Had a great weekend down in Raleigh. Got to stay with my old friends Kevin and Tara and meet their new baby Henry. Remarkable kid even at two months old.

Got to read in the So and So Series, hosted by the incredibly generous Chrises (Tonelli and Salerno).

Got a broadside of my  own work – one of the new atrocities – created by the very talented D.J. Griffin.

And had some of my work published in the new issue of So and So Magazine (three atrocities and a small episode from the The Genius Child Orchestra project).

(I’ve been meaning to keep these atrocities to myself until all of the drawings are done, but I keep letting them slip out there – I even read a few on Saturday. Benjamin recommended keeping it to yourself until you’re done. I better get drawing quickly.)

Justin Sirois and Haneen Alshujairy have started their “Understanding Campaign.” They’re trying to get everyone to learn just one word of Arabic. Go check out their site and see how you can help out.

Go listen.

We’ve just posted another over-sized Action,Yes.  This continues our year-long pledge to fat issues. There’s a lot of stuff in there. Spend some time with it and let me know what you think.

Contributors include:
Per Backstrom
Bernard Bador (trans. Clayton Eshleman)
Ross Brighton
James Capozzi
Tyler Carter
Amy Catanzano
Tina Brown Celona
Juliet Cook
Marisa Crawford
Olivia Cronk
Peter Davis
Nick Demske
Geoffrey Detrani
Dot Devota
Christopher DeWeese
Geoffrey Cruickshank-Hagenbuckle
Justin Dobbs
Claire Donato
Donald Dunbar
Tim Earley
Clayton Eshleman
Jean-Michel Espitallier (translated by Jennifer K. Dick)
Robert Fernandez
Ann Fine
Sara Greenslit
Richard Kostelanetz
Lito Elio Porto
Grzegorz Wroblewski(trans. Adam Zdrodowski)
Raul Zurita (trans. Daniel Borzutzky)
and a lot of other writers, young and old, foreign and American.

(Note: We’ve begun collecting work for an all-criticism issue to be launched sometime in late 2010-2011. Send me something if you think we’d be interested. We’re looking for essays/criticism that are unlikely to fit comfortably in other places.)

At the end of December, I had the great pleasure of reading Catherine Kasper’s Notes from the Committee, a funny and institutionally unsettling novella published by Noemi Press. I felt compelled to talk her about how she created this narrative, and my interview was just posted in the new issue of The Chapbook Review.

Catherine collaborated on a poetry/image collection a while back that we’re calling Lost Debris. Anyone who’s interesting in publishing a book of poetry with a few pages in full color, drop me a line and I’ll send you the manuscript. Here’s a sample.