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[20 November 2010]

SOME BULLSHIT CROSS-PROMOTIONAL HYPEMACHINE SHIT FOR SOME WACK-ASS POET PONCHO PELIGROSO WHO WAS LIKE ONCE TAPED FOR DEF POETRY OR DEF COMEDY OR SOMETHING BUT HIS SHIT WAS NEVER AIRED

Gmail - Chat with Poncho Peligroso


Chat with Poncho Peligroso


Poncho Peligroso <mcponcho@gmail.com> Sun, Nov 7, 2010 at 12:11 AM To: marshall.mallicoat@gmail.com

10:00 PM

Poncho: whassap yo

10:01 PM

Marshall: hey bro

10:02 PM

Poncho: nothing is happening and it’s cold

Marshall: yeah

seems normal

Poncho: yeah

today i had a four-hour rehearsal for tartuffe and then passed out for most of the day

10:03 PM

Marshall: is that the play you’re doing

tartuffe

Poncho: i was way too into it and had like a controlled panic attack onstage and couldn’t feel my face or hands

yeah

i’m so fucking exhausted

i woke up in the early evening and drank a red bull in the hopes that i would be able to use the energy to go have fun with people

but nothing is happening and it is cold

10:04 PM

Marshall: damn

yeah

theater seems crazy

seems really hard

Poncho: thursday is opening night

i’m freaked out a bit

but i think it’ll be good

10:05 PM

Marshall: do you have a big part

Poncho: yeah i’m the father figure who’s sort of the central character who everyone is trying to convince in different directions all the time

‘orgon’

Marshall: oregon

Poncho: haha

lately the cast has started making fun of each other’s names all the time

10:06 PM

i’m usually oregon or oregano

Marshall: i just wikipedia’d it

what translation are you doing

like, is it in meter, is it rhymed

when was it translated

Poncho: yeah, it’s rhyming meter

the early sixties i think

don’t remember the translator’s name tho

Marshall: like, is it that strict meter through the entire thing?

10:07 PM

like 12 syllables or whatever?

rhyming couplets?

Poncho: yeah

it’s really strict

Marshall: goddamn

Poncho: but that actually makes it easier to memorize

Marshall: does it sound crazy

hearing people talk like that for hours

does it seem insane

Poncho: it did at first, some of the cast is better at making it sound normal

10:08 PM

it’s an amazing translation for the fact that it can actually sound pretty normal a lot of the time even though it’s rhymed and metered

Marshall: are there any lines that you like “really don’t like”

Poncho: hm

Marshall: any lines that make you “cringe” every time

10:09 PM

Poncho: my ‘son’ has a lot of weird lines, he’s always angry

there’s one line where he’s yelling at a guy something like

‘someone might execute a smart tattoo on that black jacket of yours before you’re through’

and nobody can figure out exactly what that means and he can never manage to get it to sound natural

10:10 PM

Marshall: to “execure a smart tattoo” seems to mean like to “beat it”

like, ppl write sometimes “beat tattoo” like to mean “beat a rhythm”

Poncho: hm

Marshall: like, hit the jacket

Poncho: maybe

10:11 PM

Marshall: “beat a tattoo”8

*

fuck

seems dumn

idiomatic

dumb*

fuck

Poncho: yeah it’s one of the few lines that lapses into some kind of idiom that people just can’t work their tongues around

that sounded dirty

Marshall: idiom

10:12 PM

like, whenever i see a musical or something, i like often really don’t like it

like, all those “clever rhymes” and shit

they say so much stupid shit

Poncho: yeah

10:13 PM

i’m not much of a fan of musicals and i often don’t like extraneous rhyme but i’m pretty amazed by how well tartuffe works in dialogue despite how unnatural the writing is, clearly

i’ve fantasized as like

restructuring the whole thing

as a rap battle

Marshall: yeah

rap battles are like, often really wack, too

10:14 PM

like, so bad

ppl are terrible

Poncho: AND NOT CONTENT WITH SUCH EXTREME RASCALITY/NOW THREATENS ME WITH MY OWN LIBERALITY/ AND AIMS BY TAKING BASE ADVANTAGE OF/ THE GIFTS I GAVE HIM OUT OF CHRISTIAN LOVE/ TO DRIVE ME FROM MY HOUSE A RUINED MAN/ AND MAKE ME END A PAUPER AS HE BEGAN

Marshall: off the dome

Poncho: live life in caps lock

Marshall: spitting these flows

fuck

have you seen like

10:15 PM

“essay on man” or something

whose is that

Poncho: no

i don’t know

Marshall: alexander pope

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Essay_on_Man

like

fuck

shit seems crazy

all those epic english poems

in “miltonian meter” and shit

essays about philosophy and shit in meter and rhyme

fuck

10:16 PM

what were they doing

what were they thinking

i can’t understand that shit

those epic poem things

seems insane

Poncho: we could probably understand what they were thinking if we actually read them but i tend to not be able to read anything that has apostrophes in the middles of words that have ‘e’ in them just to replace the ‘e’

10:17 PM

Marshall: yeah

Poncho: “abus’d or disabus’d”

Marshall: e’ryday

Poncho: er’yday

Marshall: yeah

feel like, i’m like “really prejudiced” when it comes to “word choice”

like, so many words seems so bad

10:18 PM

Poncho: every word probably has its place that it can be put to good use, but it seems like some words are just thought of as ‘more poetic’ and so they appear in poems where there is probably another word that would suit it better but not seem as poetic, or something

