Locofoco Memories

The Death of Locofocoism

A new poem is up at Wordsmiths. I know the website spells it differently, but the journal is Wordsmiths. The poem itself is culled from various memories I have of a trip I once took from San Francisco.

New Listing in Poets & Writers

I am now listed as a poet in the directory over at Poets & Writers. Hopefully one day I will qualify for a listing as a (prose) writer. I guess when people ask me what I do (for a living) instead of looking down on the ground in shame I can say "I AM A POET!"

The Time for Justice: A Book Review

Hello there my longtime readers and my (as of this writing) 52 followers! Today I am inaugurating a new feature for this blog, book reviews. It seems my name and website have gotten into the hands of numerous esteemed publicists and they are clamoring for me to say a few things about the books by the authors they represent. Since I have nothing much else to do these days except wait for literary stardom and attendant publicists of my own, I have decided to give this new project a go.

The Time forJustice: How the excesses of time have broken our civil justice system, (Onward Publishing, 185 pages) is a new non-fiction book by acclaimed lawyer Anthony V. Curto, written with the assistance of Ronald E. Roel. Mr. Curto has worked for several decades representing clients as diverse as Ted Turner, Linda Lovelace, and Alexander Solzhenitsyn and has an insider’s view of the problems that have plagued our civil justice system for several decades.  Curto reduces these issues to one chief obstacle: time. Specifically, the way time is used to prevent settlements from being reached and enforced in a manner that helps those who need them.

While the shortcomings of our criminal system often receive more attention in the press, Curto reveals how the bureaucratic and administrative burdens placed on the civil courts have led to justice being denied to those who turn to the courts for help. These encumbrances allow numerous delaying tactics to bankrupt plaintiffs with attorneys’ fees or prevent judgments from being collected. Through the examples of numerous court cases, Curto shows how these methods work in practice. They include creating jurisdictional disputes, arguing over how to fill out paperwork, failing to show up in court, filing appeal after appeal, and pushing back trial dates as far as possible.

Curto spends most of the book focused on one particular example which did not involve him personally, but fascinated him nonetheless as it unfolded: the case between Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. and his constituent Esther James. Their dispute began in 1960, during a television interview when Powell named James as a “bag woman” working for Harlem gangsters. James sued the Congressman to receive compensation for defamation of character and an apology. Through skillful manipulation of the judicial system, which included making use of his privileges as a Congressman, his residency in Puerto Rico, and the complicated ownership of his property, Powell managed to prevent the bulk of the settlement against him from being paid out. He also ended up avoiding punishment for contempt of court.

While Curto acknowledges that the Powell case had many extenuating circumstances involved (namely the benefits of his elected office) he nonetheless feels it showcases how the legal system can become tied up by a single case. At the end of the book, he notes that by 1969 more than 80 judges across 10 different courts had been involved in the proceedings, along with 59 jurors. The official paperwork for the case ended up forming a stack nearly 20 feet high.

In between his coverage of Esther James’ quest for justice, Curto also briefly focuses on several other cases that involve similarly lengthy periods of litigation. This helps to reinforce his arguments about specific ways the system needs to be changed and the consequences from justice delayed.  In one instance, Curto talks about a client frustrated with the stalling tactics of a deadbeat distributor. He hired goons to collect the money he was owed without telling his attorney. In another case, he shows how a man gets away without paying a jeweler for an expensive wristwatch because he manages to avoid court summons until the lawyers’ fees for the case outweigh the value of said watch.   

Curto’s The Time for Jusice is engaging and raises good points without being overwhelming to the reader or becoming mired in legalese. It is easy for anyone without a legal background to follow both the cases he discusses and the improvements he recommends. He helpfully structures the book to review his points and conveniently sets apart his suggestions from the rest of the text so that he can go into detail about them. Curto further helps the reader by reviewing these ideas at the end. His list for improvements to the civil justice system include the following:

• Set trial dates as soon as summons are answered
• Broaden the authority of judges
• Eliminate pretrial paperwork
• Require plaintiffs to pay expenses if appeal is lost
• Enforce court decisions
• Settle jurisdictional disputes upfront
• Require litigants to attend their trials
• Keep the same judge on a case
• Expand small claims court

The only major problem with the book is how Curto assigns blame for the current state of the civil judicial system. Understandably, he wants to focus on exposing the problems that the courts face without getting bogged down in partisan politics or demonizing the legal profession. However, claiming that time is the chief enemy focuses the blame in the wrong direction. After all, time is a mere abstraction. Curto confuses a chief weapon of those who deny justice with those who allow them to get away with it. Instead we should be learning who is actually responsible for our state of affairs and who is in the way of effective reform.

