Tuesday, January 31, 2006

What is a Kahuna? And is it good to have a big one?

The Big Kahuna has spoken. He just sent me the "master defile"...his list of the poems he is planning to use for the twain Valentine's Day podcasts.

Want to know what they are? Of course you do? Here's the lists:

Track A: (A Kiss is an Act of Bravery)

The Unicorns
The Patchwork Skirt of My Love
Monument
We Owe Debt to Memory
Love Gods of a Forgotten Religion
Sacred Smile
Tread Softly
Damascus III
Soubrette
A Kiss is an Act of Bravery

Track B: (I will wake you, tonight)

A Summoned Fire (Pink Jade)
Warm Breath Stirs Soft Flesh (Pink Jade)
Touch (Pink Jade)
Possession
Wine
Tracery (Pink Jade)
Jasmine and Plumeria (Pink Jade)
I Will Wake You, Tonight
The Satyr's Suit
How Would You Have Me Touch You?

And, while I am here, let's add his footnote...he asked me to do a breakdown on his classic work "Brisant Revelations".

The poem was written in Los Angeles, as a sacred oath to remain faithful to his second wife. As poetry is his religion, I'm starting to understand the stresses pulling on him at this point as he preapres to finally "let go". Here's the poem...

Brisant Revelations

expect the apocalypse
if a vow as sacred as I have taken
should prove
mutable in the wills
and winds
and currents of the human heart,
stolen from the fires of a Promethian glory
unshackled to the punishing stone
to atone for the arrogance of hope
and love
and empowering the juggernaut.
actions refracted in colours of a spectrum
that runs not from red to violet
but from osmium to radium
through silver and platinum and gold and rhodium
polished to a rosary of alpha particles
striking ghostly glowing receptors
in a flint and steel approach to making
nuclear fusion of lovers' sweat.
breaking down the waters
to make hydrogen and oxygen,
breathing in the latter
and fusing the former
in a thermonuclear glory
that rises like the sun in a heart
finally released like Glatisant
to stalk the legends of a lost mythology.
where the Gods walk only in tandem.
as it should be.

William F. DeVault. all rights reserved.

Hey, BK (Big Kahuna) remember what Robin Williams said: "Sometimes you feel like a squirrel over the Grand Canyon - give up the nuts or die."

Oscar noms...

Six noms for CRASH

Eight for BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

WALK THE LINE got several noms, but not BEST PICTURE

GEORGE CLOONEY was nominated for BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR and BEST DIRECTOR and BST SCREENPLAY.

I am not predicting winners.

Coretta Scott king has died

Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King, Jr, has passed, She was 78 years old and died peacefully in her sleep.

She was a classy lady whose conduct, intellect and earnest heart helped keep alive the legacy of one of the great spiritual leaders of the 20th century.

She shall be mourned with a sense of loss and a sense of celebration of what her and her family have meant to the civil rights movement.

The photo above is from her husband's funeral, April 9, 1968.

Monday, January 30, 2006

Calling the Super Bowl

All previous caveats applying...

STEELERS 38
SEAHAWKS 28

MVP: Roethlisberger
(unless Bettis scores 2 or more touchdowns, or a defensive players has multiple interceptions)

I could draw a thousand variations...

but that's my crystal ball.

a binary question or two

I had a philosophical discussion with an old friend the other day, which boiled down to a binary question (one for which there are only two answers):

"Would you rather be lied to or lied about?"

I found myself in that dilemma, once, that I am aware of...and found myself more offended at being lied about (blundered upon the situation and was flabbergasted). Although lying to someone can be interpreted as disrespectful (and just plain wrong) sometimes the motives are understandable (still wrong, but we accept "wrong" conduct from others everyday with rationalization...lying, speeding, gossiping, spackling with toothpaste, stealing pens from work, and the list goes on...most lies I have found msyelf telling over the years have been lies assigned to me by others. Somehow people feel when you do the dirty work at their request, they are clean...it starts with "tell them I've already left"). Hey, look, I just rationalized!

Being lied about, well that complicates your universe, because now there's at least one person (and likely more) out there who thinks they know something, and are wrong. And what they are wrong about may impede your ablity to function in society, as the lie gets propogated and takes on a perception of reality, like a mantra.

I am always more bothered at the notion of sincere ignorance than insincere deceit.

My friend said he felt he was more bothered at being lied to. I told him to go ponder this as, if someone lies to you, you might start to doubt everything they tell you...but if they lie about you, you might have to doubt everyone else in the world, their actions, thoughts and motives. Would you rather have a paper cut or be run through a shredder?

My favourite binary question has always been "Would you rather be perceived as incompetent or evil?"

A few years back a few of my friends and I conducted an unscientific survey and found that, for the most part, males would rather be perceived as evil, women as incompetent (repeat, this was unscientific). The irony in all of this is that there is little difference between the two, in my worldview. An incompetent person makes mistakes. An evil person makes mistakes, then takes pride in them to save their ego. The errors are often of little variance in and of themselves.

That's right, children, we are all incompetent to some degree or another, the difference between human failing and sociopathic tendencies is pride. I viewed the results of our survey as just one more evidence that women have their heads on much straighter than men, for the most part.

Just remember, as said in simpler times, you can't trust a man who won't cry or a woman who won't blush.

Just another manic Monday

Had a nice chat with my boys yesterday...I get such a kick out of them both.

Elric always wants to know if I have found any new tricks for him to try out on his video and computer games...and it is always a trip trying to figure Dante out when he gets to the phone (he can be very distracted and sometimes just likes to be so ambient you aren't sure what planet he is from...but he's as smart as a minor diety and understand mathetics at age 12 at a level where I may not even be able to follow, and I'm no slouch)...he once got on the phone and proceeded to do nothing but meow and giggle for ten minutes.

Got updates on my daughter's wedding. Well, actually, nothing seeming new, just a rehash of the details...on the beach, wedding in the round, chocolate fountain. I've stopped passing along ideas...it sounds like they have already pretty much, 8 months in advance, laid down all the details. I expect nothing less from Peri...she likes putting her stamp on things, and this is a big event. I feel a little strange being on the outside looking in, but that's not my choice, and I have to live with that. A little late to be putting her up for adoption.

Grandma is back home. For her age (mid-nineties) she's about the most durable and stubborn person I know. She still insists upon a Peri-esque control of all her life's details. Maybe they're more alike than either of them would care to admit. Scary.

My cold is lifting, somewhat. Good, I have to teach tonight..PLUS I have to go do the PR thing at Arts Mon this afternoon, give them their check for their first round of royalties...

I placed my last official order for copies of FROM AN UNEXPECTED QUARTER and LOVE GODS OF A FORGOTTEN RELIGION today from Amazon.com. Just wanted archive copies.

To quote Bob Seger..."Turn the page..."

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Perpetual emotion machine

Nordette Adams has asked to interview me for her radio show. I will enjoy that, someone willing to ask some good and fresh questions (nothing personal, E.J., but you are a bit of the sycophant).

I just wrote this new work...read it then see why it is unique in my wordsphere.

Peel Back This Shell

Peel back this shell
I know it well
and I am not amused at all
to feel this skin
made thick from thin
to shelter hope behind a wall.

I'd rather bleed
of courtier's need
than chain myself upon the stone
away from harm
away from charms
with paramours of barren bones.

That I must fall?
I know this, all,
but do not envy those content
with tepid trance
of frail romance
and wonder where their passion's spent.


William F. DeVault. all rights reserved.

A strange and asttringent, this cauldron of word.

Strange in that it was inspired by a composition of music I am assembling for the Valentine's Day show.

I am building my own perpetual emotion machine.

Note:
You can cage me, but you can't silence me. Ban a word, a noun a verb, a name, from my vocabularly, and I will paint pictures with sighs to point to the spot in the desert where people must go to see the show, without ever breaking the letter of your whim.

Truth is both bastard and the bitch that bore him, in this graceless age.

Morning of the Living Dead

Still sick, still dragging my ass around like "morning of the living dead" but I'll survive. I'm just glad I put last week's podcast to bed bfore my voice went (if you listen closely, you will hear a few sniffles in my talk...I noticed them, but by the time I had the opportunity to re-dub, my voice was too far gone!) Ah, one for the ages.

"Footsteps in the Bell Tower" is getting a load of response. Maybe I need to keep it in mind for a book title down the road.

Today: work.

Tomorrow: I start teaching a new class and I am supposed to drop by Arts Monongahela with their first royalty check.

I feel like Snoopy on the "Peanuts" cartoons when he goes "bleah". But, barring a twist of viral fate, I'll be fine in a day or two.

Saturday, January 28, 2006

Footsteps in the Bell Tower

I wrote this piece early today. I am grateful for its birth and the message it brought to me, the revelation that it was...

Footsteps in the Bell Tower

these sapphire walls have faded to grey
in the silence of forgotten words
the absurd becomes unheard as I pray
the sun shall again rise to warm this form

naked and victorious

sackcloth covering solferino tapestries
that marked ascendent victories
and serene moments of passion and peace
forgotten like an untended flower bed

the doves' release
suspended - intended
to be for but a season,
now eight
as I wait
for signs from a seamless sky,
clouded over

clouded over

mourning black bringing back
the ringing, stinging memories
that ride wide trails to the silence
of my bedchamber

cold and lifeless

a half-cut statue
of an unmet queen
sits in the courtyard
waiting for me to hoist her
to her pedestal, but in this cloister
there is no purpose
in precognizant memory.

bare feet on broken glass
where chalices fell

hell feels strangely familiar
like a spider in bride's veil,
pale to the shadows
pale to the failing light
the failing night

stirring
now
are muscles
atrophied by disuse

the sound of a blade
cutting air
in a place of disgrace
where rumour has it
the warrior has retired

uninspired and

but there are footsteps
in the bell tower.

a fortnight from the battlements
rides
the trinity of purpose.


William F. DeVault. all rights reserved.

I think I actually understand it, amazingly enough.

