over the next 72 hours
Posted by William F. DeVault | Filed under Appearances, Dan McTaggart, Family, Journal, Muses, Video contest, West Virginia, contests, peacat
According to various sources, including myself, my web hosting company (web.com), my publisher, my friend Dan McTaggart, the remaining judges for the TVC2008 who have not yet gotten their votes in to me (harrumph), Barnes & Noble, my parents, my sibs, the media, my sons, one of my ex wives and two or three inspirationally-gifted friends, the next three days of my life should unfold with some of the following milestones.
Tomorrow we will announce the winner of the TVC2008. Mass hysteria will abound as we announce the TVC2009.
peacat.com will vanish, by midnight tonight. If no one with greater claim to the name asks for it before the registration runs out next year, it will go back on the open market.
I will give three two-hour readings at Barnes & Noble in Morgantown, WV, Sunday (10-12, 1-3, 4-6) with the assistance of the amazing Dan McTaggart, who co-authored Psalms of the Monster River Cult with me. I don’t think they could handle the intensity of the Long Beach reads, so I am trying to strike a balance.
Michael Phelps will win two more Olympic Gold Medals.
I will add ten more pieces to williamfdevault.com. Someone will blast me for the lovely nudity that is interspersed with the other artwork on the site. I will feel bad that I am being criticized, but will soldier on.
I will hear from someone out of an unexpected quarter.
I will write something inexplicably charming.
I will announce sometime today…oops, already did, that some of the Fields of Arbol pieces appearing on Amomancer will find their way onto williamfdevault.com.
Some doucebag will leave a stupid (definition: willfully ignorant), presumptive and irrelevant comment on one of my blogs.
I will drive over 500 miles in the next three days. I will still be alive Monday morning.
I will have dinner with my family on Saturday, and visit with my Grandmother, who is 96…bearing down on 97 next month.
I will discover a fantastic new muse.
t-minus 77 days and counting
Posted by William F. DeVault | Filed under As such, Dan McTaggart, Evangelist, Evangelist Tour, Events, West Virginia
My good friend and sometime collaborator, "Mountain Poet" Daniel S. McTaggart, has accepted my invite to be part of the festivities for the kickoff of the Evangelist Tour, on August 17, 2008. I would encourage (en couer rage) any and all within driving distance of the Barnes & Noble in Morgantown, West Virginia, to attend. You are in for some surprises.
I am soliciting some local musical talent. Whether this means some local bands will perform and/or there will be an Amomancer performance, I leave it to the fates. But in a perfect world, if I had my druthers, you’ll get both. All the hours I have been spending in the studio of late are paying off…I no longer think I sound like a dying, diseased bullfrog with a hernia. And I am learning how to work a microphone! (It is tougher than you might think!)
I am also tracking down other local authors to take part in the readings. Books and CDs galore (all of them, including Dan’s) will be on sale (if you guys sell me out of them on day one of the tour…ah well…), with the Evangelist CD and As such being the official CD and book for the tour.
77 days. Sheesh. Gotta get back on the treadmill.
I remember Mama voting
Posted by William F. DeVault | Filed under Memoir, Thoughts about Life, West Virginia
My good friend Nordette Adams has broken up my weekend by giving me a writing assignment, to write about my mother’s influnce on me, politically, particularly as it pertains to voting.
I have known my mother all my life as a woman of fierce principles, particularly her more Conservative bent, especially in relation to the abortion issue (I avoid the topic around her anymore, we have a very divergent view on this issue). But I recall her always trying to sort her busy schedule as a working mother to make sure she had opportunity to vote, to make sure her voice was heard and that she could feel good about the process including her.
My father has always been very liberal, working-class Democrat, much the dove on international affairs, my mom the opposite. I always felt they sort of cancelled each other out, so it was my job as a liberal Democrat to make sure the balance was tilted. I note that West Virginia went for Bush only after I had moved.
I think the impact our parents have on us is more than the lectures and the obvious hand-holding, but the examples they set. I never recall my parents trying to dodge civic responsibility, whether it was to vote or serve on jury duty. These things are inconveniences in a free society, they are the paltry pence we pay for such an environment.
There, Nordette, now I can post the link to http://acorn. org/moms and report I am done!
getting it all in a ball and taking it on the road
Posted by William F. DeVault | Filed under As such, Dan McTaggart, Journal, Love Gods of a Forgotten Religion, Media, News, Poetry, West Virginia
Whilst my actual manhood is under remote control from thousands of miles away, I have gathered my wits and wiles and held council of war with a few choice friends to announce (subject to delightful change at the whim of the right woman) the initial planning stages of a coast-to-coast poetry tour this summer, taking in festivals, conferences, book fairs, schools, churches and maybe even a diner or two (just to make Dan McTaggart happy).