By telling the reader that only time is the villain, our system appears to be tragically broken. Lawyers, judges, law enforcement, plaintiffs, and defendants are depicted as merely acting out a choreography of delay.  The story behind who or what created the rules that guide them is hardly discussed. Curto’s list of specific reforms is a good start of what should be done, but without being told what individuals or organizations are working to advance them, the average citizen is given no blueprint for actually making them a reality. All that can be done, it seems, is to try and appease Chronos for the return of a judicial golden age of quick and speedy trials.

Your Cultural Activity of the Day

Rubbing the works of Walt Whitman on a jellyfish sting is known to help ease the pain

Read two poems by me here at Jellyfish Whispers. Also, you can check out these Ottoman inspired renderings of famous movies.

A Ginger Piglet of a Poem

Here a Lee! There a Lee! Everywhere a Nar-do-lil-li!

I have a poem up at Ginger Piglet. Take a break from your Independence Day activities to read it. Richard Henry Lee commands you to! In honor of freedom, you can read this essay by William S. Burroughs about his experiences with Scientology. 

Thousand Shades of Gray

New poems are ready for reading and a short story as well. First, there is a poem of mine up at Thousand Shades of Gray. It is based on a picture I once saw on Unhappy Hipsters. I write a lot of poems based on what I see there.

A not so big poem up at Big River Poetry Review.

Another poem of mine is in this anthology here.

Now for all of you who like your lines long and your words to build a narrative dome for you to sleep under, here's a treat for you, a piece of flash fiction courtesy of Danse Macabre.

Personal Ads and Eno Numbers

This month I have two poems up at Five 2 One Magazine. They are from my cycle of fake personals ads. 

New idea: the Eno number. Basically it functions like an Erdos number. It measures the distance a musician is from musician and producer Brian Eno. Eno has a number of 0. David Byrne of the Talking Heads has an Eno number of 1 because they worked together on several albums. St. Vincent has worked with David Byrne but not with Brian Eno (yet). Her Eno number is 2. Some people who also have an Eno number of 1: Philip Glass, Bryan Ferry, David Bowie, Paul Simon, and Mark Mothersbaugh.

Also, Donald Trump is a hoax.

A New Story, A New Method

I have a short story, Walled By the Clean Frame up at First Stop Fiction. It is a bit of sound and furry. Perhaps it signifies something. If you are pressed for time, do not worry. It is a piece of what we in the business call "flash fiction." Recently, I have been writing more of it than I usual.

In other news, I have been shortlisted for the Erbacce Prize (along with a lot of other people) and my book Common Symptoms of an Enduring Chill Explained is now at the Poets House in New York City. I think it will also be part of their summer showcase. Buy it here at Amazon!

Below is a poem I composed using nothing but this week's top search terms for my blog. I have been writing a few like it. Perhaps the form can be called a "keywording," or something like that. I have underlined the words that people typed in when they stumbled upon this old mirror sponge of a site.

What Animals Live In Romania!

(Top Search Terms June 9, 2012)

Once more, I slept in hopes of reaching

A good time emporium where I be

Empowered to reach a decision, instead

I got visions of Oktoberfest

With no end in sight, blinded by beer

And attractive cutouts of German girls,

At least the music was different this time,

Someone was laying down

Romanian fresh tracks - may 2012 album,

I had no idea what the translation

Was urging me to believe in,

I recall black men hair designs edge ups

Though it all came out sounding

Like Old English poems, Beowulf,

Tergo sex woke me up,

Plus a misplaced titled from

The of best "walter ancarrow" poetry

At least the words had an awesome font

Even if they were dumb poems about butts

I take what I can get these days,

Memory refuses to act like a sponge,

Picturing an germany eagle gif

Seems to make things better for once.

