Muddy Rivers and Other Updates

First of all, a shout out to my 26 followers. I hope I am not disappointing you.

Second, a poem of mine is the Muddy River Poetry Review. Just go to my name (B-E-N N-A-R-D-O-L-I-L-L-I) and click on the link to see the poem. It will download as a word document.

Third, more GWIAF News!

Okay, I guess I will break this down using letters.

a) We are having a silent auction at Liberty Tavern, 5-7 p.m. It is in Clarendon Arlington, Virginia on June 4th. We're auctioning many various things.

b)June 5th, we will be at the Greenway Community Yard Sale, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., if you;re in Arlington, come by. We will be selling all kinds of things, housewares, linens, artwork, toys, books, and other things.

c)There will be further yard sales and a cocktail party with details to follow later.

d)Consider signing up to help at, give money to, and/or perform at the Greater Washington Indie Arts Festival.

This Poem is Rated MA

A poem of mine in Censored Poets, nothing too extreme, but it might some people with heart conditions uncomfortable. Vulgarity commenting on vulgarity.

Yard Sale! Yard Sale!

Anyone in the market for a totally 80s and slightly used stroller? This Sunday, May 22, come by for a yard sale to help support the Greater Washington Indie Arts Festival. We will be having the sale itself at 2101 N. Powhatan St. in Arlington, Virginia. Nothing will be priced too high and plenty of good deals are to be had. For a fact there will be two Barry Manilow albums, aquariums, a wine cooling device, an espresso maker, china, some keychains, one unused thesaurus, stuffed animals, a few belts, and a biography of Crispus Attucks. It will begin at 9 AM.

A Quail of a Poem

Oh, my old beautiful, overpriced neighborhood. Anyways, a poem of mine is in Quail Bell Magazine. It was based on my stay at the hotel pictured above, which has a few stories attached to it. Read it and enjoy the mountain of symbolism, especially for all of you scholars of Rhodes.

An Unlikely Story

Short story of mine is up at Unlikely 2.0. It has been divided into several parts. Go and read it here. It is a tale of twisted brotherly love and the underbelly of the music industry. I hope you enjoy it.

Observation of the Day

When this Manuel Miranda guy talks about Elena Kagan, he sounds like Alvy Singer from Annie Hall:


"She comes from that background. I grew up in New York, she grew up in New York. I'm very familiar with the sort of Jewish socialist culture in New York, which has an enormous pedigree, has done wonderful things in promoting a way of life and developing American society, but at the end of the day is still socialist."

(go to 4:14 on the video for the reference)

Digging Up New Poems at the Bare Root

Two poems of mine are up at the Bare Root (not to be confused with Beirut). Hope you enjoy them and the picture of yours truly posted alongside. The longer one was written way back in 2005 for a creative writing class at NYU. It was a "creative response" to a short story from Jesus' Son by Daniel Johnson. The shorter poem has no story behind it that I can recall now. But as the date suggests, it was written over a year ago.

Yes, I'm in Yes, Poetry

Read two poems of mine in the latest issue of Yes, Poetry. The first one is an updated attempt at a troubadour poem, taken from my poetry collection "The Contemporary Wing." If anyone is wondering what a sommelier is, well, look it up. See, you always learn something new at Lo Specchio e La Spugna.

Possible Book Titles

Okay, I have one more post let to make for the month, so I'm going to make it count. A few years ago (2005) I wrote a novel and have been editing it here and there for half a decade. It is a coming of age story for two young college freshmen, set in New York City, with an updating of sorts of Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther. One of these days it will end up on somebody's bookshelf, but before then it needs a better title. The default one is "Brief Smiles," but it doesn't stand out enough. Here are some I have been considering, some more than others, what do you all think?

Brief Smiles

Everything With Wings Is Restless

Combination of the Two

Born to Go

The Millennials

Intercession Hours

The Late Great Planet Werner

War, What is it Good For?

The Bearditudes

The Towers and the Streets

Between the Windows of the Sea

Far From Perfect

Our Lady of Perpetual Astonishment

In the Devil’s Territory

Stained to Perfection

Trimalchio in West Egg

The City and its Discontents

I don't know what it is, but italics sure do make everything look bibliographical!

An Anemone Sidecar Sideshow

A poem of mine is in the current issue of Anemone Sidecar. It also features a poem from the GWIAF president Christine Stoddard herself.

Black Words on White Paper

Scroll through to page 16 of the first issue of Black Words on White Paper to see my poem, "Desdansa." Here's some information on the inspiration for the title.

News Poems Harvested by Scythe

Hello All, I hope you all are enjoying the weather. It feels like summer in DC, which obviously means Global Warming is true. I was worried February would prove it wrong, but things have gone back to being hot. Anyways, I have four poems up at Scythe. Click on the link to volume II of the magazine, then scroll down to see my name. It isn't that hard, and you will be rewarded with a picture of me dressed as a pirate, seriously. Those of you who had workshops with me might recognize the poem "College Days."

New Poetry, New Fiction, News

Well time marches on and brings with it all that is inevitable about the world: decay, death, taxes, and store shelves covered in saccharine celebrations of the crucified Easter Bunny.

However, we can celebrate all that is not inevitable and comes and goes in spikes of seeming randomness, yet harms us little and maybe does us a little good, such as getting our work published.

Here are several poems that recently hit the web at near-light speed:

Some thoughts on the nature of humor at Down in the Dirt Magazine

A Shakespearean reference at Polyphony

Shindler-like observations on the economy at Black-Listed Magazine

For those of you who prefer narrative, grammar, character, and prose, I have a treat for you, a short story of mine at Writing Raw. Kafka finally meeting eczema! Ah, Freshman year all over again.

GWIAF Art and Poetry Share

Hello everyone. We are having another GWIAF fundraiser event at Shirlington Library (4200 Campbell Avenue) in Arlington this week. It'll run from 6:30 p.m. 'til 8:30 p.m. Expect a standard art & poetry share. Bring spare change!

Also, if you are interested in signing up to perform for the Greater Washington Arts Festival or volunteer to help us put it on, go here for the form!

I WON! I WON! I WON!

Thanks to everyone who came out and made democracy count where it is most vital: helping to select which poems to put in a video production for Folded Word!