notes on 'eat when you feel sad' by zachary german

"I wish Myspace and Facebook wouldn't email me when people send me messages or leave comments or anything, so I would have another website to log on to. As it is, I know that nothing new is happening on Myspace or Facebook."


eat when you feel sad by zachary german was out from melville house in 2010; it is fiction and 117 pages. it is not broken into numbered sections or chapters

eat when you feel sad has minimalist sentences; sometimes it is repetitive or mechanical

Robert searches "vintage ralph lauren" on eBay. He looks at his bank statement. Robert listens to the song "Gold Soundz" by Pavement. He listens to the song "Gold Soundz" by Pavement. He listens to the song "Gold Soundz" by Pavement. He looks at pictures of Lil Wayne on the internet.

all the dialogue is introduced with 'says' before the quotation, and thoughts are introduced with 'thinks'

     Jim says "Hey Rob." Jim is lying on the couch. Jim says "Just get back from partying?"
     Robert says "Yeah I was over at Dan and Ted's."
     Jim says "Oh, you were over there?"
     Robert says "Yeah."

eat when you feel sad has a lot of cultural references. maybe there are 100 references to bands and songs. most of the references are indie or counterculture to a degree but not really obscure. there are scenes that only describe robert making a playlist, and a list of the songs

the book is a series of scenes; the scenes are not usually connected with explanations of their relationship. a lot of times, i read a scene and think about what it is like, to do some action or experience something, not really thinking about plot

a lot of the scenes have things like laundry, eating, and masturbating. sometimes there is a lot of description of a mundane activity

Robert puts the sweater on the counter. The salesperson looks at the sweater. The salesperson says "It's sixteen dollars and fifty cents." Robert hands the salesperson a twenty-dollar bill. The salesperson says "Out of twenty?"
     Robert says "Yeah." The salesperson does something with the twenty-dollar bill. Robert says "I don't need a bag." Robert puts the sweater into his book bag. The salesperson hands Robert three one-dollar bills, two quarters, and a receipt. Robert puts the change and the receipt into his pocket. He says "Thank you."

there are some emotional issues in the book. in some parts i can relate to how robert wants to have money

The bank teller is talking to another bank teller.
     The other bank teller says "Yeah, my buddy's a valet, some steak place in midtown. The other day Jay-Z came in, gave him a hundred-dollar tip."
     Robert's bank teller says "Hell, if I was Jay-Z I might just give out hundred-dollar tips myself." Robert's bank teller says something.
     Robert says "What?" Robert's bank teller is typing.
     Robert's bank teller says "If you were rich like that, wouldn't you do something like that?"
     Robert says "Oh. Yeah." Robert's bank teller hands Robert a receipt.
     Robert's bank teller says "Have a great day."
     Robert says "Thank you." Robert walks outside. He thinks "I wish I was Jay-Z. I wish I was rich like that." He walks to the laundromat. He takes clothing and sheets out of the washing machine. He puts clothing and sheets into a dryer. He puts quarters into the dryer.

i felt emotional reading 2 or 3 parts in the book. here is an excerpt of robert talking on the phone to alison

     Alison says "Do you feel depressed?"
     Robert says "Yes."
     Alison says "About Mike?"
     Robert says, "I don't know." He says "About you. Sort of."
     Alison says "Oh." Robert moves his cell phone from his right ear to his left ear. Alison says "I'm sorry I've been such a bad friend to you."
     Robert says "It's okay." He is crying quietly. He says "You haven't." He says "What are you talking about?"
     Alison says "I'm sorry I don't know how to make you feel better."
     Robert says "No, that's okay."
     Alison says "What?" Robert takes his cell phone away from his ear. He presses the red button on his cell phone. Robert connects his cell phone to his cell phone charger. He plays the song "William, It Was Really Nothing" by The Smiths.

here is zachary german's blog 'everytime a police officer gets shot i throw a party'; eat when you feel sad as an e-book in a different version; blog about zachary german's purchases; wikipedia; poems by zachary german (click his name for a supply of more poems); 'selected work' from zachary german's blog; zachary german's formspring; the page for eat when you feel sad on melville house's website

