If you go here, you can hear me mumble my way through my reading for MiPoesias. Also, you can hear Jen Tynes and Jennifer Firestone being terrific and surprising.

This is something I started in my new visual poetry class at Poet's House, with Jill Magi -- who is the greatest. I'm still working on it. I'm gonna paste into an ancient book of kids stories and chop it and sew it, mebbe. The class seems like it's really fun.

(Remember whoever makes the most comments this week wins a chapbook.)

Naming the Animals

when I turned 21 my father told me
his real name

he taught me names are heavy keys
sour to the tongue

3 locks in a row down our door
bluebeard says to call him something new

the key is hidden under the doormat
the doormat says WELCOME bites
you fingers when you reach for it

my brother buried my name under a stone
when he was five

he was hoping to protect me, the Tonka Trucks
and plastic swords made feeble guards

now when autumn comes I sleep all day
fur sprouts down my spine

sometimes I wake up sniffing the animal
tracks to the window

our phone has never worked
the words catch in our throats
and all we can do is point

-----

We were asked to write about an important experience we had with language growing up. Mine was my dad telling my his real name. I never knew the name he went by normally was made up. Both my parents changed their first names (independently, before they met each other). This freaks me out more the more I think about it.

A new poem. Pls. tell me if it's crappish! TX. xxx

But That’s My Limit

country bed full of weevils
we pick them out with a fork
stored in a silver teacup
the singing of the invisible horizon
she cracks open with her teeth

the moon hurries into the trees
like a quiet liquid tea

my Idaho cousins drive those tiny cattle
into a room full of spiders and old ladies
holding teabags in their mouths

the hippies of Idaho are on to us
they have strapped kicking calves
under the tea-stained floorboards of their jeeps

they are going to ask if we want a ride
and if we’ve drunk our tea
they are going to smile and toss
their shaggy red manes until we say yes

you can take us to the edge of town,
this clicking noise, this scalding tea

I’ll touch your dental plate
with the tea leaves
but that’s my limit

I sent a note to Elaine at chapbookfinder.com to see if she would list my chapbooks. She said she's really only interested in publishers right now. So publishers, send some info and get listed! Here's what she asked me to forward.


Dear Readers, Authors, Publishers:

Thank you for your interest in chapbookfinder.com. Currently, we are listing links to publishers only, though we will begin to offer an index by individual authors as the site develops.

o If you are an author: have your publisher send us a copy of your chapbook. All titles listed must still be in print with copies available for sale. We are working on adding a forum to encourage a dialogue re: out of print titles and other matters of interest to chapbook readers, authors and publishers.

o If you are a publisher: we need 1-2 sentences about your press (see site), your URL, and samples of your chapbooks (see address below).

o If you are self-published: check chapbookfinder.com periodically. We hope to add an author index soon.

To get the word out about our site, chapbookfinder.com asks publishers and authors to provide a link from your website to ours.

The editors will maintain an archive of submitted chapbooks while we pursue a partner institution, one who will serve as an ongoing archive and repository. All samples and pertinent information should be mailed to:

Elaine Sexton
chapbookfinder.com
2 Horatio Street, No. 6F
New York, NY 10014

Thank you again for your interest and support.

Sincerely,


Elaine Sexton