I have tentative arrangements underway already in six, make that eight, er…eleven…cities (nothing named until they are locked in, but let’s just say there are a few cuckolded husbands and ex girlfriends who are going to have clear shots at me from the back of a room within driving distance). Most likely to begin in August…I was planning to go on vacation to LA this August but my traveling partner may have opted out and thus the tour will be therapeutic. Of course, if she wants to come and be my wingman for the tour, I won’t argue…I had this one wingman named Ann on the Southern Poet’s Reading Tour…
Florida has never heard me read in person. They will. Texas knows me all too well, and they are getting an extra helping. Chicago? I wouldn’t miss it (or a certain suburb) for the world. I’m a dead man if I skip Morgantown, Salinas, Birmingham or Mobile, and New Orleans looks good.
My ex has been eying me all week saying she knows my reaction to stress and it tends to be an explosive change of direction that confounds my peers, dazzles my friends and pisses off my critics (I have no enemies, no one is worthy of that title). I figure I have one good run left in me and rather than rot somewhere, waiting for the worms, I am going to burn like a magnesium flare. Not much good as a mouldering hulk, you know.
I haven’t mounted a tour like this since 2002 (I have mounted anything since 2004, but let’s just keep that between us, shall we?) and the Love Gods of a Forgotten Religion book tour, which was a blast.
So if you know a good local venue, high school (the tour will overlap the start of the school year), festival, sorority house or bookstore, drop me a line, I’ll get you with my coordinator and we’ll make some magic. I may even get a band on the road, you never know. And I am willing to partner with one or more local poets to share the stage…never have been a microphone hog.
I am still looking for a theme, and such might yet occur, but I will let you know in a few days.
Oh, for those of you looking to order As such from amazon.com or your local bookstore, I got off the phone with my distributor a few hours ago…they were apologetic, but it is taking longer than usual for the book to get listed out in Books In Print, which is what all the book vendors use to order from. Keep patient, I will let you know when it is live. Right now the largest stash of the book in the world is probably sitting in South African customs.
a tribute to Mary Tomasky
Posted by William F. DeVault | Filed under Journal, Memoir, People, Poetry, West Virginia
Those of you who have read the pages about me in the Appalachian Educational Initiative’s "Art and Soul" volume know that I included a tribute (an essay, not a poem) to the only Creative Writing teacher I ever had, Mary Tomasky. She was the CW and Art teacher at Morgantown Junior High School when I attended there, and our relationship was stormy, mostly because she didn;t let me get lazy,
She never really understood the level of impact she had on me as a writer until years later, when I was selected into that volume and wrote of her influence. I am at my best when challenged. I am smart enough and talented enough that I can "get by", and being human, sometimes that’s exactly what I try to do. She recognized this and kicked my butt around the table when I gave her less than everything in my poetry or fiction.
She has had more than her fair share of personal tragedy in her life, and I won’t go into that here, but when I think of my most crashingly bad day and how hard it was to rise again, I recognize in her someone who exemplifies the human spirit.
This is for her.
to my teacher
lessons learned, burned into my soul
kind intentions, a steady hand to guide
and the ability to take great pride in what comes from the effort
I am, in part, made of your will
in forcing me, in time, to face
that which in me gives grace to the random gifts I sport
you did your Maker justice
who did give you the will to reach,
to teach me and countless others, lessons of life’s report
William F. DeVault. all rights reserved.
the Gazz has…me
Posted by William F. DeVault | Filed under Media, Poetry, West Virginia
I was interviewed by email this week by Vic Burkhammer, for his arts blog. Here’s the link:
the gazz interview with William F. DeVault.
I am going to be doing an over-the-phone interview with him this weekend. I’ll let you know when it surfaces.
Thanks, Vic. And Candy likes the picture, although I think I look like a demented chipmunk in it.
Poetry Out Loud over and out
Posted by William F. DeVault | Filed under Journal, Media, News, West Virginia
The results are in at the WV Finals of Poetry Out Loud…and I know them (having been one of the three judges, I got to shape them!)…
First off, let me say that all the contestants were worthy. It takes guts to get up and recite long, complex word puzzles while your friends, family and competitors stare at you with blank, unblinking eyes, silently praying for you to humiliate yourself.
The winner was:
Carolyn Rose Garcia of Notre Dame High School in Harrison County, who edged the competition in the finals owing to her incredible performance of "Shirt" by Robert Pinsky.
The runner-up was Jasmine Lewis of Spring Valley High School in Wayne County who gave a powerful recitation of "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou.
I have to give two special unofficial awards out of my own.
The first is to Elizabeth Falstreau of George Washington High School in Kanawha County who wow-ed the judges with her poise and presence, particularly in her finals delivery of "Walking Down Park" by Nikki Giovanni.
The second is to Emma Dalen, whose charming delivery of Shel Silverstein’s "Sick" got her into the finals.
Congratulations to one and all, although I should point out that most of you failed to approach me to sign your gift copies of my book at the reception!
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