Up at Mouse Prose

A flash titled "The Apartment at the Edge of Forever." Ring any bells?

Some poems

Monkey Business (all pubbed in Madswirl, 2009)

I wish I were a chimp
like all the other guys
hanging out at The Missing Link
sucking off Bush Baby bones,
this arboreal urge
and anthropoid pose
win the ladies with my pan troglodyte pout
and my promiscuous loins,
play with my own dung
build a monument of it
to the god of all dung--
Cheeta Dungee.
And the fact
that I can pass a mirror test
get rewarded with a banana
a sexy chiquita
makes me all alpha wet,
almost human.
When it gets too crowded
on the ground
I'll think I'll fly into space,
just to have a piece of primacy.

Napoleon Was a Dyslexic

After I withdraw
my ambitious explorer
from your encroaching interior
the way Russia once devoured Napoleon
so many nameless explorers, conquers,
who once had names
I want you to murder me in pieces
delicious bite size syllables
so I'll never be able
to spell my name again
and leave me a text message
to let me know
that you're safe
in this alphabet city of
dyslexic men.

How to Keep the Mice Listless

In a double-blind study by Stetson,
Stetson and Stetson,
the researchers blindfolded three mice
and planted a rat's morsel of cheese
at the far end of the maze.
The maze resembled the blueprint
for a miniature human city.
In the Methodology section it was noted
that Stetson and Stetson, but not Stetson
were blindfolded too.
All three Stetsons had a theory
about the threshold to deprivation.
In conclusion, all three mice gave up
somewhere in the middle of the maze,
one died, the other two, wanting to.
When the Stetson brothers went home
they discovered against their expectations
that three mice were scurrying across
their kitchens, leaving mouse turds
on the floor. From this, the Stetson brothers
devised a theory that mice
can read blueprints
and have no need of a control.

Up at Everyday Poets: Cat City, 5:00 a.m.

From the Cat People series of poems early this year. This one didn't make it into the chapbook. Many thanks to Lisa Cihlar for supplying the prompts. http://www.everydaypoets.com/

Sade on Tour

Nice to see that the 52 year old is selling sold out concerts on her new world tour. Love her music.

The Illusionist

Just saw this low-key masterpiece of animation. It's a 2010 British-French animated comedy-drama film directed by Sylvain Chomet, who also did the highly accaimed The Triplets of Belleville. This animation piece not only lives up to the quality of Triplets, but even surpasses it. It's a story set in 1950s Europe about an aging magician and his friendship with a young teen age girl who believes his tricks are real. It's very subdued in tone and full of the angst that marked The Triplets. I really recommend this one, and you can check out the reviews. And that last scene tell us so much about the personality and motivation of the magician.

The Maynard Is Closing

Sorry to read that The Maynard is closing. Think I've subbed something to them awhile back. On a brighter note, Narwhal magazine, a fledging zine, took some of my poems for its next issue.

The Incredible Shrinking Story

Just received my copy of The Incredible Shrinking Story. Includes my flash fiction, "Alexanderplatz." Lots of good writers in there, such as Kristine Ong Muslim and Meg Tuite.

Congrats to May-Lan Tan

A member of Zoe, and  a writer whose work I reviewed about a year or so ago, has a story called "Legendary," in this issue of Zoetrope. Now I call that
pretty impressive. I'm still trying to break Alien Sloth Sex, (or something like that. Hope the zine hasn't folded.)

Some new stuff I'm working on

A series of interrelated pieces tentatively titled The Lives of Rock Stars. A hybrid collection, a kind of tribute to my guitar and punk gods. Many thanks to Lisa Cihlar for her prompts.

Acceptance by Spittoon, a new zine

Spittoon, a fledging zine, has accepted three of my newer Cat People prose pieces. Really happy these cats have found a home.