Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, originally uploaded by allen_bramhall.

good taste is timeless

a delightful view

a delightful view, originally uploaded by allen_bramhall.

DAYS POEM Promotional Tour

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, originally uploaded by allen_bramhall.

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, originally uploaded by allen_bramhall.

DAYS POEM Promotional Tour

-- DAYS POEM--

the book is now in hand. I have seen it. I carried it to the Indian restaurant this evening, Erin and Beth took pictures of waiters at the restaurant holding it. it's for real!!! it looks awesome, thanks to Erin who designed the cover (from a couple of my paintings) and to Shanna Compton, who provided emergency tech help. the visceral thrill of the book in hand suffuses me. last year I offered EILEEN TABIOS a manuscript, which--gracious!--she accepted. in some casual aside I mentioned a certain extra long manuscript that I had. unexpectedly, this piqued her interest, she asked to see said ms, she accepted that, and so the story goes. a publisher willing to publish 1000 pages of an un(der)known: this is money where your mouth is territory. I sound way too glib here, because I think this is miraculous. certes, I can thank the changing publishing model, Lulu et al., that makes the commitment less egregious. but it is still a mighty commitment (to poetry, to possibility). I am thankful to Eileen for giving this poem an opportunity to be seen. this is not just a bullet on my cv, this is proof against my own innate hopelessness re the mechanics of the poetry world. so, promote promote promote, because the poem is beautiful, if you will trust the conduit to say so. so...

To celebrate the release of Days Poem, Meritage Press is pleased to offer the following SPECIAL OFFER:

To order a single volume, a 20% discount and free shipping/handling (about a $3.00 value) for a single-volume price of $22.40

To order both volumes, a 25% discount and free shipping handling for a 2-volume price of $42.00

This offer will be good through June 30, 2007...and is expected to be the least expensive rate for purchasing the book(s). Please send checks made out to "Meritage Press" and mail to

Eileen Tabios
Meritage Press
256 North Fork Crystal Springs Rd.
St. Helena, CA 94574

to the right are urls to the books, if you love the internets.

so we were there, watching Pirates yestreen. if I were writing whilst in the theatre, I might've leaned on excoriation, but I'm cooler now. it's a hard film to deconstruct (Kasey Mohhamd makes a good stab), because it's just so crowded. so anyway, three of the theatres at the plex offered Pirates. we got there earlier than expected and saw a rash, good word, of plain ole tv commercials. no explosions. then we got the usual trailers. Live Free or Die Hard signals the apocalypse. I know all those cars flipping into the air will draw the crowds but Bruce Willis tops my Go Away list. as to Pirates, I just kept facing the situation I experienced. instead of watching the movie, I watched myself watch the movie, as one minor dividend of the avid whole. it begins with an apparent clip from Tale of Two Cities and a fake sense of import, then lets the camera find Keira. it was a greater relief, tho, when Barbossa appears. the character and the performance strike the right note, finally, of over the top and grim weird. then the movie feels on track, somewhat. Johnny on the Bonneville salt flat gives us some trippy fun. then our gang of heroes and villains agglutinate into various configurations until the movie ends. I don't think you can watch this movie without considering Disney's stocks. the larger picture, that is. it's like a contest to be the greatest moneymaking scheme ever. it looms with an American value of enterprise. there were moments when I viscerally felt the theme park ride whence the franchise grew. all the sensory input as we sat there, safe from any thoughts. the formerly comedic pirate duo were largely drained of fun but instead placed as placards along the way toward that bottom line in black. placards, what could possibly be writ on such placards? something along the lines of give up, submit, stop worrying. whatever. Calypso and Davy Jones basically disappear in a weird refusal to tie up loose ends, suggesting, I suppose, an intention to make a 4th Pirates. the maelstrom battle was a lot of jiggled string in front of a young cat. the movie ends wistfully, in the sense that it doesn't want to stop making money. well, that's enough for this movie. it really agitated me as I watched but that has worn off, and not much else remains. aptly, today's word of the day is sequacious.

watched Jet Li's Fearless the other night. I've seen a few martial arts flicks here and there but hardly know the genre. years ago saw one in Chinatown, which somehow made the experience more authentic. the plot in that one centered on an invasion of China by Japan. it was alarmingly complete in its annihilation, only one character in the movie survived. armies, villages, royal families: everyone but the hero bought the farm. Fearless began with a prose prologue, something about the West coming to the East. as part of that, Jet fights various matches with Westerners. he fights and humiliates a guy with a lance, one with a sword, and a boxer in separate matches. what I don't care for in action films is the dramatic randomness of the affliction. combatants inflict 18 seemingly similar blows that merely distract the opponent, then one throws the same blow, which is the killer. and furthermore, no one gets tired. this lack of physical basis bothers me. I don't mind the impossible physics that occurs, tho the sweeping angles in which these acts are filmed are what carry the day. after defeating three westerners Jet enters an hour long flashback. flashbacks should last no more than 7 minutes tops in my universe, Coppola and Godfather 2 take note. the principle being that the longer the less flashy. so we go back to Jet as a child. he watches his father compete in the village matches. his father throws what would be the winning blow but holds it before contact. doing this in moral rightness. his opponent not so minded takes the reprieve and boffs Jet's father, who loses. this inspires Jet to fight the son of the winner, who thrashes Jet. Jet vows never to lose again. so he grows to a proud young man and is the young lion of village matches. he tries to goad the village champ into a fight but that fighter is too lofty to deign. but then one of Jet's many hangers on is killed by this Master Chin. Jet seeks hotheaded revenge. cue swirling crashing fight. Jet wins, Master Chin dies. next morning, after drunken victory night, Jet returns homes to find his mother and daughter murdered. he seeks revenge but reaching Master Chin's home finds cowering children and wife. Jet skips revenge. then he learns that Master Chin was defending his wife's honour against the hanger on's blandishments. Jet's dark night of the soul. he goes off on a boat, which sinks, and he's pulled ashore somewhere. befriended by a blind woman, he stays in the village for years. then he finally goes back to his old home to expiate his sins. learned his lesson. and with some effort, the flashback concludes. he has one more opponent to fight, a feller from Japan. I don't know if money's on the line or political power or what but a bad element wants Jet to lose. his opponent is honourable. the 1st round is a tie. Jet is fed bad tea. he's dying. the opponent wants to stop but Jet refuses. Jet's dying. they fight, full tilt. Jet's dying. it looks like Jet's dead then Jet throws a perfect blow, yet holds back. the opponent recognizes the moment and, despite the bad influences, concedes defeat. Jet dies, tho the last scene shows him cavorting in the moonlight with the blind woman. oh I forgot an extra match, in which Jet tangles with a steroided westerner named Hercules. same large person as was Achilles 1st victim in Troy. Jet saves Herc when, in knocking the big feller from the ring, Hercules almost lands on some spikes. honourable Jet.