ppigpenn interviews

thanks to Catfish McDaris there are a bunch of new interviews from writers near and far up at the ppigpenn. seems he went out of his way to gather up words from folks all over. and i appreciate that. good stuff. some you have probably heard of and some not. which is right in line with what's behind pretty much everything we do at the LU.

i'm proud to be a part of it and i hope you'll check out the interviews. maybe discover a new favorite poet/writer/artist. ppigpenn is also accepting submissions of poetry, flash, and art. so send us something.

have a happy new year... forgive more, love harder, and all that other groovy shit people get all resolutiony about at least once a year. me, i think i'll quit smoking. #hahaha

hugs,
mm

http://ppigpenn.blogspot.com/p/interviews.html

Glenn Cooper, Alain Crozier, Gary Cummiskey, Eric Dejaeger, Jocelyne Desforges, Alexis Rhone Fancher, Paul Hawkins, Azriel Johnson, Tim Murray, Valli Poole, Kevin Ridgeway, Van Roberts, Sarer Scotthorne, Ben John Smith, Kenneth Trimble, Philip Vermaas, Mercedes Webb-Pullman, and Ali Znaidi. there's also one from me in there

Call for Submissions: Ppigpenn

Send raw wild words & art to Catfish at Mcdar3(at)aol[dot]com

We want poems & flash & art. Imagine extreme hunger & you had only one fish hook & a tiny bullhead swallowed your bait & you had to jerk out all the guts & heart. These innards are what we want.

http://ppigpenn.blogspot.com

New Issue of Citizens for Decent Literature

CfDL #8

Contributors:
Catfish McDaris, Dan Provost, Craig Cady, James Griffin, John Greiner, Alan Catlin, Luis Rivas, William Doreski, Nathan Schaaf, Gregory Liffick, and Kyle Hemmings with artwork by Kyle Hemmings and Dave MacDowell.

online edition is here:http://nowplaying.citizensfordecentliterature.com/

digital copy of print edition is here:


Thanks for reading!

Nothing to Lose welcomes special guest Ron Whitehead

Poet and Literary Activist Ron Whitehead to be featured on “Nothing to Lose” internet radio program

[caption id="attachment_1250" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Photograph by Jinn; Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5.[/caption]

The Literary Underground is pleased to announce a special episode of “Nothing to Lose” on Project U Radio Network featuring an interview with Ron Whitehead on Friday, November 1st. Mr. Whitehead is a poet, writer, editor, publisher, organizer, scholar and professor. He will be discussing his writing, his many years involved in performance and organizing, his numerous literary projects, and the upcoming release of Outlaw Poet, a documentary about his life.

Ron Whitehead grew up on a farm in Kentucky. He attended The University of Louisville and Oxford University. As a poet and writer he is the recipient of numerous state, national, and international awards/prizes including The All Kentucky Poetry Prize, The Yeats Club of Oxford's Prize for Poetry, and many others. In 2006 Dr. John Rocco (NYC) nominated Ron for The Nobel Prize in Literature. Nick Storm, Storm Generation Films, is producing an independent feature length cinema verite bio documentary Outlaw Poet Ron Whitehead. Nick will have 100 hours of film rough draft edited to 120 minutes by the end of 2013 with anticipated release for 2014.

Co-founder of the historic City Lights Booksellers & Publishers Lawrence Ferlinghetti said of Mr. Whitehead, “Ron Whitehead, out there in Kentucky, out there where the tall heroes used to grow, is sowing the dragon's teeth of new heroics.”

Mr. Whitehead has traveled extensively to promote poetry. He has presented numerous talks, lectures, and writing workshops around the world at colleges, universities, and institutions which include Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland), The University of Iceland (Reykjavik, Iceland), The University of Braga (Braga, Portugal), The University of Nijmegen (Nigmegen, The Netherlands), and many more.

Poet and literary activist Bruce Hodder of England said of Mr. Whitehead's work, “all you people out there with an interest in poetry as it's being written now by people who are bringing style and passion and innovation to the craft would do yourselves a big favour if you googled the name of Ron Whitehead and had a look at what he's been doing these past few years.”