10:19 PM

Marshall: yeah

dunno

feel like i am really “inflexible”

Poncho: bright lights make me sneeze and i feel like i’m going to sneeze but i can’t so i’m turning the brightness on my monitor up and down in an attempt to make myself sneeze and it’s not working

i’m stuck in sneeze limbo

Marshall: like, there are only a few ways of using certain words that seem “acceptable” to me

Poncho: it is impossible to communicatre

oh man

10:20 PM

perfect typo

Marshall: that’s a good typo

look at that typo

10:21 PM

the english language seems like “really dirty”

fucked up and irregular

Poncho: it’s a mongrel bitch

Marshall: like, seems like some things are okayy

i like some parts of it

Poncho: there’s a girl who i’ve kind of got a thing going on with here but tonight i realized that i don’t have her phone number but have only contacted her through facebook and gchat and i feel desperately alone

i like english for how much you can fuck with it

for how fucked up it is

split every infinitive

10:22 PM

end every sentence with a preposition with

Marshall: yeah

i guess

dunno

dunno

dunno

feel like i might read grammar books and shit

dunno

like

dunno

10:23 PM

i was some perverse desire for “consistency” in things

Poncho: i just tried to click on this chat window and accidentally opened skype

Marshall: it seems like language is inherently “unbalanced” and “uneven” and shit

Poncho: yeah

Marshall: like, it makes me want to be like a painter, or something

Poncho: i hate it when someone asks me for the definition of a word that i understand but find myself completely incapable of explaining it

Marshall: and just paint squares and shit

10:24 PM

yeah

like, i look up the etymology of words a lot

to understand what they mean better

Poncho: ‘copacetic’

i hate that word

so much

also ‘blogosphere’

but for different reasons

Marshall: like, many words that are used “abstractly” have some “concrete” meaning that the “abstract” meaning is a like “metaphorical extension” of

10:25 PM

Poncho: yeah

‘fish’

Marshall: like, “all language is metonymy” or something

dunno

i like the sound of voices

i like how ppl talk

i like accents and shit

10:26 PM

Poncho: i have like the plainest most uninflected nonregional american accent ever

Marshall: i like ppl that talked in like really repetitive ways, or something

yeah

i’m not really sure what my accent sounds like

it’s hard to know

like, i always thought it was pretty “neutral” but maybe it’s not entirely that

10:27 PM

Poncho: a girl asked me to record a video of me reciting my poetry the other night and i recorded it and watched it and felt really dirty

partially because i was shirtless in the video

out of laziness

Marshall: yeah

in my old apartment, it would be hot a lot

so i wouldn’t wear shirts or pants, or whatever

10:28 PM

Poncho: ~50% of existing photos of you are shirtless

Marshall: yeah

like

yeah

it’s probably cuz my roommate took more pictures of me when i wasn’t wearing a shirt than when i was

felt like an exhibitionist

10:29 PM

feel like i’m kinda an exhibitionist

gay shit

Poncho: yeah, if only other people were okay with that so we could achieve our dreams of bodily acceptance and thus be slightly less insecure

10:30 PM

Marshall: yeah

nudism

dunno

i want to make a documentary

10:31 PM

cuz like, if you are recording things, you are “more brave” or something

like, you are trying to “make it good” for “the camera”

Poncho: god damn the song i’m listening to just said ‘you will never leave this place, you will always feel alone’

fuck you laura marling

Marshall: that’s good

seems true

ha

Poncho: i’m restarting the song so i can hear it again

Marshall: dunno what the “point” of art is

10:32 PM

like, some sad ppl just write sad songs for sad ppl to listen to

Poncho: makes me feel less alone

it’s like

Marshall: sad ppl feel better when they listen to sad songs

sad ppl feel better when they write sad songs

Poncho: loneliness is slightly less lonely if you know other people are lonely like you are lonely, even if it isn’t an actual respite from that loneliness

Marshall: yeah

Poncho: oh my god i’m so alone

Marshall: seems like “everyone is alone”

seems like that is a “universal truth”

10:33 PM

Poncho: yeah

Marshall: like, “you can never be unalone”

like, no matter what you do, you’ll still be trapped inside your brain

Poncho: i tried to write a love poem and i ended up including the line ‘it is impossible to communicate with another human being’

i fucked up pretty bad

that love poem

Marshall: yeah

like

poems have “plots” sort of

10:34 PM

you can fuck it up if you put the wrong kind of line somewhere

dunno

Poncho: i think it works it’s just not what i intended

whatevs

Marshall: like, sometimes i just want to list “facts” and not try to create a “plot”

Poncho: god damn it’s 11:30

i guess this is what i’m doing with my night

Marshall: ah

it’s 10:30 in central time

you’re so fucked

ha

fuck

10:35 PM

last night, i felt fucked

like, when i’m around ppl and no one is paying attention to me

i’ll just say, “fuck fuck fuck” over and over

or “jesus”

or “shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit”

i guess even when ppl are listening i do that

i just say those things over and over

Poncho: that sounds nice kind of

Marshall: to feel better

Poncho: really gets to the heart of things

cuts through the bullshit

10:36 PM

Marshall: like, it helps me “express” my “existential angst”

i just say fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

cuz i feel so fucke

d

Poncho: i’ve started greeting people by just doing droning screams

instead of saying hello

nobody ever says ‘how are you’ anymore

and i’ve had a cough and nobody has told me to feel better

everybody just tells me not to die

Marshall: it seems like i’m not very good at conversations

Poncho: they’re confusing

Marshall: non sequiturs

10:37 PM

Poncho: butts

Marshall: don’t die, poncho

right?

