eclectica

my poem a driving instructor has a recurring nightmare - which was written with a certain ms ang in mind, of course - is now up at eclectica. :)

said ms ang has a couple of poems in this issue as well: here and here.

2006:

210 poems ~ little miss sunshine ~ south tyrol ~ lovely students ~ six rounds of 30:30 ~ laughter ~ new friends ~ new babies (tom, anna, fanny, jakob) ~ woody allen ~ funfunfun at ITWS ~ nellie mckay ~ 145 blog posts ~ poetry books (kunitz, clifton, glück, c d wright, 180 more, forche, siddique, ruslander, barber, blankenship, hyder, bernhard transl by reidel) ~ 60+ poems accepted ~ munich ~ 35th birthday ~ thousands of emails ~ chapbook acceptance ~ jasper fforde ~ revisiting places of the past (cáorle) ~ the discovery of skype ~ muse live ~ old friends ~ adam green live ~ long letters from lotta and rachael ~ happiness ~ belle & sebastian ~ a rainy august ~ thea gilmore ~ the most beautiful autumn ~ bubbly ~ sudoku ~ small confessions and pebbles of regret collaboration with alex stolis ~ sadness ~ the decemberists ~ first open mic ~ özge's visit to vienna ~ murakami ~ band of horses ~ marius brill's "making love" ~ poetry chapbooks (matagrano, bowen, frischkorn, hall gailey, mesler, bergmann, stolis, prince, kelley) ~ chewing gum ~ element of crime live ~ kaizers orchestra ~ martha wainwright ~ desire ~ tilly & the wall ~ thirst ~ itunes ~ first poetry workshop ~ plans ~ vienna:views anthology ~ dreams ~ a ton of pictures ~ nathan ~ anthologies ~ chocolate ~ walks on donauinsel ~ terry pratchett ~ love ~ the time traveler's wife ~ flowers ~ sex ~ the muse ~ hard work ~ hope ~ hot baths ~ chicken madras ~ vienna lit fest ~ tennis ~ tichy's chocolate ice cream ~ longing ~ sepp ~ gudrun ~ jenny lewis with the watson twins ~ birgit ~ therapy ~ tears ~ sweat ~ my first homegrown tomatoes ~ richard hawley ~ nigel & digby & angie ~ late nights ~ john legend ~ sleeplessness ~ good night, and good luck ~ workshops ~ neil gaiman ~ john siddique ~ unreliable editors ~ snail mail ~ periodic table series ~ hunger ~ katie melua live ~ abecedarians ~ cds for friends ~ music ~ silly moods ~ wine ~ a wedding ~ blogging ~ ian mcewan's "saturday" ~ mandarins ~ myspace ~ morning glories ~ tom waits ~ games ~ a long way down ~ PMS ~ out of work ~ sweetness ~ girl talks ~ out of and in love again with vienna ~ rainy august ~ hikes ~ lust ~ giving ~ harvest moon ~ my second spouse, ms ang ~ 12 rejection notes ~ sonnenizios ~ silence ~ down by law ~ fear ~ brunches ~ der standard crosswords ~ teresa ~ haircuts ~ a red skirt ~ prep work ~ tom ~ colds & bugs ~ babs ~ sunrises ~ disappointments ~ waiting ~ commuter trains ~ mess ~ coetzee's "disgrace" ~ family ~ BA-CA tennis trophy ~ strawberries ~ bo ~ capote ~ msn ~ zwiegespräche ~ long winter ~ the walkabouts ~ allen's website ~ taking ~ too much snow ~ kitchen utensils ~ noise ~ alex ~ curiosity ~ walk the line ~ stupid plumbers, chimney-sweeps and postmen ~ print publications ~ craziness (the good kind!) ~ random play ~ erotic poetry ~ migraines ~ new glasses ~ guardian poetry workshop shortlist ~ tagged! ~ hot water bottles ~ julian barnes ~ syriana ~ sharon's dr raul thornbush ~ cemetery st marx ~ weirdness ~ thunderstorms ~ billy joel live ~ poem title generator ~ heat wave ~ haiga ~ greek letter series ~ stress ~ cherylians ~ excitement ~ fever ~ gmail ~ emily haines ~ dvds ~ cawarra shiraz ~ singing ~ early mornings ~ loneliness ~ gilmore girls ~ cocktails ~ sir archibald ~ reports ~ and quite possibly several dozen other things i cannot think of right now

song of the day: oho vorarlberg by reinhold bilgeri & michael köhlmeier

definitely the last post of the year

i love this poem.

Midnight

Speak to me, aching heart: what
ridiculous errand are you inventing for yourself
weeping in the dark garage
with your sack of garbage: it is not your job
to take out the garbage, it is your job
to empty the dishwasher. You are showing off again,
exactly as you did in childhood – where
is your sporting side, your famous
ironic detachment? A little moonlight hits
the broken window, a little summer moonlight, tender
murmurs from the earth with its ready sweetnesses –
is this the way you communicate
with your husband, not answering
when he calls, or is this the way the heart
behaves when it grieves: it wants to be
alone with the garbage? If I were you,
I'd think ahead. After fifteen years,
his voice could be getting tired; some night
if you don't answer, someone else will answer.