“Nothing to Lose” is a popular internet radio program on the Project U Radio Network hosted by Independent Press editors Brian W. Fugett (Zygote in my Coffee), Michael D. Goscinski (Regardless of Authority), and Michelle L. Quinn (Blotterature). “Nothing to Lose” is committed to featuring creativity in all its various forms by presenting writers, musicians, artists, and performers... anyone involved in the production of creative things with a focus on independent and marginalized perspectives.

For more information about Ron Whitehead, please visit http://www.tappingmyownphone.com/. “Nothing to Lose” can be listened to live online Friday nights at 9pm Pacific/11pm Central on the Project U Radio Network at http://blogtalkradio.com/theliteraryunderground. All episodes are archived and available for download on BlogTalk Radio and iTunes.

About The Literary Underground
The Literary Underground is a grassroots effort committed to supporting and promoting the creative arts in the independent press. Founded in 2010, successful projects to date include: The Literary Underground Wiki, an open-source encyclopedia devoted to the underground press; Project U Radio Network, with shows hosted on blogtalk radio including author interviews, open mics and topic shows; the Archive Directory, providing web space for the archival of defunct publications; and Citizens For Decent Literature, an online and print publication that seeks to give voice to the voiceless.

CfDL Best of the Net and Pushcart Nominations

Citizens for Decent Literature is pleased to announce their nominations for the 2013 Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize. Thanks goes out to all of our contributors and congratulations to the nominees.

BEST OF THE NET

Issue #1
Under Douche Bag by Shali Nicholas
http://nowplaying.citizensfordecentliterature.com/2012/08/nicholas/

Issue #2
These Little Rituals by Anneliese Mackintosh
http://nowplaying.citizensfordecentliterature.com/2012/09/mackintosh/

Unshaved by Josh Olsen
http://nowplaying.citizensfordecentliterature.com/2012/09/olsen-3/

Issue #3
Yep, Another Library Pome by Tim Murray
http://nowplaying.citizensfordecentliterature.com/2012/10/timmurray/

Issue #5
Neo-Zine by Bud Smith
http://nowplaying.citizensfordecentliterature.com/2013/02/smith-5/

Issue #6
The Backseats of My Early Twenties by Sarah E. Alderman
http://nowplaying.citizensfordecentliterature.com/2013/03/alderman/

Note to My Younger Self on the Beauty of Birds by Larry Duncan
http://nowplaying.citizensfordecentliterature.com/2013/03/duncan-2/

My Friend with Cerebral Palsy by Newamba Flamingo
http://nowplaying.citizensfordecentliterature.com/2013/03/flamingo/

Reckless by Erin Reardon
http://nowplaying.citizensfordecentliterature.com/2013/03/reardon/

Stupid Poem about Stupid Airports by William Taylor Jr.
http://nowplaying.citizensfordecentliterature.com/2013/03/taylor-2/

PUSHCART PRIZE

How to Cook in a Coffee Pot by Heather Dorn
http://nowplaying.citizensfordecentliterature.com/2013/03/dorn-3/

This is the Damn Poem by Brian W. Fugett
http://nowplaying.citizensfordecentliterature.com/2012/07/fugett/

Akirema by Frank Walsh
http://nowplaying.citizensfordecentliterature.com/2013/02/walsh-2/

Up the Whiskey Tree by April Michelle Bratten
http://issuu.com/literaryunderground/docs/cfdl3

Charger by Tom Pescatore
(Little Book)

Part 1 by Tim Murray
(Dinosaur Ditch)


Citizens for Decent Literature Press was founded in 2011 as a project of The Literary Underground. Established first as a print zine and APA (Amateur Press Association), our formats now include Little Books, Roll Your Own Stories and the Manuscript Series – all available for FREE. Our Chapbook Series is available at or below cost. Now Playing @ Citizens for Decent Literature began publishing poetry, short stories, essays and rants on January 1, 2012 every third day. In August 2012 the publishing schedule was moved to monthly with the first issue on August 15th and is now currently published on the most random schedule possible.

