Archive for July, 2009
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
Poetry Is Not a Racket
War is a racket. … Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.
–Major General Smedley Butler, War Is a Racket, 1935
It’s no revelation to say that we’re a culture obsessed with money. That we can’t do anything unless someone makes a profit. Money corrupts everything it shouldn’t: healthcare, politics, adoptions, war… Sometimes I’m surprised [...]
No Comments » - Posted in insipid industriosity, poetic mumbo-jumbo by Tim
Monday, July 27th, 2009
Poets Cafe Interview with Timothy Green (full)
I assumed KPFK would rather have me send listeners to their website, so I only posted a clip from this last week. Quite the contrary, host Lois P. Jones asked if I’d post the whole thing, so it has a permanent home. I just posted the first segment, with Peggy Dobreer. Here’s the second, with [...]
No Comments » - Posted in audio, random riff-raff by Tim
Monday, July 27th, 2009
Poets Cafe Interview with Peggy Dobreer
Since the KPFK archives only last 90 days, host Lois P. Jones asked me to make a permanent home for the show I was on last week. Here is the first segment, with Peggy Dobeer — I thought she deserved her own page.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Peggy Dobreer is an educator, poet, public [...]
No Comments » - Posted in audio, random riff-raff by Tim
Saturday, July 25th, 2009
Disclaimer
Yesterday’s post to this blog inadvertently included a well-known, copyrighted image of Charles Bukowski and Georgia Peckham, which has since been removed. Photo credit should have been given to Joan Levine Gannij. Because the blog where I found the image didn’t list a credit, I didn’t either, a lazy and careless oversight that I truly [...]
11 Comments » - Posted in random riff-raff by Tim
Friday, July 24th, 2009
The Bukowski Myth
Someone had to kick the Mickey Mouse out of our heads.
–William Packard of NYQ on Charles Bukowski
That’s a good quote, but I hate Bukowski. And it’s not even for his poetry, which is mostly garbage, littered with gems. Or his novels, which I mostly haven’t read.
I woke up at 6:30 a.m. this morning, thinking it [...]
36 Comments » - Posted in random riff-raff by Tim
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
Interview with Poets Cafe
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Above is a 3-minute teaser from the 25-minute interview. To listen to the whole thing, visit the KPFK archive, and click on “Poetry and Culture” at noon (Wed., July 22nd). Mine is the second segment, halfway through, following an enlightening interview with local poet Peggy Debreer.
Since it’s the first [...]
6 Comments » - Posted in audio, random riff-raff by Tim
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
Tiziano Project Lit Slam + Notes
When Andrew McGregor, founder of the Tiziano Project, asked if I’d help out with a poetry reading fundraiser, I couldn’t say no. The non-profit might be the most efficient and effective program for social change I’ve ever come across. They train members of underreported and in-conflict communities to be citizen journalists, donating equipment and credentials, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in random riff-raff by Tim
Friday, July 17th, 2009
A Struggling Poet
Several people have commented recently on the subtitle of this blog: “Poetry Editor and Struggling Poet.” Tim, they say, how can you possibly be a struggling poet when you have a book that’s just been published by a good press and a full-time job in the poetry industry? Or as G. Tod Slone puts it, [...]
15 Comments » - Posted in insipid industriosity, personal prattle by Tim
Thursday, July 9th, 2009
NewPages Review
Speaking of reviews, I was informed of, and then completely forgot to mention, this really nice review of American Fractal by Jeanne M. Lesinski on NewPages.com. Most fun for me is the paragraph where she talks about “The Bending of Birches,” which is really the first time I’ve seen anyone dig into the minutia of [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in american fractal by Tim
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
Buried in Easy Metaphors
I’m pasting below my review of Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s At the Drive-In Volcano, which appeared in Los Angeles Review #5 last fall. It’s the only review I’ve ever published — they asked me to write it. I won’t go so far as to say that it will remain the only review I ever publish, but I [...]