The Sapphire Palace, wherein I live (my soul, my life, my poetic thronespace, if you will), has gone grey with time and sorrow in the aftermath of my divorce, and I have allowed life and light to leak from my soul. But I can feel within me the stirring of rebirth, and having set a date for the discontinuance of the books in my catalogue most closely linked to that marriage, I can now see an approaching time of rebirth.

I like the simple line that goes "uninspired and"...

It reads like an unfinished thought, like the observer is looking over the ruins of the palace, detecting only minute cues of the reawakening, then suddenly hears the running feet on the steps of the bell tower, preparing to sound the alarm, the morning.

Oh yeah...

The Dualistic Nature of Romance

Okay, after taking a few thousand hits with the Jesus stick (a shout out to Mr. Eko from "LOST") I have seen the light, on the side of my head that still sees (I said it was a few thousand hits...I'm stubborn and durable, but human).

So...here goes. My Valentine's Day weekend program will be TWO PROGRAMS.

That's right, two programs.

Track A (subtitled: The Bravery Implicit in a Kiss) will be soft, romantic and, at most, PG-rated.

Track B (subtitled: I will wake you, tonight) will be wet, erotic and intense, as far as I can see Apple letting me go with it.

Listeners can download either or both (or, if they are Philistines, neither).

Track A will include:

The Unicorns
The Patchwork Skirt of My Love
...and others TBA

Track B will include:

several works from the "Pink Jade" series
and others of that ilk.

Both programs will run approximately 30 minutes. Both shall be available via Radio City of Legends and Apple.

I have spoken!

To those of you noticing, yes, I have taken down the ads for FROM AND UNEXPECTED QUARTER and LOVE GODS OF A FORGOTTEN RELIGION on AuthorsDen...the books go out of circulation in two weeks, the ads seemed a little silly. The whole thing reminds me of the stanza from my work "sons of soft sin"...

The garden was ravaged
the garden fled
to hide in the shadows
then bury the dead.

Time to do some earth-moving and get on with life.

bleah

benadryl.

bed.

I go now.

sleep.

I hab a code

Vitamin C? Check.
Massive amounts of fluids? Check.
Vick's Vap-O-Rub? Check.
Benadryl? Check.

Okay...ready to fight this aggravating cold. Grumble. Grumble. Grumble.

If you've never dealt with me when I'm sick, I cloister. I gather my resources, turn on the TV in my most remote corner of existence and just curl up. I know I get grumpy when I am sick, and I hate snapping at people just for asking me if there is anything they can do for me.

-sniff-

-hack-

-sniff-

Better to get it over with now than wait another day or two...I have things to see and people to do. Wait. Turn that around. Right. Just glad I got the show (FROM AN UNEXPECTED QUARTER, available at Radio City of Legends and via Apple's iTunes Music Store) to bed last night, glad I got my telephone flirtation with a young lovely of my acquaintance done before my head blocked up. Nothing quite as unglamorous as sounding like Elmer Fudd.

- snort -

Back to bed.

Friday, January 27, 2006

The New Podcast is Out

The new show is up...

Radio City of Legends

Let me know what you think...I discuss the concept of "obscurantism" and read three works:

The Poisoned Pen - A villanelle I wrote about how people will do things they know to be wrong, content that their history is preserved.

TRANSCENDENCE - The poem I wrote upon washing my hands of the Panther.

and

The Obscurantist Reflects - A mocking to an editor.

Enjoi.

Oh, and E.J.? Not bad. Thanks for keeping some big secrets.

Wrapping it up, more William F. DeVault trivia

The final list, for now...enjoy!

81. The first draft of his poem "The Dragon Dies" was written in his own blood.
82. His first "cycle" of poems was called "Control" and was written as an intellectual exercise in 1995.
83. He once wrote an entire love poem in the computer language CoBOL.
84. The poet is a lifelong non-drinker.
85. The poem "Santa Ana Winds" was written while sitting in the desert near Los Angeles, during the winds.
86. He was once approached to run for the Legislature in Virginia, as a Republican.
87. When forced into "exile" in 1997, he copied all his works into a single zip file, and sent copies to six former lovers for safe keeping. All kept their copy of the master file safe.
88. He judges his feelings for a lover based on a reading of the works she inspired him to.
89. The poem "impalement" from "The Goldenheart Cycles" has two versions, the standard, PG-rated version and a longer, X-rated work.
90. His favorite poem to read for appearances is "I rained poetry".
91. He has been known to burst into spontaneous, extemporaneous poetry at readings. Bruce Autry of "Poetry Heaven" called him "the greatest extemporaneous poet I've ever seen".
92. He used to maintain a column for America Online's Writers Club of humorous "Top Ten Lists" - at one time they had over 500 on file.
93. At one time his will left his poems to the various muses who inspired them. He later revised this to leave his works only to his children.
94. On the final read of "The Southern Poets' Reading Tour" he recited without reading, and wept through the entire set.
95. He once ghost-wrote a novel for a lover.
96. He has had frostbite, and gangrene.
97. He likes to cook for his lovers, mostly because he is such a picky eater he is afraid she will fix something he does not like and he will be compelled to eat it, to avoid offending her..
98. He worked as a Drug and Alcohol Resource Specialist for middle and high school students in California, including teaching classes on Youth Alternatives to Violence, parents groups on how to spot drug use, and counseling groups for drug offenders as young as 11.
99. He once had a bat for a pet. The bat's name was "Chigger".
100. The poem "long haired star" was written as an exercise in alliteration. A "long haired star" is the ancient name for a comet.

There you are. Not everything you might want to know, and maybe many things you really don't care about, but that's life, bubba. I had to leave out some really good stuff because I value my head.

Paying Back the Arts (Monongahela)

A few years back, when on tour with my 4th book, "Love Gods of a Forgotten Religion", I called an arts advocacy group in Morgantown, West Virginia, where I'd grown up, to see if they'd hook me up with some local venues for readings.

I hadn't read in the area in forever, unless you count the one piece I'd read for Milton's funeral. About twenty years ago.

Anythewaywho...Meghan King-Johnson at Arts Monongahela set me up with The Blue Moose and 123 Pleasant Street and I enjoyed being back in semi-familiar turf. So much so that I wandered around town one day and wrote several peieces of appreciation. One about former business that had left town, their buildings still vacant, one about a particularly vivacious server at The Blue Moose, one about the Coliseum, and so on. I figured that down the road I'd do a book.

Well, three years later I did the book, complete with a cover from an old news photoraph from the local paper of me when I was 19 or so. Then I called Meghan and informed her I would be donating all proceeds, all royalties, to her organization.

Monday, January 30th, I drop off the first check, It feels good.

If you get a chance, check out their site at www.artsmon.org

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Fourth of Five

I have been seeing some great response to this trivia...I think he should double my pay just for having pulled it together. Oh, that's right...I'm a volunteer. Okay, triple my pay.

61. "Virgin's Dawn" was a title of an earlier poem he scrapped, then recycled for the tribute to Aurora, one of his minor muses.
62. His quote "a quote is but a tattoo on the tongue" was issued in response to interviewer quoting his earlier "the existence of a single atheist does not disprove the existence of God". That quote was given to a different interviewer - who asked him for his view on the limited awareness of the works of modern poets in the public.
63. There is a French-speaking poet in Quebec named Gilles DeVault. His name literally translates to William DeVault.
64. The site where he gave the first public readings of his "Pink Jade" works and "I rained poetry" was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina.
65. The orginal covers of both "from an unexpected quarter" and "love gods of a forgotten religion" were rejected due to nudity (not his, the model's).
66. His 41st birthday party had a guest list that included his daughter, a four of his once or future muses. His friend Anastacia, who inspired the poem "Sex Cookies," boycotted the party.
67. The quote that opens "The Fifth Song of the Amomancer" is from the Vulgate and translates "(Love) Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth". It is from 1st Corinthians 13:6
68. His first paid reading was at California College of Pennsylvania.
69. All of his muses appear, in some form or another, in his 400-line poem "Diogenes".
70. The poem "Epitaph" was written for his own funeral, but invokes a childhood memory of his paternal grandfather and namesake.
71. The line "barren bones and paramour" in his poem "Bragi, awakening in his tomb" was originally the title of a poem he scrapped. A reverse of his usual habit of spinning off phrases and lines into poems of their own.
72. There is both a poem called "Dance of the Decades" and one called "Dance of Decades". The Decade Dancer is not a muse, but an expression of his own sense of mortality. In some works he writes it "decadancer".
73. "A dragon" always refers to him in his works, even if in opposition to him.
74. "Copper" was written as a philosophical sigh after being dumped by a recently divorced lover.
75. The totem-muse "The Truth" got her name from a tattoo of a Tao symbol on her hip.
76. For a year he served as a film reviewer for AOL's hub "Roadside USA". In his final column he looked forward to upcoming films, saying of the yet-unreleased "Titanic" that it would "end Jim Cameron's career, as no one is going to sit in the dark for four hours to watch a ship sink". He points to that line as the reason why he will not return to film reviewing.
77. He hates microphones at live readings, often hanging his jacket over them to get them out of his field of vision.
78. The book "Love Gods of a Forgotten Religion" has no index. By design.
79. He recently said in an interview that editing THE COMPLEAT PANTHER CYCLES by himself was the most emotionally stressful experience of his life, owing to both the size of the project and the emotional debris that was stirred up.
80. In the preface of "Love Gods..." he thanks, among others, every woman he has ever been involved with, their first names...except the Panther, who is unreferenced. At all. They were feuding at the time.

History Lesson

Two words to anyone worried about what the U.S. might do in light of Hamas' surprising victory in the Palestinian elections:

Dominican Republic

I don't support the idea, but we've proven before, even in less sociopathic administrations in the past, a willingness to, in the words of Tom Lehrer, in his protest song "Send the Marines":

"Our friends must be protected, all their rights respected, until somebody whom we like can be elected."

We're all about democracy, until people don't vote the way we want them to.

"Gentlemen of the Corps all hate the thought of war, they'd rather kill them off by peaceful means."

