i did not put him up to it

Ha, thanks Kasey. And Willie for the footage.

I did change the melody a little bit, yeah, but the guy murdered me. Click the link for an explanation.

i have a friend named ocho

Being in a magazine named OCHO is not the same as being in my friend named Ocho.

Si?

To wit, the just released:

OCHO #9: MiPOesias' Print Companion

Writers: Ron Androla, Nin Andrews, Tom Blessing, Zachary Blessing, Tara Birch, Pris Campbell, Nick Carbo, Grace Cavalieri, Denise Duhamel, Adam Fieled, Campbell McGrath, Anthony "Tony" Robinson, Leigh Stein, Mike Young (hi) and Aaron Belz.

OCHO is published via Lulu.com. Lorna Dee Cervantes recently won a Pushcart Prize for a poem published in OCHO #6. Victory for small press and OCHO and LuLu.

P.S. 2 of the 3 poems I have in the new OCHO will be in a forthcoming chapbook. Chapbook news coming. New press news coming. Daisy rotor news spinning. The rotor looks like a daisy.

opera expert

I am a food writer. VICTORY! Thank you Flavor a Deux.

mp3 blog intermission

Drop everything you're doing and listen to my new favorite bands of the moment. They could not be more different. Well, they could. DNA-wise, one could be a band full of zebras. Let's not get into that, okay?

The Avett Brothers

Maybe it's because their vocal range is similar to mine--clued off before I heard them by a song called "Paranoia in Bb"--and that lends some sonic camaraderie or something (ha ha), but I swear: this band sounds more "sincere" than anyone I've heard since Langhorne Slim. Even when the Avett Bros' lyrics turn cliche, they "bust through" that cliche: goddamn I do fall like a leaf, hell yes her hair is yellow as sun. Right now! <-- that's the trick. Right now. Cliches exist in those aligned, spontaneous moments. Like a scope clicking into place. Like: "wait YES whoa what was that?" Like I said to someone the other night, "I feel good right now," and she said "I never feel one thing; I'm always feeling complicated" -- she was right about feeling in general, but she didn't get what I meant. Right now <-- that was the important part. The Avett Brothers go: feeling -> fingers -> banjos -> speakers -> rosewater and cherry sarsaparilla, red diner swivel chair for that customer who eats from four till dawn. Their new record is Emotionalism from Ramseur Records.

November Blue (video)
Matrimony
Pretty Girl From San Diego

Fishboy

Unblanketed (is that a word?) sincerity is not everything though. Hard to say, yes. But geez, feeling is only one goal of anything--let alone music. I don't want to "feel" all the time! Quel drag! Thankfully, Fishboy is clever and poppy and juicy and trumpet-y and sprout-vocaled, animal crackers full of tangerine juice. They are the word "tee-hee" for big kids. Or: "Outside / it's starting to snow / and well / I'm gonna / eat a pizza roll." Fishboy would make great jokes at the aforementioned diner, and they would probably give you really funny and awesome birthday presents. Like every day. You're like: Today's not even my birthday! And they're all: We know, we know, but here is a shark-shaped shower lamp. Oh you Fishboy. Little D is their 2005 hot pocket, but their new album will (supposedly) be Albatross: How We Failed To Save The Lone Star State With The Power Of Rock And Roll (that link goes to their MySpace and preview songs).

Tree Star
Kichijoji

jesus christ those spectacles, that cane

In the least relevant post I will ever make:

Holy God: Andrew WK likes peanuts:

"Sunday, April 29
I had a refrigerated Snickers bar — I would’ve preferred it be thawed more — and salted peanuts. You take a bite of peanuts and then a bite of the Snickers. Everything seems to be that much better with more peanuts, although I’ve never had peanuts in Mexican food. I also went to a Thai restaurant, Yum Yum on Ninth Avenue. There’s a million to choose from around there. I ordered a green curry with a side of crushed peanuts. It wasn’t enough so I ran to the deli and bought a couple bags of roasted peanuts and added them to the meal."

what a long strange trip it's been

Well, no. Not really. It was just a month of writing poems. But I enjoyed it. I wrote some terrible poems, which I'm probably not going to revisit. I also started some decent ones, which I am going to revisit. At some point, I am going to take down all the April poems. Not because they're "secret" or I'm a "prude," but for two reasons: 1) I want to make the site with a giant sketch of my face more visited, a sort of dumping ground for all my stuff. 2) I would like to do more with this blog. I am even more bored than you are of, like:

Mike's Blog on Monday: new confusing boring poem
Mike's Blog on Tuesday: publication annoucement
Mike's Blog on Wednesday: new confusing boring poem
Mike's Blog on Thursday: link to some publication that has published my friends

Wash, rinse, repeat, etc.

So I am going to start doing longer, more discursive blogs on specific topics. These posts will be like "essays," but they won't be "essays." Here are the initial topics:

1) Emoticons
2) Airborne (TM)
3) Rollercoasters

I think there is a fourth, but I don't remember it right now. If it comes to me, I will add it.

Thank you. May is Short Story Month. Don't worry. You don't have to write a daily story.