Jenny Boully

Reading with Joshua Casteel at Columbia College Chicago

2012-02-01T22:07:00.000-06:00

Please join me and Joshua Casteel for a reading this Monday at Columbia College Chicago.

Stage Two
618 S. Michigan Ave., Second Floor
Monday, February 6, 5:30p.m.

The event is free and open to the public.

Joshua and I have both had books published by Essay Press. Here is his bio below:

JOSHUA CASTEEL served as a US Army interrogator and Arabic linguist at Abu Ghraib Prison from June 2004 to January 2005. Shortly thereafter he was honorably discharged as a Conscientious Objector. He was formerly on the board of directors of Iraq Veterans Against the War, holds Master of Fine Arts degrees in Playwriting and Nonfiction Writing from the University of Iowa, and has spoken on ethics and US defense policy at universities and centers throughout the US, UK, Ireland, Sweden and Italy. He is the author of Letters From Abu Ghraib (Essay Press), The City of God (Pax Christi Publishing), and his play Returns (Alaska Quarterly Review) has been performed widely in the US and abroad. Joshua teaches nonfiction writing at Columbia College Chicago and is pursuing further graduate studies in literature, religion, and philosophy at the University of Chicago Divinity School.

Joshua could also use your good thoughts, help, and prayers. He is teaching for us this semester at Columbia College in our Graduate MFA in Nonfiction Program.

Two New Reviews of not merely because of the unknown that was stalking toward them

2011-11-03T09:01:00.000-05:00

This week, there are two new reviews of not merely because of the unknown that was stalking toward them.

Nicole Walker's review of the book appears in this issue of Diagram.

Lisa Cole's review appears in the Tuscon Poetry Examiner.

Thank you, Nicole and Lisa. I'm going to spend my morning reading these over coffee. It's a storming and windy morning in Chicago.

New Review of not merely because of the unknown that was stalking toward them

2011-09-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

Kristin Sanders reviews my latest book over at HTML Giant. Thank you, Kristin, for such a thorough and engaging review.

A most precious delivery

2011-07-06T11:40:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, this box showed up on my doorstep. Tarpaulin Sky Press did a lovely job on my new book, not merely because of the unknown that was stalking toward them.
Recent reviews can be found at Open Letters Monthly, Bookslut, and New City.

Of course, this was a very special delivery, but the other special delivery I had in January makes this dedication the best dedication of all.

The Notre Dame Women Writers Festival

2011-03-13T15:28:00.000-05:00

I'll be reading at Notre Dame on March 29 as part of the Notre Dame Women Writers Festival. This year the festival celebrates nonfiction. I earned my MFA in Creative Writing with a poetry emphasis at Notre Dame and love going back. Thank you, Valerie, for inviting me. xox

2nd Annual Columbia College Chicago Poetry Faculty Reading

2010-10-29T16:00:00.000-05:00

I'll be reading with other Columbia College Chicago Poetry Faculty this Monday, November 1. Details can be found here. Enjoy!

New work in TriQuarterly Online

2010-09-01T09:51:00.000-05:00

This summer, TriQuarterly published "A Short Essay on Being," an essay I wrote on pad Thai (and other things). This issue launches TriQuarterly's first online issue.

Poetry Center of Chicago Reading

2010-05-26T11:18:00.000-05:00

I'll be giving a reading at the Poetry Center of Chicago with Simone Muench on Thursday, May 27 at 7:30. Details can be found here.

A talk at the Chicago Poetry Project

2010-05-13T17:00:00.001-05:00

If you're in Chicago and feel like hearing a little talk by me, please come to the Green Lantern "Poets Talking" Series sponsored by the Chicago Poetry Project. The talk and reading will take place on Tuesday, May 18 at 7:30 at 1511 N. Milwaukee Avenue. More details can be found here.

Where you can find me at AWP Denver

2010-04-06T11:28:00.000-05:00

Dear friends, I'll be on the following panel at this year's AWP. I'm afraid that I won't be attending AWP in 2011, so catch me if you can and say hi.

Friday, April 9 / 3:00
Immigrant Poetry: Aesthetics of Displacement.
(Gene Tanta, Jenny Boully, Johannes Goransson, Ramona Uritescu-Lombard, Andrei Guruianu, Uche Nduka) We will discuss the relations between formal innovation and biographical politics. More specifically, immigrant American poets such as Waldrop, Simic, and Dinh challenge the meaning of innovation through their word choices, visible racial markers, or audible accent. Do poets still want to surprise? What does making it new mean to immigrant poets? How do the industrial, technological, and informational revolutions influence the citizen's ethical responsibility and the poet's aesthetic power?

Two upcoming readings & a Facebook fan page

2010-03-27T19:58:00.001-05:00

My apologies for the late notice on this one: I'll be reading on Monday, March 29 at 3:00 at the University of Notre Dame as part of their conference, The Open Light: A Celebration of Notre Dame Poets. The conference will run until Wednesday. I'm so excited to be visiting Notre Dame, where I earned my MFA in 2002. I'm hoping for nice weather.

On Saturday, April 3, I'll be reading with Kate Zambreno in the Red Rover Reading Series at 7:00. This event is in Chicago.