Then, we kill them.

"Don't mention aggression, we hate that expression. We only want the world to know that we support the status quo, they love us everywhere we go..."

I don't know if this is the most corrupt Administration in history, Chester Arthur pretty much owns that title, but we have proven to be the most hypocritical and amoral in our foreign policy.

"So what do we do? We send the Marines."

If you have wings, fly

Well, just a little over two weeks until I pull two of my books from distribution. Yeah, it's nuts, but it's what I want to do, and while I am lousy at predicting which poems or books will sell best or find what audience (I'm a writer, not a marketer) I do control this aspect. Don't worry...It doesn't mean the works within will perish from the universe. They'll be around.

Think of this, those of you "in the know" as my "Eroica" move. 'Nuff said.

I read through some of E.J.'s trivia. Some I didn't know. Some I'd forgotten. And some, I have to figure out when I told him this item or that item.

Busy day today, wrapping up this week's show...hope it isn't tooooooo boring. I remember on the old TV show "Doogie Howser M.D." - when he wanted out of his contract doing health spots for MTV, he just started doing boring, unhip reports. I don't think this week's show is that bad, but it will not be, I don't think, as engaging as some of the more musical shows we've been having lately.

The broad brush attacks on classical poetry by short-cut, small vocabulary poets as "obscure" may make sense, but just as I find it easy to dismiss any science-fiction novel with a wizard or a unicorn in it as the work of a writer who, rather than doing his or her homework, just makes things up - which means it isn't science fiction, it's fantasy - I dismiss any writer who has issue with the concept of mythological or historical allusions as merely someone whose dedication to their craft or literature, regardless of their level of innate talent, is hobbyist. Yes, there are those who get swallowed in their hobby, but just as there is a difference between a film maker and someone who dresses as a storm trooper for a Star Wars premiere...well, Theodore Sturgeon was right when he said that 99% of everything is crap.

Even C.S. Lewis indicated his view, in "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" that the vast majority of people, by choosing to react to their environment, rather than choosing a moral pathway of good or evil, were "failed experiments".

I have a book on my shelf that is a collection of the complete works of Percy Shelley, complete with annotations from his wife, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (author of "Frankenstein"). For every "Ozymandias of Egypt" there are dozens of forgettable works. Some, because they are just that, some because they do not resonate with me, as a person. I shudder to think of the works he turned to his wife and said "Don't let anyone ever publish that piece, it sucks".

Although authors are generally not the best judges of their best work (as I have gradually found over the decades. I can't recall a writer I have spoken with who, when pressed to name the work they found the greatest joy in writing, named their most popular work). I was shocked by the public adoration for "The Goldenheart Cycles" when I first released them in 1996, but a friend of mine in LA pointed out that you can go into any music store in the world, pick any CD or album off the shelf, pick any track at random and somewhere in the world there is someone for whom that is their favourite song." Yikes!

As to the charges of being an "Obscurantist" (ironic the term you use for someone who is using large and arcane words is a large and arcane word). Do I use large words and sometimes even arcane words? You bet. Do I challenge my readers to dive into their history books, encyclopedias and dictionaries? Amen. But to make less of what I have learned, to leave out parts of my own knowledge and perception (and even coined words and wordplay) would be "dumbing down" my writing and presenting a false picture of who I am and what I am trying to communicate.

I always liked the scene in "Max Dugan Returns" where Donald Sutherland is pressed to name his favourite author and replies "Thackery, I like someone who makes you work for it." I like writers who make me work for it, and I like assuming my readers have IQs above room temperature. That doesn't mean I expect everyone to like or love or even "get" what I say. That would be foolish of me, indeed, foolish and presumptuous.

I remember a woman who was all over me (behind my back) for being a "know it all" because I liked to discuss things more heady than dust ruffles. But she also pushed for me to return to the university and advance my education further. Why? So I could hang a Ph.D. on the wall while I spoke of dust ruffles? I respect education and educated people for the efforts they have put out for their sheepskins, but I've met too many people who quit learning the minute they took off the mortarboard.

If you have wings, fly. Even in a world where there are some who don't like to look up.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Amomancer Trivia, III.

Okay, third installment of my offered trivia about William F. DeVault:

41. The poet's first lit mag publication was his work "Nevermore My Steel" in the now defunct journal "The Rose's Hope"
42. The title of his poem "time consider as a helix of semi-precious stones" was taken from the novella by Samuel R. Delany. He says he did that for Ray Bradbury lifting "I Sing the Body Electric" from Walt Whitman.
43. His "Romantic and Erotic Poetry Group" chats on America Online, back in 1996, were granted a terms of srevice waiver to allow for steamy imagery and strong language.
44. He has, in the past, enjoyed remarkable success as a consultant in proposal writing and management, working for and with such companies as Computer Sciences Corporation, CACI, Perot Systems and GE.
45. He despises his popular poem "weaver" and refuses to do it in public readings.
46. "Monday Mourning Poem" was inspired by an early morning phone call from the friend who would later become his second wife.
47. His favorite place is the high desert near Joshua Tree in California. Several of "The Panther Cycles" were written there.
48. The poem "sparks, like frozen lemons" was inspired by a woman with extremely bright blonde, lacquered hair.
49. His two most well known "breast" poems were written to two different muses. "Gibbous" to his first wife. "the pale of your breasts" was to Brigit.
50. "the trespass of pale poetics" was written while observing a really odious open mic poetry reading in Santa Monica.
51. The "lost clay wizard" in the poem "night of a thousand colours" was one of a matched set. He kept one and gave the other to "The Panther" when he moved to LA, where he kept it in a shelf, facing East. towards where she lived.
52. The poem "TRIUMPH" was twice removed from books in planning after it was found the publisher could not find a font small enough to avoid line-wrap. The poem did not appear in book form until 2005's "INVOCATO".
53. There are at least seven totem-muses he has written just a single poem two, including The Princess, Demon Tourmaline, Th Pale Fox and Arachne.
54. Of all his muses, he has only publicly read with one of them, Karla F. Sasser, "The Mad Gypsy", who was the inspiration behind "copper", "possession" and "you could not say the words".
55. The poem "Gentle Soul" was written in Anastasia's Asylum, a coffeehouse in Los Angeles. He saw a young woman in there and wrote the poem about her, hand copied it, and presented it to her as he left. He never looked back and never saw her again.
56. His editing battles with his high-school newspaper editor lead to at least one occasion where he pulled a work just before publication and they were forced to run white space. He has this reputation with editors...
57. Seventeen years passed between the writing of "Bragi Bleeds" and "Bragi, awakening in his tomb".
58. He once was given a tryout as writer by Marvel Comics, at the request of Stan Lee.
59. "Funeral Home" was written about a childhood friend who died in a car accident. "Words Upon the Death of a Friend" was written for a childhood friend who died of AIDS.
60. His original pony-tail was clipped off in 2003, it sits on a shelf next to his computer. The new one is longer.

Three-fifths of the way through. Learning anything? I am...

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

This Just In -

I see that Chris Penn, actor and brother of Sean Penn, has been found dead in his apartment in Santa Monica. It was a funny guy and, while lacking the gravitas of his brother, added welcome energy to such films as Reservoir Dogs.

I, personally, will remember him best from Pale Rider, True Romance and most of all as Sheriff Dollard in Too Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar.

My sympathies to his family and friends.

a father's melancholy

I was just thinking, free associating.

I remember, when my daughter was quite young, she wanted to try out o be a model. We found a local branch of an agency and she went for an interview.

The lady who ran the office was obviously selling something other than modeling...and she was so rude Peri that she raced from the place and was unable to speak for an half an hour afterwards. When she finally regained her voice (over some Cherry Coke, as I recall) she reaffirmed her desire to give it a go again.

I was so proud of her. At the same time I wanted to go upstairs and kick the rude woman's ass.

I miss being a father, the opportunities squandered, due to work or divorce.

Trivia, 21-40.

Ready for more?

21. "Amo te" or "te amo" is Latin for "I love you". "Amote" is a contraction meaning "to speak of love". An "Amotation" is a love poem or love letter.
22. "Amomancer" was originally a character in an poem in the eighties, an itinerant speaker of words of love, like a minstrel or even a court jester. The term was first applied to the poet by Emotions Magazine publisher, Lupi Basil.
23. Only Psyche, Aurora, Arachne and Brigit are mythological figures he adapted as totem muses. The first three are sisters, in real life.
24. Although sometimes he avoids capitalizing the first letter of a sentence, he always capitalizes the word "I".
25. The muse known as Psyche is also the Electric Lady and the original Nemicorn. "Bright Nemicorn" is a phrase he uses for a potential muse. Nemicorn is a word he contracted from "neminem" and "unicorn"...it means someone or something you love so much they take on mythic aspect, or a black unicorn with a glass horn.
26. The sobriquet "Romantic Poet of the Internet" was given to him by Yahoo in September of 1996.
27. "Cat" is almost always an insult in one of his poems.
28. The poem he wrote for the Edinburgh International Internet Festival of the Arts, "a phoenix, colding", was a tribute to his friend Pete Rosa, who had worked with him in the original Writers Club on AOL and helped him plan and execute the New York Writers Party in 1995.
29. His first romantic poem, "I speak her name in softest voice" was an Elizabethan sonnet.
30. At his first "real" public reading, at a coffeehouse, he stopped the reading to upbraid the audience for "insincere applause".
31. On his 47th birthday he gave away books to an entire coffeehouse crowd gathered for his reading in Pacific Grove, California.
32. In the entirety of the Panther Cycles he uses the Panther's real name. Once.
33. He was the first poet published by Writers Club Press.
34. His most common historical reference is to the Rubicon, the river Caesar crossed in defiance of the Roman Senate.
35. He has written three poems about his father. One about his mother. Have a field day, Freud.
36. When he read from his Panther Cycles at the Algonquin Writers Party, he modified the words in one line, as the Panther was in the audience, undetected by the other writers there.
37. His longest poem, Diogenes, is 400 lines long.
38. The volume THE COMPLEAT PANTHER CYCLES runs 68,320 words. Novel length, you bet.
39. INVOCATO was originally conceived to be the first of a trilogy of books entitled INVOCATO, CORONATO and TERMINATO.
40. The poem "The Nosferatu's Dream" deals with his fear of insanity.

