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Four Poems Are in MungBeing! (And a First Word on Adventism)

Well the good old folks at MungBeing have decided in their infinite poetical wisdom to publish not just one, not just two, and not just three of my poems, but four instead. Ever since I was featured in Record a couple of months ago, it is the most in any one spot, I believe. Anyways, they are up and ready to be enjoyed. The titles to look out for are “Up in the Morning,” “The Dry Season,” “Browsing Necropolis,” and “On Current Distractions.” They are all free verse, and all the more so, since you can read them without a penny to lose.

One of the interesting things is the MungBeing is affiliated with the Stuckist movement. I found out about them a few months back but did not know that MungBeing was involved in the movement until I submitted to them, which is a pleasant surprise. What is Stuckism? Basically, it is a reaction against the attitude of the British (and to a certain extent, American) art scene. It rejects the emphasis on conceptual art for an experience more grounded in emotion. I can’t say I blame them. There is plenty on the internet about them and examples of their work.

I do not declare myself a Stuckist, although I sympathize with their goals and aims. The main reasons are that 1) I am not British and 2) I am not an artist working in the world and mediums which their wrath is focused on. While I certainly would like to see the art world rescued from posturing and the elitist attitudes that deride anything more than three people might enjoy, it is a battle separate from any of the ones which I need to wage. I have enough on my plate to go up against. Since I have little to gain personally from a restructuring of the art world (as of yet), I can only offer my moral support to them and hope that they succeed fully.

Because many similar attitudes have crept into poetry, and similar energies must be dedicated to expunging them, I have found in the Stuckists a useful model. We share much in spirit even if the battles we wage are on different terrains. To that end I have developed Adventism, call myself an Adventist, and have given MungBeing the historical notoriety of being the first place that Adventism will be mentioned in connection not with a Protestant sect, but with a movement in poetry that so far consists of myself and the nods given off by a few acquaintances.

In future essays I will clarify what Adventism is and what the Adventist poet must aspire to be. However, in case anyone is looking (perhaps directed from MungBeing) for a definition, I can supply one for now in the negative.

Adventist Poetry is NOT:

Baggy, loose, rambling, and/or based on the total disregard of the reader’s attention span.

Dull, clichéd, hackneyed, ordinary in its language and descriptions, and/or prose simply chopped up into lines

Inhuman, antihuman, anti-emotion, rationalistic, and/or a stranger to the human experience in any of its forms

There might be some Adventist poems that deviate slightly from these principles. They cannot be dealt with by appeal to the No True Scotsman fallacy, robbed of their Adventist status. Instead, I must remind that Adventism is a movement dedicated to the inner vision of the poet as it is connected with the reader in crafting a shared experience. Craft is the important word here. It is the attempt at upholding Adventist principles, and doing a close enough job that makes a poem a member of the school.

Adventist poetry can be rhymed, structured, metered, or consist of free verse. There is no subject matter of great concern to the Adventist, only the desire for craft in the poem. All subjects deserve equal consideration when being honed into their poetic form, anything can be written about as long as it is respected as being worthy of the poet’s attention to craft.

If any of this sounds vague, I apologize. The formal manifesto must be issued later. I promise a simple way to propagate Adventism, or at least explain it, complete with an entire story of the term’s appropriation by me. Nevertheless, I do not consider Adventism simply to be a stand in for me, or to be synonymous with my works. It is not an approach to poetry that is completely new, I believe it had practitioners who were unaware of it in past times. Adventism is simply derived from the whole of poetic tradition and distilled to what guiding principles seem to work best in creating lasting work that leaves an impression on readers.

However it is adapted for this day and age and strives to adapt by making previously non-poetical material part of poetry’s domain for comment. My poems at MungBeing have attempted this. The first two are “Up in the Morning” and “On Current Distractions,” which are attempts to create a literary language to express feelings and interactions (as well as thoughts) that relate to the whole technological world. Much like Modernists a hundred years ago, we must remake art so that it can expand boundaries over what developments have taken place over the past few years. Otherwise we prevent a true dialogue with the present and its concerns. The sprawling, almost pastoral poetry of rage and accruements, of recent has got to go and be replaced by something tighter.

