Sunday, May 31, 2009

"So that I'm not screwed by a bear"

Just caught Isabella Rossellini's Green Porno series on the Sundance Channel, thanks to her appearance on the Graham Norton show: wonderful, quirky, fascinating. She's such an intriguing, engaging person. One of the few "famous" people I'd love to meet.

Check out these delightful short films!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Thanks!

Thanks go out to Karen Weyant, who will serve as the final judge for this year's Keystone Chapbook Prize. Karen's blog vanished into the ether the other day, but her new blog is up and you can find it here. I highly recommend grabbing yourself a copy of her fine new chapbook, Stealing Dust.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Imagine our surprise

So our apartment has its problems: we live in a half-double, a very old two-story brick house just off Market Street, and getting the owner to keep up with repairs is sometimes an incredible hassle. Case in point: the leak over the front door, which we pointed out for the first time four years ago, and which has caused increasing damage to the door frame and the exterior and interior walls. We sent letters. We phoned. She blew us off repeatedly. Two years ago, just after R had sent another letter, we saw her on Market Street: "I got your letter," she said. "I got your last ten letters. . ." The remark that made me spin on my heels and walk away was: "But face it--it's only a rental."

So imagine our surprise, two days ago, to find a carpenter knocking loose some of the rotten wood from above the door. He poked, he prodded. He sent around a worker to start yanking out the ruined wood.

Today, the full extent of the damage is visible: a massive crossbeam, 150 years old, was completely rotted through and had to be removed. Temporary supports have been jacked into place to keep the bricks from collapsing. We can see daylight through holes punched through the plaster. The door casing itself is partially rotted; I don't know if they'll remove the door and replace this or try somehow to work around it. But all I can think is that 90% of this could have been prevented.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Call for chapbooks: Pilot

passing along this call for chapbooks from our friends at Pilot Books:

Pilot Books will hold our first open reading period in May of 2009 to select a manuscript to be published in our new Meddling Kids Series. Please submit 2 printed copies of your original poetry manuscript (10-25 pages of verse) postmarked between May 1st -May 31st , 2009. Include two cover pages--one with manuscript title, your name, address, email and phone; another with manuscript title only. Manuscripts will be logged in by an impartial third party, and read anonymously by the editors and a panel of outside readers. A selection of finalists may be asked to submit their manuscript electronically. No SASE necessary; we will communicate via email. Post your entries, along with a $10 reading fee to the address below. (All entry $$ will fund the production of the selected manuscript.)

Pilot Books
39 Lilly Street
Florence, MA 01020