Louise Glück

* * * * *
happy new year once again.

song of the day: change the world by nellie mckay

i got myself a couple of new names!

instead of simply michaela, i am now Baroness Michaela the Edible of Old Throcking in the Hole. doesn't that sound dirty?

and instead of calling me michi, you may now address me as Her Excellency Michi the Mellifluous of Westley Waterless.

and who are you?

another song of the day: i spy by pulp

possibly the last post of the year

this isn't the big end-of-the-year post. i might have some things to say about 2006, but not this morning. i'm leaving for my parents' tomorrow and will try to think of a few things to say while i am on the train.

* * * * *
christmas was quiet. watching pippi långstrump (pippi longstocking) and emil i lönneberga (emil of maple hills) has become a tradition. some channel is always showing a couple of those films on the 24th. not much singing, but nice food. and a bit of bubbly. no snow this year, not that i mind that much. it was a treat to receive quite a bit of christmas mail - both snail and e-mail. thanks, you lovely people out there! spending my days (and much of my nights) reading poetry (very impressed with louise glück's meadowlands, some good stuff in 180 more, and quite intriguing pieces in c d wright's steal away), writing, been going over the collaboration manuscript, frantically trying to catch up on mail (pathetic really *L*), talking to friends, working a little, doing some shopping, and i am starting to worry about work.

* * * * *
i am still writing every day. i know i said i would not force myself to, but i think it has become such a habit that it feels funny not to try. the last couple of days have been tough, but i did not want to give up. that's so like me. :)

latest poems:

day 101 - sulphur (s) - blonde
day 102 - bromine (br) - west of callisto, nine minutes past twelve
day 103 - boron (b) - east of the sun, seven minutes past five
day 104 - vanadium (v) - fólkvangr, between midnight and dawn
day 105 - iron (fe) - southeast of mars, two minutes past winter
day 106 - titanium (ti) - northwest of titania, ten minutes past eight
day 107 - Sonnenizio on a Line from McClain (He says: I'll write you a sonnet, a ballad, a poem ...)
day 108 - phosphorus (p) - southwest of venus, eight minutes past dawn
day 109 - the loneliness of the long-distance lover (an abecedarian)
day 110 - december mattinata
day 111 - thirteen things to do while waiting for your lover (another abecedarian)

so as you can see, i have returned to my periodic table series. and it seems as if i am developing a series within the series. i'll have to get a lot more research done when i am back in vienna. most of the elements poems are based on or inspired by paintings, mainly miró lately. and i am quite obviously hooked on abecedarians and sonnenizios. i had been warned. :)

here's my latest:

thirteen things to do while waiting for your lover
(an abecedarian)

assume a new identity every quarter hour:
        be saintly, paranoid, the lonely owner of a

cat. butter a slice of bread on both sides.
        drop it. frown at the result and repeat your

experiment seventeen times; take notes
        for posterity. sing a song he doesn't like.

gather dust balls and put them on a shelf
        high above your head. plant a baby spider

in the middle of that cosy nest. go and
        jot down three questions for him: one that

keeps repeating itself, one containing a
        little bit of weather and traces of music.

make the last available in five languages -
        no morse code, no braille, no invention

of your own. practise oddly puckered lips,
        prepare your tongue for unfamiliar twists.

quit something. anything. sudoku. zen, a
        road to nowhere. replace with new addictions.

search anagrams for patience is a virtue -
        train active pie use; stir cutie, naïve ape!

unhinge a door. lose interest in pot plants.
        verify a rumour that involves him and a fruit.

write a five-step manual: how to play the
        xylophone with closed eyes: do re mi fa sol.

yank out the phone cord. count back to
        zero from your chocolate bar's use-by date.

my turkish friend özge is in vienna at the moment, with her boyfriend and another couple. we met up on thursday for a chat and a drink and some lovely ice cream, and i'll see her again this afternoon. i am sure there will be a few pictures to post eventually. it's lovely to see her anyway - we have known each other about nine years or so, and only met once, in budapest in 2002.



* * * * *
if i don't speak to you or blog again before 2007 - have a great new year's eve, and a not-too-hungover start into the new year. may it bring whatever you wish and hope for.

song of the day: oh yeah by roxy music.

loch raven review

my two poems how to prepare for winter and december rules of conduct are now up at loch raven review. what an issue - i'm happy to be sharing zine space with liz gallagher, annie bien, jude goodwin, gary blankenship, allen itz, corey mesler, laurie byro, s. thomas summers, et al. chris george and jim doss have done a great job once again.

had a rather nice rejection letter from eleventh muse, saying

We are sorry to inform you that we will not be able to use your poetry for our publication at this time. We did take additional interest in your work and considered it stronger than most of the poems we reject.

song of the day: cupcake by nellie mckay

happy holidays!

okay, i meant to embed this in the blog post, but that does not seem to work with mp3s (and when i converted it to .wma, it went all chipmunky-squeaky *teehee*), so you have to follow the link, if you dare ;) - and possibly turn up the volume. i hope that works - it does for me. (if i sound like a chipmunk to you, something is wrong. really. no matter what my wife says.)

song of the day: fairytale of new york by the pogues & kirsty maccoll - the best christmas song. ever. :)