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Rather than sending out a message to all of my Facebook contacts with the message "Jenny Boully recently became a fan of Jenny Boully and thinks you should too," I just started an fan page. So far I only have six fans, but I'm thrilled. Thank you to those who have already joined. You can join here. Thanks so much.

Recently in Print

2010-03-18T15:21:00.000-05:00

New work can be found in the following publications:

Poor Claudia issue 2 includes an excerpt from not merely because of the unknown that was stalking towards them;

the inaugural issue of Cavalier also contains an excerpt;

and a mini-essay on the weather, from a series I'm working on, is in the Diagram anniversary card deck. I'm so happy to have my prose on a card. I'm the Ace of Spades.

Get these while you can. They are all beautiful art books.

New Work in Bone Bouquet

2010-01-27T13:27:00.000-06:00

The inaugural issue of Bone Bouquet is out, and it includes an excerpt from my new book, not merely because of the unknown that was stalking towards them. Please read and support this very new and lively on-line journal. The journal will be a PDF, which is nice, considering that my work is often better for the page than the screen. Enjoy!

Reading at the Poetry Project

2009-12-30T14:21:00.000-06:00

Dear friends, if you're in New York City on January 4th, please come and see me read at the Poetry Project at St. Mark's at 8:00 p.m. I'll be reading with Cathy Eisenhower. I've always had a great time before, during, and after readings at the Poetry Project.

Digital Emunction

2009-12-22T14:48:00.001-06:00

Hi, everyone. I'm happy to announce that my first post is up at Digital Emunction, an on-line publication founded by Robert P. Baird. My post, "Poetry & Blue Jeans" discusses, among other things, Levi's recent ad campaign that uses Walt Whitman. Please read and enjoy!

New Work & Book Announcement

2009-11-28T13:38:00.000-06:00

The Fall 2009 issue of Fourth Genre is out, and it includes an excerpt from my new book, not merely because of the unknown that was stalking towards them.

Another excerpt was printed in the Summer 2009 issue of Puerto del Sol.

I'm very happy to announce that Tarpaulin Sky Press, which published [one love affair]*, will be putting out not merely because of the unknown that was stalking towards them in Spring 2011.

This is just someone's list

2009-11-05T08:21:00.000-06:00

This is just someone's list. I'm happy to be on this list. In no way does this list-writer say that this is meant to be a definitive or representative list; the list-writer makes it clear that this is merely his list. I think it's really cool, and I'm happy to be on his list. This is Christopher Higgs' list of "15 Significant Contemporary Women Writers" on HTMLGIANT . I realize that this is old news, that the list was published about two months ago, but I only came across it last night.

The Lost Origins of the Essay

2009-10-20T22:12:00.000-05:00

If you're in the Chicago area on Thursday, October 22, please consider coming to a reading I'm doing with John D'Agata and David Lazar as part of Creative Nonfiction Week at Columbia College Chicago. We will be reading selections from D'Agata's newly released anthology, The Lost Origins of the Essay. The reading will take place at 3:30 at the college's Film Row Cinema at 1104 S. Wabash, 8th Floor.

Later, at 6:30, John D'Agata will be reading from his forthcoming book About a Mountain, at the college's Ferguson Auditorium, 600 S. Michigan Ave, 1st Floor.

Both events are free and open to the public.

Columbia College Chicago Faculty Reading

2009-10-11T14:13:00.000-05:00

Dear readers, if you're in Chicago tomorrow night, I hope you'll consider joining me and other poetry faculty members at Columbia College Chicago for a reading.

Here are the details:

Columbia College Chicago
in conjunction with
Elbowing Off the Stage

a Poetry Reading featuring Columbia College Chicago Poetry Faculty:
Jenny Boully, Sandra Lim, James Shea, Tony Trigilio, and David Trinidad.

Monday, October 12 at 7:00 p.m.
Three Peas Art Lounge
75 E. 16th St.

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2009-06-27T14:14:00.001-05:00

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New work in Gulf Coast

2009-06-21T09:28:00.000-05:00

Hey you all. I have new work in the current issue of Gulf Coast (Fall/Summer 2009). It's not available on-line, but there's lots of great writing in here--totally worth the cost of buying a print issue. The very beginning to my new manuscript not merely because of the unknown that was stalking toward them is included.

New work in Requited

2009-06-17T21:56:00.000-05:00

Another excerpt from my new book-length piece not merely because of the unknown that was stalking toward them is now out in Requited. Requited is a new on-line literary journal with a really impressive first issue. I hope you'll stop by and check them out.

Letter to the Editor

2009-04-19T18:30:00.000-05:00

Dear Editor,

while I completely agree with Daniel Goleman's and Gregory Norris's assertion in their op-ed piece "How Green Is My Bottle?" (April 19) that in these ecologically-minded times we should beware of those capitalizing on our concerns, I wanted to point out some blind spots that I perceive in the opinion piece.

For one, everyone I know who carries reusable water bottles use bottles, such as those made by SIGG and other companies, which are manufactured out of aluminum, not stainless steel. I'm not sure how much that changes the environmental impact of reusable water bottles, but I think it's important to point it out.

