Tuesday, November 27, 2018

186. Can an audience } be wrong?





Saturday evening [6:30pm – 9, Dec. 1st] I read with [ — ] as part of the Arcade Asylum Author Series. I don’t know much about my co-readers. Larissa Glasser sings with Hekseri (a black metal outfit) (I’m listening to Microstoria Init Ding); Barry Lee Dejasu writes about horror movie soundtracks and reviews books, or did (I can’t tell); and Julie C. Day’s first collection, just out, is Uncommon Miracles (from PS). And Clint Smith.

Not Clint Smith the poet whose “the drone” was published in the October issue of Poetry. I don’t like Smith’s poem “the drone.” Here’s the passage that first put me off: “the drone could have been something other than a killing machine || the drone could have been a house || the drone could have been a spoon || the drone could have been a swing” I get it. Replace “drone” with “cannonball.” Or reconsider what drone could be as a drone. Or don’t list three things that are meant to be—what? Good? Is a house good?

Smith’s “the drone” never grows up. It’s just drone = man-made bad that kills. It fails to consider drone as machine than can be used for a variety of purposes. Consider the drone footage at Standing Rock:
But some of the clearest and most impactful footage offered a literally new perspective. Myron Dewey, a journalist and founder of the indigenous media platform Digital Smoke Signals, was capturing the scene from above with his drone and sharing it on Facebook Live. The footage, which clearly showed torrents of water falling down on protesters, now has over a million views on Facebook and was used to challenge statements by law enforcement suggesting the water cannons were primarily used to put out fires. [from Witness Media Lab]
I digress. The Clint Smith I’m reading with on Dec. 1st writes horror stories. His second collection The Skeleton Melodies is due soon. He reached out to me after I praised his story “Fiending Apophenia.”

Why not come hear us read? It’s free and there’s a bar/coffee joint nearby. I’ll be there for the whole event. Readers’ books will be there too. The series is put together by Farah Rose for the Lovecraft Arts & Sciences bookshop.

Yes, by the way.



[ image from Tales from the Darkside episode "Seasons of Belief" (1986) ]

4 comments:

  1. Is it too sloppy to announce the title of12 what you're reading?

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  2. Sloppy, no--professional, in fact. Are you asking me to announce what I'm reading or are you asking me permission for you to announce what you're reading? I grant permission. Something from Skeleton Melodies, I presume? As for myself, I've narrowed it down to a few stories. There's one that's perfect except for length--I may try to make a reading edit of it.

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  3. Narrow margin of error here--I think, yes, something unreleased...new, from the collection. Want to make a decent impression at the joint. Eager for Saturday, man.

    ReplyDelete