New poems up at The Collagist

The second issue of The Collagist, a new online journal from Dzanc Books, is live and we have two poems all up in it: "Aubade with Clock Radio" and "Aubade with Ceramic Deer." It's a good mag, go read the whole thing! There's Jason Bredle's "The Proselytizer" and "Denver Health Medical Center: Nursing Notes" by Sean Lovelace, just FOR EXAMPLE.

A reason to be jubilant, although I'm depressed

We have a poem in the new Jubilat. Yay! We like Jubilat. Lots of poets to love in this issue (Kate Greenstreet, Srikanth Reddy, Alice Notley, Ange Mlinko, oh my).

Also, if you didn't notice (sniff), I'm now solo-blogging over at The French Exit. Don't let the French door hit you in the face on the way out.

Sorry, kind of an interior joke.

New review in Galatea Resurrects

Many thanks to Nate Logan whose very thoughtful review of That Tiny Insane Voluptuousness appears in the latest Galatea Resurrects. Click over to read its full nicety:

Writing poetry is hard. This is not news to anyone who has seriously dedicated themselves to writing it. But writing poetry with another person? Wouldn't that qualify as being one of the hardest things in the world of writing to do? Would there be stylistic clashes? Would schedules work out so such poems could be written? Would the poems be terrible?

Luckily for us, Elisa Gabbert and Kathleen Rooney have overcome all of these potential hazards and have put together a marvelous collection of collaborative poetry...

Winter's last weak hurrah

We've got poems in the new issue of Wheelhouse (alongside fine poets such as Rachel Zolf, Ana Bozicevic and Reb Livingston to name just a few) and in the Mutating the Signature edition of qarrtsiluni. Go exercise your saccades.

Also, if any of our five readers live in California (odds aren't bad?), we are reading in the Community and World Literary Series at Cal State San Marcos on March 19 at 7 pm. Look for us there or on the beach the next day. We'll be catchin' some rays, and possibly hanging 10.

A to the W to the P

We have three new poems (from the Epigraph Project, as I've just decided to grandiosely name it) up at Steve Halle's Seven Corners. Take a looksee.

Also, for those who will be at AWP, look for us at the MAKE off-site reading and dance party, hosted my MAKE Magazine in conjunction with Action Books, ACM and others. We'll be reading there with Arda Collins, Abraham Smith and others on Thursday night at the "legendary" Hideout.

In addition, Kathy will be signing Oneiromance at the Switchback Books table on Friday at 2, and reading at the Red Rover Series "Experiment #26: A Small Press Showcase" at Links Hall on Friday from 8 to 11:30, along with readers from Action Books, Effing Press, Flood Editions, Futurepoem books, Les Figues Press, Slack Buddha Press and Ugly Duckling Presse.

2009, you ain't shit

Happy new year, readers! All averaging-three-a-day of you. Some news & updates: We have three translations (of Max Jacob) up in the January poetry issue of Open Letters Monthly; enjoy and check out the other great stuff there.

Also, big thanks to the nice folks over at Coldfront Mag who, in their Year in Review, nominated That Tiny Insane Voluptuousness for Best Book of New Poetry Published in 2008, Best First Poem in a New Collection, Best Final Poem in a New Collection, and Best Closing Lines. Wowee! Seriously, guys, we're honored just to be nominated.

In the coming months, look for new collaborations in No Tell Motel, jubilat, Fifth Wednesday, Area Sneaks, Westwind Review and elsewherez.

Me vs. Leigh Stein

This week it was my turn to give some As to the Qs posed by Leigh. Check it out here on the 12th Street blog, where I talk about the Midwest, weddings, and how Elisa is awesome.

We have new poems

up at P.F.S. Post and Milkmag. These are mostly from a series of poems we wrote in the style of Mad Libs.

And while you're in the mood for reading, check out the fly new issue of Absent.

Me vs. Leigh Stein

The lovely Leigh Stein interviewed me for the 12th Street blog. I talk a bit about collaborating, editing a journal, what I've been reading and feeling like a worthless loser. Check it out.

