i took a long walk around lake merrit after stepping out from a friend's bbq.
in the summer, the sun sets late in the bay, not until 10pm or so. there was a soft radiance from the lake, sun light and dissipation, a visionary view of the civic center, a cloud of geese, and as a consequence, the smell of geese shit. despite that little detail, i like the thot of settling in oakland sometime soon. i dont like the idea of leaving so soon, or from a more macro perspective, not staying long enough to make it feel complete. certain places feel right. given, there's a certain amount of time one needs to acclimate, but sometimes, that process of acclimation is effortless. san francisco and the bay, in general, is like that for me.
http://www.deepoakland.org/.
in the car we pass jack london square,
grand avenue,
a crest of restaurants, including an old dim-sum
place we used to walk across to sunday
late noon & still the geese, so many
bikers, walkers, grand avenue theater.
now back on 24th and guerrero, from
meklit's room, a view
of twinkling bay bridge, lights -
we were just on. from her window, and
overlook, o a part
of oakland.
btw, the bay bridge is a huge sprawling steel mass; it's exquisitely constructed, a terrific bridge (at least viewing it, not necessarily driving on it - i.e. traffic is not so nice):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco-Oakland_Bay_Bridge
and, soon, soon people, a podcast! meklit (crystal's roommie) sings, runs an art space called the red poppy (http://www.redpoppyarthouse.org/). last week we spoke briefly about recording/broadcasting her work. both of us are new to podcasting and would love help/advice. so all ye podcast obsessed nerds, come hither, post a comment re:
the mechanics of getting started.
(( meklit's voice is strong and alive, full of varying intonations, but carefully checked by a discipline that makes her singing simultaneously overwhelming and graceful. all in all, meklit's singing describes meklit. keep checking back for a link to her recording. ))
currently reading:
* h.d.'s _thoughts on notes and visions_
* the most recent vanity fair issue (meklit's friend and crystal's crush just contributed a film noir piece)
* laura moriarty's excellent _self destruction_.
* some ready-made book, which i hope will teach me how to construct a chandlier from old glass bottles. photos of that to
come.
* lisa jarnot's "the bridge" (opening poem to _ring of fire_). there are lines about oakland and the rain.
and it's a mesmerizing poem.
update on chapbook:
i am guestimating that the chapbook will be finished, at least in terms of printing, by the end of june. hopefully bound as well, but i think that's being overly optimistic.
title: _intricate systems_
poet: juliana spahr (http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/spahr/)
edition size: 125 copies
isbn: soon.
printed: letterpress (uni 1, 4 - vandercook)
price: $10
i'll find way to post images of the finished commodity. will try to consign w/ small book stores here and in nyc, as well as hook up w/ paypal so folks can buy the chapbook, if you are interested in doing so.
one other project:
RELAY ACTION TRIP project w/ poet kristen prevallet (http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/prevallet/).
what is RAT: a broadside project (size/color parameters: 8.5" x 11", b/w) that'll use text/image to interrogate the intersection of three occassions: independence day (july 4th), women's suffrage, and labor day. im having a tuff go of it for several reasons...i dunno want to think, or how to think about independence day. i have a certain amount of distance, despite my residency/citizenship here. and it's a rather ironic holiday at this current moment. im not quite sure that it's necessarily a day of celebration so much as a day of/for contemplation.
"freedom" is as an ambiguous and unspecific word as "love."
a line i "l o v e" - ah hem - by simone de beauvoir:
"the division of the sexes is a biological fact, not an event in human history."
at the very least, different kinds of feminists can find a common point to start from, despite differences in approach, by recognizing biological difference and emphasizing that it's (changeable) social constructions that has expressed that biological difference in a specific way.
entry and fotos re: one heart press (http://www.oneheartpress.com/) to come monday.
what ive learned so far at one heart press:
*use thicker photopolymer plate material! chad and val order rigalon from anderson & vreeland. it's a good 2 to 3 times thicker than the plate material i was using previously. makes your plates less susceptible to bending.
*spray mounting is handy-dandy
*the paper from the fone book is a good substitute for tissue paper (when you need to readjust the height of certain parts of your plates). it's a tiny bit thicker than tissue paper, but not as thick as newsprint.
*use pts. instead of picas when yr'e readjusting your plates on the bunting magnets, and just in general...much more precise, because the unit is smaller.
i'll put this all to good use on the next chapbook...
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