Promises of Light, Promises of Poems, Promises of Light Poems?

Four poems of mine are up at Flowers and Vortexes, a literary production of the Promise of Light community.  They're all on one page, so scroll on down.

A Discovery

Turns out I had poems published in Ygdrasil this whole time. I had no idea. Maybe the acceptance got lost in my spam filter or else I was told and completely forgot. Either way, here are five poems from June 2010. What a crazy time it was, sinkholes, air strikes, oil spills, riots in Kyrgyzstan, and the World Cup in South Africa.

A New Novel, New Poems, New Numbers, A New November?

Prepare yourselves for a rather long post. But I have pictures for this one. I have some poems up at Eunoia Review. Six actually. Here they are:

"Recollections and Mathematics"

"The Great Bataan Dance"

"Wonderland"

"Your Old Fashioned Tirade" 

"The One Chief Task"

"Cenotaph Reflections"

I hope you enjoy them. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. I recently finished a short novel of roughly 56,000 words. I named it after a park in Arlington which is named after a lie. I was writing it as part of Nanowrimo, also known as National Novel Writing Month. It started on November 1st,  and is still going on. I just finished early, because hey, what else have I got to do with my time? I think I might still try to go to some of the events in the DC area for it. Even though I registered and am officially part of the community, I haven't participated much, which is probably why I was able to finish so early. That and the fact I'm unemployed and living in my parent's basement on the periphery of everything.

On a related note, I just passed the 4,000,000 word mark. Some sort of celebration is in order. I know, let's make a bunch of charts and graphs! Here's what the situation was in the summer of 2008, the last time I took notice of the milestone:

I kept it at fairly constant rate it seems. Here is what an updated version of this chart looks like:

As you can see, my productivity started to increased during the end of 2010. Two things happened around this time. The first was that I was laid off and the second was that I took an extended vacation in Montclair, New Jersey. Now, let's see if there's been any shift in the kind of things I write. The breakdown, in terms of percentage in 2008 was this:

Obviously, fiction was overwhelmingly dominant. Non-fiction was a distant second. Let's see if I've changed what kinds of things I write and if so, by how much:

It seems the shares for poetry and non-fiction have declined, while poetry has grown immensely. Fiction has also lost a little share as well. It makes sense if we examine the number of pages of poetry I have produced. This chart however only takes into accounted poems that are not part of any other collection:

As you can see there was a spike in late 2008, which probably put the growth of poetry over the over genres.

A CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

On behalf of a friend working at the Brooklyn Review: 


Dear Poets,

“The Brooklyn Review,” formerly available only in print, has now expanded into a multimedia publication, with both a print and an online presence. We're currently reviewing submissions, and invite you to submit up to three poems—including any unique, cross-genre work that has yet to see the light of publication.

With this first multimedia issue, we'll also be filming interviews with writers and artists from each genre represented by “The Brooklyn Review,” including poets. Video-footage of these interviews will be accessible on our website. Solicitations for interviews will be sent out shortly.

Aside from poetry, “The Brooklyn Review” considers submissions in the following genres: fiction, creative nonfiction, drama, photography, artwork, short films, and multimedia works. If you know anyone who might wish to contribute to our publication, please spread the word.

For more information about “The Brooklyn Review,” including submission details, please visit our website:
http://www.brooklynreview.org/index.html

Queries? Contact me either here on Facebook,
or at: JGrunthaner@gmail.com

Yours,
Jeffrey Grunthaner
Assistant Poetry Ed.

Nanowrimo and Infinite Chest

The novel I am working on for NaNoWriMo (like Qaddafi, there are many ways to write it) is coming along. I am adding large piles of words to it daily. My only fear is that November 30th will come and I will still have much more to write about. It seems every day there are new scenes, asides, observations, conversations, and descriptions that I want to add. I guess it serves me right for not planning it out much before starting. No matter what happens, it has put me over the 4,000,000 word mark for everything that I've written. That comes out to roughly 16,000 pages (at 250 words per page).

Poems continue to be published. I have one for all you premed students. It appeared a couple months ago in CHEST: the Journal of the American College of Chest Physicians. I submitted one and it was published. That's right folks, I was published in a peer-reviewed journal! Despite the title of the magazine, I assure you it is completely clean and is not about ogling breasts.

I also have poems in the first issue of S/Word, this one, this one, and this one.

National Novel Writing Month Is Here

Or NaNoWriMo for short. This November writers across the Anglosphere will work to churn out a 50,000 word novel by the end of the month. The event has been going on for several years. It's not too late to get started if you've been looking for an excuse to get writing on the tome you've always wanted to write. There are events, forums, emails, tips, and classes for those who want them as part of the experience. This is the first time I will be participating officially. I have written novels before (thought none have been published yet) and some during the month of November. But none of them were written entirely within the 30 day period as stipulated per the rules.  Now I am writing away on my work and have 2,210 words to my credit, a decent start. My plan is to produce a short, picaresque novel that functions as a thinly veiled retelling of my burned out days here in Arlington, Virginia.

Poetry In My Bare Hands

I have a short poem up in the first issue of Bare Hands Poetry. Five lines people, five lines.

Another poem up at Literary Kicks. Truth be told, I like the response posted below better than the original.

Ever wonder what would happen if atheists ruled America? Apparently s4ms0nr and John Hodgman know.

Things I'm listening to at the moment: Department of Eagles, Roxy Music, Cat Power, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Fela Kuti, and Wye Oak.

