old news, new news

if only there were about 35 hours in a day, i might actually get around to blogging more regularly! or maybe my life is simply too exciting ... ;)

on 15 october, the poet arrived in vienna: john siddique, that is, wonderful british writer (if you still haven't done so, check him out. now.) and lovely friend. he stayed at casa gabriel this time, so we had time to catch up and talk about life in general and love in particular.


iron man: the poet when he's at home

on thursday, 16 october, we read at shakespeare & company, a great little bookshop in vienna's first district. we had hoped for a few more people, but i guess the heavy rain that set in about an hour before the reading kept some folks away, and even i alone knew of ten people who'd wanted to come but couldn't make it that night. it was nice to see both friends and new faces. i read for about half an hour - poems from all chapbooks and some that are not available in print (yet), and john was on after me. his new poem "the knife" really got to the people. great writing. feedback was definitely good, and i think we both did a great job. so funny that a mere two years ago i was completely new to this whole reading-in-public business! who'd have thought i'd be enjoying it so much?





being the darling that he is, john agreed to come to class with me on friday morning, even though we could not offer him any money for that. i had prepared my group for his visit and they'd written response poems to his "yes" the previous day. john worked and talked with the students for a couple of hours and both sides obviously had a good time.


poeting in class

after a mexican dinner saturday night and shopping for austrian chocolates (i am not sure there are still any left at the shops), john left around noon on sunday.


having gotten over one cold, i immediately caught another, and then had a fever as well, so i stayed home from work for three days. ugh. it was good to be looked after by someone nice, but on the whole i prefer not to be sick. ;)


on 25 october i participated in vienna's photo marathon for the first time. 12 hours, 24 themes, one photo per theme, all in the correct order too. it's about creativity rather than the perfect photo, and a declaration of love to the beautiful city we live in. shame that it was the only day far and wide that the sun didn't even peep out. here are a few of the themes: 100% vienna, st stephen's cathedral, up and away, taxi!, everything's spinning, viennese hospitality. i was out and about from 09.30 until about 7.30 - lots of fresh air! i was really tired that evening, and sick again the next day. :(


spinning

unfortunately i missed several films i wanted to see at the viennale film festival this year due to the colds and fever, but i did see a billy wilder film and a documentary about bob dylan.

it was heinz's birthday yesterday - he's the other scorpio in this relationship - and will now be three years older than me for exactly two weeks. ;) apart from that, it was also the first anniversary of my divorce. what a state i was in a year ago, and how different everything is now! i am actually very, very pleased at how far i have come.

work is going well, only one week left now with my advanced group - i'll miss them. i've had more job offers but since cloning still has not advanced that far and a girl cannot be in two places at the same time, i had to turn them down, at least for now.

the last few weeks have been lovely - perfect autumn weather, my favourite time of year. early november, and the temperatures still reach 15°C (60F)! it's raining today, but that is alright after days and days of sunshine.










i still have not been to have a haircut - it's been nearly six months! i can actually make pigtailettes (*s*) now for the first time in years!



still no poetry. sigh. i wonder when it's time to give up?

oh and yes, like so many others i am very relieved that obama will be the next president of the united states. however, i hope that people don't forget that he, too, is only human, it seems that some consider him a new messiah. but there will be no miracles. still, it is a very good sign indeed. and re: that palin woman - good riddance. she really gave me the creeps.

song of the day: hotel california by the eagles.

happy things:

fun video shoot for steve gander's song copulate and populate on sunday afternoon - the weirdest "wedding" with the craziest guests ever. tons of photos (i was the "official" photographer! bliss!!), will post a link when they are online.

lovely to catch up with nathan and ronnie and harold on sunday during and after "work".


i talked john siddique, poet and friend, into coming to vienna in october (not that this was a difficult thing to do), and we are doing a reading together! yay!


yesterday evening i had a very good phone conversation with someone i quite like, who was not doing too great, and he told me today that he was feeling better because of me. now if that isn't lovely feedback ... :)


i had a very pleasant late afternoon/early evening: at shakespeare & co, a wonderful little bookshop in vienna's first district, i spoke to gerti (who runs it with her children) about having our reading there, and she was all for it. we had an interesting and really lovely - and rather long - talk, and after she'd heard what i do for work, she said "okay, i have to ask you straight away ..." and she told me about a street fest in the neighbourhood of the bookshop, which is the oldest part of vienna, dating back to the times of the romans. it will be held on 13 september, and she asked me whether i was interested in doing some sort of poetry "workshop" or project there, and so i told her about some ideas and experiments i do with my english classes, and she was totally happy and excited. so. i will be there on 13 september. :) we started talking about leonard cohen, i mentioned i had a ticket, she said she didn't, and i asked if she wanted my brother's spare one. she thought i was kidding. so - she is buying the ticket, or rather, her children will, for her birthday. very successful and productive meeting, don't you think? when i wanted to buy an alice in wonderland notebook, she gave it to me as a present, and i left her a copy of the secret meanings of greek letters.

