NEWSPAPER BLACKOUT POEMS

WHAT IS MARRIAGE?

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 | Permalink

marriage is two people in love / standing in the same bathroom

I recommend dual sinks.

See also: “What Happens to The Married” & “Home Depot

NEWSPAPER BLACKOUT POEMS

I STILL ROOT FOR THE TOWN

Monday, August 30th, 2010 | Permalink

I still root for the town / it got into my blood

NEWSPAPER BLACKOUT POEMS

A VICTORY OF SORTS

Friday, August 27th, 2010 | Permalink

it is a victory of sorts / to take a drive in the country!

Meg and I took a 6-hour roadtrip down to South Padre Island last weekend. It’s amazing to me that taking a car trip can still be so romantic. The car as an intimate space. You’re not distracted by your normal routine–there’s nothing to do but talk to each other, listen to music, or look out the window. We stayed off of the big interstates for most of the trip, took 183 down to Corpus Christi through small Texas towns. I saw a huge row of wind turbines spinning on the horizon. Tractors running in the fields. Cones from Dairy Queen. Little traffic. No stress.

Yes, it felt like a victory of sorts.

NEWSPAPER BLACKOUT POEMS

PIRATE’S BOOTY

Thursday, August 26th, 2010 | Permalink

he saved the day / and then they were married / now the pirates / are after his organz

NEWSPAPER BLACKOUT POEMS

GOOGLE ME

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 | Permalink

WEB DESIGN

NEW PORTFOLIO PAGE

Monday, August 23rd, 2010 | Permalink

Portfolio

I’ve been told it’s a good thing to have, so after going years without one, I finally have an online portfolio of my work.

My idea for the page all started with a venn diagram I’ve started drawing for people in conversation:

venn diagram

For a long time I just thought of myself as a “writer who draws,” somebody who communicates with “pictures and words together.” But I’ve slowly accepted that the other big piece of my life is The Web. The really interesting work, the work that I’m good at, it happens in the overlap of those three worlds.

After the venn diagram, I struggled to come up with some decent writing to describe what it is that I do:

copy

Then, after that, I sketched out the design:

design

But I can only do so much on paper. The final form doesn’t really come into view until I start working with code and see the way the elements play out on the screen. Funny enough, most of what changes when I get to the code stage is the writing! I’m constantly cutting words, switching things around…

…I guess you could say a web page is like what Valery said of poems: “Never finished, only abandoned.”

NEWSPAPER BLACKOUT POEMS

THE SOPHIA LOREN OF OHIO

Thursday, August 19th, 2010 | Permalink

she was the sophia loren of ohio / and she belonged to me

Check out this white-out interview with Ed Champion.

NEWSPAPER BLACKOUT POEMS

QUIET

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 | Permalink

a woman is living with me / she wanders around / quiet as a whisper

True story.

Thanks to everybody who has bought a copy of Newspaper Blackout and kept it on the Poetry Foundation’s Best Seller list for 16 weeks straight.

NEWSPAPER BLACKOUT POEMS

RUNNING INTO WALLS

Thursday, August 12th, 2010 | Permalink

i couldn't stop running into walls / and then / sitting there in the little hole / i went to work

I had a professor in college who told me, “the only reward you get from being an artist is that you get to make art.”

No matter what, it always comes back to the work.

NEWSPAPER BLACKOUT POEMS

PAYING FOR COLLEGE

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 | Permalink

i went to ohio / and drank in front of my parents / who were now very quiet / they were paying for college

In progress:

paying for college (in progress)

Check out my tweaks to the Newspaper Blackout book page.