Additionally, while I do refill my bottle with water from water fountains, I also like to bring my bottle to places that aren't near water fountains so that I don't have to buy bottled water. I will also use my aluminum water bottle when I'm on professional panels, rather than use the bottled water they set out for readers and panelists.

I also feel that the article placed unnecessary concern on the build-up of bacteria in reusable bottles. I wash everything I drink or eat out of, and I've never gotten sick from my forks or plates or glasses. My reusable water bottle is also cleaned the same way I clean my dishes. I'm not afraid of bacteria; what I am afraid of, however, are toxins in certain types of plastics.

I prefer to use my aluminum bottle rather than use a reusable plastic bottle because of a phenomenon called leeching, which the editorial also doesn't disclose. Many plastic bottles leech toxins from the plastic into the water. One of the biggest toxins in plastic bottles is bisphenol A (BPA). If a consumer is considering buying a reusable water bottle, they should be certain that the bottle doesn't leech BPA or other toxins.

The piece also fails to disclose the impact of pumping water that bottled water corporations have on communities all over the world. Pumping water to fill millions of water bottles dries out rivers and streams, leading to ecological devastation and supply shortages for the residents and wildlife that depend on these streams. Bottled water companies are essentially profiting from something that should be free.

There are other hidden costs of plastic bottles: the raw plastic materials used in plastic production ends up being dumped in water supplies and in turn is digested by many species, including organisms that filter water, such as mollusks, which die from ingesting these small pieces of plastic, confusing them for sand.

Clean water is a right that all humans should have, of course, and those who cannot afford clean water should not be deprived of it. I realize that my aluminum water bottle isn't just a convenience, it's a political statement, one that I'm proud to make wherever I go and wherever bottled water is sold.

Oh, and how could Goleman and Norris miss one of the biggest impacts of plastic water bottles? The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is where plastic ends up, and it's the size of Texas. I grew up in Texas, so I can personally tell you that Texas is a big-assed state.

Thank you for your attention.

New work in Shampoo

2009-04-19T11:44:00.000-05:00

An excerpt from my new manuscript "not merely because of the unknown that was stalking toward them" has been posted in Shampoo, issue 35. The section of the journal where my work appears was guest edited by Ronald Palmer. I'm happy to be in the company of many friends.

The piece really relies on the printed page to work just right; so as you're reading, try to imagine page breaks where the text seems to abruptly break.

I read some of Christian Peet's poetry

2009-03-17T21:31:00.001-05:00

Christian Peet has a book out called Big American Trip. Christian Peet is the beloved editor of Tarpaulin Sky Press, publisher of my [one love affair]*. His book's blog page, Big American Blog, features clips of poets reading "postcards" form his book.

Mine went up today. Enjoy!

Review of [one love affair]*

2009-03-08T16:36:00.000-05:00

A new review, written by Craig Santos Perez, of [one love affair]* was recently posted on Rattle. [one love affair]* is my dearest book, and it's also my overlooked book. It's the book that sometimes doesn't exist. Thank you, Craig, for making it exist.

Where you can find me at AWP

2009-02-05T20:34:00.000-06:00

Last year, I was in NYC when AWP hit, and this year, I just happen to be in Chicago, where AWP is heading. I don't think I have any plans to move to Colorado.

I'll be on the following panels at AWP:

(More events can be found in the AWP's schedule of events.)

Thursday, February 12, noon
Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East and Asia.
(Nathalie Handal, Jill Bialosky, Kimiko Hahn, Ravi Shankar, Srikanth Reddy, Tina Chang)
**I will be filling in for one of the participants who was not able to make it to the conference.**
Language for a New Century brings the voices of some of the most exciting writers of our time. This unique and much anticipated collection by W.W. Norton is a landmark anthology, providing the most ambitious, far-reaching collection of contemporary Asian and Middle Eastern poetry available. This exciting panel features Norton editor, Jill Bialosky, poets and editors of the anthology, Nathalie Handal, Tina Chang, and Ravi Shankar, as well as contributors Kimiko Hahn and Srikanth Reddy for a reading and discussion on this book, which includes 400 unique voices from fifty-five countries writing in forty different languages, broadening our notion of contemporary literature.

Thursday, February 12, 4:30
The Notre Dame Review's 15th Anniversary Reading.
(Valerie Sayers, William O'Rourke, Jaimy Gordon, Jenny Boully, Kevin Ducey, Ed Falco)
The Notre Dame Review, a journal of prose, poetry, and art, celebrates its 15th anniversary with a reading. Four writers who have appeared in the Review's pages and who demonstrate its formal range will read poetry and prose. Founding editor Valerie Sayers and current co-editor William O'Rourke will introduce the readers.

Saturday, February 14, 9:00 a.m.
Bending Genre.
(Margot Singer, Jenny Boully, Michael Martone, Nicole Walker, Lawrence Sutin)
Nonfiction capitalizes on the formal structures of poetry and fiction, drawing energy from hybridity. How do the genres inform and influence each other? What does it mean to write against—both in opposition to and in dialogue with—the expectations of genre, the conventions of form? This panel investigates the ways in which genre informs genre, how the lines between genres are at once thickly drawn and blurred.

