The Next Big Thing: On (a) lullaby without any music

What is the working title of the book?

It is the same as it is now, but the parenthesis and absence of capitol letters arrived later.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

The [Husband] poems where directly influenced by a sonnet that Lisa Jarnot wrote for her husband Thomas Evans (published in Night Scenes). The idea for the Field Guides came from experiencing the natural environment in Hood River, Oregon, and my dilettantish interest in the form of a 'field guide.' The final section came from the day I smoked marajuana with my 78 year old grandmother and a visit to the children's museum in San Francisco that had an archival room full of bones and dead things.

What genre does your book fall under? 

Poetry

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

My life is a Noah Baumbach film, utterly. And so is this book. It's Margot at the Wedding, with slightly less drama. Slightly.

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

Love and birds.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

 My entire life.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Lisa Jarnot, Andrea Baker, my husband Jim Stewart, my kid Jeffrey Stewart, my dad, my Aunt Cathy, my mother-in-law, my mother, my grandmother, my two pet (wild) Cardinals, Mount Adams, Maryrose Larkin, COAS bookstore in Los Cruces, Jim Campbell, a young Japanese boy I loved named Kenzo, Emma Bee Bernstein, Eric Bartlett Chappelle, Lewis and Clark, my car Susie and Powells bookstore.

I tagged:

Sheila Fiona Black, Maryrose Larkin, Andrea Baker, and Kate Greenstreet

A Rubberband is an Unlikely Instrument

Stranger things have happened, but not really.

My neighbor, colleague and one of my dearest friends, Andrea Baker, is the subject of the documentary A Rubberband is an Unlikely Instrument. The documentary, made by Matt Boyd, is a quiet meditation of Andrea's marriage (now ended) to the talented musician Walter Baker.  This piece of cinema reflects the vision of a wonderful filmmaker, who studied with Jem Cohen.  The film has been recently discussed/reviewed in Filmmaker and Variety and The Village Voice. People who do not know cinema might review it as "tedious" but those who love Anges Varda and others, will adore it for it's beauty.

One crucial thing that the reviewerd are not mentioning is Andrea's work as a poet. Andrea and I met through poetry shortly before she was chosen by Claudia Rankine for the Poetry Society Chapbook Fellowship. She has essays pertaining to marriage Here and poetics Here. Her visual poetry appears in the Current Omni-Verse and her second collection will be published in 2013 by OmniDawn Press.

I hope those interested in the film take the time to look at Andrea's work. Like the film, like Andrea, her work is a great lyric.