Whimsy Speaks Again

I don't know how I missed this very funny 13 Facts About Bob Hicok.  I can remember reading The Legend of Light the first time and wondering who this wonderful poet was who apparently attached fenders to Chevys for a living.  Or something.  I emailed him at some point and asked him to participate in my Poetry Database project.  The next day I got a call from him.  "Hi, this is Bob Hicok", he said.  "Omigod, THE Bob Hicok?", I asked in my best cool/detached/sophisticated tone.  I was walking through the Chicago AWP book fair and saw someone walk by and yelled, "Bob!".  I was as shocked as he was, but he just looked EXACTLY like his picture and it amazed me.  We ended up reading together at the Swink gig, where he actually put on some sort of jacket to cover his disreputable T-shirt.  He kept his disreputable tennis shoes on, though, and his disreputable black jeans.

Volume VIII, No 1 (our 15th issue) of Many Mountains Moving will be out in a month or two.  Not only will we be featuring a phenomenal long poem by Rebecca Loudon, we're also publishing some mind-bending verse by The Amazing Tricia.  Other contributors include in the issue include Dorianne Laux, Jeffery Franklin, Stuart Greenhouse, Jane Hilberry, Louise Mathias, and G. C. Waldrep.  Oh, and, of course, Bob Hicok. 

MMM will be starting a book review section in our next issue.  If you're interested in reviewing books of poetry or short fiction, please contact us.

I have to take Dima to the airport this morning, as we have a bring-up in Silicon Valley.  A bring-up is when you go and see the birth of an electronic child, the first prototype units of some hardware design.  We do the software part of these things, which make us part midwife and part adoring parent.  I will end the metaphor here.

I think Junie beat me with 50-60 trick-or-treaters, as I think I may have had just shy of that.  On the other hand, I passed out more candy because I always buy so damn much.  I always shop for candy at 3 PM on Halloween afternoon when the really good stuff has been marked down.  Then, I load up with bags of Snickers and M&Ms and Three Musketeers and Mounds and Dots and Tootsie Roll Pops and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Almond Joys and Milky Ways and Hershey Bars and Smarties and I can't remember what else.  This time it was 14 or 15 bags, which just fills this BIG black plastic cauldron from which I let the kids scoop a handful.  I've gotten pretty good at doling out the goodies so that I'm just about out at 8.30.  If I'm not out the last party to show up really gets buried with candy.  The last thing my waistline needs is all that candy hanging around into November.

Honestly, I don't know how Jordan, Joyelle and Ray pound out so many excellent reviews at Constant Critic.  I've been writing a review for a fine literary journal and I'm just short of terrified.  On one hand, I want to be honest, but I also want to be engaging and light on the academics.  I don't want to offend the author because I am a huge admirer of her work, but I don't want that to overly influence the analysis of this book.  I bought two copies of the book to be reviewed, so that I could write all over one of them.  I have circled stanzas and squiggled notes in the margins and put smiley faces in places and big exclamation marks.  Every day for a week I've walked by and written another thought or two on the blank pages at the fore and aft of the book.  I'm hoping that when I collect all of this and start a Word document it will all become clear where I'm going.

Speaking of Bob, here's an excerpt from This Clumsy Living, which a noted poet friend of mine says is very good work:

I watched the young couple walk into the tall grass and close the door of summer behind them, their heads floating on the golden tips, on waves that flock and break like starlings changing their minds in the middle of changing their minds, I saw their hips lie down inside those birds, inside the day of shy midnight, they kissed like waterfalls.

This guy can write.  Here's a recent interview with him.

~~~

I took a cue from Shanna and made some gumbo on Tuesday, which I've been eating for days, as is my wont.  I made a roux with peanut oil and flour, stirring constantly for 20 minutes while listening to Madeleine Peyroux (I know, I should have put some zydeco on).  I'm sure it wasn't as dark as the 45-minute wonderment that Shanna concocted, but if you overcook roux, even for a minute, you can ruin it and I chickened out.  In went the trinity of sautéed celery-green pepper-onions and a combination of low-fat chicken and vegetable stock.  I browned some boneless thighs and threw them in with some spices and minced garlic.  After 30 minutes of bubbling (the gumbo, not me) I took another cue from Shanna and added a mountain of red chard and fresh spinach which predictably boiled down to just the right amount for the soup.  At that point, I added some sliced-up chicken Andouille sausage.  I didn't have any file powder (more's the pity), but I did finish it off with a few shakes of Tabasco and some what's this here sauce.  Two ladlefuls got scooped up and over a big mound of sticky "Japanese" rice and accompanied by a Fat Tire.  Yes, it was yummy.

~~~

I'm back doing a project for Playaway, the digital book people.  Dave P and I did the hardware and software for this project (respectively) and are proud of the product and how well it's been selling.  Sales are way up as the firm has branched out into other markets (such as concert promotions) and product types (such as pre-recorded corporate training).  Sales have also been huge at libraries, where a Playaway version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea may get rented out dozens of times in a year. 

I'll be starting the project today, which is why I'm getting my procrastination out of the way today by blog-writing.  I know as soon as I get into DSP assembler, I will be fuzzy-brained and deep inside the world of code and generally a pain in the ass to deal with.

~~~

Major Duh Moment:  I never noticed that O, Brother Where Art Thou, was based upon The Odyssey.  Here's all the hints that I missed:

George Clooney's character's first name is Ulysses
Pappy O'Daniel's first name is Menelaus
The Sirens
One-eyed Big Dan Teague as Cyclops
Clooney's wife is named Penny (Penelope)

I'm sure there are more, these are the similarities from Wikipedia.  I still haven't figure out who the old man on the rail handcar was, or the singing throngs getting baptized.  Any ideas?

~~~

Anne's comment on CDY's blog:  And if you go to Maui, you should have dinner at Mama's Fish House. I think that's my favorite restaurant of all time, anywhere. You gotta love a place that tells you, on the menu, the name of the farmer who grew the beans for your coffee and the name of the guy who caught your fish.

Wow.

~~~

How do you match the novelty of a Five Aarons Reading?  With Ten Jens (or more).