Saturday, February 14, noon-1:00 p.m.
Sarabande Books signing at the Sarabande books table in the Book Fair. Please come by and say hi.

Saturday, February 14, 8:00 p.m.
Coconut/MILK off-site reading at Myopic books
AWP Reading, co-sponsored by Coconut Poetry and Milk Magazine. Including Denise Duhamel, Jenny Boully, Susan Wheeler, Daniel Nester, Prageeta Sharma, Gene Tanta, Jen Tynes, Lea Graham, Reb Livingston, Mirela Ramona Ciupag, Gina Myers, Natalie Lyalin, Larry Sawyer, Bruce Covey, Lea Graham, others.

New review: the Book of Beginnings and Endings

2009-01-28T09:31:00.000-06:00

A new review of The Book of Beginnings and Endings was just posted on Public Republic. I found the review by Roger Conner, Jr. to be generous and astute. The review can be found here.

and radish seeds

2009-01-24T18:01:00.000-06:00

I want to thank everyone who made my stay in Los Angeles such a wonderful one. You know, I never wanted to go to LA. I never had an inkling. Never wanted to even think about going. Now I know why LA is a place to go. I loved it there--really, truly, truly loved it.

Thanks go to Otis College, Peter Gadol, Paul Vangelisti, Jacqueline Young, and the very smart audience and students who attended my reading.

Also, I got to see Mason (thank you for the beach and the veggies), Julie (thank you for lunch and tea and all things cute and Japanese), Andy (I hope you liked the Andy footnotes), and Jennifer (thank you for having dinner with me, and I wish, as always, that we had more time).

Strangest of things, I was sitting next to Saul Williams on my plane out to LAX, and he was nice enough to come to my reading. Thanks, Saul. I'll be sure to see you when you read at Columbia College Chicago next month.

I do love a hotel with sheep in the lobby.

Reading at Otis College

2009-01-16T17:06:00.001-06:00

When I woke up this morning, it was -17 degrees outside. I guess I get to escape a bit of this when I go to Los Angeles next week. I'll be giving a reading at Otis College on Wednesday, January 21 at 7:30. Details can be found here.

I'll also be on two panels at this year's AWP and reading at one off-site event. Details to follow.

Two Readings This Week at Columbia College Chicago

2008-10-20T17:36:00.000-05:00

I'll be giving two readings this week (back to back) as part of Creative Nonfiction Week at Columbia College Chicago.

Here are the details:

Thursday, October 23
3 PM Faculty Reading
Readers:
English: Jenny Boully
Fiction: Deb Lewis
Journalism: Beni Enas
Moderated by Kenneth Daley, Chair, English Department
Film Row Cinema, 1104 S. Wabash

5 PM South Loop Review Release Party & Reading
Celebration and Reading for South Loop Review, Vol. 10, the nonfiction journal published by the English Department.
Hokin Annex, 623 S. Wabash, 1st Floor

For more information on Columbia College's Creative Nonfiction Week, please click here.

a new anthology

2008-10-05T09:47:00.000-05:00

Some people feel that their poetic reputations are being threatened by the release of a new anthology. I think we just need to take a moment and put things in perspective. We only have the foundation on which we prop ourselves up, and to criminalize an artistic act only furthers the fear and creative inhibitions of writers and artists. No one outside of the poetry community will download and read this anthology, and if they do, I seriously doubt that they will know who I am or what I write or even judge me by what I have "written" there. Those inside the community are already in on the concept: no one will judge me by "my poem" in the anthology. (That is if you want to read it that way: if you can't be open to the fact that a name appears just to appear without ownership or claim, as if the name itself were a happenstance or a moment. Besides, I like the poem on the page on which my name appears or is collaged.) What you will be judged on, however, is how you react to this art book. Instigating a witch hunt and threatening a lawsuit will make you look one way in the end. Some may even judge such reactions as stemming from an inability to think in theoretical and metaphorical frameworks. (Say: isn't that what poets do?) Me? I'm basking in the joy that I'm included--that somewhere in this haze of a "community" I am there; I exist; I produce; and maybe even sometimes I am read. (Imagine that: to be read!) I think it's interesting to ask: what does this compilation say? And perhaps that is why there are so many adverse reactions: people don't necessarily like what the issue says--or maybe they haven't gotten that far yet.

Although the reactions and the commentary surrounding the anthology are now part of the art, I'm not going to link to the blogs where the witch hunts are taking place. I will only link to the anthology itself, in case, you know, anyone wants to read.

I normally wouldn't be so free with my thoughts: as a poet you have to go humbly to get your bread.

I am not writing about this to start a discussion about how terrible this is: so please don't leave any comments if you happen to disagree with me: there are other blogs you can do that on. I am more interested in uninhibited artistic expression and metaphorical frameworks--the polemic and theory that can come out of that. But I do think there are people out there who do agree with me, and I wanted for those people to have a safe place to ponder.

landscapes

2008-10-02T18:18:00.000-05:00

I participated in a writing chain for In Posse Review, which resulted in this. This landscape led to several others in absent magazine. These landscapes are from a work-in-progress with the working title Tomorrow: Considerable Cloudiness. More were just published in the latest South Loop Review, a nonfiction publication at Columbia College Chicago, where I am presently teaching.