Poncho: yeah

Marshall: shit

shit

dunno, man

Poncho: i’m capable of ‘getting better’

but i’m gonna die

no matter what

Marshall: who has the answers?

Poncho: it’s gonna happen

Marshall: seems like someone must know them

seems like it’s not that hard to figure out

dying seems scary

10:38 PM

Poncho: yeah

Marshall: sometimes i feel really scared

that’s the worst

being afraid

Poncho: yeah

Marshall: seems worse than being alone

Poncho: i know that once it happens i will not fear it because there is nothing on the other side of death for me to fear, there will not even be myself to fear anything

Marshall: sure

Poncho: but thinking about that too hard, that permanent lack of fear/anything else, is terrifying

10:39 PM

i want to keep existing

even if i feel bad a lot

Marshall: yeah

jesus

seems like really “tedious”

like, seems like i think/say the same things over and over

seems like ppl have thought the same things over and over

10:40 PM

like, do you know wittgenstein

the philosopher bro

Poncho: not really

i know of him

haven’t read him tho

Marshall: someone made a twitter for him

like, they tweet his journal entries chronologically

like, he’s like 27 right now

Poncho: hahaha wow

Marshall: he tweets about being depressed and getting in fights with ppl

10:41 PM

he goes off to fight in like WW1 or something

and he feels better because he might die at any time

he talks about “solving all the problems of logic” and shit

he talks about god

like, he seems delusional

like, if i knew that guy, i would think he’s stupid

but, since it was a long time ago and ppl say he’s a “great philosopher,” you give him more credit

10:42 PM

Poncho: that is how i feel about almost all philosophers i’ve read

Marshall: like, seems like his books must be bullshit

Poncho: they seem like they’d be utterly nonfunctional as human beings on a day-to-day basis

Marshall: just cuz he lived a long time ago doesn’t mean he’s not retarded

dunno

feel like all the things that are supposed to be “true” of “contain truth” don’t do or have those thing

s

like, it’s a scam

a lie

Poncho: knowledge is evolving but people still read freud for some reason out of a respect for the ‘foundations’ of things or the classics or something

10:43 PM

Marshall: somebody lied

like, freud seems like complete bullshit

like, he seems retarded

Poncho: yeah, but he’s still mandatory reading at my university

Marshall: why don’t ppl read that and think he’s retarded

what the fuck

like

are ppl insane

it makes me feel insane

Poncho: me too

10:44 PM

Marshall: i can’t understand what kind of monster a college professor must be

what an “academic” must be

jesus

inhuman

a monster

Poncho: i have had good professors

Marshall: an alien

a criminal

Poncho: but my school is really weird

Marshall: i feel like everyone is insane and i feel afraid

Poncho: yeah

10:45 PM

Marshall: “the college experience”

Poncho: the harder i think about the implicit social contract, the stupider it seems, the more i want to just yell things and shout ‘I FEEL TERRIBLE, DOES ANYONE ELSE FEEL THIS WAY, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU IF YOU DON’T’

Marshall: yeah

are there books where ppl say that

like, that can’t be a new thing

where are the books where ppl say those things

Poncho: gon’ write ‘em B-)

10:46 PM

Marshall: fuck

like

i think things like

“no one is unique” or something

like, it seems like there are lots of ppl just like you in most ways

so like, there should be some writer you can find who thinks the same things about things as you

and you can find those books and read those books and feel good

seems like they’re hard to find, tho

10:47 PM

like where are they

Poncho: i felt that way while reading infinite jest tbh

as well as ‘eat when you feel sad’, strangely

Marshall: damn

Poncho: those two extremes

Marshall: i feel like dfw is “insane”

like, i feel “alienated”

from himm

him

dunno

10:48 PM

Poncho: i was talking about this stuff with carlos kind of

Marshall: like, if you feel really bad and are afraid of dying, why would you write like that

Poncho: what do you mean

Marshall: like

why the fuck would write about all these tedious things

10:49 PM

like, why would you spend years writing a giant book if you actually felt terrible and wanting to die and were afraid to die

seems like he didn’t feel that way

so i feel like i can’t related

dunno

seems insane

Poncho: well he was seriously chemically depressed

Marshall: dunno

yeah

and like insane

Poncho: and his antidepressants just stopped working after a while

Marshall: like he wrote stupid shit

Poncho: i think

Marshall: stupid useless shit

for the “depressed reader”

like, not helpful

infinite jest seems “unhelpful”

10:50 PM

that’s my review

seems unhelpful

Poncho: infinite jest was extremely helpful to me

Marshall: like

how

fuck

Poncho: i read it right after i dropped out of university after having a nervous breakdown and it contributed greatly to my recovering mental health

Marshall: “instructive literature”

yeah?

fuck

Poncho: i dunno

10:51 PM

like, things that are supposed to be inspiring never did much for me

but infinite jest like

all those people just barely surviving terrible, terrible shit

was somehow inspiring and helpful and reassuring

Marshall: it’s like a comic book, tho

like

Poncho: what

Marshall: not real

the narrative

it’s not “realistic”

like, they aren’t real ppl

or w/e

10:52 PM

Poncho: well, certain aspects of it, certainly

the wheelchair assassins

weren’t really helpful

but like the alcoholics and the halfway house characters and don gately in the hospital

but then if it’s not real how is any literature or anything helpful ever

it makes people feel okay

10:53 PM

Marshall: yeah…

Poncho: that is the best you can hope for

Marshall: i guess like…

dunno

i don’t know how “literature” “works”

like, but if you want to “help” ppl or something

then, it seems like a novel like that doesn’t do it well

like, it seems like “speaking plainly” would be better

10:54 PM

it seems like he had other “goals” than “helping ppl”