In the next installment I'll tell you a few things about his works outside of his poetry, including the most disastrously inaccurate pre-movie review ever spoken.

When life gives you crabapples

Okay, considering the slow pace of audio poetry files trickling in,
I am reseting the schedule for my weekly podcast FROM OUT OF THE CITY..

Here's how it goes:

January 28th: In Defense of Obscurantism

February 4th: Guest Poets A-Go-Go (going to use as many decent readings as I get!)

February 11th: The Valentine's Weekend Show (hey, I'm more than a one-night stand)

February 18th: Mari Laureano

Got it? Good!

Sat down with my friend Alan and re-watched "LA Story" for the 8.43 billionth time. adore the film. Steve Martin's best. The only problem is that, every time that I see it, I get "homesick" for Los Angeles.

Monday, January 23, 2006

AEI, my curiosity and words from Don Knotts

Ever feel like prodding something with the toe of your boot, just to see what happens? I feel that way about two local libraries.

Having had a situation where a couple of books of mine what I donated to the Morgantown High School Libarary ended up in a vertical file for two years, instead of on the shelves, I almost...almost want to check and see if they, or the Morgantown Public Library, have actually taken a look at what my donation brought them...copies of the Appalachian Education Initiative's ART & SOUL.

If you haven't heard me speak of it before, it is a glossy coffee-table size book (not as large as THE COMPLEAT PANTHER CYCLES, but substantial). In it are profiles of 50 "outstanding creative artists" from the State of West Viginia. From Squire Parsons to Jennifer Garner, from Homer Hickam to Kathy Mattea, from Ann Magnuson to...me.

When the people at the AEI told me that some of the creative artists in the book had donated copies to schools in various parts of the state, I of course asked if any of the other three who were graduates from Morgantown High had already grabbed that venue...when I found out they had not, I went ahead and took that one on, and threw in the Morgantown Public Library for good measure.

Reports have it that the books were delivered in December. A part of me wants to check with both to see if they did anything with them but tuck them in a corner...like, oh, I dunno...what else would you do with a book but use it to shim a table leg? Uh...read it?

Just a whim.

At the same time, I don't want to seem pushy or obnoxious...God knows there are enough people who have enough opinions on my flaws...I wouldn't want to add to the perceptions. After my Valentine's Day podcast I will be having enough problems with those who think you can't have a libido.

But I am curious.

If you happen to be in either location, do me a favour...just drop by the desk of either library and see if they are even aware of the book in question.

And while you're at it, you should contact the AEI (their website is AEI) and order a book as a donation for your local library or school.

As an added treat, they have a recording of Don Knotts (also an MHS alumnus) plugging the book...you can hear that one...here.

Hey he may not be as cute as Jennifer Garner, but everyone knows who he is. I remember watching his "Ghost and Mr. Chicken" at the Maple Leaf Drive in as a double feature with Ricky Nelson's movie "Love and Kisses" when I was just a kid.

I should send him a book, as my humble thanks.

As promised, Amomancer trivia, part one

Trivia about William F. DeVault's works, part one:

1. The most common part of a woman's body he refers to in his works is her heart, then eyes, then legs.
2. The poet's shortest work "Cassiopeia's Garden" is from the Panther Cycles and was written from the viewpoint of the daughter he and "the Panther" were planning to have one day.
3. Most of his muses have two or more "totems" in his works. Some are obvious. Some are not.
4. The entirety of "The Goldenheart Cycles" was written in two days.
5. Bragi, one of the five major totems he uses for himself, is the Norse God of Poetry and Eloquence. Bragi was married to Idun, the Goddess of Youth. He has not named a totem muse Idun, yet.
6. The only author's full name he has ever mentioned by name in his works is William Blake.
7. His most common euphemism for oral sex is "dark kiss".
8. The poet has written more than two hundred works to women he has never actually met face to face.
9. The entirety of The Compleat Panther Cycles makes up less than 6% of his entire catalog.
10. His favorite colors in his works are: Black, red, pink, crimson and solferino.
11. He has had three totem-muses named for minerals: Alabaster, Demon Tourmaline and Pink Jade. He never slept with any of them.
12. "A kiss in dreams, forbidden" is about his affair with a married woman, Brigit.
13. "Jasmine" almost always refers to the scent (or taste) of a woman's body.
14. "the pleasure at a distance" is about cybersex with the Panther.
15. "Theocricide at Mach 10e6" was written upon the death of Psyche's mother, eight years after they had parted ways.
16. "fortunate Endymion" was the sole poem written to a muse named Selene. Endymion was a shepherd whom the moon goddess, Selene, fell in love with, and so that she could be with him, the gods placed him into an eternal slumber to make him immortal. She had a hundred children with him, but he never woke to know it.
17. The line in "Icarus" - "Sail with me to Perelandra" was written before he and his first wife married and conceived their first child, a daughter they named Perelandra.
18. "All that I have said is to get you into bed" was written in the poem "tip for tap" from the perspective of a lover who admitted she had used sex to get his help.
19. The City in "from out of the city" is an abstraction, neither the City of Legends nor Los Angeles.
20. The fist poem he ever read in public was "O. Ship"...his first poem, written when he was eight years old.

I'll come post more later in the week.

Open Call for Audio Poetry

I am looking for a few good poets.

A few good poets who can talk the talk.

My weekly podcast show, FROM OUT OF THE CITY (available through my own site as well as via Apple's iTunes Music Store), I have decided to turn over for this week, to several gifted writers/readers. Who?

Well, that's the rub.

If you are a poet (or know one) and want to be featured, you need to contact E.J. at trojanhearse@cityoflegends.com ASAP and let him know you are interested. We will need the sound file(s) no later than midnight, EST, on Wednesday, January 25th.

I know a lot of poets who have stuff already recorded, laying around. Zillions more have ideas, but haven't yet flipped the "record" button. Here's your chance to get an audience or expand the one you already have.

Once we do the show, I'll set up a poll of listeners. The writer who wins the poll will be invited to do a full show with me in late February or early March.

Again, do not send the sound files immediately. If you have links to already hosted files, you can send them, but I don't want E.J.'s mailbox flooded with a few gigs of soundfiles. Tell us who you are, what you've got and why we should care.

The ideal candidate poet/poem is passionate, well-written and well-read, theme doesn't matter (although a mild bias towards romantic works is always there). You'll get a chance to intro the work, give your website (if you have one) and let our listeners hear you on their computers and iPods, and have a chance and even being featured on a show later.

So, get to work.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Love God of a Remembered Religion

Okay, the latest and greatest on my Valentine's Day Podcast:

It will run a full half hour.

Strong romantic and erotic content, with a heavy lean on the "Pink Jade" works.

I have asked The Selke to contribute backing vocals.

Wait until you hear the vibraphone work on this one!

I do not yet have a name for the show that week, and I am under some pressure to take it outside of the usual schedules to place it on V-Day itself. No way. By releasing it on Saturday, the 11th, I am giving people the chance to put it to work. My decision, my works, by blood, sweat toils and tears.

Well, that's it from me for tonight, I have to go lay down some tracks...looking for the right sound...something that makes a woman's lingerie spontaneously combust at twenty paces. And maybe I'll uncork "the voice"...the one my editor, Innes, banned me from using on the phone when I talked to her.

Triviata

Well, I underestimated the Steelers...they won by more than 13. Ah well.

Now they have to win in the SuperBowl, to erase the stain of having lost once. Besides, Jerome needs a ring.

I see where NBC is making it official, The West Wing (arguably the greatest one hour drama in the history of television) is ending at the end of this season. Darn.

And I hear where the episode that falls 5 days before the election will be the one in which they deal with Leo's death. As long as he and the helium pixie get busy, I'm fine.

E.J. is working on a bit for either the blog or the site, containing 100 pieces of trivia about my works. Sheesh. I'm already trivial.

Favourite line from Doonesbury, ever: "Sex", he replied. "Sex and peyote."

Funny.

STEELERS 27 - BRONCOS 14

Last week, I called the STEELERS - COLTS game as Steelers by 4 (they won by 3) so this week I've been asked to call the STEELERS - BRONCOS game.

STEELERS by 13.

My call does not affect reality, and I will not feel dumber, less wise or emasculated by any result in the game (I am neither a player nor a coach for either team, nor am I paid like one). I would like to see Bettis go out with a ring, however.

We shall see.

In poetry news...the poll goes on. Pressure is building for an all-erotic Valentine's Day podcast...suggestions have even been made I do a regularly scheduled week's show on the 11th, then a special V-Day cast for the 14th. Bing Crosby had Christmas, I have Valentine's Day. I'm thinking about it.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

the...er...heart...of the matter

If the voting continues in the way it is going, it looks like I will have to finally push the envelope for Valentine's Day this year.

In case I ever did, I had already signified my FROM OUT OF THE CITY podcasts as EXPLICIT CONTENT with Apple's iTunes Music Store, just in case (I recall the time I was disinvited to an interview by a Christian Writers Group owing to the fact that I was hosting THE ROMANTIC AND EROTIC POETRY GROUP) but have stayed well within a very, very mild PG.

Now, with public sentiment driving the content for that show to the purple end of the spectrum, I guess it is time to get to the grinding...

Ten days left in the voting. I am impressed with the turnout, so far.

It seems only apropos that I cut loose for Valentine's Day this year. Maybe I'll even do a duet or two...wonder if the Selke might make her golden voice available?

There's this one groin shaking bass loop I've been just dying to put to good use.

