"Summer was very great."

This is the mildest Willamette Valley summer in recent memory. A mild winter, followed by a postively Summery early Spring, follwed by an irrepressibly rainy late Spring, and finally now, a Summer that seems more like Fall. It's 66 degrees outside now and overcast. I went out to get coffee and met a few stray raindrops.

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If I'm a bit obsessive about the seasons, it might be because I've been thinking of the new manuscript, Wintered. It will, predictably, have four sections. It begins in Summer, ends on Spring. Most of the "Fall" and "Winter" poems are ex-girlfriend poems, or many of them, at any rate. I still love her. It's like that t-shirt--"I had a rocky relationship and all I got were these lousy poems." Maybe I'll Neighborhoodie that one. Or maybe not. Maybe I'll do like Andy and Neighborhoodie Smiths lyrics onto my sweatshirt.

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Joe Ceravolo talked about "the School of Everyday Life." With courses in the seasons. Or that's what Paul Hoover's anthology tells me. I want that. When I lived in Fresno, we had only two seasons: Hot and Fog. In San Diego, there were no seasons, and I didn't mind at all. My older self would probably mind.

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I hate nature poetry. That said, I love the poems of A.R. Ammons and Joseph Massey. So maybe I like nature poetry despite my urbanist tendencies. If I were a real urbanist, however, I'd move out of this town. I'd move to the city.

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Wintered is also concerned (in a very superficial way) with "America."

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The chapbook formerly known as "Don't Get Me Started" has been renamed "Here's to you." It's very close to being finished. We just need to revise what we have and maybe write a few new poems. It's funny--I've never met anyone with whom I could collaborate so easily. It's probably because Andy and I have pretty similar aesthetics and personalities. Someone asked me, "What's Andy like?" and I said "Like me, only moreso." Erica Kaufman described him as "Like you [Tony--me] only less Jewish." Of course, I'm not Jewish, but I type Hebrew emails to Erica, so I guess that's what she meant.

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Now playing: fIREHOSE, "Can't Believe." An exuberant (summery?) love song. "Don't know how it got to be / I can't say / God bless you and me baby / I lose myself / I can't believe! I can't believe! Hey hey!"

Now playing: Devin the Dude, "Reefer and Beer."