Poncho: it depends on the person

well

my mind works that way, a lot of the time

and finding literature that mapped the same kind of insanely overanalytical to the point of paranoia thought processes that made me have that breakdown actually helped me to get over them

10:55 PM

Marshall: like……

i guess maybe i just have problems with like “narrative” or “fiction”

like, i can’t “take it seriously”

like, talk like a person, or something

10:56 PM

like, fiction seems really “alienating” or something

inhuman

why can’t you just talk to me

why do you have to write like this

why don’t they just “talk normal” or something

Poncho: but that’s how i felt when i was living in texas, it was how i actually talked and thought and felt, and when i tried to communicate with people they’d tell me to stop talking nerd and i’d have to consciously focus on slowing down my speech and using ‘smaller’ words even though ‘hence’ is monosyllabic

10:57 PM

and so to find a writer who matched my thought processes that i had suppressed by the place i grew up felt very freeing

Marshall: yeah..

what am i saying…

like…

10:58 PM

when you read a novel, you have to “accept” the “conceit” of the story…

like, these things aren’t happening, they are words on a page

Poncho: yeah but that’s pretty much the case with all art

Marshall: when you are reading and you can forget that, that it seems like it can be “effective”

Poncho: ‘this is not a pipe’ or whatever

Marshall: like, you go to a movie

and like, in the middle of the movie for some time, you forget you’re watching a movie

10:59 PM

and you feel “good” or something

but then the movie ends

and you realize it was just a movie

like, can’t a movie make you feel “good” without having to trick you into thinking it’s not a movie?

Poncho: yeah

Marshall: like, it seems like infinite jest doesn’t do that

i guess that’s what fiction is

11:00 PM

Poncho: i mean i’m a film student so with every movie i watch i also have a second level of awareness of the technical process of creating the film

Marshall: that’s how it works

Poncho: but i can do that and just watch a movie at the same time

it’s weird

but with infinite jest i frequently lost myself for hours just reading, totally absorbed

11:01 PM

Marshall: :/

dunno

Poncho: booty booty buttz

Marshall: seems “disappointing”

like, why can’t things be better

“everything is terrible”

11:02 PM

Poncho: like i always say

(everything is terrible)

Marshall: i’m reading noah’s book

treatise

i’m like halfway thru

there are lots of typos and shit

Poncho: that’s the only one i didn’t get

11:03 PM

yeah he needs an editor

but he’s still really compelling

Marshall: like, who published these books

why didn’t someone copy edit it

Poncho: dunno

Marshall: what kind of shitty press is publishing these

Poncho: they’re short, it would be so easy

i don’t know

Marshall: like

seems like it doesn’t make sense

dunno

like

11:04 PM

seems “sadder” with the typos

like

noah is like an “outsider writer”

Poncho: ‘literary pariah’ is the term he usually uses

Marshall: yeah

you know like “outsider art”

have you read that wiki page

11:05 PM

Poncho: crazy people

Marshall: yeah

like, that seems like a really “important” concept to me, re art

the idea of “outsider art”

it seems like, every artist is an “outsider artist” or something

dunno

maybe i don’t think that

like

11:06 PM

anyone who is really “bad” is like an “outsider artist”

they are insane

they aren’t able to perceive what is “good”

“bad taste” is like a mental illness

11:08 PM

Poncho: noah’s not like ‘crazy person’ outsider though

he’s just regular outsider

Marshall: he seems “crazy” in some sense

like

i kind of use “insane”/”crazy” to mean like, The Other, or something

11:09 PM

like, anyone who is not you is inhuman

a monster

they are insane

because they’re brain is different

they might kill you and you would tell them to stop and they might not

so like…

i dunno

like, anyone who writes a sentence with a typo, to me, seems sort of “insane”

in a sense

Poncho: hahaha

communicatre

11:10 PM

Marshall: dunno

it seems like any “failure of judgment” is like “damning” or something

like, if you fuck up anything, you might kill someone, or something

dunno

like, you are “retarded”

if you misspell a word, you are “retarded” and “damaged” and “insane”

11:11 PM

like

dunno why i think this

dunno what i think

11:12 PM

seems like, by spelling words correctly and not fucking up punctuation, we can save ourselves from becoming stupid, from becoming senile, from dying

Poncho: that’s probably not what they meant by immortality through words

Marshall: like, if i can read style guides and write in accordance with them, i won’t die

like, i won’t go crazy as long as i can do that

Poncho: good luck

Marshall: i don’t know what i think

i’m not sure what i think about this

11:13 PM

i have some weird reaction to this thing

yeah

it’s like a “fear of death” thing

like, it’s about not making “mistakes”

Poncho: is that, like, OCD

Marshall: like, it could be

11:14 PM

it seems like maybe everyone’s “abstract beliefs” are just “side effects” of their mental disposition

