Roundtable

There is a new round table up at Outsider Writers discussing the small press. I guess I play the bad guy there. I kinda tell it like it is. If you read it you'll notice most people avoid responding to anything I have to say like the plague. The fact that they might acknowledge it might have some validity. Maybe I'm blowing it out of proportion. I'm kinda not with OW anymore for the same reason really. So the question remains, why am I still doing it? That's somethin' I'm gonna have to think about. Anyway read the round table http://www.outsiderwriters.org/content/view/614/44/ and let me know your thoughts.
FYI just to show you how disingenuous it is the person I suspect got published as a favor a few blogs back was one of the people bitching about cronyism. Nothing surprises me anymore. Maybe it's time to rise above the bullshit.

The Lummox Journal pays tribute to Philomene Long

Raindog posted a nice tribute to the recently depated beat legend Philomene Long http://www.lummoxpress.com/journal/j002/. Check it out. It's nicely done. And check out what he's got goin' on while you're there.

Call For Submissions Debbie says time is running out!

am now currently taking submissions for the follow up to Dope. An Anthology about the changes and decline in the small press. I'm soliciting for a lot of stuff, so if you are randomly submitting please put random in the subject line.poems, fiction, essays, stories, you guys have free reign to express your feelings about this subject in any way you want (as long as it kicks ass). Basically I want to know how you feel about the changes in the small press. I want to know if you think its good and why? I want to know if you think a generation of myspacers has attempted to turn the small press into a starbucks.I don't care if you have written 500 novels. I don't care if I've never heard of you. I don't care if I like you and I do not care if you like me.What I want is the best of the best of the best. a celebration of the old school small press, and a mourning at the same time.please send all subs to sinncity66613@yahoo.com no date on this. it won't be released untill it is fucking Majorly the most kick ass thing ever printed. So, please be patient if i don't respond to you right away. i woke up with 40 subs so...and...go..One last "shot" for the small pressi can't believe i got thru this entire email without using the word dick dance.PLEASE spread the word to the people who don't have myspace or emails that I can take mail submissions.1324 Willow St. Apt A Charlottesville, VA 22902I will also be mailing out flyers to those whom i know have no access to the internet.everyone keeps writing and asking for the submission guidelines.1. it should be really really good2. fuck guidelines, this is an open format.

Structure

D-Man, nice to see you around. It's not as cold here in the sunshine state, but just as dreary on this MLK Day. Cloudy, and windy,some rain mixed in.
I've been movin' in the other direction away from structure. More than before if that is at all possible. Anyone who knows me, knows I do have a big problem with rules and structure and that is reflected in my attitude toward Poetry. For christmasI got a gift certificate for amazon so I picked up a couple of Michael McClure books. Man I thought I rebelled against structure. This cat really rebels against structure, and is totally reforming the way I look at Poetry. I don't know what the impact willbe because I am still going through this phase, but it's gonna impact my Poetry more than anything has in years. One thing that will stay the same is haiku. I've written thousands of haiku, all to the rhythm of five, seven, five and I find it a comfortable rhythm. Even though the argument could be made that Japanese sylables are shorter than English ones, I just find this rhythm relaxing. If you read McClure's haiku they are scattered all over some of them eight lines long. The only thing that is pretty universal is that each line is short and breath like. For now I am gonna stick to the structure of haiku, it works forme, and I see no reason to change it. So I'll keep goin' till I do.

Mind the thought

Toiling on in seemingly endless vain to comprehend the relevance of my own vision has lead me to contemplate language. It is sure that language is the most effective tool of oppression, but conversely and inherently, if we can accrpt that fact as truth, it is also the best bet for our liberation. Ah, that ever present duality, and the challange we face to accept real unity without judgment in our lives and art. I am listening to Antonio Carlos on this chilly MLK day and it has enrobed me in a warmth of spirit. I am encouraged by this and the intellectual postmodern poetic construct, but in no way do I feel obligated to employ it, though employ it I feel I will. The neo formalists to the left of me have me convinced that there is a need for metrical form as a way to define poetry, and this concept sings to me. Simultaneously in my right ear the language and pomo aesthetic to rage free and unfettered into the outskirts and margins on paths cut with my own greased up blade holds its own appeal. Funny, in that context the pomo almost seems more imperialist in nature than the seemingly constrained poetic traditionalists. Of course, that is only a matter of context. Well there is a lot to think about and tons more to do. I want to leave you with a quote, so here you go.
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow mindedness."
Mark Twain.

What is one's blogsphere of influence?