The Eighth Dimension and Pink Jade

Nice to know that blog spammers never really give up (irritated smirk)...I recently posted a blog entry with the word "home" in it...got an advertisement posted to my comments from a home consolidation loan outfit in San Francisco. Ticked me off royally. The reason for the word "home" in the title? I was quoting from John Lithgow's Lord John Worfin in "Buckaroo Banzai": "Home is where you wear your hat."

Yes, I am a fan of that film and was truly disappointed that there was not a promised sequel. Peter Weller did great in a bizarre role, Jeff Goldblum, John Lithgow and Clancy Brown contributed more than a fair share to the cast and even the eternally hot Ellen Barkin took it up a notch (she can do more to a man's libido with a facial expression than a Pamela Anderson can do naked). And even Billy Vera had a cameo - when I return to LA, on my short list is to find where next he's next playing and go.

Good night's sleep. One of the most peaceful sleeps I've had in a year. I've quit worrying about certain people and certain things. Good for the soul.

A SUMMONED FIRE is kicking butt in the poll to determine which poem is the centerpiece of the Valentine's Day podcast. Remarkably WE OWE DEBT TO MEMORY is right now trailing all other works.

Trying right now to determine what sort of music I want to layer that hot piece with...am even considering doing an "All-Pink Jade" show for V-Day, considering how popular several of the pieces are (JASMINE AND PLUMERIA from that same group of works is right now #2 in the poll, leading even THE UNICORNS!).

I mean, those works include BASE SACRAMENTS, A SUMMONED FIRE, HOLD YOU, BARE SKIN ON LINEN, BE, ACOLYTE OF THE FLESH, BLOSSOMS OF THE WIND, an entire cycle called BLOOD, BREATH OF ANGELS, CHRYSALIS, BLEED INTO ME, JASMINE AND PLUMERIA, JASMINE AT NIGHT, IN DREAMS I WALK, PETALS FILL MY SKY, another entire cycle called PRESCIENT TENSE, WHEN ALL THE STONES ARE GIVEN, TWINSONG, SOFT AS DAWN, TRACERY and dozens more (I actually have a book-length manuscript of just Pink Jade works I have not decided what to do with).

The origin of the poems is complex, but also dualistic, they were keyed by a protege, but at a time when I was mourning the loss of a relationship, looking inward for peace and looking at what might have been, what should have been, with that lover. There are reflections of several muses aside from Pink Jade in the works, but the Leopard is the dominant one.

Much as you can see Psyche and Valkyrie in The Panther Cycles.

Oh I am a complicated soul. And on February 12th, I am free again. Hide your daughters/sisters/girlfriends/wives/cousins/mothers...the Amomancer is back.

Friday, January 20, 2006

Home is where you wear your hat

I went on a writing binge last night and today. A book's worth. Maybe more.

to quote Lord John Worfin "Jesu Christo, make the ganglia twitch."

But there is a catharsis. My black catalog, those poems unprintable until my death, doubled in size. It was like being in a sweat lodge, high on the hallucinogens of my own experience. Pieces sliding into place in puzzles I had forgotten even existed.

I am content, for now. Next, I need to set up for next week's show and finish the edits on the foreword to Dan McTaggart's book.

You know what I am listening to, right now, as I write? "Beasts of Legends"...my own composition. What a breakthrough that I can listen to my own voice.

By the way, the two works from "Pink Jade" - A SUMMONED FIRE and JASMINE AND PLUMERIA are winning the poll. I guess people want me to bring the heat.

And bring it, I shall.

Radio City of Legends all fixed

Good news, I finally found the impetus to take care of the updated links on my audio file page, so now all the links on Radio City of Legends are now active.

Amazing what a little spiritual soap and water will do for your energy level.

Thanks again to archive.org!

abstract dreams and the lies of silence

bleah!

Restless night. Not for any good reason, mind you, like wrestling for the covers with some nymphette, but from dreams. Not nightmares, dreams. Once in a while I get a vivid dream, something with not only strong imagery but that seemingly untangles some aspect of my life, something that clings and insinuates itself into my waking world so that once I rouse myself, I still ponder it.

So, last night, I ended up more than once staring into the quiet darkness. I really can't give the details, but it is well timed, very well timed. The resolution was to underscore to me, on a more visceral level, a truth that I have been aware of intellectually.

You can't save everyone from themselves.

Having a form of the Superman-Boy Scout-Messiah complex that compells me to help people I see in trouble, even at an expense of my own safety and well-being, I sometimes find myself in a position where I am too busy saving them while placing myself in an untenable position. One of the things that drew me into the Quaker faith is its insistence upon constant truth. While I have been known in the past to tell a lie, usually it was to help someone else out (it is a disease in our society, lying, most feel no moral remorse at saying to someone "Tell them I'm not here" or arguing with a police officer when we were caught red-handed over the speed limit). More often than not, when the lie was exposed, I took the heat for it. It has been native to me.

I retired that piece of the puzzle that is my ethos. It was crippling me. The other day a bill collector, looking for someone I hadn't heard from in some time, called and asked if I knew where she was. I honestly had to say "No, not a clue, nor would I be disposed to help you if I did." I'm not sure they knew what to make of that answer, but they probably thought I was lying (everyone lies, haven't you heard? I don't like it when I am lied to or about, but have had to learn to accept it as a currency of dealing with damaged people and modern society.)

Anyway, the majority of the dream was a conversation between myself and this person, so vivid that I checked my cell phone to see if I had been using it. It took place in an abstract place (when my mind want's me to concentrate on the words and not the images, I find myself in these surreal places, it learned a long time ago that a void merely stirs my curiosity).

I'm fine now (although my raccoon eyes will be prominent all day). And the words and concepts of the dream have been assimilated into me, to fill gaps left void by silence and lies both spoken and unspoken. And I am, in my own way, as close to at peace as I get.

And that was worth a few hours of lost sleep.

4 am, eastern standard time

It has been a long time since a dream woke me.

Or was it a dream?

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Beasts of Legend, stripped down or with relish...

BEASTS OF LEGEND is up!

PLUS -

This week's podcast, which includes BEASTS OF LEGEND, as well as a discussion of the evolution of the works in this fresh composition.

Check them out at

CITY OF LEGENDS RADIO

Tonight's Playlist

From time to time, when I sit down to write or edit, I hastily lay out a playlist on my iTunes, just to set the mood or to resonate with the mood I am in.

Tonight's light:

Bring Me Some Water (Melissa Etheridge) Outstanding howling lament of denied passion.

The Cross (Prince) Both musically and intellectually, a brilliant and highly under-rated work by the master of dichotomy.

Bad Touch (Bloodhound Gang) Like great sex, with a sense of humour. Brings back some great memories. And summons a vision of nights yet to come.

Let's Just Get Naked (Joan Osborne) Hmmm...seem to be in a carnal rut tonight. Of course, as ruts go... This is a playful, hot and earnest seduction. I wish I'd written that. I wonder if Joan likes poets.

Right Now (Van Halen) Can't think of many songs more capable of charging me up than this one. The video was even better.

Boy In The Bubble (Paul Simon) Damn, he's good. A poet with a guitar, in the likeness of Dylan, but with a broader spectrum of vision.

That's the core of the list. Just thought I'd share.

Valentine's Day gift book breakdown

I got an email the other day that I didn't bother to respond to (I'm sorry) until today.

In it, the writer asked which of my books would make the best Valentine's Day gift.

I pondered this and decided that it was dependent on the relationship and the person.

To expand:

PanthEon - A good, safe romantic book for an established relationship or as a not-too-subtle hint. Out of print, but still available, if you look.

from an unexpected quarter - Bright, flashy, twice as thick as any other volume except TCPC. I think this book might indicate you are trying to dazzle. Perhaps better for a door-opener than for an established relationship. Going out of print in mid-February.

Love Gods of a Forgotten Religion - A strong contender for an existing relationshp. Intelligent, erotic and romantic. Might be too subtle for an intro, but if the person you're giving it to is a very literate person... Also going out of print in February. Good collector's item.

101 Great Love Poems - Strong across-the-board Valentine's Day gift item. Sales are also strong as a wedding present and a graduation gift. The hardbound edition is more impressive and durable. The paperback is cheaper.

INVOCATO - If you don't want to spend the twenty bucks or so on the hardbound of "101"...go with this. Some of my very best works, ranging from the flirtatious to the plutonic. Includes many of my most respected works.

The Morgantown Suite Poems - As a Valentine's Day gift? Only for a real fan of my works, or poetry in general, or someone from Morgantown. And, no, despite the fact that the WVU Mountaineers are based on Morgantown (and my baby brother is a statistical historian for the team), not a single poem has the word "Pittsnogle" in it.

The Compleat Panther Cycles - Maybe a little overpowering as a door opener, unless that is your style. This glossy, massive novel-length poetic diary of a love affair is the tactical nuke to INVOCATO's diamond bullet. It has been known to, without the cover being opened, cause undergarments to go flying. If it is worth the 25-40 dollars (depending on where you buy it) to take a relationship to the next level (you know what I mean) this is probably the quickest way short of a diamond or a car to get naked. Just use a condom.

Okay, that's my response. Some may argue with me. But, hey, I'm the author. You can check out most of these books at your favourite online retailer, or through my City of legends bookstore (I autograph all that come from there, and TCPC is substantially less expensive through my store)

Of course, Mari Laureano's latest, due out that week, is also an excellent choice.

poll update

"A Summoned Fire" from the Pink Jade works has vaulted into first, just ahead of "The Unicorns"...hmmm, lust versus innocence. Those of you who prefer the latter better get back voting!

Someone asked me the other day what I'm looking for in a woman (some good jokes there, but I'll spare you my more ribald ripostes.

I thought of a scene from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" where Sundance is heading off to meet up with Etta:

Sundance Kid: Well, I think I'll get saddled up and go looking for a woman.
Butch Cassidy: Good hunting.
Sundance Kid: Shouldn't take more than a couple of days. I'm not picky. As long as she's smart, pretty, and sweet, and gentle, and tender, and refined, and lovely, and carefree ...

My list is a little different, but just as long. Wish I could define it as clearly...but when you look at my history, few themes emerge.