In Up in the Morning, there is an attempt to create a personal relationship with the machine, in this case the computer. The speaker tries to relate their experience to the computer and in doing so collapsed both of their worlds together, if just briefly. While the poem contains a human element and an attempt at expanding the boundaries of expressing human experience, it probably cannot be seen as tight as it should be, but I absolve myself. This was before I ever considered taking up Adventism.

On Current Distractions was written about how we let technology and information keep us from our desired goals. It is tighter even though it is longer, and it deal with the human at its core, however I cannot say that it is filled with the most sparkling of language, although I do like the first line as a reference to the composition of the poem Kublai Khan.

Browsing Necropolis is indirectly about technology. I do not consider it to be an example of Adventist poetry, except that it does express a compression of a very abstract and all commanding idea into a tight space of a few lines, two short of a free verse sonnet. I desired the effect of having lines tumble over each other, but in an secretly ordered way that finally reveals itself in the end, much like the way a dance routine by a synchronized team in the swimming pool or sports field might end in order and closure out of chaos.

The Dry Season, the fourth poem, is part of the Adventures of Byron Jones. This is one of several dramatic monologues I have written using various characters. Jones goes through the seasons and at the same time the various stages of being a citizen of the frightening and fantastic Avant-garde Kingdom of Bohemia. This series was the first poem I wrote with an Adventist frame of mind, hoping to capture the beautiful and yet claustrophobic world of New York City, the way that high and low, mundane and glittering, mix together freely. One image ones against another in the stanzas, which are like little holding pens for them to go at it.

So there are four poems and my first explicit demonstrations (albeit early ones from last year) of the Adventist aesthetic. Go ahead and read them and think about what I have said here. Judge me for what I have dug up.

Mr. Shining Armor

I have a short story up at Writer's Ink. Check it out here. It is one that I wrote for an advanced fiction class at NYU taught by the esteemed Darin Strauss. I'm not sure if any of the suggested edits from him and the other students found their way into the piece. It's been a while (and how are you guys doing?). Nevertheless the story is up and available for viewing.

A Gift from Callused Hands

First post for August of 2009. How the years slides away from us. SEP is already finished and I am back in Arlington once more. Anyways the occasion for today's (or tonight's) announcement is that two poems of mine are featured in Callused Hands. Their titles are "Under Certain Conditions" and "A Spring Enclosed." Scroll down and enjoy!

Monsieur Funnington's Song

Here is the award winning (1st place at the SEP spirit competition) song my campers came up with third session. It is to the tune of "Sail Away"



I'm camping away
Back to the place that I love to be
'Cause I've got to be free,
Free to enrich the life that's ahead of me

'Round here I'm a camper,
Since 1979
We're creating tomorrow
At the camp divine

So I learn
Oh how I learn!
To have some fun,
~
~
Come camp away
Come camp away
Come camp at SEP...
(Repeat until dragged off stage)

See It Before It's Taken Down!

Apparently SEP isn't notable enough for Wikipedia. I guess it's up to all of us to change that by saving the world from falling pieces of Skylab. Until we can, here is the preliminary Wikipedia page. Credit goes to the kids for their work. You guys rock!

The SEP Counselor Rap

Well, SEP is almost finished, except for one more session. I thought I would post the lyrics to our counselor rap so that they might be preserved for eternity, and that 5-8 can see just how its done. I am also posting the original inspiration for our words, the genius of Brad Neely



Dunnington, Dunnington
Made out of bricks weighs a bunch of tons
Opponents beware, opponents beware.
We're coming, We're coming, We're coming.

Let me lay it on the line, we’re the fruit of the vine.
With fourteen counselors, so divine.
With sandals made of crystal, Dustin patrols the land,
With an Iphone and a latte in his perfect hands.

Here comes Dustin, in control.
Campers dig his stuff and his gallant stroll.
Eats opponent's brains, and can stop the rains.
He's coming, he's coming, he's coming.

