Thursday, October 29, 2009



I am spending all day today and tomorrow making application packets for professorships and fellowships that begin in the fall of next year. I'm at the library downtown, and this bridge is how I got there. 

Positions already applied for: 4
Positions applying for during this weekend's round: 13
Total remaining positions to be applied for at a later date: 8
Total positions for which I will be considered (of which I am currently aware): 25



Sunday, October 25, 2009

Monday, October 19, 2009

My favorite photo of Mathias. I took it in our shared office in Lincoln about 3 years ago. His first full-length book, Destruction Myth, should be out any day now. 
New Octopus Books catalog.

New winter beard.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Hey Eugene-heads, there's a poetry reading in your town today and I'm a part of it. You coming?


Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Sunday, October 11, 2009


This Friday at 7:30 at Work/Sound Gallery (820 SE Alder) in Portland, Octopus Books and Poor Claudia are having a double, nay, triple book release party. Bring two, nay, three loved ones. Octopus is celebrating the release of its two newest full-length poetry books, The Difficult Farm by Heather Christle and Boris by the Sea by Matvei Yankelevich, with readings by the authors. Both Heather and Matvei are traveling into Portland for the event (from Atlanta and Brooklyn respectively). Poor Claudia will be releasing their second issue and will celebrate by having their authors read: Emily Kendal Frey, Matthew Dickman, Lisa Ciccarello, Crystal Willer, and Hannah Pass. 

No charge. Save that cash for the booze and the books, but more importantly, the books. 

Thursday, October 08, 2009


I think this is a good time to tell you some things about me: I am working on three manuscripts right now: one called 1977-2050, one of short prose poems called From the Fjords, and a very very long poem called Asteroid. I'm also trying to finish up a book of translations of Andrei Sen-Senkov's poems. I'm going to graduate with a Ph.D from U of Nebraska in December. I can't stop listening to Hospice by The Antlers. This weekend I'm going to grade a lot of papers, apply for jobs for next fall, and send out Heather Christle's book to people who bought it. I need to go to Clinton Street video to take back a movie, and to pick up another movie. The Portland lit magazine, Poor Claudia, is going to co-host a book release event with Octopus Books next Friday. Heather and Matvei Yankelevich are going to come to Portland to read from their new books. I'll tell you much more about this soon. Today I found a spider in my bookbag and I just waited for it to crawl out. I just watched it crawl out instead of doing anything aggressive. Tonight the Cornhuskers play the Mizzou tigers on ESPN and I will be rooting for the Cornhuskers. Remember when I told you I started swimming again? Well, today will be my 10th swim practice. I'm using this blog to hold myself accountable. I gone about 12,000 yards. Do you know how far that is? No really, do you? It's from here to that building I'm looking at right now. 

Tuesday, October 06, 2009


Octopus Books' third full-length title and Heather Christle's first book, The Difficult Farm, will arrive at my house today in several heavy boxes. Heather's box arrived at her place in Atlanta yesterday, and you can see that she's already eaten several of them. You may want to buy yours soon if you don't want Heather, myself, and Octopus co-editor, Mathias, to eat them all first. 

If you're unfamiliar with Heather's poems, you have a lot of catching up to do. I'm jealous of you. It'll feel like you're being undressed while rabbits are spilling out. Octopus Magazine published her first poems too, back in issue #6, where she was introduced to the world by D.A. Powell, and we're very thankful that we get to bring you her first book too. 

Slope just published an issue that focuses exclusively on Heather's newer poems. You should spend a lot of time there if you want to be a better person. 

For those of you in the Pacific Northwest, you'll have a chance to hear her read in Portland on October 16 at WorkSound for her official Octopus Books book release alongside Matvei Yankelevich whose first book, Boris by the Sea, will be released by us within the next few weeks (I'll have more info on that soon). That event will also be a release party for Poor Claudia, which will be releasing its second issue. She'll read again the next day with Matvei and Jen Bervin in Seattle on Oct. 17 at Pilot Books. 


Sunday, October 04, 2009

If you weren't able to come to DeKalb, and only have one minute to spare now, here's what happened:

The Monster Hour - Gallery Opening Time-lapse (10 hrs -> 1 min) from Jeremy Schulz on Vimeo.

The Monster Hour in DeKalb, IL

Something very incredible happened to me in DeKalb, IL on Friday. I tried to make this as clear as possible as I spoke to everyone involved in the Monster Hour art show where all the pieces in the show were inspired by specific poems in The Man Suit: writers don't often get opportunities like this and I felt impossibly appreciative and amazed. It was as if I got to walk around for a few hours in other people's versions of the book, to see how it floated around in other people's heads. It's difficult to articulate how special that feeling was, to see these pieces in the room. And I had the chance to read these poems to a very packed roomful of people who had never before knew I even existed. This may never happen to me again, but it will sit in my organs like a great generative disease until I get senile and forget it. I took some pictures (the second half of this little photo-show), but my cheap camera doesn't do right by these pieces. I wish you could have seen them in person. Actually, you still can. They'll be up for a month. 









Jeremy Schulz. From "The Whale."
Jeremy Schulz. from "The Whale" 

Cynthia Orrico. From the "I've Always Loved You in the Sand."

Andrew Sobol. The 3 panels of the triptych from the Black and White telephone series. 
Janna Sobol. The large wooden wedding cake replica from "Center of Worthwhile Things."
Christopher Sisson. From "Full of Knives"
Danielle Barton. From "What I Found in the Forest." This picture is taken with a flash, unfortunately, because what made this piece so great is its shadowiness. The hollowed-out woman has some dimly lit lumberjacks flowering inside. 
Alex Paschal. From "Islands in the Black Night." Most of my photo, however, is just a reflection of me taking the photo. That means something.
Pete Infelise. From "Voice Box with Words Still in it." A video was playing inside. You don't want to know what it was showing. 
From "The Monster Hour"
From "Black Square She Wears"

Documentary on the history  of the building, an old Wurlitzer factory, in which this show is taking place.

Andrew Sobol. From Black and White Telephone Series. 

Jeremy Schulz. Boy with mile-long stilts from "The Whale"



Friday, October 02, 2009


I'm in Chicago. I'm drinking an iced-tea with milk in it in a coffeeshop up north on Clark St. I'm going to get picked up soon to go to DeKalb for that art opening I was trying to tell you about a few days ago. Are you coming? I'm a little anxious. My feet feel like heavy axes, my back feels like a wet 2x4, my bones are hot rusting water pipes. 

The second issue of the Portland based indie lit mag, The Benefactor, is out and willing to be consumed. I have a few poems from a manuscript called 1977-2050 in there. If you buy it, it will make you a better person.