Poetry In the Brooklyner and Other News

Hello all, some updates from the very sedate files of Mr. Nardolilli:

I have three poems up in the Brooklyner. Read one of them here, another here, and the last one in this place.

Here's a link to a project centered on the life of little known counterculture figure Shig Murao that presents his life and work. He was the one who was actually arrested for selling Allen Ginsberg's Howl. Unfortunately his role was not depicted in the recent film based on the famous censorship trial, even though he was a defendant along with Lawrence Ferlinghetti (whose last name the spellchecker recognizes, boy is Google Chrome one hep cat!). I reviewed the film when it first came out a year ago.  Besides Howl, Shig was involved with City Lights bookstore, the San Francisco renaissance, and was an early zine publisher. In addition he was also a survivor of the Japanese internment and Allen Ginsberg lived out of his closet. A pretty interesting life all around. 

Oh, and I was nominated for a Pushcart for a poem in my poetry chapbook.

Don't Hide the Madness

My Mother once asked me what the definition of a "tool" was. She wasn't talking about hammers and levers, but the use of the word to describe a person. At the time I had trouble explaining it to her, but recent events have given me plenty to show her what a tool is even if I can't explicitly tell her.

Here is example #1: The Man In The White Shirt

Example #2: The Grown Man In The Costume

Example #3: The Man Defending A Lack Of Philanthropy By Claiming That A Billionaire "Gave" Us All A Good Time.

Example #4: These people (also a good example of false consciousness) 

On a completely unrelated note, I have supplied my intellectual labors and creative endeavors for free to Catapult to Mars and The Plebian Rag.

Up New Poems

Three new poems published online, which means that now I can't say they've never been published before. Please, violate them with your eyes, like the octopus in the above picture is doing with that poor man at the computer. I have a poem up at Etcetera, work at Welcome to Wherever, and some lines in the first issue of the Magic Lantern Review. Reading them one after the other might make you wonder if they were written by the same person. The Magic Lantern poem is an imagist-inspired work based on a picture I saw on Unhappy Hipsters. The poem in Welcome to Wherever is simple free verse. Meanwhile the work at Etcetera is an Adventist cut-up.

Why Should the Aged Eagle Stretch its Wings?

There is an Oktoberfest for new poems by me online this week. Something for everybody, as long as they are literate. First, I have a poem up in Welcome to Wherever. Sleet Magazine has also decided they like my words and here's a link to some. Two sites have posted multiple poems of mine. MungBeing, which has been a generous, welcoming home for me, has four of my works, all of them dealing with the theme of costumes. You can read them here, in this place, at this site, and by clicking on this link. Last but not the least, Everyday Other Things has posted a series of poems I write in response to the picture posted on top of them.

In other news, I am putting my other blog on hiatus. The project's not going anywhere, beacuse well, I'm not going anywhere either.

Guerilla Catapults

Two new poems for you all to read. Here is one in Catapult to Mars and another in Guerrilla Pamphlets. Hope you enjoy them.

New York, I'm Coming to See You

This Friday, I will be arriving in Manhattan, either by blimp or the bus. I'm trying to figure out which one is safer. Unfortunately, the autogryo (which is not an edible Greek car) is all booked until next Wednesday. I will be in New York City until Monday. Hopefully I will get to see some of you all to celebrate the opening of my 26th year on earth, which will happen on the 24th. A quarter century done...

As always, there are literary updates. An important announcement of mine is up at w5ran. There are also some poems of mine up at Drunken Absurdity. The hits just keep coming! And don't forget about my chapbook, which is still for sale at Folded Word.

Also, be careful what you parody, it might just be appropriated. Here are two videos, the first making fun of Levi's "Go Forth" ads by using Charles Bukowski's Dinosauria, We.



As one YouTube commenter wrote, it takes away the aftertaste of the original. However, the people at Levi's must have wised up. Look what they wrought:

Carcinogenic Poetry

That's a pretty cool symbol, don't you think so? It means something is carcinogenic. How about that? When you come to my blog you learn something new. I keep trying to convince the judge this is my community service and the priest that it is my penance. But neither of them budge in the robes. Anyway, here is a poem of mine from Carcinogenic Poetry. It may prove to be a historical record in time, written during the last gasp of the Bowery as a berth for the wreckage of unlucky New Yorkers to dock in.

Other than that, I have decided to return to my first novel and rewrite it so that it is no longer a series of journal entries but is a tale told from the first person, full of sound and fury, signifying everything. The title business for my deeds is still up in the air. The current title is "Everything with Wings Is Restless" which might be too long despite its poetic nature. My fear is it may sound Extremely Cloying and Incredibly False as well. I have a few other ideas: The Daybreak Boys, American Spring, Combination of the Two, and Trimalchio in West Egg.

The Chapbooks Are Here! The Chapbooks Are Here!

The physical copies of my chapbook "Common Symptoms of an Enduring Chill Explained," have arrived and are ready for sale and distribution. Just look at them! I think I am going to print these pictures, cut them out, and put them in my wallet to show people when they ask me if I have children. This is probably as close as I'm going to get.

Here's a close-up view of the book. Look at the nice rendering of my name. LOOK AT IT!

And here is an inside look inside the chapbook. As you can see, it is part of a limited run. So get your books while supplies last. There will also be an e-book version for you to purchase, in case a fifteen page book is too big for you to carry.