Dunnington, Dunnington.
Eleven fine suites, summer enriching for fun.
Spread, spread, the C’ville air.
We're coming, we’re coming, we’re coming.

Sue me if I go too fast,
But the all the 5-8 campers wish we were their dads.
Got a collar for a collar, got a fanny pack for a heart.
We'll kick you apart, We'll kick you apart!

Ooh!

We'll save children, but not the 5-8 children.
We'll save children, but not the 5-8 children.
We'll save children, but not the 5-8 children.
We'll save children, but not the 5-8 children.

Lee has a pocket full of horses, Michael kills wild bears.
John threw a knife into Heaven, and Kelly kills with a stare.
Leiloma dances like an eagle Ben’s a rainbow in the sky.
Danny killed his sensei in a duel and never said why.

Dunnington, Dunnington.
Three stories high, made of radiation.
The present session beware, the future session beware,
We’re coming, we’re coming, we’re coming.

Did I mention Joe’s new baby?
Or Nancy’s golden shades?
And Courtney has cool shoes and Mag n’ Cheese’s mom is cool.
I heard... that Margles... has like... thirty swords in her room.
I heard Dustin once held a camper’s hand...in a jar of acid...at the dance.

What is SEP All About?

First off, happy birthday America. You lookin' fine for a 233 year old country. Minus Gary and East St. Louis.







Currently I'm working at a summer camp. The Summer Enrichment Program, to be exact. We're in UVA during the summer. If anyone wants to get to the essence of what we do, my 11th grade campers composed a Haiku:

Chilaxin' at SEP

Check out our sweet moustaches

Dustin is awesome

Drink this Cola Thoughtsmith!

Several poems posted at Andrew Colarusso's literary/art blog Drink This Cola! Read them here.

Also read a poem of mine at Thoughtsmith. I hope it clears your lungs.

The Products of My Submission(s)

Okay, a lot of new things are out there and luckily, my name is attached to them all.

The first poetry news, several poems up at The Write Place at the Write Time. They invited me to submit again, so I did. It might be hard to find my work, but if you have patience and scroll (or just search for my fame), then you shall be rewarded.

You will have to do the same at Lit Up, for my poem "Congo Untitled" perhaps the first ekphrastic poem for an animal's art.

However for the new issue of From East to West (a magazine of found poetry), things are a little bit different. My poem is on page 23 of their latest issue. You can read the issue and flip through the pages just like it's a real magazine!

Field Notes at the Good Time Emporium

Hello all. I have two poems of mine appearing in the Good Time Emporium. They have an awesome font consisting entirely of facial hair (hence the picture).

Don't Neglect the Neglected Ratio

Finally more work up on the Internets. Three poems of mine are now up at the Neglected Ratio. A fine set of triplets. You can read them here, here, and here.

The Progress of My Poetry

Well it's been a while since I posted. I've moved, written, submitted, gotten drunk a few times (not enough), worked, packed, unpacked, and braved the Chinatown Bus. Of course whether or not I am smothered to death by Arlington remains to be seen. I recently passed 2000 pages of poetry and I thought it would be good to reflect on how much I've written since I started versifying. Now there are some caveats to this approach. Namely much of the early work is an educated guess. Also there can be many poems to a page or many pages to a poem. They do not equal one another, though they might if I ever wanted to count it up, but David didn't fare too well with his census, so why would I? It seems to resemble a population curve, slow growth, then rapid increase, and slowing down. Why this trend? In short, post-graduation life was a bitch. Though now perhaps I have hit my carrying capacity. or maybe it is because I spend all my time now having to write about the life and death of minor English Physicists and the dates of incorporation for towns in Massachusetts in order to join question to answer for Encyclopedia.com.

Moulin Rouge, er Review

A short poem up at the Moulin Review. It's only three lines people, you all should be able to finish it off like that!

The Tentative Movements

Hey, got a short story up a BULL, a journal centered on literature for the thinking man, you can read it here. It is about my myriad of trips on the Chinatown Bus, which is how I will be leaving New York for Arlington on Tuesday, May 5th.