Dec 8, 2012 0
May 24, 2012 0
WHAT LITERARY COMMUNITIES CAN TELL US ABOUT THE FUTURE OF LITERATURE: a panel discussion
Mar 16, 2012 0
BLITZINE: matthew zapruder
Blitzine: a daily series of 30-90 second excerpts from readings we’ve filmed.
Mar 2, 2012 2
LETTERS IN THE MAIL: the rumpus sends me original letters from authors i love. you?
Yesterday I got my second letter in the mail. The first one (“Dear people”, it begins) was handwritten and illustrated by Lorelei Lee. The second one (“Dear strangers”) was by Matthew Zapruder [check this out]. In addition to a beautiful, original poem, Matthew shared some insights:
“These Rumpus letters are actually a lot like poems. Like a poem, this letter gives me, the writer, an opportunity to write intimately to you, strangers. That’s also a great thing about being a poet: you get to write these little messages, free of all the obligations of commerce and purpose, and send them out into the world. You get to create spaces made of language where people can maybe feel things they wouldn’t otherwise feel. Like making free dreams people can borrow”. And: Read the rest of this entry »
Feb 21, 2012 0
B.L.ING (THE BIG LIT THING): the hype is ironic unless you know better
Special event to say goodbye to the author of Wikipedia Says It Will Pass and Letters From Robots
Diana Salier is moving to the Northwest. Do you know Diana? You might have seen her read at Writers With Drinks or at Writing Without Walls or at any number of other events around town over the last year or so. If you have, you know better than to fear this metal grill beneath the words “lit thing”, and you probably don’t have a problem with the purple lips anyway. Read the rest of this entry »
Oct 3, 2011 0
WEEK IN PREVIEW: the quake hits
“I’m a con artist in that I’m an actor. I make people believe something is real when they know perfectly well it isn’t,” said John Lithgow, and with five Emmys, two Tonys, two Golden Globes, and two Oscar nominations, I’d believe him. Hear him speak about his new autobiography on Tuesday, October 4th at the Kabuki Theater, presented by The Booksmith, who will also present Jeremy Rifkin on the same evening! Rifkin will discuss his new book “The Third Industrial Revolution,” which explores how Internet technology and renewable energy are merging to create a powerful “Third Industrial Revolution” that will transform the way we work and live in the 21st century. Also this Tuesday, over at City Arts and Lectures, Andy Borowitz will be in conversation w/ Paul Lancour. Borowitz, a comedian and writer whose twitter feed was recently voted #1 by a TIME magazine poll and whose work appears in the New Yorker, is also the man responsible for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. That’s right. He created the Fresh Prince. Pretty awesome in my book. Read the rest of this entry »
Sep 8, 2011 2
NOTHING IS HIDDEN: the work will speak for itself
Beautiful. Simple. Quiet brick. Mixed wood. Cushioned chairs. They offered us cookies and tea, but should we touch anything? Should we? The Matthews seem friendly with one another. Friendly enough to call them The Matthews. They sit close. Whisper and laugh, and we all whisper too. Why do we feel the need to tread so lightly when everyone is so kind? “Some places are sacred,” Evan says to me serenely yet firmly before smiling to shake someone’s hand.
This is sort of like my shoshin, or Beginner’s Mind. These are the first observations I took down sitting in the rows of chairs set up inside the Zen Center while waiting to see Matthew Dickman and Matthew Zapruder read at the final night of Nothing is Hidden. Waiting and wondering what their poetry had in common with Zen master Shunryu Suzuki Roshi’s book Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, and why Evan had told me that I could not miss this event. Not should not, could not. When that man says something like that, I listen. So, I decided to cover it, though I didn’t know much about The Matthews yet, and it was my night off.
Oh, yet. You and your foreshadowing. Read the rest of this entry »
Aug 28, 2011 1
WEEK IN REVIEW: a rose with three gold leaves
After adding the brilliant Jen G to replace Andrew Paul Nelson, who is busy with the band, the new shit show is in danger of becoming too slam/performance -centric. “So there’s been an awful lot of pro-Santa Cruz sentiment spoken up here in the last five minutes,” G said after 3 or 4 poets in a row got up and repped the city. “As somebody who’s lived there, I can say, doubtlessly, that that place sucks dolphin cocks from hell.”
That issue notwithstanding, the quality of the work this past week included a smattering of superb poems, most notably those of Terry Taplin, Daphne Gottlieb, Jasmine, James Cagney and Leo Bryant… But it also included as many moments not worth sharing. There was one surreal stretch of time during which the whole room joyously sang Seal’s “Kiss From A Rose” Read the rest of this entry »
Aug 21, 2011 1
WEEK IN PREVIEW: extra, extra bonus
Featured Event: Friday, August 26th- Nothing is Hidden: Matthew Zapruder & Matthew Dickman
Nothing is Hidden is a monthly series of readings and artist talks held at SF Zen Center. That’s right, the Zen Center. How cool is that? Just wait. These readings and talks are dedicated to celebrating Shunryu Suzuki’s classic book Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind and the featured artists and writers (in this month’s case, dos Matthews—Zapruder and Dickman) are chosen because their work embodies the compassion, engagement, and curiosity at the heart of Suzuki’s text and the Zen practice. See, I told you it got cooler. And as an extra, extra bonus attendees will receive an awesome little surprise (and that’s just a hint). Really: catch a glimpse of Z and D. Read the rest of this entry »
