If I can't concentrate well enough to write or edit or review, I can still make a big pile of "research." Witness my pile'o'pound. Ooops. I see some WCW snuck in there too.

If you want to know more, go to the Encyclopedia! :-) I may actually buy the SF one as well, even though I read much less SF these days. I like to know stuff.

I hope you all have a good weekend. I'm going to update Fried Chicken & Coffee--I haven't in a loooongg time--and try to take stock of my creative life. Like, what next?

Trying to read: Robin Blaser. Anyone read?

Which Bowles should I reread tonight? Let it Come Down or the Spider's House? Maybe Sheltering Sky?

New poem on Substack. substack.com/@rustybarnes...

Respite.

Got this today--completes my Pete Fromm collection. He started out writing sporting stories which bordered on litfic and then went to novels. He's one of the best we have, I think.

I have a new poem coming out in Nixes Mate Review soon. Where's your poetry appearing recently?

Pome, po-em or poy-em?

Flannery O'Connor's Prayer Journal, long before she was FLANNERY.

Where I feel best and safest.

By Caravaggio - Downloaded from Google Arts & Culture using dezoomify-rshttps://artsandculture.google.com/asset/der-ungl%C3%A4ubige-thomas-michelangelo-merisi-named-caravaggio/OAEjjQkNdRL9sg, Public Domain, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?...

Hi friends. I hope you all have a great weekend. I am going to try to get outside in sunlight, maybe go for a walk, read Flannery O'Connor, maybe some chapbooks, contemplate universal mysteries. What are you up to?

New at Tough, Craig Rodgers, Reviewed by @hughblanton! redneck-press.blogspot.com/2025/09/gums...

Universe, make with the woo-woos, help me out! I want to make this look productive.

Hardly working.

New poem at ONE ART! oneartpoetry.com/2025/07/22/p...

New-to-me books!

Easing into the weekend. . . got a lot of poetry/review stuff coming up quickly. What are you reading? Anything cool going on?

72 pages to go entering changes, then some connective tissue work and reordering, then. . . off to an editor. Uh. Also need a new title. Pic by Sierra.

out of the cradle gently revising

I once was obsessed with poet Paul Blackburn. Now I think John Berryman is better. And I am much looking forward to this book.

Back on my shit. . . again.

On My Mind Right Now. I am and will be busting ass this week to get caught up with TOUGH. Thanks for your patience!

I have to apologize. I'm in the middle of some health concerns. I appreciate your patience with me as regards Tough. I hope to be more able to focus next week.

Ongoing project: Canadian poets/poetry! I have a huge pile of chapbooks and books by John Thompson, Irving Layton, Al Purdy, Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, bpnichol. Which titans am I missing?

Father's Day haul!

This book is near impenetrable for me. I'm not sure why. I mean, I get Eliot as well as I get *any* poetry, so Pound should be, if not easy, something that rewards close attention. I've tried off and on over the years. Maybe the break will come now!

I love small press eds generally because when they reject me after some time--not quick OR late, mind you--they almost always have a good reason that I'm happy to look at when revising. My encounters with agents who gatekeep--as they should!--have mostly been fruitless. 1/2

Are there any lists of poetry chapbook publishers that are currently open? Are YOU open? Please advise. Ur Pal. Rusty.

New review of Half Crime! kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/2025/05/shor...

Reading tonight before the ballgame.

I'm speaking at the 2025 Massachusetts Poetry Festival! I'll be there with brio! masspoetryfest2025.sched.com/event/bb2fea... @sched

Such a good book on the little mags from 1960-1980. I wish another edition existed for the last 45. The po-scene has splintered into several smaller loci. Anybody else read this?

Watching the game and lazily reading in and out of these.

Tell me about the Wormwood Review. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormwoo...

You'll want this one--Rob is the goods!

Today's mail!

I'm gonna love this.

Small press mags received today. I'm just into the first one, so no report on content yet. I like the cut of their jib.

Have a read, why doncha?

This is probably as good a poetry book as I'm capable of writing at the moment. It would be spiffy if you bought and reviewed it. Of course, you'd have to read it first. :-) www.goodreads.com/book/show/36...

Baseball and Woolrich for today! Thanks to Gonzalo Baeza for the memory jog.

Fuck it. I'm reading this tonight as prep for the forthcoming bio and collected letters. Just finding the rich poetry is all I want to do tonight.

Gonna have some poems out there pretty soon. I've written 17 since the beginning of the month. My goal: 50. Maybe a new chapbook or more! I just need to find some markets now. Any thoughts?

Has anyone ever written a book of poems based on single lines of another poet's work? I'm thinking about doing such a chapbook using Dickey as inspiration. I should know the answer, but I'm also interested in how people might respond.