Poncho: pretty much

Marshall: like, depressed ppl think the world is cruel and evil

11:15 PM

ocd ppl who try to use good grammar find typos to be depressing, or something

dunno

middle class ppl are afraid of their teeth falling out

it is a sign of disease, insanity, death

they’re body/brain failing

their*

11:16 PM

Poncho: i have nightmares about my teeth falling out a lot

Marshall: ppl in the 3rd world, don’t

they don’t

they don’t give a fuck

dunno

like, they aren’t afraid of that

Poncho: it just happens

Marshall: it seems like a “small death”

Poncho: it’s a fact of life

for some people

Marshall: losing your teeth, losing your hair, getting fat, getting old

Poncho: teeth are temporary, like all things

11:17 PM

Marshall: sure

i guess all of these are like an “extension” of the “fear of death,” or just it to a “lesser degree”

some ppl aren’t afraid to die sometimes

dunno

11:18 PM

Poncho: good for them

that solves a lot of problems probably

Marshall: like, that’s like the “biggest thing”?

is there anything bigger

11:19 PM

is this “existentialism”

Poncho: i think so yes

we’re being existential

feels cold and hollow

shit

11:20 PM

i really want to fall asleep holding a pretty girl with soft skin and stop thinking like this but i probably can’t do that tonight

Marshall: like, existentialism is like about how “existence” is the main thing; like “being alive” or “being dead”

yeah, bro

but like

will that help and shit

bro

Poncho: a little

Marshall: seems like i’m not able to get to sleep if i’m in bed with someone else

11:21 PM

can’t sleep

Poncho: i’m insomniac anyway

Marshall: dave attell

11:22 PM

Poncho: that was a good show

Marshall: can’t really remember what that show was like

Poncho: wish i was 21/in a city, so i could do that

11:23 PM

Marshall: 21 is so sweet

Poncho: just wander around instead of being isolated on a rural college campus with no car

11:24 PM

Marshall: dunno

11:26 PM

Poncho: the usual advice

here

because it’s a rural isolated college campus in western massachusetts

is ‘winter is coming, make friends’

and it’s getting cold

and i’ve alienated the two people i was closest to

11:27 PM

Marshall: be chill, or something

don’t alienate ppl, or something

dunno

Poncho: i’m trying

but there’s only like 500 kids in the whole university and nobody keeps secrets round here

everyone takes sides on everything

makes me paranoid

11:28 PM

Marshall: sounds shitty

gossip-y and shit

Poncho: yeah fuck gossip

Marshall: fucking high school

11:30 PM

fuck

Poncho: just had this said to me

benladen: http://spamfm.blogspot.com/2010/07/im-going-to-find-you.html i just realized i wrote this for you way before i met you

11:31 PM

Marshall: damn

confused

Poncho: me too

11:32 PM

Marshall: watching dave attell on youtube

where is he now

Poncho: probably touring doing stand up

i haven’t done anything productive or of worth in six hours

i haven’t masturbated in days, which seems weird

but i couldn’t work up the motivation because my new pants have a button fly

so much effort

11:33 PM

Marshall: ha

damn

button flies

i’m like really unproductive

don’t know what i’m doing

don’t have any “direction”

11:34 PM

Poncho: my main accomplishment of the past six hours is eating an entire can of sour cream and onion pringles

Marshall: cool

fuck

11:35 PM

dave attell is so bald

Poncho: yeah

Marshall: noticebly bald

11:36 PM

the hair he has accentuates his baldness

he actually seems more bald that ppl who are completely bald

Poncho: does it make him funnier at least

Marshall: yeah

seems chill

11:37 PM

my bro is going out to a bar or something

thinking about not going

Poncho: go for it and say ‘fuck’ and ‘jesus’ and ‘shit’ and livetweet it

Marshall: like

11:38 PM

“this joke isn’t funny anymore”

like

it gets not fun

i get tired and sad

then i go home and go to sleep

like

i could just go to sleep and skip it

dunno

Poncho: sleep is probably a better idea yeah

11:39 PM

Marshall: listening to the smiths now

so sweet

“take me out tonight”

i like like two smiths songs

“there is a light…”

and “how soon is now”

those two

so sweet

Poncho: brb bathroom

11:40 PM

Marshall: have you heard those songs

“There’s a club, if you’d like to go
You could meet someone who really loves you
So you go, and you stand on your own
And you leave on your own
And you go home
And you cry
And you want to die”

11:44 PM

Poncho: that is how i have felt every time i have gone to a ‘club’

hollow desperation

Marshall: yeah

seems “accurate”

seems like “why even go”

11:45 PM

like “nothing’s gonna happen”

“waste of time”

Poncho: so you can write about it later for your literary narrative, duh

11:46 PM

Marshall: yeah but

dunno

just listen to the song

don’t write anything

don’t go to the club

11:47 PM

Poncho: hold perfectly still

eventually cease to blink or breathe

11:48 PM

Marshall: guess so

dunno

“i am human and i need to be loved” -morrisey

ha

damn

damn

so emo

“i’d go out but i haven’t a stitch to wwEEEaaaRRRrrrr”

Poncho: both- what

hahaha

11:49 PM

Marshall: smiths seem sweet

haven’t really listened to them

Poncho: oh haha

Marshall: but seems potentially sweet

11:50 PM

dunno

seems like maybe i shouldn’t go anywhere

don’t try to [something]

like, just be alone

11:51 PM

until that’s not bad, or something

“quitting life cold turkey”