Audio clips at poets.org

2008-09-06T17:11:00.000-05:00

Three audio clips from my recent Academy of American Poets reading have recently been posted. The clips are accompanied by text. These are taken from my work in progress.

footnotes

2008-08-26T16:09:00.000-05:00

I have some new "footnotes" up at Caffeine Destiny. These are taken from my dream logs. I haven't provided a year along with the dates, but maybe some of you who know me might be able to ascertain when these dreams were dreamt.

Poetry from the Rooftops

2008-06-30T10:49:00.000-05:00

I'll be giving a reading tomorrow with Gregory Pardlo and G.C. Waldrep as part of the Academy of American Poets Poetry from the Rooftops series. The reading starts at 6:30 and will be held at the Arsenal Building at Central Park, located at 64th and 5th. Here are the details. This might be my last reading in NYC for a while as I'm moving to Chicago shortly.

Thank you for Beale

2008-05-22T09:06:00.000-05:00

I wanted to thank the folks at Hollins for making my stay a wonderful one. I especially wanted to thank Erin and Carrie and James and Erin's boyfriend for Beale Garden. Beale Garden used to be such a wild, overgrown thing.

Readings at Hollins University

2008-03-05T10:12:00.000-06:00

I'll be giving a reading at my alma mater Hollins University on March 6 at 8:15 p.m. in the Green Drawing Room.

AWP Events

2008-01-31T10:02:00.000-06:00

I know this is a bit late, but I'll be signing books at the Sarabande table from 2:00 - 3:00 today, Thursday, January 31.

On Saturday, February 2, I'll be giving an off-site reading for Essay Press at 3:00 at Unnameable Books in Brooklyn. The bookstore is located at 456 Bergen Street. (You can take the 2, 3 trains to Bergen if you're in the city.) I'll be reading with Kristin Prevallet and Carla Harryman.

A New Review of the Book of Beginnings and Endings

2007-12-23T09:21:00.000-06:00

Today's edition of the Los Angeles Times Sunday Book Review mentions the Book of Beginnings and Endings in their "Discoveries" section. You can access the review by Susan Salter Reynolds here.

Two New Reviews

2007-11-30T21:40:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago, I received my author's copies of The Book of Beginnings and Endings. When I was in Iowa for the NonficitonNOW Conference, I signed a copy of it, and it was the first time that I had seen the book. The signed copy for was Ander Monson. In my hotel room, I read this review of the book (along with my chapbook Moveable Types) written by Nicole Walker in the latest Diagram.

A new review site, Corduroy Books, just put out this review, written by Weston Cutter.

My Verse in Verse

2007-09-27T21:32:00.000-05:00

I'm not quite sure why I never mentioned this to anyone, but one of my dearest poems (in verse), was published in Verse in their Fall/Winter 2006 issue. Details are here. There was a time when I would look the line so straight in the eye, so completely, and then I stopped looking. I did that with people too, at a time, I think. I stopped looking at people in the eye; I didn't want to be seen. I'm not quite sure when I stopped doing that either. (Perhaps my omission of this publication indicates that I am not, however I wish to be, quite removed from this habit of not looking?) My line breaks are still precious to me, but I can't profess to understand them any longer. There was an intensity, an undertone that used to move me to keep on or no, and then, I just didn't want to stop anymore for anyone and I began to write in long long lines and then pages and pages of prose.

My poem, in verse in Verse, "Loy Krathong," is quite dear to me. It is about Thailand; it is about the myths and folklore of my country people, in the remote villages of the country; it is about love. And it's only in print; it isn't on-line.

Undefinable & Other Sarabande Treats

2007-08-29T22:12:00.000-05:00

Sarah Gorham, editor of Sarabande Books, has an article in Publishers Weekly that centers on writing that isn't so easily classified as one genre or another. "Undefinable" showcases my forthcoming Book of Beginnings and Endings.

I'm happy to report that my author's information is now up at Sarabande. (This must mean that the book is close to coming out!) You can now read my author's interview as well as access my Sarabande in Education Reader's Guide.

Moveable Types

2007-07-23T13:10:00.000-05:00

My first chapbook, Moveable Types, is now available from Noemi Press. The publisher of Noemi Press, Carmen Gimenez Smith, did a fantastic job of shaping my otherwise shapeless group of writings. From the group, she chose five pieces that fit together beautifully and thematically. The cover art, which is hand-printed, was done by Angel D'Amico. What this photograph doesn't show is that the cover has some specks of silver in it that is lovely. If you're not interested in my chapbook, please check out Noemi Press's catalogue, which is quite impressive.

Coldfront Magazine Interview & Year in Print Awards

2007-07-13T11:03:00.001-05:00

Coldfront Magazine nominated my book, [one love affair]* for their Year in Print Awards in five categories. My book won two of these awards: Best First Lines and Best Book-Length Poem.