I like intelligent women. Passionate, in both senses of the abstract. Accomplished or at least talented enough that I know they can accomplish. I seem to almost always end up with someone in crisis. I attract damaged people, mostly because I seem a safe haven.

There's a school of thought that says that romantic love exists on three planes, and that a well-balanced relationship has all three aspects: friendship, awe and lust.

In the first, you trust the other person and have commonality with them. You like being around them.

In the second, there is something about them that just blows you away.

And the third speaks for itself.

If any of these components are missing, you have an unbalanced relationship. I know where most of my failures have been.

But that would be telling.

quitting Rupert Murdoch's "MySpace"

Just cancelled my MySpace account. I got bored with the internal spamming and the self-promoting BS. 99% of the time when you got approached by someone to correspond, it was to promote their band, their book, their "literary agency" or their appearance at a strip club. My bulletins overflowed with chain-mail quality spam messages.

Cool for some people. Not for me. I like commonality in my friends.

Anyone else notice how many times you have to say "YES, I want to QUIT!" for them to let you leave? It's like they're making sure you didn't accidentally say "I want to quit..."

It was easier to join than to quit...much like the Mafia.

Besides, now that tits and tabloid king Rupert Murdoch owns MySpace, it loses its charm. Seeing what he has done to America with his news channel (FoxNews: Fair and Balanced manufacturing of the news), not sure I want to be part of his web empire. You can't buy the truth, just a loudspeaker big enough to drown it out with your own lies and bias. It is ironic that the most "American" of the 24 hour news channels is owned, operated and guided by a foreign power.

Authors Den, iUniverse and self-indulgent drivel

Well, it's Thursday and I have a lot to do...

but I don't really feel like it. Getting over my first real cold in some time, dealing with my Grandmother's stroke, mild upheavals at work and the fun of life in general.

The show, this week's FROM OUT OF THE CITY podcast (available at RADIO CITY OF LEGENDS and iTUNES Music Store for download or subscription. void where prohibited by law) is all but in the can. This is good.

The poll I set up to help guide my choices of works for the Valentine's Day podcast is cranking along. No huge surprises. Again, vote early and vote often. I set it up to allow multiple choice and re-votes every 1 hour.

I see where the lovely and talented Nordette Adams went ahead and used the facial transformer on her AD site. Very cute.

Still a little miffed at Authors Den. They set up their own podcast, including CHAPTERS, POEM OF THE DAY and "OPEN MIC". The latter specified basically open reads, and I don't do open microphone reads, except where it suits me. (Really attractive hostess? Where's the sign-in sheet?) So I direct them to few of my works, incuding some full chapter reads from THE COMPLEAT PANTHER CYCLES. They put a couple of my full-production pieces under OPEN MIC and ignored the chapter reads.

I've always had a red-headed stepchild relationship with AD. I remember about a year ago I got an email about a special program they were running for longtime members (I was a very early member...) but when I contacted them to take advantage of it, I was told it was a mistake for me to have been included on the mailing...but they'd give it to me anyway, since I had received it. Yeah, classy.

I get to call iUniverse in a couple of weeks and pull the plugs on two of my books, FROM AN UNEXPECTED QUARTER and LOVE GODS OF A FORGOTTEN RELIGION. They've both been solid sellers, but both are long in the tooth, and have covers featuring she-who-must-not-be-named (according to her lawyer), so I am avoiding any further harrassment and burying them. An hour after they go off distribution, you know that the value to collectors will skyrocket. Hmmm...maybe I should buy a stack and hide them for a few months.

Besides, both books have the same substantial editing error in them that I categorically refused to pay the publisher to clean up, so, screw 'em.

I am leaving 101 GREAT LOVE POEMS with iUniverse, as it is my best-seller to date. Besides, I like their work on the hardbound edition and will probably put them back to work for my 101 GREAT EROTIC POEMS later this year and the annoying 101 GREAT METAPHYSICAL POEMS in a year or two, not to be confused with 101 GREAT ADULTERY POEMS and 101 GREAT I-SHOULD-HAVE-SEEN-IT-COMING POEMS.

Maybe 101 GREAT SELF-INDULGENT DRIVEL POEMS? That might have to be a double-thick book.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

poetic fragment

how can I say you're beautiful
when you've taken my breath?
how can I not look at you,
when all I fear more than death
than you walking away?

Interesting start...these words just came to be....I'll see what happens next with them.

Do the Hump Day Dance

Got a nice note from Nordette Adams...she says she's going to try out the Facial Transformer I mentioned a few entries back. This should be funny.

Votes are starting to roll in on the poll I posted last night to help me select poems for the Valentine's Day podcast. Vote early, vote often, but vote.

Restless night, just getting over a cold and thus kept waking up. Will be better in a day or two. Glad I pre-recorded the vocal tracks for this week's show.

Need to check in with MTech to confirm if I am teaching this semester. If not, need to either find another second job or start plotting courses to larger city (gee...maybe someplace warm, with a beach, near my daughter and many old friends...)

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

The Valentine's Day Poll of Poems

I am having such a time selecting the poems for the Valentine's Day...so step up and help me choose. After consulting with E.J., I selected the best candidates (did I overlook some worthy ones? Of Course! Email me if you have a better suggestion!)

This poll you can select mutiple poems in, and you can vote again...but you have to wait an hour between votes. I will leave it up here and elsewhere until February 1.












And, if you don't know all these poems...get over to my damn site and get educated.

The Facial Transformer Site

I just got back from spending some online time at the Facial Transformer Site...where I mightily abused my appearance for my own amusement. Here's a sample of me as a Manga character.

Here's the link

The Facial Transformer Site

I spared you the truly grotesque, like my image, transformed to that of a baby, or a painting by Botticelli. The site has many different morphing modes to apply, including an interesting blend to make you half-chimpanzee.

There are also some serious research studies there, which you can take part in, involving perception.

Not a pretty picture, eh? Well try this one on for size: My high school picture, redone as a chimpanzee crossbreed... I never realized before just how much I do look like my brother, Robert.

Pardon me, I need to go get a banana.

Beasts of Legend, arriving this weekend

Wow...just about everyone touched base with me yesterday, even some people I'd not heard from in months. Bizarre. I must've had my "open for business" sign out.

Spent most of the day in the studio, laying tracks for this week's podcast...I'm running short on guests for this week...everyone is a bit slow on getting back to me and meeting deadlines, so I am probably going to, again, jump up a future show I'd been working on...

It's my most ambitous ppoetry and music fusion yet, a 15:20 minute piece I've tentatively entitled "Beasts of Legends". Longer musical transitions, changes of style, from country to trance, and the finale is done without musical accompaniment. And, no, I don't sing on this one.

The seven poems in this stampede are:

My Electric Lady - One of the ones so old, I should have grandchildren from it by now. And I do...watch for the references to "my brother, the night" in this piece, then again in a poem written decades later I use later in the composition. How old is this work? Let's put it this way: It can't run for President, but it can serve in the Senate.
Brisant Revelations - A curiosity of a work for something so intense. I wrote it on a menu at a small cafe where Larry Jaffe was hosting poetry readings in Pasadena. Wish I could remember the name of the place. I read it that night to good reception. I think I still have that menu, I shall have to dig it up for posterity.
Shards of Light - A rumination on the intensity of love, gained and lost. Not that old of a work, and aggressive.
Radiant Tigers - Dedicated to George Gordon, Lord Byron, that other "one draft" romantic poet. I love this poem, and had fun giving it a musical frame worthy of itself.
Aureate - I have always considered this one of my better works. Hard edged words, complex lines, and a message...as well as a moment or two of self-reference.
Pellinore, Watching from Across the Room - "Taking a Risk" done with a little more world weariness.
Glass Roses - One of my most celebrated works. "A white fragrance, as white as a virgin's first kiss."

So, there you have it. Can't wait for the weekend to hear it? Maybe, if you ask nice, I'll slip you the link to the review copy I hide out on the web for friends and peers to hear early, to start buzz.

Monday, January 16, 2006

Apple and Jack Bauer: A Conspiracy?

Now to the mundane:

here's the link for the Apple-Intel fusion, voice over by: Kiefer Sutherland (Jack Bauer from "24")

http://www.apple.com/intel/ads/

It's nice to hear Kief's voice without the incessant clock ticking away...but I was hoping to see him shooting some Windows boxes, screaming "Who do you work for?"

By the way, the buzz is growing that they are planning to spin "24" into a movie franchise. Gotta go get in line.

some selected quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.

"All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality."

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

"It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important."

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

"I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live."

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

My own commentary: I think if one person, one person in ten thousand, read these words, took them into themselves and made them part of their day to day life, we would transform this world in ways beyond imagining.

Jesus said faith the size of a mustard seed was all that was required to throw a mountain into the sea.

Saint Paul said: Three things remain - Faith, hope and love.

Imagine what hope the size of a mustard seed could accomplish.

Imagine what love the size of a mustard seed is capable of.

John Lennon said: Imagine.

Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy

and a gracious and meaningful MLK Day to one and all.

I think that we, as a nation, have come a long way from the days in the late 1950's and 1960's that forced King onto the national and international stage, but the battle now is more in the hearts and minds of the people and less in the courts and legislatures. There has been, there always will be, prejudice, be it racial, gender, ethic or orientation. Anywhere that there are people who doubt their own ascendency, they will want to find others to press down, so that they do not feel at the bottom. Prejudice is the tool of the ignorant, the disenfranchised, the wounded. Those who hate are to be pitied, much like a mad dog. Yes, we must take action to defend ourselves against the poisoned fruits of their hatreds and fears, but in the end our primary visceral, emotional core must be sympathy.

The Twentieth Century produced, at least, two men of non-violence who headed great movements, King and Gandhi. Both died violent deaths. That their influence survived their lives is a tribute to the power of the message of peaceful resistence. Jesus did not arm his disciples and tell them to kill infidels. Jesus did not call down angels to overturn the rulership of the corrupt. His most powerful and enduring act was His death (and subsequent resurrection).