New review at coldfront mag

Many thanks to John Deming of coldfront mag for this ultra-flattering and astute review of That Tiny Insane Voluptuousness. Great discussion of collaborative poetry and how the process can sometimes overshadow the product. (Not with us, of course!) Here's an excerpt:

I think I’d trade the last six “collaborative” books I’ve read for just half of Elisa Gabbert and Kathleen Rooney’s hip, smart, self-aware and incredibly focused new collection.

The best thing about That Tiny Insane Voluptuousness is that it is a singular, sustained inspiration spoken by a singular, if conflicted, voice.

Now go read the rest.

New review of TTIV

Adam Golaski does a write-up of That Tiny Insane Voluptuousness over at the Flim Forum blog. Apparently it's "always clever, mostly light-hearted, sometimes crass, and occasionally wise" -- check out the full review here. Thanks Adam!

Also, Rusty Barnes kindly wrote on Goodreads: "These are fine poets singly, and together they're a knockout. I so so admire truly witty, playful poems, and it's very cool to have all this work in one place so I don't have to scour the 'net for it. Great stuff."

Are we witty/crass enough for YOU? Buy the book and find out.

Updates! News! Etc.!

Much has occurred since we abandoned this blog like a mine shaft last year. Our chapbook, Something Really Wonderful, came out from dancing girl press in November; look for it wherever rare books and collector's items are sold. Mark Wallace had nice things to say about it, like "The linguistic energy and, really, virtuosity, can be stunning."

And last month, our full-length collection, That Tiny Insane Voluptuousness, was released from Otoliths. You can read poems from this collection in Boston Review, Caketrain, Coconut, The Concher, Dusie, Elimae, Foursquare, MiPOesias, Noo, Opium, Otoliths, Past Simple, Sawbuck, and 21 Stars Review.

Michael Gushue interviewed us for the VRZHU Press blog.

Jesse Glass wrote on the Ahadada blog that if our poems were set to music a la Japanse girl band Puffy, it would "rocket these two to cult status on the thinking woman's circuit."

Samuel Wharton called this book "really awesome, a perfect mix of spry humor, mind-curdling verbal gymnastics, & dead-on seriousishness."

Our poems were featured on Sharkforum.

Amy Kucharik wrote on Facebook: "I hate most poets, but I make an exception for Elisa Gabbert. The unexpected, playful turns in these poems are always original, never pretentious, and kind of make you wonder what Elisa/Kathy have been up to that inspired them." Thanks for not hating, Amy K.

We've got new work forthcoming in Chicago-based Make Magazine and MoonLit. Stay tuned for more.

April, we bid you adieu

LAST DATE

Where’s the glitter? Where’s the excitement?
A stroll to clear our minds sounded lame, but
when you dropped me off at the vacant lot,
it became the walk of improbable detail
& I probably shouldn’t be so sad about it.
There’re worse things than having no prom date--
a prison tattoo, for example, or a third nipple.
That’s just a fad. Or a “faze,” as you’d say,
your malaprop of the day, adorable
as ever--I hate you all the more. Wherefore
the moon. The Tears of the Moon belly ring?
The king is dead. Long live the king.

Bonus tracks #5 & #6: Quatrains! Again!

I love timelines, but I hate time,
& people who say You’re so linear &
Touching harms the art.
I just want to feel the lines.

*

No one has yet satisfactorily defined
the boundary between the flesh & the mind.
If you’re so fucking smart,
why don’t you take a swing, ass-brain?

Almost no one mistakes a bear for a rock

FOLKPSYCHOLOGY

Whatever happened to the baby raccoon
mistaking the moon for her maker’s eye?

I lied: it wasn’t the moon either, just
a shiny lost satellite, neither hers nor mine.

“Wish I might” on that & all you end up w/
is another baby forced to grow up too soon.

You can’t fake love, wisdom, or a sneeze
& expect to please everyone. Curdled light

oozing in thru a broken window is like
an attenuated wind. Only visible.