Hello. Is there anybody there? Thanks for the elbow room Michael. I never thought I'd do this, and here I am. Feels wonderful to engage in dialogue in cyberspace, who'd a thought it?
I really wanted to chime in when I saw your last post, because I have been thinking of this subject a lot lately. I want to say how very right you are Michael. We have to follow are own senses and tastes, as artists this is absolutely crucial. Only then can we move further away from these near fictitious gate keepers of literature and what they want to market and who they want to fund. There is a need for a free space of our own creation with no need for "commercial" validation. Nor do we need the halls of academia dictating taste, whether they be new formalists or language poets.
It is in this interest that I'd like to attempt to pose a question for our discussion. Is Free verse true freedom or a lazy crafts persons way out? I know what I think, but I want to know what others think.

A Rant From The Underground by: Michael Grover

An editor of a zine recently admitted to me that he chose a poem that was pretty average over mine as a favor to a friend. This is no suprise it just confirmed what I already knew, the underground press is just as corrupt as the mainstream. This thing that should be an alternative to mainstream publishing is just as bad if not worse. They did not mention who this person was, but I can look at the list of people published in their next issue and take a pretty good guess. Am I the only one that is sick of seeing the same names, and the same watered down crap for poems by them? The same shock & awe sex & violence, because they know that's what is marketed to the american people? If not then the same formulated safe lame style? And these poems are not even there because they are good. I must say this works pretty good if you are one of those people, but for the rest of us it is just another flawed corrupt american system.
At this point in my rant I'm sure a lot of you are wondering what the point is, or if I'm just gonna bitch and be bitter and pissed off about it. Yes, talk is cheap, the question is "What am I gonna do about it?" I am doing my part and if you agree with what I'm saying I would urge each of you to do yours. I'm not saying we can change this whole damn system, let them have it. What we can do is create our own systems where their rules don't matter. This is my contribution let's see yours http://covert.poetics.googlepages.com/home.

Coming soon to Covert Press

The Man That Lives In The Park by: Michael Grover

Haiga by Michael Grover

Saint Lucie Locks Haiku #390

the creek is flowing
full of water from the rain
green leaves all around

HUGE NEWS: Covert Press release chapbook by UK Poet John G. Hall!

Covert Press is pleased to announce the release of the new John G. Hall chapbook "Me And My Broken Mouth". Just send 5 bucks to PO Box 1057/ Port Salerno, Fl 34992. Make checks payable to Michael Grover. Thanks!

"John's a must read, check it out..." George Wallace,NYC Poet.

"John G. Hall comes out swinging from the left, trying to wake the reader from the endless nightmare insanity of a world obsessed with war all the time, soldiered by the machinery of corporate greed and religious fascism. John throws hard, pitching beatific curves with hope, heart and a hunger for peace, coming at you from the Doc Williams school of poetry as news; read all about it."S.A. Griffin, co-editor The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry

"When John Hall's word touch the page they do so with grace and humility. I sometimes feel that John is the reluctant poet observing humanity like a bystander who does not know his place. John preaches without a pulpit and if you let him in without batting your eyes you too will find yourself on the other side of the fence wondering what just happened. But in John's case he does something about it. He dips his rough hands into the velvet of life and leaves behind a trail of metaphor and simile and two things even more important than that - heart and soul. "Larry Jaffe - Poet, Human Rights Activist & United Nations Cultural Organiser

Paul Skyrm Chapbook Review

Beating Wings Flicker The Moon by: Paul SkyrmSelf Published ChapbookReviewed by: Michael D. Grover
Let me just start off by saying that it is downright criminal that writers like this are struggling and publishing their own work. On the other hand it is a sign of the strong will of the artist, and their dedication to the craft. But this is what it is. Thirty-two pages,all photo-copied, packed full with fifteen poems. Very professionally done. Paul Skyrm is one of the most refreshing, and original voices in underground literature. Morbid at times, hopeful at times, at times spiritual. Always powerful, and brilliant at his choice of language. Of the fifteen poems every one is a hit, there are no misses. My personal favorites are Blake Spoke Of This, Bullet Brain, and after reading Tu Fu & Umeshu I honestly had to put the book down, and just say "Whoa." to myself. Paul as an artists and a writer should be read by many. If you know his stuff, you probably know this. If you don't you need to find out. I happen to know he is practically giving these gems away at a very fair price that would be affordable for even the most modest budget. ContactPaul at http://www.myspace.com/tonightthedeadprayforus and work out the details. You won'tbe disappointed. -MDG