Poets, Butter Cows, Juggalos, oh my!

come for the butter. stay for the change

i want to be michael rothenberg when i grow up. no kidding. he is an inspiration. i am in awe of the work he has done/is doing. as a community of creative people, we should thank our lucky stars to have such a humble person repping for us all over the world. if you missed his interview on the Nothing to Lose show last night, you can check it out in the archives... well worth your time. (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/theliteraryunderground/2013/09/07/nothing-to-lose)

toward the end of the show last night, he asked about our little shindig planned for 100 Thousand Poets for Change Day in Danville, Illinois... what do we care about in illinois? well... we care about butter. it's true. there is evidence...

The Butter Cow

when we decided to pursue finding a place and setting up an event to be a part of 100 Thousand Poets for Change Day, I started thinking about change. what kind of change... i wrote a long rambly statement as i do tend to do and thankfully it is lost to my mess of a desk. i can now sum it up in one word: CONNECTION.

because our society as a whole has become all too 2-dimensional on a virtual plane. as great and essential as it is.. none of this would even be possible.. creative people from around the globe connecting.. especially with yahoos, juggalos, and misfits from out in the cornfields. isolation is more than a state of mind when you live in the rural midwest. where everything comes a little bit later and a lot bit slower. if you think or move outside the box, you're likely to get stoned for it and not in the fun way, in the biblical way. my life has certainly been changed by the internet, by connecting online to like-minded fellows. but the real transformation, the stuff that sticks, that gives me the drive i need to keep going even when i'm still out here in the sticks--suffering a bit of rage everytime i have to visit the local walmarts-- it is the connections and experiences that i have had meeting, getting to know, being inspired by and working with these amazing people that i have come to refer to as the asshole poets. dammit, i love them.

they gave me the courage and the push that i need to flip the bird to all my silly little issues that said oh you are too much of this and not enough of that. maybe, just maybe, i can get out there and do something worthwhile. from toledo, chicago, milwaukee, oakland, ypsilanti, albuquerque, denver, champaign, cleveland, and even the Jhole. we put together events and come out to support others with the very simple intent to bring people together, to share and appreciate the work, to set aside the egos and the dumb, small press dramas. and maybe it wasn't change that we were after... it was simply inevitable. true connection creates change. on a personal level and beyond.

i dare anyone to step outside of themselves, to know these people--these asshole poets. share with them your ideas, sit for a while with theirs. yes, you might find yourself up on stage out in the middle of a cornfield, dancing in a kiddie pool filled with butter. it happens. but what you really might find is connection, something that goes deep down into your soul and changes you forever.

and look at that. i got all rambly again. go figure.

hope to see you there. and if not this one, the next.

luv,
mm

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All Kinds to Write A Story: Reaching Other Writers (and Everyone Else)
By Sirenna Blas, Blotterature

I was sitting in Julie’s kitchen this morning trying to edit and cut down an elaborate blog post about silence and flash fiction, but I got frustrated, I went home, I slept. When I woke up, I found a post written by Michele McDannold of the Literary Underground/Citizens for Decent Literature that talked about 100 Thousand Poets for Change, which is in its third year. She talked about connection, how important it is to be connected to/with each other?especially in this age where so much is done via screens and keyboards, especially for writers. That’s the change she wants to see. More connection. Continued connection.

Writing is not a solitary act.

Writing is a community.

I remember thinking, back when I first read On the Road at 18, that it would’ve been so cool and inspiring to have a group of friends who met up regularly to just talk writing and life. I had my little MySpace group of poets at that time, who all supported and read each other’s work. But, it wasn’t the same. It was all online, and most of my own in-person friends could hardly care less. I had been dating a string of boys who were all: “*blank face* Why do you write…?”

It takes time to build a community.

Writing shouldn’t make you feel alone.

But it can and it does. Sometimes.

And even as I got a bit older, there were people in my life who still went something like: “Why are you choosing to stay in on a Friday/Saturday night, while your friends are out partying, to…*shudder* write?” And then there were even those dreaded: “Yeah, I don’t read.”

