Poet Mark Doty has been working with the Audubon Zoo to create poetry installations that focus on celebrating nature. The exhibits will go on display May 15th. This is a wonderful initiative and puts poetry out there into the world where it should be. Thankfully, you don't need a huge grant to install your own poetry in the world. Just some chalk and a sidewalk or maybe some homemade magnets that you gift in a public place. Outside of property damage and just littering, there are numerous ways to gift the world with your words.

Write a poem on a leaf and then leave it on picnic table under a rock for someone to discover.



From the website:

Language of Conservation

"Find poems that celebrate the natural world at Audubon Zoo! As part of the "Language of Conservation" project Audubon is introducing 37 poetry installations into the Zoo's landscape. Look for writings in a water fountain, hanging from a tree or painted around a garden.

Premieres May 15, 2010
Audubon Zoo"


*******I keep writing the language of conversation instead of conservation. I would like to see an installation called the language of conversation. Maybe installed in elevators or public restrooms or gas stations....

Fence Mother's Day Special

Fence Books is offering a great deal on a poetry anthology written about mothering, child rearing, etc. Great deal with a great line up of contributors such as: ann lauterbach, mina loy, bernadette mayer, thylias moss, hoa nguyen, alice notley, sharon olds, alicia ostriker, maureen owen, and so on.

From the Fence Email:

"Today's the day to get the perfect gift for any mother, mother-to-be, past mother, grandmother, or actually anyone who's ever been born. It's Not for Mothers Only, and we're so eager for it be read that we're offering it for $10. If you order the book today, we can guarantee its arrival at the destination of your choice by May 9.

The picture on the cover of the silhouette of a woman in a state of extreme pregnancy, with an image of a fetus kind of drifting outside of her inside a box with a dotted line around it, indicates that this is pregnancy/birth/parenting of mind and spirit--not necessarily biological and sometimes immanent. Introductions are by editors Catherine Wagner and Rebecca Wolff."

Counterpath Press: New Book from Laynie Browne

Laynie Brown has a new book out and it's an homage to an amazing Mayer book. See below the info. fresh from Counterpath Press.


Browne's book The Scented Fox (Wave books, 2006) was chosen by Alice Notley in the National Poetry Series. It's one of my favorite poetry books and I used to read parts of it to Mina at night before bed. It's a blend of lyrical poetry and prose. Another favorite of mine that is also reminiscent of Mayer's experiments in form is Daily Sonnets, also from Counterpath Press, 2007.



Here's a review for The Scented Fox where the reviewer says the poems are like vicodin. I sure did enjoy them but they didn't make me feel all itchy and rashy...well, that's just me being allergic to vicodin and all.


From Counterpath Press Email:

"The Desires of Letters, by Laynie Browne (ISBN 978-1933996-19-6)


'Motherhood and housewifery and other worldly concerns of the female artist-provider ride rampant here in this bustling exploding book of prose & poem meditations. One of our best writers does it again' (Anne Waldman). Prose, verse, letters, and plays, The Desires of Letters is a passionate commentary on writing, mothering, and the navigation of politics, community, and imagination. An homage to Bernadette Mayer's The Desires of Mothers to Please Others in Letters, the book begins at the onset of the 2003 Iraq war and becomes 'transformative . . . [in] its negotiation of the global and the domestic, beauty made bittersweet with annoyance and exhaustion, all that advice about how to raise a child and write at the same time' (Juliana Spahr)."




Learn more about the author:


Interview with Laynie Browne