The magazine also featured an interview I did with John Deming.

Poet's Corner

2007-07-12T11:30:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry that I haven't updated this blog in some time. I have a lot of updates, which I will try to get to over the course of this month.

The first thing I'd like to share with you is my page at the Poet's Corner. Anny Ballardini was nice enough to ask me to contribute to the Poet's Corner. I decided to send in a representative sampling of my work, including my first poem published in a national literary journal. I also decided to include two of my favorite poems that were published in print magazines and were therefore unavailable. They are "Postcard" and "Today, No One Has Come to Proprose."

The Body: An Essay (the new edition by Essay Press)

2007-05-14T11:12:00.000-05:00

I'm happy to say that the new edition of my first book, The Body: An Essay, will be out soon, very soon. You may purchase it from Essay Press or pre-order from Amazon.

Woolly Boully

2007-03-18T16:51:00.000-05:00

In addition to writing, I'm a bit of a closet sock knitter. To help defray some of the costs that accrue from being a writer, I've combined my two loves, writing and sock yarn, and started Woolly Boully. Many of my sock yarn colorways were inspired by lines from my poetry or prose. Even if you don't knit, I hope you'll stop by the shop to see what I've been up to.

The Art of Fiction: An Essay

2007-02-19T13:38:00.000-06:00

The editors of Aiden Starr: The Journal launched their first issue a few months ago. Here is the link to my piece The Art of Fiction: An Essay. Beware: there is video involved.

Tarpaulin Sky Authors & Friends Reading

2007-02-12T21:27:00.000-06:00

I'll be giving a reading on Saturday, February 17 at 2:00 at the Four-Faced Liar in New York, NY.

Details can be found here.

Reprinting The Body

2007-01-17T22:30:00.000-06:00

A certain "Stalina" left a nice comment for me on my blog, and I'm sorry that I wasn't able to write her back, although I did try to find her email address on-line to no avail. She wanted to know how she might find extra copies of The Body: An Essay.

I should have posted about this a while ago.

The Body is being reprinted by the wonderful folks at Essay Press and will be out soon. This edition will feature a new cover, new blurbs, and will be totally reset. What I adore about this version is that it will be truer to what I originally intended.

As the publication date nears, I'll be sure to post updates. In the meantime, Stalina, if you should have any questions or perhaps want to know where the one existing copy of the first edition of The Body: An Essay is being sold, my email address is pinkhouseshoe at yahoo dot com.

Effing Magazine

2006-12-18T10:52:00.001-06:00

Effing Magazine, number five, contains a piece I wrote long ago called "Fragments." It's always been one of my favorites, and I'm very excited about seeing it in a paper-based journal, as the piece seems to demand a paper-printed form. The piece is visual, incorporating line art to suggest real fragments of text. You can order it from the Effing Press website. This issue was edited by Allyssa Wolf.

Two upcoming readings

2006-10-20T16:34:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, October 22, at 7:00, I'll be reading at the Zinc Bar, as part of the Zinc Talk/Reading Series curated by Jim Behrle. I'll be reading with poet Travis Nichols.

On Tuesday, October 24, at 6:30, I'll be reading at the New School with poet Noelle Kocot. The reading will take place at the 66 W. 12th Street building in room 510.

Both readings are in New York City, and will most likely be the last of my readings until AWP.

Reading at the Stain Bar

2006-09-26T13:03:00.000-05:00

On Friday, September 29 at 7:00, I'll be reading at the Stain Bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, as part of the MiPo Reading Series. I'll be reading to two other writers, Aaron Belz and Brian Howe.

Tarpaulin Sky Press will continue to update my readings and events; so if you can't make it on Friday, then perhaps you can make it to some of my other readings this fall.

Foursquare

2006-08-21T05:50:00.000-05:00

If you haven't seen these little squares, then you really are missing out on one of the most creative ideas for a literary journal/art book. What I like about Foursquare is how little and precious and bright and happy it is. The first one had lovely little cherries on it. This one, the second one, the one I am in, has--joy of joys--popsicles on it. The literary/art work is inside, printed beautifully on a square piece of paper folded twice so as to make four squares. If you want these squares in your life, you have to subscribe and, unfortunately, it looks as if subscriptions are sold out until June 2007. Jessica Smith, who edits Foursquare, also has a book out, Organic Furniture Cellar, which she sent me last week.

Forecast Essay

2006-08-11T17:51:00.000-05:00

A little essay that I wrote a while ago can be read in the latest issue of How2. It's called "Forecast Essay," and I forget exactly what the assignment was, but I wrote it for Wayne Koestenbaum's Lyric Essay class a few semesters back. I think the assignment was: write about writing.

Kafka's Garden and three verse poems

2006-07-30T23:08:00.000-05:00

Several of my pieces sprouted up on-line while I was away. One piece, "Kafka's Garden," can be found in the newly launched on-line journal Siren. (This piece was originally printed in the journal Unsaid). I was pleased to find poems by Dan Nester in the same issue, as it is nice to find oneself in the company of a friend.

