March 2012
13 posts
Bavaria
The mountain skies were clear
except for the umlaut of a cloud
over the village.
The little girl wore yellow gloves.
She looked in the peephole and saw
a stack of unused marionettes.
Yet, she wondered.
Merrill Gilfillan Review
My review of Merrill Gilfillan’s The Bark of the Dog is in the stunning new issue of Prairie Schooner, which also includes good poems by Eric Weinstein. I don’t know if my review is worth reading, but Gilfillan’s book definitely is.
Jorge Carrera Andrade
Just finished Micrograms, which is wonderful. Some snippets:
WHAT THE SNAIL IS
Snail:
tiny measuring tape
with which God measures the field.
THE EARTHWORM
Constantly tracing in dirt
the long inconclusive stroke
of a mysterious letter.
THE CORN
It is gold and silver, the laugh
of decapitated corn
on its high green pike.
SUMMER MUSIC
In its embers, summer
is grilling a cicada,
intimate flesh of the tree.
Internet Advice
The Broken Gaze, by Paul J. Leslie, III
Every salesperson at least one point in their career has been asked about their competition by a customer. It never looks good to a customer when you talk bad about your competitors. When you use The Broken Gaze you will be able to say nice things about the competition that your customer will perceive as negatives without you ever saying or expressing it.
1. You must be in excellent rapport with good eye contact with your customer from the beginning.
2. When the customer asks about your competitor, break the eye contact and slightly lower your voice.
3. When you are done talking about them instantly re-establish eye contact and previous voice patterns.
For example:
You and Mrs. Smith are talking about the fine washer and dryers your store sells. You are in good rapport and have anchored `quality and dependability’ to yourself. You have excellent eye contact. She then asks about Jones Washers, who are down the street. You immediately break your eye contact and slightly lower your voice and say, “I have heard that there are nice people down at Jones”. You immediately reconnect your eye contact and bring back your voice pattern to normal to tell Mrs. Smith about your free delivery offer. If she asks later about Jones Washers you try the same approach. Her brain will link losing rapport to Jones Washers, so it doesn’t matter what they offer she will feel disconnected to the competition.
You have succeeded in your sale without bashing anyone.
Don't Let Me Forget to Feed the Sharks
Just got Jeff Alessandrelli’s new chapbook—a beautifully made object from Poor Claudia. Here’s my favorite poem from it:
EDITS
Particles of dirt
rimming the hard plastic.
I found the lost city
of Atlantis
in the dog’s
water bowl, stark,
unmistakable.
It was crushed round.
It was flat.
Lately I haven’t
been doing much
of any heavy lifting.
No theory or reading.
No bikes.
It’s wider
than I thought,
the dog’s bowl.
Still deeper:
Pet stores, of course,
are fabulous places
to meet so many beautiful men and women.
Thinking of Work, by James Shea
A brief storm
blew the earth clean.
There was much
to do: sun to put up,
clouds to put out,
blue to install,
limbs to remove,
grass to implant.
(The grass failed.
We ordered new grass.)
A limb had cracked
in half in the short storm,
short with its feeling.
We saw its innards,
all the hollow places.
Something flew out of
the window and then
the window flew out of the window.
