Come due

It is the last day in June & I am doing the books of the self.

My personal challenge month fell a little short, which is not to say I wasn't really engaged it it. I never built the camera, but it remains something I want to do (next month!) & I won't have a zine in hand by tonight, but this is SO REAL:

 IT WILL BE KNOWN TO US

I'm happy to take some extra time to make this little glory.

I also made an aromatherapy blend once I returned from NY, based on everything I smelled on the Solstice! I had some citrus in my backyard during the day in the shade of the pine tree, with the scent of warm clovers (my yard is full of them -- that smell is 100% summer to me) everywhere. As I was packing in the long dusk my windows were open & someone was burning leaves in the chill air & when we drove to airport we passed fields of lavender that you could smell from inside the car. I got all those NW summer scents into one little vial of oil, except for the smoky smell, which I couldn't find an oil for. Ideas?

Mythology is usually inseparable from Ritual

I think one of the best things about having a car is the ability to listen to audiobooks when driving around town. It seems like ppl's natural inclination is go straight for music, or sometimes news, but for me it's usually listening to writing.

There's a certain sort of book I listen to in the car, something I might be less inclined to read in another form. It's hard to define exactly, but the books tend to be like The Essential Anais Nin or Armstrong's Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life or Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. Calming &/or instructive.

The one I'm listening to at the moment is Karen Armstrong's A Short History of Myth. The book is deeply interesting & I love hearing the imaginative creation myths & learning about the tropes & consistent shifts in myths when the mode of everyday life changes, but all I can think about most of the time is Zelda:


{The universal hero}

(I recorded this with my phone inside my car, so forgive me if it sounds less than crisp.)

I like to think that videogames are just the next step in the evolution of myth, keeping them active & alive even when we think we may be done with them.

her fear was a seed so I went to her again

Do you know about Leveler? It's an amazing online magazine that features one poem a week, accompanied by notes on how the poem works by the editors. They encourage conversation with the editors & authors (emails are available for both) & will consider letters they receive for publication as well.

This week my poem At night, by marriage is being featured along with a little close reading. What they don't know, you will: the poem was written (as were a good handful of the At night poems) after reading through the prison records of criminals executed in British prisons in the early 1800s. (You know, basically the same thing everyone does with their online time, right?)

Also featuring in the future a poem by Danniel Schoonebeek & in the past a poem by Chris Tonelli, Drew Swenhaugen, MC Hyland, Brian Foley & more!

I was given my brother's animals

 Taking so much inspiration from Emily Carroll right now!

 See especially: Face All Red:

{via emcarroll via Emma}

so good is good enough

I haven't managed to build my camera yet this week (ack!) but I was able to take one recipe from a magazine I wanted to try & make it!

This is my new favorite kebob/easy appetizer: marinated artichoke hearts & hunks of baguette:

{Recipe from Whole Living}

Also, I am SO in love with this Minolta. I still have some photos to share from the last night of the Rose Fest & a milliondy pictures of long-passed spring blossoms, but those will have to wait for another day!

Now they are going to make me guess the animals all over again.

I have 5 (!!) poems in the new issue of Spring Gun! They are mostly At night poems & mostly new & most of all I'm so happy to be able to share them!

Popsickle Fest thinks I have great hair.

Thanks to Danniel Schoonebeek, I'm lucky enough to be reading for Hatchet Job at the upcoming Popsickle Fest in Brooklyn. I'm thrilled to be along-side so many incredible writers. The website is currently showcasing little tidbits from participating readers. Yesterday was my day, but you should keep checking back to see the other writers who are featured (Andrew Durbin! Ben Fama! Dan Magers! Ariana Reines! & more!).

The schedule is posted online as well -- I'm reading early in the afternoon with Paul Legault & we will try to melt the crowd with our words if the heat doesn't get them first & Sampson Starkweather will be reading after me & perhaps we will figure out a way to share our little serial killer inspired collaborative poem.

See you soon NY!

Analog Challenge: Week 1

This week was hectic -- going away party! Wedding! Birthday! BBQs! -- so this week's project was on the easier side. The hardest part was finding a sunny day when I was free!

I found that bright but indirect sun resulted in higher contrast pictures (I think full sun tended to "overexpose" the photos, though that's hard to gauge when you're doing them). Also with wispy things the glass plate helps, but because it's the exact same size as the paper if the sun is not directly above it will create a shadow on the paper that is now part of yr print (2nd to last & last photos show what I mean).

Burger-headed

Vispoetica just curated a selection of my instagram photos on their tumblr! It's probably foolish of me to be surprised at how many burger photos I take!

Other highlights for me include 18 Polaroids from Andrei Tarkovsky (<3 <3 <3), 12 defacements by Matthew Cusick & a selection from Erica Baum's Dog Ear project. 

Challenger

Yay! Emma has made it official to the internet that she is joining the challenge. In a VERY beautiful post she plots her four projects, one of which probably should have been on my list: cooking.

Each month Everyday Food, an amazing magazine full of delicious recipes, shows up at my house & I ogle everything without shrimp & then never make anything. I should commit myself to making at least one thing from it every month.

That can't be so hard, right? 

a song that is like no other when sung so low

I have two poems I love very much in the new issue of interrupture! Please visit them there & give them a little love.

If you like what you see, you should submit for the next issue.

Also, Hyacinth Girl Press (the press that is publishing my chapbook towards the end of this year) is taking chapbook submissions this month. Send! Esp if you have collaborative work itching to get out into the world. 

Analog accomplishments

It's the first real week of June & I haven't done a personal challenge since Dec? Feb? Either way, I'm due.

Despite what the recycle bin in my room might suggest, I don't feel like I do enough offline. So this month's challenge is going to be knocking off some of the analog projects I've long wanted to do:

1. Sunprints!
I have only done a few of these & never with any true success. I'm going to grab a pack at the Powell's Home & Garden Store & hope the sun comes out.

2. Pinhole Cameras!
I am going to build my own pinhole camera. Probably out of a matchbox. & shoot a roll of film through it. 'Cause what else would I do?

3. Scent Blending!
I always want to make my own candles/soap/body butters, so I'd love to find a couple of essential oils that go together in a totally Lisa-like way & finally do it.

4. Zine!
For like 3 years now I've thought about making a zine, come up with various ideas & given up, despite having a printer, copier & stapler, which are about all I figure you need. So by the end of this month I'm going to have a little zine in hand.
No matter what.

I think I've roped the ever-agreeable Lauren Eggert-Crowe & the talented Emma Trithart into my little challenge & they will be doing one of their own physical projects each week as well!

If yr interested in participating, I'd be excited to see what you come up with for the month. Just let me know & I'll link to yr blog.

Here we go!