i bought a book called must try harder - the very best howlers by schoolchildren (which i can use in english classes), and here is my quote of the day:

Poetry is when every line starts with a capital letter and doesn't reach the right side of the page.

oh, happy birthday to rachel! rock on, girl!


song of the day: that's not my name by the ting tings.

another late poetry night

i'm really getting good at this ... staying out way later than i intend to, that is. :)

on friday i received an invitation to some sort of "spontaneous open mic" sat evening at a placed called "time". (i like that. "a place called time".) when i got there at 9, peter waugh was there setting things up, and the musicians for the night were there, too: martin schönlieb (guitar), sandro miori (sax, flute), and steve gander (guitar, vocals). the only one i did not know was poet/singer leila thigpen. ronnie showed up, also oxana from the lit fest, harold, a few friends of martin's, and a handful of other kafka people. so, not a big crowd. but it was a lovely evening. i only regretted not bringing more of my poetry, because i was asked to read twice - 3 poems each time, half of them from my first chapbook, and a few erotic poems for practice. peter also asked me to read two sound poems with him and leila. i had never done anything like that before, but it went really well, i think.

i enjoyed the performances, the musicians were excellent. martin and sandro played a few things together, also something with steve, and they accompanied some of the poems, even one of mine! i could not believe that it was 1.15 by the time we finished, time went so quickly!

the oddest thing that happened was when this (drunk) guy at the bar stopped me on my way back from the bathroom to ask about the event, and eventually asked me whether i was a member of "that group, that club or whatever it is". and i explained that we were not a club, but that we met at literary events and read together and such. and then he asked me whether i was their groupie, and which of the guys i sleep with. i was speechless, otherwise i would have said "all of them".

we hung around a while, peter, steve, martin, sandro, christian and i, and then decided to go and eat. good thing there are places like salz & pfeffer where you get really nice food from midnight until 8 am. peter and steve were supposed to join the rest of us but never showed up. anyway, we had a good time, and i did not get home until about 4 am! :)

i look forward to working with martin and sandro at the reading on friday, and listening to more of their music. we are having rehearsals on tuesday and thursday, one with the musicians. it should all be good fun!

* * * * *
now for something completely different: if you have not seen the austrian academy award winning film die fälscher (the counterfeiters) yet, make sure you do. it is really worth seeing. after our recent visit there, it was also interesting that a part of the movie was set at mauthausen concentration camp.


song of the day: quedate luna by devendra banhart.

sex - the erotic reading II

i will be reading alongside peter waugh, evelyn holloway, sylvia petter, vicki slavuski, horst prillinger, homemade gordon banks, hillary keel, janus zeitstein and felix mendelssohn next friday. and yes, it *is* about what you think ... and i have around 10 mins to read my naughtier poems! there will also be music by martin schönlieb, sandro miori and steve gander.

"sex - the erotic reading II"
@ labfactory
praterstrasse 42, 1020 wien
16 may 2008, 20.30

do come (pun possibly intended) and bring your friends!

i have been addicted to my song of the day for a while now:

song of the day: mi vanidad by lhasa.

vienna lit festival, part 1

this is a very short shorty - it is 01.40am and i need to get up in less than five hours (looooong day: teaching, reception for authors, lit fest day 2), but i have to say that the reading went really, really well, and i had such wonderful feedback, i am still high on it about six hours later! and i have to thank my lovely, lovely friends gudrun, birgit, tom, sonja, nathan, and valerio for being there - most of them especially for me. *very touched*

there will be more, there will be pictures. what did frank n furter say in the rocky horror picture show? wait for it. ;)

song of the day: diferente by gotan project.

café kafka

as promised - pics of the latest open mic at café kafka (friday, 04 april). my new - and very brave - friend valerio decided to come along, and what's even better: he did not regret it afterwards!

i read what is the sound of one hand clapping?, and one of the letters from small confessions & pebbles of regret. cristina, the special guest from mexico, asked me to read the german translations of two poems for her, so there was a first for me - reading in german! we took tons of photos, i loved hillary keel's poem about istanbul, and martin aka homemade gordon banks is just the bestest mc ever. especially in spanish. :)

the reading part was over around 11.45, and then we stayed to chat with some of the regulars, and the newly-weds ruth & bruno dropped in ... and i did not get home until 2 am!