Things That Have Nothing to Do With Me

Just some links to entertain you this first weekend in June. The first is a link to some songs that my sister made. You can listen to them here :http://nardolilli.bandcamp.com/

An artist has been imagining famous albums as book covers, look at the results and judge for yourself:
http://ceegworld.com/making-art/the-record-books/

And finally, a project where the sounds of our recent technological past are preserved for posterity, called the Museum of Endangered sounds. It even has the background music for Encarta's MindMaze: http://savethesounds.info/

Roaming Into Romania

May has been kind of slow for me, but here are some new publications for you all to look at and nod approvingly while scratching your full or nascent bears.

EgoPHobia, a Romanian website, has put up five of my poems. You can read all of them here.

I have 5 poems in Hotmetalpress: http://hotmetalpress.net/ben_nardolilli

There is a poem here as well: http://www.cactusheartpress.com/

Any day now my short fiction prince will come and give me links to post. Any day now. Until then, you can read a short story from friend of the blog Fred Bubbers: http://fredbubbers.com/natural-selection/

Eeldrop and Appleplex and Other Musings

Hey, here's a fun fact, T.S. Eliot, poet of the 20th century, wrote a shot story. You can read it here. It is titled "Eeldrop and Appleplex" and might be about T.S. Eliot and Ezra pound debating their ideas on art. Of course, that is mere speculation.

Poetry might be dead for once and for all, why? Because there is a program that takes tweets from Twitter and turns them into Shakespearean Sonnets. Which is all poetry is to all you people, right? Don't laugh, one day computers will replace your banking algorithms too and all of your statistical analyses about  charter school urchins. But we should just keep drinking right? That's right. Even if it's a Coke and not even tonic.

Meanwhile whatever creativity I can muster is being mustered. I have a poem reprinted at Reprint Poetry. I am also going to appear here. And hell, here is a short story I wrote called All of Brooklyn's Parties. It's from 2009. Praise it as contemporary vintage you hipster outlet sucking squid.

Science of Mind

Happy May Day to everyone out there. I myself did not join in any strikes, though I stayed home and did not work as a substitute teacher because I was sick. Does that count? I have another poem in Crisis Chronicles, special thanks to Jesus Crisis for accepting my work. I also have two poems at L'Allure des Mots, which is probably the sexiest publication I have appeared in yet. In case you are suffering from a poetry overload, do not worry. I am finishing up edits for a batch of short stories, including my Ted Berrigan inspired fiction, which I hope will see the light of day in various publications you may read.

Speaking of substitute teaching, I just realized a small irony which will probably only be of interest to history buffs. I substitute teach in Arlington County now, and it uses a service called STAN to notify me of jobs. STAN stands for Arlington Substitute Teacher Assignment Network. What's interesting is that I found out about something called the Stanley Plan, which was designed by the state of Virginia to prevent Arlington County (among other jurisdictions) from integrating its public schools. STAN, STANley Plan, coincidence? I think so.

Links to Australia and Toronto

Here's an interesting article I found about Ernest Hemingway's time in Toronto. As you can imagine, the city and the writer did not get along.

I am breaking into the Australian poetry scene with a post here.

When you get done with all that, check out another poem of mine from Crisis Chronicles.

Things to Read

The following I offer to you all, for free:

Two poems in Nether Magazine, which is run out of Mumbai.

A poem up at Crisis Chronicles, about the time I was able to write a pre- and post-apocalyptic novel. I get to follow a poem by Ezra Pound.

Expat Hodgepodge of a Man in Noon

People, people, get on board with new poems on the Nardolilli Express. At Cavalcade of Stars I have a whole bunch up for you to read. Apologies if the spacing makes it hard to read them. I also have some a poem here at the bottom of the screen. Look for the familiar face trapped on the TV screen. Poetry for the Masses has another poem of mine in its April 2012 issue, which you should all read because you are all part of the masses. Right? Right. 

Something for you writers out there: here's a funny little generator you can use to come up with a title for your next TV show. See how many real TV shows you can recognize in the fake titles. My favorite is "Perfect Strokes."