It would be perversely interesting to see what today's media would do with Dr. King. If he was active today, no doubt Fox News would be running commentaries to discredit his message because of his personal failings. MTV would be trying to build a reality show around him. His message would be under seige from those trying to build themselves up by tearing it down and by those trying to make a quick buck off of it.

I think he was, as a leader, unique to his time and place in history. We are better, as a nation and as a people, for his having been.

Sunday, January 15, 2006

24's Season Kickoff...and MLK Day

If the rumours and spoilers are true, anyone else see the irony in 24's season kickoff opening with the assassination of the first African-American US President, the evening before the Federal Holiday celebrating The Rev. Dr Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday?

There's something inherently tacky about that (I love the show...but the timing seems a bit toooooooooo...something)

Sort of like Mardi Gras, the whole purpose of which is to indulge all the sins you are about to give up, eh?

Radio Ga Ga

Getting some extremely positive feedback on the show yesterday. It seems that Aberjhani, Mark Rockeymoore and I made a good mix. It is well.

If you have not yet checked it out:

Radio City of Legends

Busy day ahead. So I am not accused of forgetting: Go STEELERS! I have predicted a 4-point win in a smashmouth game in Indianapolis. It makes people crazy, though, that despite my appreciation for my team, I am not connected, in self-esteem, to their efforts. In other words, if they lose, they lose. It happens. If they do, I will root for Indianpolis in the Championship game and (most likely) the AFC champions in the SuperBowl.

To me, the notion of tying one's self-esteem as a fan of a goup of people who are, at best, only abstractly aware of you is like falling in love with someone who doesn't care if you live or die. Hold it, no, can't use that parallel (laughing) - been there, done that, own the t-shirt concession for it on the 11th ring of Hell.

Thanks for all the kind notes of concern regarding my Grandmother. She's about the most durable person I have ever known, and to have her brought low puts a kink in my reality greater than any faithless lover. She is resting comfortably and is determined to go home soon. What's the term? Ah, yes. Full of piss and vinegar.

Well, time to track the elusive breakfast. Be well, all.

Major announcement regarding my upcoming book projects on February 12th.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Television Networks Hate Me

I am aggravated that the season premiere of 24 is going to be opposite a new episode of The West Wing.

Sorry, Jack...you know we love you...but more than ever, TWW is the best show on television.

Now, all I need is ABC to move LOST into the mix and I'll have to put my head through the TV screen.

the gibberish of a well-rested mind

Lots of gibberish this morning, plus a few surprises along the way...

Heard by email yesterday from my old friend Lauren McLennan. She's a fantastic poet who was one of the first people to greet me when I reached Los Angeles. She helped me outfit my apartment on Venice Boulevard, screened prospective lovers for me, and was the catalyst in my party story about having to defend my definition of a slut ("A slut is someone, male or female, who cannot tell you the middle name of everyone they ever slept with.")

Lighten up, world, there are worse things than being a slut...some of my best friends have been slut. I didn't see Jesus hanging out with the Moral Majority. Flawed people (we all are, I mean the ones who can outwardly express or admit their flaws) are more interesting than yes-men. And yes, I remember the middle names.

Good to know she's doing well. I wonder of she still sings along with her car radio?

My Grandmother is still in the hospital. She's resting comfortably while the family grapples with her episode. Please include her in your prayers.

Got some sleep last night, phew. Needed it. I actually have motor skills this morning. Will try to tie my shoes after my shower. Will be able, this morning, to remember to put on shoes AFTER shower.

The new FROM OUT OF THE CITY is up and taking hits, in the good sense. It was interesting to hear Mark Rockeymoore, the gentleman who does the musical arrangements for Aberjhani, putting in his plug for Stan Lee as well. The cultural influences the man has had in the past (I do not cound collaborating on STRIPPERELLA to be a high mark in his career) can not be underestimated. Think how much different my life path would have been if the tryout as a writer with Marvel that he got me in 1979 had been successful. As it was, I didn't make the cut and Stan told me not to feel bad, some guy named Mario Puzo didn't make it when he tried out back in the sixties. So he (Puzo) went on the write a book called THE GODFATHER.

Had I ended up writing for THE BLACK PANTHER I might have never written THE PANTHER CYCLES. Of course, the notion of someday guesting at the big M and doing a single comic episode entirely in poetic voice, that appeals to me. Anybody out there listening? Maybe an issue of THOR (they still have that title going?) owing to my perversely encyclopediac knowledge of Norse Mythology...I could have Bragi, their God of Eloquence and Poetry, narrate it...or at least appear in it.

hmmmm....like I don't have enough on my plate

Hey, I survived a Friday the 13th!

Friday, January 13, 2006

Friday Night is Deadline Night

In celebration of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday this weekend, I invited the majestic Aberjhani to share his urban spoken word, and he assented. With the assistance of Mark Rockeymoore, we have what is undoubtably the liveliest session yet...

check it out!

Radio City of Legends

I am exhausted, between some nagging health issues, a general depression, my Grandmother's illness and the deadline doom...I am worn to the nub.

Nothing that a good nap and a bad woman wouldn't fix...strange and vivid dreams last night, I haven't been this exhausted since the summer of 1998. My psyche (small "p") is leaking.

Good response to "Love is An Howling Beast"...E.J. suggested I do a book by that name.

Bite me, loyal sidekick,

the cattle prod of random fate

You get the strength from the pain. That's what I know, no one ever told me that. Maybe, in some perverse manner, Nietzsche was right...what doesn't kill you does make you stronger.

It doesn't mean life is always hearts and flowers...but if you stay strong, there are those moments. I recall one of my own poems:

My Life

My life. It is my life to make of it what I choose.
I will win, and lose
and smile more often than not.
Courage will give me hope. Hope will give me
strength. And strength
will give me the courage to seek new truths.

And I will never love without a sense
of wonder and awe at the
infinite possibilities within the human heart...
and the beauty of dreams, held iron and ironic
within even the most tragic
fall from grace and the dreams of the damned.

And I will not be given to despair, for I have stood
in fires I could not fathom
and held my breath until death seemed sibling
to the pain within my soul. For this experiment
of my life will have validity
within the scientific method of the universe.


William F. DeVault. all rights reserved.

The emotional impetus was a period of great aloneness in Venice Beach. Karla had told me we wouldn't work out, the Panther...God knows where the Panther was that week...others had either come and gone or had not yet shown up. The intellectual underpinning was a thought from C.S. Lewis' masterpiece "The Screwtape Letters" or, more precisely, "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" in which, in the course of a commencement speech at Tempters' College, Screwtape offers the opinion that every person is born an "experiment of God" to see if we will choose good or evil. He presses the point it is those who choose to merely react to their environment, not choosing to side with one pole or the other of the moral compass, who are the "failed experiments".

I was just listening to Dave Matthews' Band - "Crash Into Me"...that song always invokes Venice. It invokes a period of rediscovery and mystery in my life, the phoenix time of ashes still settling.

Yes, I have screwed up a fair number of times in my life, but I always get back up and try to find the right path. Hard lessons are usually the swiftest to learn, but still require a time of the tutelage of pain.

Much to do today...Mark Rockeymoore has presented me with some great soundfiles of my guest this week on FROM OUT OF THE CITY, Aberjhani, and I plan to give him a great show this weekend. Time for purpose.

Yes, Sisyphus is the happiest of men. And the cattle prod of random fate only strengthens his resolve.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

family update

To those who know me well enough: My grandmother was hospitalized today. Doesn't look too serious, but they are still running tests. As with anyone in their mid-90's the doctors do not take problems lightly.

Will post updates as I know them.

An analysis of poetic imagery

I saw a breakdown the other day of references, metaphors, similes and allusions in my poetry (some people have too much idle time on their hands) and found that, by a narrow margin, my most common mythological allusion is a unicorn, closely followed by a dragon.

Norse mythology trumps both Greek gods and Judeo-Christian iconography and references, although the latter by only a hair. Egyptian mythology? Wayyyyyyyyyyy back in 4th. Most common single figure? Bragi, the Norse God of Poetry and Eloquence...his runner up was Hercules (or Heracles)...although part of that is due to my use of the ancient world's name for the Straits of Gibraltar, the Pillars of Hercules, to signify the end of the known world or a final departure.

Most common place name in theology or mythology referenced in my works is, by a single vote, Gethsemane. Then Eden, then Golgotha. Read "from out of the city" to get all three at once.

Event? Ragnarok. Wagner would be so proud.

Flowers? Metaphorically, a rose is a genital symbol, the penetrating rose in most cases referring to the penis. Rose petals refer to a woman's genitals. Jasmine refers to the smell and taste of a woman.

The most commonly referred to part of human anatomy is heart (big surprise, here?) followed by hands and eyes.

Legs edge breasts. Ideally there should be an equal number, for balance and symmetry. (Snarfle)

Cats (including radiant tigers, leopards and panthers) crush all other animal metaphors and similes. Crush. Crush. Did I say crush? Birds of one form or another come in a distant second (what shall the cats eat, then? Poets.)

A low carb diet is not possible in my works. Cakes, pies and cookies abound. Usually cookies or cakes. Flesh is not unheard of, but not usually in the dining room sense.

If you find non-English words in a poem of mine: French, more often than not. Latin, then Italian.

Oh, and number of times a "four letter word" has made it into my catalog? Once. The poem is entitled "Words to a Well Meaning Friend Full of Shit". It was written to Larry Jaffe when he tried to warn me of the foolhardiness of believing that the relationship with the Panther was possible after the second (or was it third? fifth?) breakup. I shortened the title later, but it still survives some places in its original form.

Most common poetic conceit? My use of the French "couer rage" instead of "courage" to signify "the fire of the heart".

So, there you have it...great material for your next homework assignment, doctoral thesis or bird cage liner.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

catharsis as an act of survival

I started to cut and paste my classic "I should have been immortal" in this blog entry, when the light shifted and new words formed on a dry tongue.

