Today was a terrific mail day. Brandon Downing sent me some of his poems on disk at Octopus' request, but I also begged him for a copy of Shirt Weapon. Mine was borrowed and not returned, and now the guy is hiding out in Mexico somewhere, or is it New Hampshire? Anyway, this is in the top five favorite books of all time. Did you read Brandon Shimoda's review of Dark Brandon? Do you have Shirt Weapon? Why not?

I also landed Joe Wenderoth's not-yet-published uncorrected proof copy of his new forthcoming book of essays from Verse, The Holy Spirit of Life: Essays Written for John Ashcroft's Secret Self (thank you Lori Shine). That doozy from the new Fence is in here, as well as one I heard him read in (I think--maybe I dreamed it) in Vancouver called "Twenty-Five Ways to Make Love Without Having Sex". I've never had so much fun reading a book that has offended me so brilliantly. It'll offend you too--put it on your Christmas list.

Chris Glomski was kind enough to send his Transparencies Lifted from Noon. I haven't had a chance to read this yet, but the initial scan looks promising. I think I'm going to try to get it review for #7. Any takers?