Milwaukee Risin'

Mike Hauser's book on Rust Buckle Press should be purchased immediately.

This Whole Town's Made of Fiberglass Pools

Our retarded country music soul brother Alex Battles has put some of the extraordinarily retarded villanelles I wrote with Maureen Thorson to music. You can listen to them here.

Fiberglass Pools, Ohio, is particularly obscenely catchy and gut-wrenchingly wonderful.

OctOpOwrimO etc.

No Tell Ro*Tel
for Alex Battles

By way of a certain unusual
sort of penance: I hung a sign
on myself saying “Gone To Hell”
where “Hell” is a place without
canned tomatoes and “Gone”
is me all the way there, without
anything “To” make my dish
less yellow. And here I sit
in my metaphorical blindfold,
with my hands (maybe) tied
behind my back; my last
cigarette is a toothpick
(a paragon of good health
right up to the end,) but what
is that muttering? Are they
laughing at me? [strips
off actual blindfold, starts
throwing punches, discovers
no one is there. Heads
for the kitchen to dig
around in the refrigerator.]

The Durge Report

Sybil was wondering
what to be
for Halloween.

She has a pair
of wings,
so I suggested

she pour hot wax
on herself
and presto: Icarus!