Speaking of Dan Nester, his on-line journal Unpleasant Event Schedule just posted three of my verse poems--"Cooking Show Sonnet," "One Poem Like All Others," and "Poems of Outdated Sentiments"--alongside a photo taken by Christopher Connelly. These are among the last verse poems I have written, with the exception of a cycle that will be published in an upcoming issue of Verse.

On Vacation

2006-06-25T22:38:00.000-05:00

I'll be out of the country, and without an internet connection, from June 27 to July 26. During this time, I won't be able to post to my blog or answer any emails. I do promise to have pictures of Thailand when I return. I'm packing my favorite notebook and a 250 page manuscript that I haven't been able to get to since last semester. I'm not sure I know how to revise and finish something so big. Thankfully, Thailand has lots of ghosts, and I'm sure that once there, I'll find that the writing (hopefully) is writing itself.

Write-a-Thon Lunchtime Conversation

2006-05-31T17:57:00.000-05:00

Aaron Zimmerman of the New York Writers Coalition has kindly asked me to take part in his first NYWC Write-a-Thon. I'll be participating in the Lunchtime Conversation on writing, which begins at 12:30 at the Bowery Poetry Club. For more information on how to sign up for the Write-a-Thon, please visit their website.

Boston Review Poetry Sampler

2006-05-25T11:14:00.000-05:00

A few issues of the May/June Boston Review showed up in the mail yesterday, so I'm assuming they are available for purchase at bookstores and newsstands and what not. I'm on page 44 as the "sampler poet" for this issue, and I have an introduction by Mary Jo Bang. There are also poems by Hugh Steinberg, a poet whose work I've enjoyed reading.

The sample consists of some excerpts from the just released [one love affair]* and the forthcoming Book of Beginnings and Endings. There is also a random little piece of prose.

Reading on Saturday May 13

2006-05-12T11:26:00.000-05:00

In case you weren't able to make it to the book party, I hope you'll be able to attend a reading I'll be giving this Saturday. The reading will be at the Four-Faced Liar on 165 West 4th between Sixth and Seventh Ave at 2:00.

More more information, please go to the Tarpaulin Sky Events page.

Book Party & Reading

2006-05-03T22:38:00.000-05:00

For those of you in the New York area: I'll be having a book party and reading for [one love affair]*. The event is free and open to the public. I'm indebted to Elena Georgiou for setting up the event for me. Christian Peet and Elena are both such movers and shakers. Here's the official information, which can also be found on the Academy of American Poets website:

May 10, 2006, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Hunter College
Faculty Lounge
68th St & Lexington Ave, 8th floor, West Building, New York, NY

Come celebrate the release of Jenny Boully's new book, [one love affair]*, published by Tarpaulin Sky Press. Mingling at 6:30. Reading at 7, followed by a book-signing.

[one love affair]* also available from Tarpaulin Sky Press

2006-04-25T17:39:00.000-05:00

[one love affair]* is available directly from Tarpaulin Sky Press. I would recommend ordering from them because not only is it cheaper, it's better for me and the press. They even take credit cards on-line.

[one love affair]*

2006-04-22T12:56:00.000-05:00

[one love affair]* is up on Amazon. Isn't the cover so pretty? If you can't tell what that burnt-looking, glass thing is on the cover, then perhaps you'll want to purchase the book to find out.

Here's the full book description:

[one love affair]* meditates on mud daubers, Duras, and the deaths of mentally ill and drug-addicted lovers, blurring fiction, essay, and memoir in an extended prose poem that is as much a study of how we read as it is a treatise on the language of love affairs: a language of hidden messages, coded words, cryptic gestures, and suspicion.

As with Jenny Boully's debut book The Body (2002), [one love affair]* is full of gaps and fissures and "seduces its reader by drawing unexpected but felicitous linkages between disparate citations from the history of literature," a work that is "filled with the exegetical projection of our own imagination" (Christian Bok, Maisonneuve). Told through fragments that accrete through uncertain meanings, romanticized memories, and fleeting moments rather than clear narrative or linear time, [one love affair]* explores the spaces between too much and barely enough, fecundity and decay, the sublime and the disgusting, wholeness and emptiness, love and loneliness in a world where life can be interpreted as a series of love affairs that are "unwilling to complete."

22

2006-04-19T12:51:00.000-05:00

When I first began experimenting with prose forms, excited over the publication of an issue of the Seneca Review (Vol. XXX, No. 1) devoted to the lyric essay, I wrote "22." It seems as if I wrote this piece a long, long time ago--maybe because the events related in the piece seem so far removed from me. In any event, there is a certain joy in seeing this, a piece which has been so long sequestered, in print. You may read it in the latest Coconut. (The bio note explains a little bit about the background of "22.")

A Reading in Albany

2006-04-07T12:06:00.000-05:00

Dan Nester invited me to do a reading at the College of Saint Rose in Albany with Heidi Lynn Staples. The reading is part of his Frequency North Reading Series. The reading is on Thursday, April 27 at 7:30.