martin, bestest mc in the whole wide ... erm, wien?


blurry but having fun: valerio & i


hillary & harold


happiness has a name: ruth & bruno, the newlyweds


valerio has a laugh


two lovely ladies - ruth & i


more pictures on my flickr page .

song of the day: madagascar by gogol bordello.

more thrills

julia novak, director of the vienna lit fest, has invited me to present my latest chapbook at the second lit fest on april 17. a friend of mine, sylvia petter (austr(al)ia), will be reading from her collection of stories, and sandra huber (canada) will be presenting some of her work. i am honoured and thrilled and excited, and already a little nervous. :)

song of the day: lay lady lay by bob dylan.

defenestration, poetry in the park, and roses

funniest acceptance note award of the year goes to defenestration for this:

We here at Defenestration would like to say the following in limerick form:

Dear author who to us submitted:
Your stuff is astounding! ADMITTED!
We'll publish it, STAT
(You know all about that).
And yes, we should all be committed.

thirteen things to do while waiting for your lover, an abecedarian, will appear in their october issue.

yesterday afternoon, i went to the third (and last for this year) poetry in the park event. not too many people there this time, but i had promised to read something, and i did. i actually had two slots and read five poems: oxygen (o) - first kiss, Triptych from Water Canyon Coffee Co., Promethium (Pm) - The day I fell in love with a thief, iota, Virginia. had some lovely feedback from people i knew, and people i did not know. i enjoyed poetry by hillary keel and bernhard widder, and the jazzy music in between.

after the event, hillary and i decided to go for a drink. bernhard joined us for half an hour, but us girls stayed till well past 10, and on our way to the underground got us some ice cream, and walked around the city for a bit. we had a lovely chat - about poetry, people, and life in general and in particular.

and here are some pictures taken at volksgarten before the reading:











song of the day: loch lomond (live) by runrig.

more john siddique

i was at john siddique's poetry workshop this afternoon - quite a few participants (among them some familiar faces: sylvia petter, nathan horowitz, jean kremlicka, and of course vienna lit's julia novak), and some very useful tips and ideas from john. we did three exercises, and i think there is at least one poem in my notes. john used poems by helen dunmore (Glad of these times), raymond carver (Jean's TV), and galway kinnell (Daybreak) as starting points for the exercises. some day i'd love to do a longer workshop with john - a couple of hours just isn't enough.





john had asked me to read a particular poem at his reading - how to bury the dead, which was published in poetry salzburg review last autumn. and who am i to say no to such a request? jean kremlicka read first, a response poem to john's Yes. john read from The Prize, Poems from a Northern Soul, his book of poetry for young people Don't wear it on your head, don't stick it down your pants, and unpublished material. he included two of my favourite of his poems, Variola and Cheap Moisturiser.





a bunch of vienna lit people, john and i went for ice cream afterwards. john's leaving tomorrow, and he is not happy about it. i'm sure i'm not the only one who's hoping he'll be back soon.



quote of the day: embrace the madness! (john s.)



sound of the day: cheap moisturiser by john siddique.

poetry in the park

since the weather was lovely again yesterday, i went to volksgarten, one of the beautiful inner city parks, for the poetry in the park event. several poets from latin america were reading, as this was the closing event of the latin american poetry festival in vienna, graz & munich. i don't speak spanish, but understand some of it, but of course german translations were provided, and it is still enjoyable to hear poets read in their own language. the writers group labyrinth were also performing, there was music, and they had two open mic slots. i was asked to read, but for some reason i was not in the mood. i particularly enjoyed the poems by pura lópez colomé, daniel muxica, evelyn holloway, and one performed by homemade gordon banks and peter waugh.

the most wonderful thing however, was a little girl who, clearly curious and fascinated by camilo antonio's performance, began to clap her hands and did some little dance - arms raised, knees bending, head bobbing - in perfect rhythm, apparently oblivious of the audience.

i'd brought my camera, so here are some pictures of the reading, and the gorgeous roses (and their sometimes odd names - i got a kick out of the one called "nationalstolz" (national pride) being all crooked *L*):


jean & homemade gordon banks


edwin madrid


poetry is rhythm -
camilo antonio and his young fan


the venue - theseustempel @ volksgarten


red & white beauty


homemade gordon banks smelling the roses


pink delight


i'll upload more pics to my website or yahoo album asap.

song of the day: good year for the roses by elvis costello.