I had been reading through my private archives (yes, E.J., I know you go there) and came across correspondence from her. damn. I can't admit to needing her, as that would be so unfair. it would be placing myself above all her other obligations. I have always run second best to other aspects of a lover's life, be they a god, a husband, a mother, a boyfriend, a career, a disease, a fate. and so it is with this Caesar.

ladies and gentlemen, fresh from the forge, before the blood dries on the page, I give you

love is an howling beast

love is an howling beast.
consumed by rage that cannot hate.
fate, sealing wax and clay and stone
o'er bone and blood and flesh.
yes, flesh, meshing in memory.
memories born of hope.
torn to grope
in darkness, when what you need
bleeds out in the gutters
as silence utters
a grave pronouncement.
a riot act, a solemn pact
stacked atop distant mountains
too far to see more than
featureless white.
I would peel back my own flesh
with raw fingertips
to know again the texture of her lips
the scent of her hips
and to not have as mocking memory
the trips to the well of her heart.
I am that grotesque statue
left in silent field
for future generations
to wonder on the purpose of.


William F. DeVault. all rights reserved.

"It doesn't hurt if you don't mind the pain." - William F. DeVault, ideation of survival

Valentine's Day pre-season

While awaiting the final soundfiles for this Saturday's show of FROM OUT OF THE CITY I have been dabbling in preparations for, not next week's show, but the show for Valentine's Day weekend(hey, that's MY season).

It promises to be a big period this year. I'm removing two of my books from distribution (FROM AN UNEXPECTED QUARTER and LOVE GODS OF A FORGOTTEN RELIGION), releasing on the 11th what is undoubtably my most ambitious show, and that will be followed by the show for the 18th where I will be promoting the erotic poetry princess herself, Mari Laureano, about her new book.

Add to that the notion that, by then, I have about six different deadlines for different projects and I will be vibrating like a dancing mouse on meth ice. Not a pretty picture...but I set these goals for myself...no one else is responsible. It is better to burn out than to fade away, And I have only struck the wick.

It will be interesting to see if I also get any reque$t$ from individuals asking me to write poem$ for them for V-Day. I'm always open to commerce. My creditors appreciate it.

Hey! A New Episode of LOST is on tonight! Yay!

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

new poem: document of a slingshot trajectory for Icarus

document of a slingshot trajectory for Icarus


shadows rest

not

but seek their will in corners
where they can gain toeholds
and spread cold seditions
the better to unmake
all good things

a time for all things
to every purpose
under heaven

including hell

where the bells do not ring
they spit venom
through crooked teeth
and steal our belief
in a place to rest
where the shadows
cannot find us
blind us
bind us
to a fate
invoking death


William F. DeVault. all rights reserved.

What the heck is a "Meme"?

Yes, I use the word "meme" and got email asking for a definition.

If you're sophisticated enough to read a blog, you should know this word.

A meme is a self-replicating piece of information (it rhymes with gene) that can include slogans, cultural sub-contexts and folklore. Gossip is a form of meme, but so is religious and political verbal iconography. Slogans are memes, as are any idea that replicates.

Memes are often trivial (as with the "tramp stamp") but sometimes profound agents of cultural change. Nothing is more powerful than a well-delivered idea, worded in such a way as to catch the imagination of the listener, and therefore likely to be replicated through repitition.

Yes, poetry was and is a form of memetic communication (the study of memes is memetics, the person who studies memes is a memeticist). The origin of poetry, you should know, was the development of patterned word arrangement to make memorization and recitation easier so that, in the absence of written language, detailed information could be passed down.

"The Romantic Poet of the Internet" is a meme (my meme) and "The City of Legends"...as is/are (sui generis):

Jokes ("Two Windows users walk into a bar..."
Proverbs ("A fool and his money are soon parted")
Fashion ("blue jeans" "miniskirts" "thongs")
Racism and sterotypes (insert politically incorrect phrase here...but "politically correct/incorrect" are also memes)
Advertising slogans ("I am stuck on Band-Aids" "She'll get there faster with Climatique")
Technology concepts (everything from a "personal computer" to a "kitchen match")

You can argue that Paris Hilton as an archetype is a meme. The same with Marcus Vick, Bill Clinton, Charles Manson and Mother Theresa.

Just about any piece of information small enough to carry its own ideas, but communicated from one to many, or one to one, is a meme.

Memes, like genes, do mutate and evolve, and often have a life-span, based on the success of the replication...too little, it fades quickly; too much, mutant varieties eventually overtake it and pervert it.

Love is the ultimate meme, by the way.

Tramp stamps are more than Thirty Nine Cents

I still haven't foud what I'm looking for, as pertains to a model for the cover of THEOCRICIDE.

I had some interesting submittals this past Fall, when I ran the model search contest, but nothing really worth a book cover...it was all rather disappointing (unlike sports, where the second worst performing team wins for having shown up for the game, I can't afford to embrace and reward tepidity). But, I am regrouping and trying to work out a new cover...several ideas have presented themselves, and I am leting them incubate.

Still no second call from last Saturday's mystery woman...all in all, a not previously unheard of event. Who it was? A hundred and one possibilities, but no solid leads. Will I ever know? Unlikely.

Tag and I hung out for a while yesterday and discussed everything from the history of comics to his forthcoming books to my taste in women...

I learned a new meme Sunday night, after "West Wing" (boy am I going to miss that show when it finishes its run)...at Television Without Pity (www.televisionwithoutpity.com) they made reference to the furor over the candidate's wife -Helen Santos' "Tramp stamp"...I'd never heard that meme before, so I looked it up. I knew that in the dating culture a tattoo on the small of the back was generally viewed as a sign of sexual availability...but obviously the lingo is out there, a lot more prevalent than I had thought. Interesting.

And no, I had nothing to do with that phrase's origin...look it up...an interesting (if in need of some editing) webpage I encountered even indicated that such a mark indicates the woman is a "Delta"...which is the label of the societal underclass in Huxley's "Brave New World". I know some fairly classy (in my definition) woman who have gotten one, mosty because no one explained to them what the cultural meaning is.

Adornment can be a trap. Now will someone explain to me the cultural significance of various facial piercings on a woman?

Monday, January 09, 2006

a loudly echoing silence...sheesh!

Lots going on...

unfortunately, half of it is stuff I am sworn to silence over, dammit.

I may be doing a reading the end of this month...but I can't talk about it, yet.

There may be yet a fourth book project I am getting involved with this year, in addition to editing Dan McTaggart's first book AND my new 101 GREAT EROTIC POEMS and THEOCRICIDE.

But, I can't talk about it yet (no, it is not my bio...)

And finally, there may be a major media event this spring that I the MC for...

but.

I can't say anything yet.

So...um...er...watch this space.

By the way, we are on the lookout for up and coming poets interested in being featured on my weekly podcast show FROM OUT OF THE CITY. Drop me a line if interested.

Levitra, NFL Part Ways

I see where the NFL has announced it is not extending its marketing deal with Levitra when it expires in two months.

Good. Those ads had gone from merely silly to inappropriate and smarmy. It is sad, in a world where we haven't yet beat cancer, AIDS, herpes, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis we have the drug companies spending millions on selling us erections for old guys.

Now, if we can just get the NFL to quit glamorizing beer, we'd be on the right track.

Bleeding out my ears, virtually

I just heard a base track recording today. The poet, trying out his pipes.

No, not spoken word. Singing.

Yes, singing.

"The Unicorns" to be precise. He isn't compromising the work's lyrics, he's merely adding a cap at the end of the first two lines "Please come awahile, remain and play/the unicorns won't come today..."

Still in shock. Unpolished, but he's got pipes. You can see he was influenced by early 70's art rockers like King Crimson (there's an element of their "Epitaph" in the tone of the song). He'd say Anthony Newley (not that familiar with him, but he cites him as a singer-songwriter whose work he admires) or early-early-early (did I say "early"?) David Bowie ("Hunky Dory" era).

Who knew? Just not sure if I like the idea of someone who is the best at what they do (poetry) crossing over into new territory (songs). But, since when did he listen to me?

We definitely need to distract him before he goes further off on tangents. This is where LA was so useful...so many beautiful, bright, appreciative women to keep his attention, he just wrote between relationships and never had the idle time to wander.

Maybe I can get him on a bus. Would they notice if he was bound and gagged?

Monday Morning, Before the Caffeine

Hey, since when did walmart.com stop carrying my books? Nobody told me! I feel so...er...actually, I'm not really affected...I doubt if they really were a major component of my sales (who actually buys from WalMart over the internet?)

Gearing up for this week's FROM OUT OF THE CITY podcast. It should be fantastic. My scheduled guest is Aberjhani.

The mystery woman who called on Saturday evening has not called again. Who she is and what she wants? Who knows?

Haven't heard from Anastacia is a week or two...need to check on her.

Got a lot of great feedback on my comments regarding loving versus being loved. It's a dffiicult lesson for most people to grasp. I know some who never get it.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

on love...

When you are loved by another it proves nothing about you.

When you love another you prove what you are capable of seeing, overlooking, forgetting, remembering and cherishing. It defines you as an emotional and spiritual being.

That tells the world your values and value.

Mystery Woman Update and a new lyric

Still no word from the mystery woman. Grumble.

New work...this just in...

Just Words

I've been lied to and cried to
Called a bad man and a fool
But the labels peel away - when you look closer, you might stay

I've seen pain and strain and gain
Been caught walking in the rain
But the truth don't melt away - words are just what people say

Words are tools for kinds and cruels
The ones who keep and break the rules
They only change what they can move
And reveal what you can't prove

I've been exiled out to die
Given failure one last try
I believe in love, my friend, and I will until the end

Words are tools for kinds and cruels
The ones who keep and break the rules
They only change what they can move
And reveal what you can't prove

I believe in love, my friend, and I will until the end


William F. DeVault. all rights reserved.

Yes, it is a song lyric. Bite me.

Copyright © William F. DeVault | All Rights Reserved