Poncho: don’t die

get better

11:52 PM

Marshall: like

not gonna die

just gonna be sad and shit

Poncho: woop woop

solidarity

Marshall: like

“not even,” or something

dunno

feel confused

11:53 PM

maybe i’ll just be alone and write sad things

like, “what else is there,” or something

Poncho: you’re good at that so far

brb hold on

Marshall: like, i’m not going to die

not gonna kill myself

11:54 PM

like, seems unlikely that things will “improve” or whatever

i try to think about what is a “sustainable lifestyle” or something

a “plan”


8 minutes

12:03 AM

Poncho: i really enjoy this song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-vbyIkkHiQ&feature=related

12:04 AM

Marshall: spooky

12:05 AM

when i want to listen to sad songs, recently, i listen to will oldham

he has some sweet songs


5 minutes

12:11 AM

Marshall: talk to you later, i guess

peace, bro

Poncho: g’night

sleep good

Marshall: yep


#interview
Comments + 0 Notes

[12 November 2010]

I interviewed internet writer bro Steve Roggenbuck about his chapbook i am like october when i am dead and his writing in general. It was a success?

MARSHALL: In your essay on your blog about submitting to literary journals, you said your “primary goal with publishing is to share [your] writing with other people.” In your essay on publishing in the public domain, you said your “main goal is to make things [you] like and share them with other people.” Is there a “more primary” goal you have which “writing things you like and sharing them” achieves? Or, is doing this the goal itself?

STEVE: i have related values, but i don’t know what is most primary. one thing is trying to being honest with myself and others. i usually try to do what i really believe in or what i really like, not just reverting to what other people do. i think this kind of honest effort is why i feel a need to “be vegan,” for example, instead of just criticizing human supremacy without actually changing my life. if i think something is mean/wrong, i try to live my values about it. so in my writing, i try to do what i actually like, instead of following “shoulds” or standards

another related value might be appreciating people and experiences rather than achievement. one thing i like about being with friends is that each person has their own way. everyone is influenced by culture and other people, but each person has their own style or combination of styles, which shows up in their humor, voice, movements, and other things like dress and taste in art. i like seeing what each person would create (in writing/art, but also “everyday life”) given the freedom to do whatever they want. that is mostly why i am interested in reading and sharing literature, i think

i would maybe define this as opposite to the utilitarian outlook that something should be valued only for its utility. my favorite things about people are their particular characteristics that probably don’t affect “suffering” or “happiness.” i like that people can like different things and share what they like, and relate to what other people like

MARSHALL: It seems that the poems in your chapbook are at least partly “autobiographical.” I also read on your blog that some of the “material” for your uppercase poem series comes from your old MSN Messenger chat logs. Is this “autobiographical” element related to your desire to “[be] honest with myself and others”?

STEVE: i think about 6 of the poems are autobiographical and 9 are not, although some poems could maybe be either because they just express a feeling or relationship between things, like “i am like october when i am dead.” i don’t think my autobiographical content is directly connected to being honest. i think you can communicate something honest by using metaphor, voice, and events that never happened to you. for me, as long as i’m doing what i really want to do, and not letting myself really be side-tracked by other limitations or incentives, that is honest

MARSHALL: I guess you like sharing your writing with people. Do you worry about things like “accessibility”? I guess these poems (and also the uppercase poems) are pretty “brief.” Is this “brevity” possibly related?  Also, do have any “ideal experience” that you would like a reader to have? Or, an “ideal way” of “interacting” with the poem? Do you have a “message”/”feeling” when writing that you would like the reader to “get”?

STEVE: i don’t worry about accessibility in the way that ted kooser and billy collins talk about accessibility or anything, like writing poetry that mainstream america “understands.” but i think my writing style(s) is potentially “accessible” to a bigger audience than most poets’ writing style(s). what i try to do is make poems/art that are exciting to me, with the idea that there are others who have similar taste

i think brevity allows the poems to focus on one thing and make it clear what i am trying to do, so it affects accessibility a little. if some of the “funny” lines in my chapbook were put into 50-line poems with other stuff happening, a reader might not notice them as funny anymore. a lot of my humor is based on paying close attention to tone. putting only one sentence in a poem encourages people to look closer at the sentence and the tone, not just the “meaning”

i think there are certain attitudes that will help a reader enjoy my writing in the ways i intended, although i am ok with other ways people read it. the humor in my poems is often subtly laughing at/about people being presented seriously. the voices in the chapbook—“god help me im throwing my neighbor off a building,” “i will choke your dad”—are funny to me because of their intensity. in my msn-based poems, i’m often subtly laughing at/about cultural references that seem slightly out-dated, like myspace, or somewhat “entry-level,” like atreyu or pedro the lion. some of these cultural references i even like, but it’s laughing at people presenting themselves seriously

there are a range of reactions to my poetry that i really appreciate. i like when people laugh at my readings. i like when people like things and they don’t know why they like them. i like when people acknowledge that they like the visual design of a poem. i sometimes like when people are confused, but i hope they are able to eventually “get” that there is nothing to “get” in any intellectual sense (i hope people don’t feel excluded from “the joke”)

MARSHALL: Your “bio” on Twitter says simply “vegan poet.” In your “bios” on your blog and in your chapbook, you also identify yourself as a vegan. Do you think your status as a vegan “relates” to your status as a writer? Do you think it is more “relevant” than other characteristics, such as “from rural Michigan,” “male,” etc.? Is your writing “informed” in any way by your “vegan-ness”? Do you have any other reasons for identifying yourself as a vegan publicly?

