i apologized to the sun for having skin
— P.E. Garcia, from “the sea & the foam” published in The Rumpus
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i apologized to the sun for having skin
— P.E. Garcia, from “the sea & the foam” published in The Rumpus
& thinking this is remarkably dull, the world, with one moon, which we can all look at, continually, & how much can you say about the moon, really, before the moon becomes the sun | the sun becomes the earth | the earth becomes Kenneth Goldsmith examining himself in the mirror & thinking, this is remarkably dull, the human face, is there only one or billions, & should we be writing about dull things when there are so many faces staring in the mirror asking about the moon? when there is blood in the street, reflecting puddles of moonlight, who really has time for poetry or art, who has art for poetry and time, who has the moon & the human face & who owns the faces & the fates, the mouths mouthing a point about capitalism, an idea about art, a mouth mouthing thoughts on the moon? i’m trying to write poems & read minds but i feel the full weight of 32 cents in my bank account & look over my shoulder for White men who might follow too close i’m tongue-tied again, buried in theory & bullets & the moon is still hanging up there, with its skull-face looking down on me & Kenneth Goldsmith & all the corpses between us laid out across the earth end to end i’m tongue-tied again, i’ve been told the moon is dull but i don’t know if the moon thinks much of me & i know no-one gives a fuck about Kenneth Goldsmith i’ve been living like a river dying, drying up, doing my best to feed grassroots, expending myself all the more for that i’m tongue-tied again: imagine my tongue wrapped in circles around the moon, i’m trying to mouth “this isn’t death, only the moon” & a poem has never been the moon | the moon has never been death | death is never art | but if i repeat these incantations then at least i know my mouth has something to say
NATIONAL POETRY MONTH DAY 6: “ I Know Somewhere Out There Kenneth Goldsmith is Looking Up at the Same Moon “ by p.e. garcia
Maybe the greatest thing about podcasts is how easy and cheap they are to release, and how opaque that ease is (the listener doesn’t necessarily know). Of course a self-released show is going to have a harder time getting attention, getting well-ranked on iTunes, etc… but the audience doesn’t view a self-release any differently than a supported release (unlike with a book or an album), in large part because the medium is so new, they’re not trained to pay attention yet. So there’s still a grassroots, democratic ethos in the podcast world that is either long gone from most other mediums, or only exists in a super DIY form that looks and feels radically different from the mainstream form. If you’re cruising around iTunes, my podcast looks the same as all the rest, and because the means of production are so cheap and widely available, it’s also easy to make it sound legit. Plus all the other great things about podcasts, too, like the freedom and range of the format, the simplicity of production, the flexibility of consumption, and the portability. I love the medium. I think it’s the punk rock of this moment.
PODCATCHER #6: The History Channeler
I think what’s been at the heart of my work is how I’ve been on a journey of trying to figure out what it means to be a Muslim, South Asian, woman in America—when I was growing up, I didn’t have any example to pull from as examples of what that meant. There was nothing to aspire to and nothing to help me better define myself for myself. I think what you see in this “pulling of diversity” is just that—it’s our discovery of realizing how complicated the world is, and how the worlds that Zahra and I were raised in didn’t expose us to a lot of variety of what it means to be “Muslim American.”
PODCATCHER #5: #GoodMuslimBadMuslim
Nothing feels off limits, but I always want to be respectful of whatever subject we tackle. I want to create a safe space for curiosity but also a place to learn how to communicate respectfully.
Podcatcher #4: Getting Curious With Jonathan Van Ness.
For the investigations themselves, it helps that we find this fun—otherwise it would be a total train wreck. I’ve learned that Carrie and I have a high tolerance for unusual ideas. It is my fascination with the psychology of belief that can sustain me through an eight-hour Advanced Personal Efficiency course, or a twelve-hour Dianetics seminar. I love to hear how people express their beliefs, the words they use, and how they respond to questions. It takes a lot of work to fatigue or bore me, though I can certainly point to times when that has happened.
Podcatcher #1: Oh No, Ross And Carrie!
Submit your fiction to Queen Mob’s!
STARTING TODAY
Submit your fiction to [email protected].
We want to see the very best fiction you have to offer! If you want to know the kind of stuff we tend to publish, read this long boring post I made a while back or check out all the fiction we’ve published so far.
I’m especially interested in work from people of color, women, LGBTQ people, and other underrepresented communities, so please please please please send me your stuff to read.
Also: I’d love to read any essays you want to send my way as well. For more on that, check out this post over here
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ASK AVANT: Tips on Surviving AWP (When You’re Not at AWP)
Here are some ways you can attend, even if you can’t attend.
1. Have friends wear a mask of your face.
This has long been my strategy. It’s well-known that the God of Writing, vengeful and jealous as He is, doesn’t have very good eyesight. If He sees at least someone that looks like you at the conference, you should be fine. This is also one of the reasons that so many writers tend to dress alike.
2. Skype with someone in attendance and have them carry the phone around in their pocket, a la Her.
If you have access to Skype or Facetime or some other face-projecting program, ask a writer you love to carry you around in their pocket while they attend panels and check out the book fair. Just be sure they don’t fall in love with you (unless you want them to).
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