Between Cassiopeia and Perseus

2006-03-16T12:52:00.000-06:00

When I first moved to Brooklyn, I thought the whole world was wilting; the very streets seemed to be in a state of decay. I lived in a tiny rented room. It wasn't really a room, but a closet; the futon barely fit and my little child's desk could not set itself anywhere comfortably. What I hated most was the lack of light. My room got the morning light and after morning, that was that, there was no more light and the ceiling light did not work although my roommate, who was a stranger to me, promised that her brother-in-law would be fixing it soon. (When I moved out years later, it still had yet to be fixed.) I had a nightlight and then a friend gave me a lamp, which was temperamental and soon stopped working altogether. I didn't like going into the living room because my roommate was always home and moreover, she was always on the couch watching bad tv and she wanted me to always watch this bad tv with her and all around her were various dirty bowls and dirty cups and dirty tissues and she never seemed to put any food away. Everything seemed to be in a state of decay.

And then my parents called me from Texas; someone was trying to get a hold of me, someone wanted me to write a little something for some magazine or other. This someone finally got me on the phone and asked me to write something. I did. I sent it to him and never heard from him again. I think I can safely assume, after more than three years, that my piece has been rejected.

The new issue of Diagram contains this piece called "Between Cassiopeia and Perseus."

New Book News

2006-03-07T12:08:00.000-06:00

So far, 2006 has been full of good, unexpected news. Next month, the folks at Tarpaulin Sky will be putting out my second book, [one love affair]*. The asterisk does denote a footnote, but it's really quite long and convoluted, and if you're patient enough to read it, it follows at the end, the very end of this post. This book will be out in a limited edition art book as well as a perfect-bound edition. It will contain three long prose-poem sequences: [one love affair], He Wrote in Code, and There Is Scarcely More Than There Is. He Wrote in Code has never been printed previously and it's one of my favorites, so I hope that it will be drawing point for folks to buy the book. From what I'm gathering from Christian Peet of Tarpaulin Sky, both the art and perfect-bound editions are going to be quite lovely.

Bruce Covey of Coconut will be putting out my free, downloadable chapbook, of the mismatched teacups, of the single-serving spoon, next month. This chapbook contains a lot of my earlier poems as well as more recent work.

Sarabande Books has taken my Book of Beginnings and Endings and is planning for a Fall/Winter 2007 release. Some excerpts are available on-line at Conjunctions and MiPoesias. Excerpts were also printed in Seneca Review, Notre Dame Review, the most recent Turnrow, and are forthcoming in Conduit and Boston Review. The new Turnrow also features some lovely, lovely art.

*A million wallowing anemones, a thousand eyes peeping through, a thousand spies shivering, unnamable endless flowerings, countless empty bottles, twelve flowers, eleven trees, eight fruits, four vegetables, four peppers, two enemas, two kidnappings, one accident, one suicide, one soothsayer, one drowning, one nightclub called Juicy.

A Little Bit From My Memoir

2006-02-23T16:31:00.000-06:00

I've been working on a memoir-ish type book for almost a year now. This past summer, I had a month and a half of quiet and time and wrote 250 pages. I hope that I'll have that quiet and time again soon so that I might finish. It's so close to being finished and it breaks my heart to feel so mentally far from being finished. A small, small excerpt appears in the latest MiPoesias.

Recovering The Body

2006-01-17T14:48:00.000-06:00

After having The Body out-of-print for over two years, I received news today that 90 copies have resurfaced in San Francisco where they were to make their way into bookstores and never did. This is a great relief to me because I was always so saddened that I was losing readers when professors, wanting to teach the book, were unable to assign the book due to lack of availability. Such an influx of available copies will most likely change the book's pricing in rare book stores as it is probably no longer a rare book.

A Prose Poem; A Lyric Essay

2006-01-12T22:51:00.000-06:00

A new prose poem, "A Sky That Looked Make-Believe; Buildings That Looked Real" appears in MiPOesias, which also contains a new lyric essay of mine, "the future imagined, the past imagined."

There Is Scarcely More Than There Is

2005-12-02T16:16:00.000-06:00

Cyril Wong has a beautiful web journal called Softblow. Today, he posted a new piece of mine, There Is Scarcely More Than There Is. My friend ShaLeigh Comerford took the photo that accompanies the piece. She took it in October. She said she needed to photograph me with concrete.

I read selections from this piece when I read in October at the Four-Faced Liar for Tarpaulin Sky, another beautifully designed web journal. The lovely editors of Tarpaulin Sky took these pictures. A piece of mine, Six Black & White Movies, Where I Do Not Find You, appeared in Tarpaulin Sky last spring.

Someone With August Inside

2005-11-11T12:41:00.000-06:00

A really nice person made a web page to introduce others to my work. It contains links and the full text to the excerpt of The Body that first appeared in the Seneca Review and later in The Best American Poetry 2002. I'm not sure who she is, but I felt happy when I happened upon it. (I once sent Robert Kelly a fan letter and was surprised when he wrote me back, saying that my letter had made him feel "embraced.")

[one love affair]

2005-11-07T10:06:00.000-06:00

The new web-journal Coconut, edited by Bruce Covey, recently published a new work of mine. "[one love affair]" is one of a series. The next in the series "There Is Scarcely More Than There Is" will be published in the web-journal Softblow later this year.