in a boy's room

we lie there naked under the blankets, but not touching

the ceiling is dark
except for the crack under the door

and the street light glow sneaking in
from under the curtains over the big window

i wish there was something to look at

i close my eyes so tight
that i can see colorful shapes

'will you tell me a story?' i ask

'what?' you must have been sleeping, you sound startled

'never mind' i say, and open my eyes again
and wait for the morning so i can leave

on "This Feels Like Normal"

step 1: get a free chapbook. 

step 2: read it over reheated ziti with marinara sauce. 

step 3: be grateful you're not still dating.



This Feels Like Normal is a little chappy by brandon scott gorrell, matthew savoca and colin bassett. it came in the mail this afternoon and i devoured the surprise poetry treat over lunch. i'd completely forgotten about the email i sent requesting a copy. 

unexpected poetry in the mail is always a delight.

even better, i liked it. i didn't love it, but i did like it.

brandon, matthew and colin are what i expect from boys who write poetry. boys who write poetry are analytical, self-defacing/praising, sad, unmetered and they make funny faces at the girls they love--girls they may or may not have told they love them.

there were moments, over coffee and fruit salad, where sincerity crept up out of the murky commentary on emotions as revealed through poems. the boys were center stage though. and the poetry proclaimed itself poetry despite any form or poetic tendencies to denote it, rather, distinguish it from angsty note-book scribbles or never-sent love-notes.

so the chap doesn't sound like it's done much really. but as i turned the last page, hoping for that "i love you too" to set me free, to love them poet-e-poet, there was no last page to turn to. i have been left wanting more. much like a girl might--a girl dating a boy poet.

i guess that's just what they do.

three out of three
get four out of five.

go google yourself

here i was, innocently at work in the writing center at umass dartmouth when one of the tutors beside me started to google herself and go on about it. i hadn't played the google-myself game in a little while, so i joined her.

only to find a mention of my work in an anthology i'd never heard of.

the link was to the loewak institutue, dating back to October 5th of this year.

i read, and followed the link to for godot where, after a little searching, i found myself giggling in the back of the center over the absurd array of sarcasm, wit, fury and disdain cluttering the comments section of this announcement.

the 4000 ish page anthology, free for download, can be retrieved from either of the two sites above; though, i reccommend you save it as a file, otherwise it takes an age to open.

my name is on page 299 under a little poem.

ashraf is on page 1450
craif perez is on page 2664

there are almost 4000 poets (most, i assume, with internet presence). some of your friends are probably listed in this massive anthology too.

and so? well, so, i didn't write that poem. ashraf didn't write the one he's been credited with. craig, i'm pretty sure, didn't write the one above his name either.

check out all the comments on for godot. this is beautiful controversy at work.

i can't wait for the next issue ^_^

genre heart ache

a brooding demi
takes well in small doses

to the breaking habbits
to the fickle measures

of a bored Canadian man
in a raised collar



she escapes the dimensions of her portrait
leaves the wall behind

-the frame and distances of light-

to betray your fantasy
the export of lust on a canvas built for two

love and religion

everyone is talking.



the gay rights issue at large right now is one i have no trouble taking a firm stance on - unlike many political issues wherein i don't know or understand the full scope of the issue. there isn't much to understand here: the right for same-sex couples to marry in the state of California has been rescinded. and the cause is even more audacious... what place does a church have in lobbying for a vote one way or the other? there's that good old saying "separation of church and state" composed by the men who fought to secure the human-rights of all men and women governed by this country. blah blah, you've heard all this already, i know.

it may be too late in the day for me to shake a moving passion from the bones in my fingers, but that's no reason not to make a small stand in favor for all of those who plan on attending peaceful protests on Saturday to defend the rights of their fellow men, women, straight and gay.

to think, that in one day, we as a country made so much progress. we elected a mixed-race president and a little town in Oregon elected the first trans-gendered mayor. and on that very same day, we as a nation reminded the world just how bigoted and backwards we can be with the several gay-marriage ban election questions. bans which people agree. it makes my stomach turn.

cnn is awesome

i just saw a hologram, a real one, on cnn during the election coverage. am very pleased. technology is cool. ^_^