STEVE: for me, my writing and my understanding of veganism are related. i will write a blog post about this sometime soon, and i’m also starting a video project where i interview other vegan artists about this, sometime. but i recognize that “vegan poet” might mean basically nothing, or something different, to most people

for me veganism is a set of beliefs or a worldview just as much as a set of practices (diet/consumption). it is the worldview that leads me to question the domination of the weak by the strong (the human domination of other animals, but also powerful humans dominating less powerful humans). so veganism interacts with my writing as a set of ideas, in the same way that zen ideas have interacted with my writing

i think questioning power relations and established standards is something in veganism and in my writing. in my writing, i do what i am interested in. if something about the usual way of writing or publishing bothers me, i will find a different way to write or publish. to me, this seems like a similar impulse as the person who dislikes the normal way of treating other animals, or the normal way of being a “consumer,” so they commit to a different way

you don’t have to be a “vegan” to question like this… i’m kind of describing the “avant-garde” in general. but for me, the questioning in my art and in the rest of my life (veganism, activism) developed together.  (i read the dada manifestoes the same month i ‘went vegan.’)  so i mean “vegan poet” in a broad way, like a lot of “feminist art” is called feminist for questioning hierarchy in general

i also publicly identify myself as a vegan because i want people to consider veganism in general and, if they have questions, ask me about it. i have thought and read a lot about veganism, and i really believe in its value to make a lot individuals’ lives better, especially if it is considered as an idea and a deep/sincere effort, not just a diet

MARSHALL: You used to (and maybe still do?) play drums in metal bands. Have music or songs influenced the way you write or the kinds of things you write? Have you ever written words for songs or do you intend to so in the future? Would you consider your poetry “metal” in any sense?

STEVE: i’ve written lyrics for songs a couple of times, but i didn’t like them a lot. in a broad way i think my poetry shares some characteristics with metal music. in an old blog post, i wrote about listening to slipknot in high school and being a nonconformist. then when i got into poetry, i read e.e. cummings, and he had the same general message of being different from “mostpeople.” whether or not i ever write “about” being a “nonconformist,” i think my writing styles enact some questioning (like i wrote above about veganism). metal is a counterculture that rejects a lot of mainstream culture and values. my writing also rejects a lot of mainstream culture and values, at least in the writing style, and sometimes in the content

MARSHALL: In the commentary video you made for your chapbook, you explain that many of the poems are parts of longer poems, or shortened versions of longer poems. Was “brevity” one of your goals when putting together this chapbook? Are these shortened/”fragmented” versions “distillations” of the longer/”full” versions? Or, are they “essentially different,” or something? What is their relationship, as you see it?

STEVE: one thing is that i started to dislike synthesis being used to communicate a message. there was a longer poem called “poem beginning with a line by ts eliot who was alluding to king lear i am pretty sure” (blazevox spring 2010), which i eventually divided into 3 chapbook poems and deleted some other parts. in its longer form, it used a lot of emotional experiences to create a general “emotional vibe.”  but i didn’t like how the individual experiences seemed to be exploited by that form to create a vibe. i wanted to isolate each experience and just have each one be its own thing. i didn’t want my grandma’s funeral to be used to bolster political arguments or some different emotional feeling. i wanted each experience to just be that experience

another thing was explained in the commentary video… i wanted the humor to be more subtle. the “oh, you have a smock on” poem is an example of this because it used to have a sort of “punchline” feeling to it, but now it’s just an observation, and that’s it. i am interested in voice-based humor where i’m not sure exactly what i am laughing about/at

a third reason is that after reading the same poems for about a year (most of them were drafted in 2009), i kept getting tired of various lines. i removed a lot of “okay” stuff and only kept what i really liked consistently for a long time. it’s maybe similar to how when i was in a band, we decided that we’d rather be a band with a high-quality 15-minute set rather than a 1-hour mediocre set. since writing my chapbook, i have been doing other short poems, but i’ve also written some longer poems. i now feel able to write some longer things without having the same problems of synthesis as much

MARSHALL:  You chose to use a sentence for the title of your chapbook that also appears in the chapbook. It seems like this is a common “strategy” for titling things: using a “piece” of the “whole” to signify the “whole” (which is “synecdoche,” I think). What was your “strategy” regarding your choice of title? Does the title “sum up” chapbook for you, in some sense? Is it doing something else?

STEVE: choosing that title brings out certain characteristics of the chapbook… i considered a lot of other titles like “god help me im throwing my neighbor off a building” or “good fucking lord we enjoy the wheat season in michigan,” but i like that “october” allows for “serious” overtones as well. so it’s not “just a joke,” even if it is a funny chapbook

like i mentioned in the commentary video, i like the donnie darko feeling i get from the poem with the “october” line in it. i feel like i identify with that “dark” aesthetic/vibe. i am watching the music video for “funeral thirst” by “the black dahlia murder” now. i kind of like how the drummer is wearing a hooded sweatshirt and they are playing music in a graveyard

MARSHALL: Are there any writers or other people/things that you consciously “copied”/”emulated” when putting together this chapbook?