Well…shit! Me neither…. Ignore the bookcases in my bedroom?here, let me turn off the lights and I’ll seduce you not at all with my intellect?did you know at one point I was a cheerleader? Ugh.

Pretty soon it becomes tiring pretending not to care or be interested in something that you’re actually very passionate about. Eventually you realize that the relationships you have with those you are pretending for can only remain superficial. Eventually you start lying: “No, I’m staying in tonight because I’m tired, not because I’ve got this story that I can’t stop thinking about.” Eventually you realize that’s no way to be and that it’s all stupid and you learn not to care if what you enjoy doing is socially acceptable or not, and that’s the stage I’m at now, luckily, but I know it’s not that way for everyone, especially young people.

When did this disconnect between writing/creating and “socially acceptable” occur?

So. What do we do about it? Do we just keep what we do close to ourselves and not try to seep out into the rest of society and, therefore, maybe sometimes act like we’re better than everyone else, more elite, more whatever, or at least be perceived to be as such? (Oh! such generalizations, of course.) Is this partially why that disconnection might’ve occurred? Do we try sharing our passions and rectify this, and if so, how?

A moment to digress. In 2010 or something or other, I connected with Tim online. He was part of the other writers I knew, but he lived near me so we got together and tried to do some poetry stuff in our community. Fail.

But, a year later was the first 100 Thousand Poets for Change. Events were taking place all over the world that September, and Tim invited me to travel with him to Elyria, Ohio for the event he was planning on attending. I was finally going to meet some of the poets. Who knew that a couple years later, these people would still be traveling all over the Midwest (and the country) to continue meeting for various readings and events?somewhat for the poetry, mostly for each other. I’ve only been to a few of these events so far (Elyria, Toledo, Jacksonville, IL), but I’ve experienced some things with them that you probably shouldn’t even experience with your closest friends (shout out to Brian), and it always feels like home.

Something a little cooler took place in Jacksonville than just friends coming together and being all poet-y, though. There was a handful of us in the rented space (something that was put together like a wedding inside a VFW, complete with the bright white lights and fake plants and random trellis), but a horde of others came in as the reading was about to begin. Juggalos. There to support the metal band that was playing with us that night. One weird-ass combination. Us up on stage reading, someone taking off his clothes, someone else dancing in a pool of butter (*cough*cough* that wasn’t me at all…). And them.

And you know what? We danced like batshit idiots to their music. They laughed and listened to our stuff. We all talked and smoked and drank and everyone was just doing what they do?together.

Writers need others, too.

Writing isn’t an inclusive act only to those who write.

In turn: the world needs stories.

And it takes all kinds to write a story.

No cliché intended. So, if no one will come to us (unless it’s to see a band they like and you just happen to be there…), how do we go about reaching them without simultaneously compromising our work?

This is part of the change I want to see. Writing being more relevant. Writing being OK. A high school girl not getting shunned because she likes to write fan-fiction and read at lunch. A boy not being made to feel bad because he’d rather write a poem than watch the football game. And no girl dating someone like the boy I had dated when I was 19 who threatened to cut off my dreadlocks because he thought they were weird and who questioned why I wrote because he also thought it was weird.

People are weird. You ain’t no exception just because you don’t write, sweetheart.


Poets Can Dance. There is evidence on YouTube. 

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100 Thousand Poets for Change on Nothing to Lose this Friday

Friday, September 6th. Show begins at 11pm CDT/9pm PDT (USA). Nothing to Lose hosts interview special guest Michael Rothenberg and take calls from organizers from around the world. Michael is the founding editor of Big Bridge and organizer extraordinaire of the 100 Thousand Poets for Change Global Event. Participants from around the world will join together on September 28th this year to celebrate creativity, community, and change. more information at http://www.100tpcmedia.org/100TPC2012/

Listen in! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/theliteraryunderground/2013/09/07/nothing-to-lose

Call in! (805) 856-2808

Nothing to Lose is hosted by Brian W. Fugett, Michael D. Goscinski, Michelle L. Quinn, and Walter Thomas Beck III on the Project U Radio Network every Friday.