‘Autobiography of a Book’ epigraphs #5

“… Does a poem go on existing

even if it's not being read? Does its meter, let's say,

still measure? What really happens to a poem, while it

sits closed in the dark of a closed book? Do spirits

live there? Are there sperm-like, invisible strings

that stretch back from them to other poems from

hundreds or thousands of years ago that have been

lost, but which keep spawning poems?”

In these lines from his poem “Could Someone Tell Me Why” Kent Johnson touches on territory ‘Autobiography of a Book’ writhes around in, especially whether books can communicate with each other, whether one could see books as begetting other books (or poems). In Johnson’s talking about poems as entities, I also hear echoes of my ‘Fact’ series. Poems, stories, art as a new form of life. More discrete than the virus-like “meme,” a word coined to describe the transmission of ideas through human societies.

The full quote is a bit unwieldy for an epigraph, plus I’m not sure Book wouldn’t feel preempted. Anyway, it always interests me to see other people wandering around a world I’ve been lost in myself. 

source:

All Because of Poetry I Have a Big House

by Kent Johnson

2020. Shearsman Books Ltd, Swindon UK

Published Poems 1998

poem: “The City in the Cup”

first line: “There is no life, the sign proclaims, imagining a short”

written: TBD

publication: Columbia Poetry Review

Columbia College

English Dept

600 South Michigan Ave

Chicago IL 60605

editors: Greg Purcell & Michael A. Staples

some other contributors: Tom Clark, Stephen Ratcliffe, Ron Padgett, W. B. Keckler

link to online issue

poem: “Voice”

first line: “The telephone is ringing in a locked house”

written: TBD

publication: ART/LIFE, v.18 no.9, issue 196, 1998

PO Box 23020

Ventura CA 93002

editor: Joe Cardella; poetry editor: Phil Taggart

some other contributors: Taylor Graham, Rick Lupert, Phil Taggart, Martie Negri

poem: “Hands”

first line: “The house wants to be for mercy but”

written: TBD

publication: ART/LIFE, v.18 no.6, issue 193, 1998

PO Box 23020

Ventura CA 93002

editor: Joe Cardella; poetry editor: Phil Taggart

some other contributors: Troy Overman, Doris C. Vernon, Adrian Dickworthy, Julie Herbst

poems: [eight from the Fact series]

poem one first line: “The poem can’t sleep”

poem two first line: “This poem is the / only poem that I”

poem three first line: “Don’t read me, / says the poem”

poem four first line: “The poem does not sing / all the time but”

poem five first line: “This poem would have you / hold it as long as you”

poem six first line: “Waves slide in, foam-hemmed,”

poem seven first line: “This poem will not / evaluate your life,”

poem eight first line: “You’ve found me! cries / the poem, happily. All that” 

written: TBD

publication: convolvulus, no. 25

Radiolarian Press

118 Meadowcroft Dr

San Anselmo CA 94960

editor: Greg Darms

some other contributors: David Alpaugh, Richard Kostelanetz, Karen Stromberg, Grace Grafton

poem: [one from Fact series]

first line: “Hello, poem. I’m”

written: TBD

publication: Fish Dance: a poetry calendar & newsletter for the North Bay, v.3, no.8, Sept 1998

Fish Dance archived

online [now defunct, but the link above leads to the Internet Wayback Machine where much of the old site is viewable]

[I have a printout of the page on which the poem appears]

editors: Greg Darms & Nancy Cherry

some other contributors: Susan Terris, Laura Horn, CB Follett, Ruth Daigon

poem one: “One City Block”

first line: “Library free book night in the outside of”

written: TBD

poem two: “City of Swords”

first line: “The path is lingering, a green line like an apple’s”

written: TBD

publication: gestalten, issue 3, Sept 1998

1207 W. 19th St

Lawrence KS 66046

brokenboulder.com

editors: Paul Silvia & Adam Powell

some other contributors: W. B. Keckler, Errol Millder, Luke Trent, John M. Bennett

poem: “City Away From It”

first line: “First you gotta get”

written: TBD

publication: Lost and Found Times, no. 41, Nov 1998

editor: John M. Bennett 

some other contributors: Spencer Selby, Ivan Arguelles, Sheila E. Murphy, Amy Trussell

poem: “Toilette”

first line: “Over the years it took more and more work”

written: TBD

publication: Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review, Winter 1998

PO Box 126

Hampden-Sydney VA 23943

editor: Tom O’Grady

some other contributors: Errol Miller, Ryan G. Van Cleave, Jan Frazier, Meredith Picard

[This post will be continuously updated until I have organized my archives and the list is complete. I will be creating a separate blog post for each year. Contact information for publications is for historical purposes only.]

FACT, a book of poems by Glenn Ingersoll

FACT

50 short poem poems

by Glenn Ingersoll

The poems are philosophical, humorous, and often conscious of themselves. The book is small enough to slip into a pocket, handy for those moments stolen for contemplation or distraction.

sample poem:

I am trying to think up
a good poem. I would like it to be good
to make up for all the offenses
of bad poems. Though I suspect that's
too much to demand from my simple skills.
Even a really good poem would be able to atone
for little of the intolerance, torture, and warfare
conducted in the name of poetry.

poems from Fact have appeared in Exquisite Corpse, Lilliput Review, Shampoo, Fish Drum, and Fish Dance, and other places.

Go to Alba for four Fact poems.
Go to Shampoo for seven Fact poems.

You can read Steve Masover's response to Fact at his One Finger Typing.

Jim McCrary says, "Glenn Ingersoll is a big poet. It is always good to see what he has to say." Read more at Galatea Resurrects.

As well as a review, the poet Jim Murdoch conducted an interview with me on his blog, The Truth About Lies. Roughly summing up, Jim says, "As a body of work [Fact is] thought-provoking and deals with many aspects of the nature of poetry." In the interview Jim asked about the title; I responded: "The poems did not think of themselves as fiction." Check out the post.

The poet Jan Steckel created a Fact page at Goodreads.com. Jan says, "I loved this little chapbook ... My husband and I cracked up reading its little masterpieces to each other."

price: $5 from the publisher
$6 from me - it's signed & includes a thank you card (while supplies last)
[Fact is currently out of print; neither the author nor Avantacular has copies for sale.]

Avantacular Press
Andrew Topel, publisher
1239 6th St
Orange City FL 32763

you may also direct inquiries to the author
lovesettlement@yahoo.com

Glenn Ingersoll
2015 Cedar St
Berkeley CA 94709

[updated 20 June 2019]