STEVE: while writing and revising, i didn’t consciously copy anyone. i just reacted to what i liked or disliked about each poem. after, i sometimes noticed where my idea or style was coming from. i was highly influenced by walt whitman and ron silliman when i wrote a lot of these drafts. i was highly influenced by tao lin and k. silem mohammad for the last eight months of revising them. my tone/aesthetic was influenced by donnie darko, and the subtlety and brevity was influenced by zen practice, my friend chris miller’s ideas about difficulty, and bell hooks

MARSHALL: It seems that many of the poems have to do with “finality.” It seems that many of the poems have to do with “ending” or “leaving” or “dying” or “absence” or things done that are “irreversible.” These lines make me think of those things: “god help me im throwing my neighbor off a building,” “now they are way gone,” “you are gone,” “thats it / thats all / the poem is done, get out,” “i am like the killers of people,” “it is way over, my dad said,” “i burn my car on purpose[.]” I guess some parts of the poems are also more “open” and like the “opposite” of what I just said. Do you want to say anything about this?

STEVE: i haven’t thought about the poems in that way. i think a lot of those lines are a result of the extreme/intense speaker in many of the poems. i guess it fits thematically with october and being dead. i may have aesthetically been drawn to that kind of imagery/language because of the influence of donnie darko and “dark” things in general, but i’m not sure

MARSHALL: You mentioned three months in the chapbook: February, October, and January. “October” is in the title. The chapbook was published in October. In the “deleted scenes,” you mentioned July, December, June, as well as New Year’s Eve (which is sort of the “liminal space” between two months, between two years). Was this on purpose, or something? Do these things have some “significance” to you?

STEVE: stating the time of year in a poem was something i did after reading a lot of haiku in 2009. traditional haiku always says something indicating the season. i like seasons, and i have a lot of emotions based on them. the beginning of fall and the beginning of spring make me feel happy and nostalgic for past falls and springs. when i think of summers, i feel a specific way, and a little bit for winters as well. aside from that, in the title “october” feels kind of “dark” to me (due to dying plants and halloween), which i like. in the last poem “january” feels symbolic for a “beginning,” possibly a “new beginning,” which works well with the final line, but i don’t care a lot about it. i think i mostly like putting the time of year in poems. i like descriptions in novels like, “it was sunny and there was a cool wind,” usually more than dialogue or the character’s thoughts. it reminds me of those kinds of basic experiences, and i feel nostalgic and appreciative about my life

MARSHALL: The last line of your chapbook is “i greet myself at the beginning of a great career[.]” In your commentary video, you explain that this is a reference to Emerson saying to Walt Whitman in a letter “I greet you at the beginning of a great career.” Your line seems kind of “sarcastic” to me. What do you think about “writing careers” (or “careers” in any other kind of art)? What are your “long-term goals” regarding writing? Would you “predict” for me what the next 50 years of your life might look like?

STEVE: ah, the line is a joke to me because it is really arrogant, but i don’t mean any serious comment about writing careers. i actually want to do something that affects a lot of people. i think i especially want to move culture. i want to affect what the world is like in 20-50 years. a lot of my writing/life goals have to do with inspiring/affecting other people. so i have never really wanted to “succeed” just to succeed in an abstract way, or not even primarily for money, but i want to inspire other people

also, i am disappointed by how poorly other people have done with power. people with really unhealthy values or bad motivations seem to be in charge of most media and culture. even “flagship” brands for indie/hipster countercultures seem pretty shitty with labor practices or other ethical issues. i would like to demonstrate, broadly through an aesthetic and an artistic project, a way for people to live healthily for themselves and others

toward this end, i will probably create and release artistic (and activist) projects every year of my life. i will probably seek continually larger audiences for myself and other culture i believe in (other writers, but also anti-oppression activists and zen speakers). i will use guerilla distribution, social media, and various kinds of publishing toward this goal. i will try to create some income through some part of my project so i can focus my work hours on this project, rather than a different job (i am reopening my etsy store this week, which may provide income eventually)

you and i have discussed in emails the idea of accepting being “unsuccessful” or something, and i’ve thought of limiting myself from chasing “my dreams” because i should accept whatever life i have. but i think for me the ideal is to accept my life, but still try to do my best at things that i think are good for myself and others. although being obsessed with audience or “success” may be unhealthy for me, i don’t think the “answer” to those concerns is to strictly limit my involvement. i want to try to limit my mental attachment to success, but i want to keep working hard to spread culture that i believe in

MARSHALL: I guess you are from “rural Michigan”? (Is that accurate?) Do you feel anything about this? Do you feel any sense of “provinicality,” or something, due to being from a “rural area” and/or being from the Midwest? Do you feel any “affinity” or sense of “belonging” with regard to any places or particular “subcultures,” or anything?

STEVE: “rural michigan” is accurate… the main effect i have noticed is that i have always been a little behind with culture, growing up. i associate rural michigan with listening to a band like norma jean and being the only person i know who likes to them, or feeling unique for wearing plaid shirts and skinny jeans, or thinking i am the most progressive person for celebrating “earth hour.” in those rural areas, it seems rare and difficult to “develop” “beyond” “entry-level” alt culture, even with the internet

the bigger result for me is that i feel nostalgic and happy about “entry-level” alt culture, actually. i think a 16 year old listening to slipknot or metallica is beautiful… i think a 19-year old repeatedly listening to “kids” by mgmt in 2010 is wonderful. i think it is lovable to be “behind” things like irony and what is hip or new. with my msn-based poems, i laugh at a lot of the cultural references or the cliche language, but i also feel a love and adoration for those people and experiences

#interview
Comments + 0 Notes

[22 September 2010]

PONCHO PELIGROSO PUBLISHED A CHAT WITH ME

Poncho Peligroso is an internet writer bro with an extensive internet presence. He published a chat with me re poetics and my forthcoming novel on his blog.

#interview