JANUARY 13 (with a note tacked on front)

A bird told me--it was a sort of cross between a tern
and a pelican--that the Samyn book, wonder of wonders--
is not available in the book store . . . If you can, if this is
the case, please buy it online (Amazon), and we'll just
see what it's like "on the ground" tomorrow. If we have
to we'll shift to Trances of the Blast, by Mary Ruefle,
and if that's not in (etc)? The remaining books are
Bigger World, by Noelle Kocot, The Man Suit, by
Zachary Schomberg, Unnecessary Stranger, by Graham
Foust, Envelope of Night, by Michael Burkard, and
Letters to Wendy's. by Joe Wenderoth. We'll do what
we have to do. It's going to be a laid back semester . . .

There are a ton of used copies of the Samyn book here.

***

So here is the page, waiting for us to get going. We'll
meet tomorrow (in the new building!) and go from there.
(Leave early--the room is hard to find. It's tucked under
the stairs, actually, on the ground floor, in that central
corridor with the chairs and computers etc).

In a minute, the reading for week 2. We'll spend the first
15 - 20 minutes on contemporary poetry each week, which
is what 42 Miles Press publishes. These are books that
reflect an aesthetic I would be happy to publish. We'll talk
more about this aesthetic, about the idea of TASTE, about
what we are trying to do with 42 Miles, what we hope to
do in the near future.

The idea here, basically, is to use books, magazines both
online and in print, to show you what people are PUBLISH-
ING so you can begin to understand how you may want
to direct your own writing. It IS a market, after all, and
there are ways of writing that won't cut it, no matter where
you look.

You will write many poems, and revise some, in an effort
to put together a seamless, exciting, stylistically cohesive
(continuously, somehow, surprising while not outlandishly
unpredictable) chapbook's worth of poems (16 minimum,
26 maximum). And you may, if you'd like, publish this
book (most of you will). I'll show you last year's chapbooks.
We'll use Lulu, which is fine. You can set your settings to
"public" or just print your book and keep things private.

There are a lot of little assignments in this class, and it is
important that you do them all, even if they seem very
minor. A lot of little things build up to a larger WHOLE.

I'll bring a literary magazine to class for each student
and instruct you on how to write a short response to it.
First of all, though, here is an online magazine I've
published in. It's one of many, but what's interesting here
is Chrissy Wright (look through the work posted in the
latest issue) sent a poem in as part of an assignment
in this class, and now her poem appears there. Read her
poem. That's a very good way to begin . . .

http://www.shampoopoetry.com/shampooforty/wright.htm

Ok, so here is the reading for January 22. The book
is My Life in Heaven. It is written by Mary Ann Samyn.
You are to read from page 3 through page 51. This is the
first of six books you will be reading. I'll discuss the others
(and Samyn's book) on Wednesday. Go to the bookstore
and pick this book up now, if possible.

I'll go over the syllabus on January 15, and give you the
whole scoop. Enjoy the balmy weather, because
it won't stay long . . .

Here are a few links, And a few more.