City of Legends

yep. 

In three days you’ll know at least the titles of the pieces in the new book.  Fat lot of good it will do you, as many of the works are not currently available online (remember it is estimated that only about 7-8% of my catalog has ever been available on the ‘net).

Thanks again to the team of madmen (and madder women) who have contributed, directly or indirectly, to this volume, including Liza Lorraine for the cover, the yet-undisclosed dedication, the several woman who have inspired the poems in this volume and the friends, peers, editors, audience, fans, readers and critics who have helped shape the selections.

I am pleased with the result.  And, if you know me, I am my own severest observer.

Cleared it with the dedicatee…(which means if you haven’t heard from me in a few days, it isn’t you, sorry…but look on the bright side, this means we are likely to still be talking a month from now).

Layout is nearling completion, now is the horrendous phase when I second guess every editorial decision I’ve made for the book (loveaddict) and keep getting distracted by my next projects.  Focus.  Focus.  Focus.  ooooooooh…shiny…

And for those of you still curious (judging by the comments and emails, some of you are)…at least one of you guessed right.  Hint:  They’re female (the dedicatee).  Second hint:  They have very nice legs.  Yeah, I know, big surprise.

It’s good to be king.

"It’s swell here in Hell", as I say in my poem "TRUTH".  Actually, I’m fine…just vibrating like a vibranium tuning fork (which is to say, you can’t see the energy, but it is there).

The book progresses.  Have dropped from a week behind my latest schedule to about 3 days behind schedule, and all without the benefit of caffeine overload (I am saving that for the final sprint).

Great episode of "Californication" last night on Showtime.  It reminded me of a few moments from my life that I will never admit to.  Reminds me, I should make sure and send a crate of copies of loveaddict when it comes out to all the charming people who make it such a wondrous series to watch.  It is perhaps my most powerful television addiction at this time.

Love to all.  Truly, even those who don’t like me, who don’t like my poetry and the self-selected few who would rather I roll over and die.  Love to you.  I wish you joy, peace, happiness and immortality.

Hmmm…

My friend, Thomas, was nosing about, trying to get me to tell him who the new book, loveaddict, is being dedicated to.  I am practicing keeping secrets, I told him. 

I can, however, say who (or is it "whom") it will not be dedicated to:

• Either ex-wife
• Any one of the three sisters or the three Panthers
• Any woman I have ever made totem of a fruit, a vegetable or a gemstone
• Immediate family, or even not-so-immediate family.  That would be icky.

The specificity of some of the exclusions sounds like you can bet it is at least a woman.  Never said that, all will be revealed in good time.  But I can tell you I spent a massive amount of time thinking about it.

Why?  You ask.  Well, on at least three occasions in my life, right after I have taken the immortality pledge by dedicating a book or other magnum opus to a woman, she bugs out.  So, I was thinking of dedicating it to some of my creditors, in hopes…

But that would be a waste of a perfectly good opportunity to celebrate someone who has had an impact in my life and on my art. 

I have considered dedicating to groups of people, like the Morgantown High School Class of 1973, the nuns in Dundalk, Ireland, or the people at the Appalachian Education Initiative.

I have sat down with all the muses, major and minor, and evaluated them for impact, resonance and deservedness.  As my brain makes the inevitable, if somewhat delayed, transformation from liquid to crystalline intelligence, I have come to realize many things that, in their own time, were obscure to me.

Wait until you read the book. 

Nah, not talking about how to use creativity to cram 36 hours into a 24 hour day.  Talking about scheduling my creative time, outputs and products over the next few months.

loveaddict nears completion.  It goes out to the blurbistas in the next several days (good group, but I always have good blurbistas).

New, unnamed CD.  I was disappointed in my experiment in virtual CDs…so I am going back to real, solid, proper case and all CDs.  Look to January.  I need the free time over the Holidays to really get traction.

Website renovations:  Watch for news on this.  There may be some coming up soon.

I am hoping to do some readings in early December, but will save anything major until the new year.  I am writing almost every day.  Some fairly good stuff, sprinkled with some very good stuff.

The new book, loveaddict, is still tracked for mid-September.

The cover remains as designed (see left).

The blurb assignments are going out this week.

And, no, I am not going to reveal the dedication or foreword before release. 

Again, 10,000 thank-yous to the amazing team who have helped put this together, especially the beautiful and talented Liza Lorraine, for the cover shot.

The selection of works inside I have been silent on since last month as I wrestled with some tough decisions, but will abide by previous statements regarding key works from such sources as the Panther Cycles, the Goldenheart Cycles and Damascus.

As time and health allows, I do plan to tour in support of the book.  Sorry to have been so obscure over the last year or so…I am working it all out, though.

Aside from trying to squeeze in a viewing of District 9 and making sure I do not miss True Blood Sunday night, and with a tip of the hat to Nancy (the first one, Psyche, the Electric Lady, etc, etc) as two days ago was her birthday, two days from now is mine (we used to have a joint celebration on the 14th to split the difference), I am looking at a brutal weekend.

And loving it.

I have to finish final engineering on blister, the virtual CD I am uploading on my birthday…got my final contributor’s files yesterday.  Gonna be fun.  The cats have gone into hiding.

Still editing the new book.  Anastacia, my old, dear friend, got in touch with me and is feeling a bit down in the dumps and wants to hang out this weekend.  I have no less than three proposal efforts I am working on, aside from some quality program audits in the next week to prep for…

Yeah, it’s going to be crazy.  And I love it.

Final recording sessions for blister should be done this weekend.  I am really torn on this one…I can see (hear?) that there is some very good stuff on the "cd"…but that just makes me want all of the tracks to be superhuman.  Dammit.

Whipping on loveaddict.  It is starting to take shape…to take life and flight and all those other good and groovy things.  Is it wrong of me to want this to be the best book so far?

Infinite thanks to Huerta, Liza, Jennifer and everyone else who is keeping me propped up while I pour my soul out into the wind.  It is draining and painful, but I don’t want to just phone it in…

I have decided, purely on thematic grounds, that the other "White Sunday" poems aside from "White Sunday V" are NOT going to be in loveaddict.

I received several notes over the weekend, threatening me with the kind of torment I probably deserve, for having left the trifle "I will come for tea" off of the poems slated for loveaddict.

I relent, I relent and repent!  It’s in.  I swear, it’s in.

I figured I would respond in a single entry to some of the requests that have been made by friends, peers and occasional crazed fans towards the inclusion of certain works in loveaddict.

tread softly?   No.

Aubergine?  No.

bare feet on a wooden floor?  No.

Panther on the Beach?  Hell, no.

sacred smile?  Definitely no.

before I die and once again?  Not in this universe.

surrendered to your grace?  Maybe.  Shocked?  Hey, I am not a total monster!

a kiss is an act of courage?  Possibly.

wine?  Perhaps.

lust bunnies?  Nope.

But keep asking, people.  I have a hard time tracking everything I’ve ever written and I am most likely to overlook somethings that people want to see in this volume.