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'understanding how a rainbow works, yo' - k. silem mohammad

fiction / eric beeny snowing fireflies skype launch august 24
music / 'home' by bone thugs and phil collins
music / 'miracles' by insane clown posse
music / salem
poetry / the continental review, video poetry
poetry / poem by michael hessel-mial
poetry / essay poems by marshall mallicoat
poetry / poem by sam pink
veganism / 'basing our advocacy on values we actually believe in' by me at l.o.v.e.

going to review some fiction soon by zachary german and tao lin. i might start doing 'close readings' of individual poems. are people bored of reviews on here? i don't know if i'm focused enough, reviewing almost every book i read

what are some rap songs that sample older songs?

notes on 'sometimes my heart pushes my ribs' by ellen kennedy


sometimes my heart pushes my ribs by ellen kennedy was out from muumuu house in 2009. it is fiction and poetry; it is around 52 pages, not broken into any sections

the subject matter includes fruit, ants, sex, shoplifting, a relationship(s), depression, marijuana, waiting in the car while your mom is in a store, and obese nonhuman animals

some of the more serious and emotional fiction affected me more than i am usually affected by books. the relationship between 'woody allen' and 'ned vizzini' in 'Eoody Mobby' felt very genuine to me. the end of 'Probably Going to Die Alone' made me feel very strongly

the description of judy's parents and friends in 'Probably Going to Die Alone' felt relatable to me

In the car Judy's mom opens her free promotion bag and finds a chocolate covered pretzel bar. It says "100 calorie snack" on it. She says, "100 calories." Judy's mom opens it and starts eating it.

sometimes the stories end in the middle of something, or at a seemingly 'insignificant' time, which i liked

there are quite a few 'progressive' cultural references like an inconvenient truth and organic food

After I take my vegan dietary supplement my piss is brighter and clearer

(i have experienced having brighter and clearer piss; i've heard it happens because of there being about 500% DV of riboflavin in multivitamins)

a lot of the cultural references are very specific including specific store names

put the entire box of clif bars from a duane reade in penn station in your bag and walk away

there is a poem in the book about ants killing a slug, and the same story is mentioned in cognitive behavioral therapy by tao lin. in cbt, a hamster's friend talks about it online; in smhpmr, there is a direct description of it by the speaker

there are also things in an online story by ellen kennedy that are mentioned in cbt by tao lin. this interested me because it suggests ellen kennedy and tao lin write about their friends and real life experiences and things they talk about with their friends

two poems are called 'Poem.' i like that because people say it is a 'cop out' to name a poem that

there are 'realistic' and 'surreal' events in the book. most descriptions are about humans doing usual things; there is also a walking restaurant and a bear who headbutts a house window

here is a story in the book; poem in the book; story not in the book; poem not in the book; ellen kennedy e-book on bear parade; ellen kennedy's twitter; tumblr; the page for smhpmr on muumuu house's website

three poems ______________________

here are 3 poems from my project of uppercase helvetica poems. the language in these poems is taken from social media like youtube and msn messenger logs. the tone and cultural references seem funny to me and sometimes make me feel nostalgic. i think the visual format brings attention to the sentences as sentences and encourages the reader to spend more time on each poem


notes on 'objects for a fog death' by julie doxsee


       OK, you are
       a bird.

objects for a fog death by julie doxsee was out from black ocean pretty recently; it has 93 pages in 5 sections

subjects include lightning, magnets, wings (expensive wings), water, ghosts, secrets, knives, the number 13, rabbit costumes, moons, bullets, radios, hands, and suns. the diction is 'quirky' and 'cute,' sometimes dark


       We sleep
       on that voice as it kills us


the poem 'Lightbulb' includes the phrases 'a baby bunny,' 'my mitten,' 'a molehill,' and 'jack-o-lantern'; sometimes the book feels like a kind of fragmented, neo-surrealist children's book

most of the poems are in couplets but some poems have 'tercets' and other forms


       like

       I said I
       will come
       at you at

       one of the wee hours
       as I make light
       saber noises


the book has a lot of wordplay including verbing nouns, nouning adjectives, adverbing adjectives, count nouning noncount nouns, and intransitive verbing transitive verbs


       People elevator the upward

       numbers


and


       The higher quiet of me
       walks through smoke


there are a lot of long sentences stretched over short stanzas; sometimes a poem is just one sentence. in 'The Solid Odd of Headlights,' one sentence 'ranges' the first 7+ lines of the poem


       Six months later I
       translated the swans' winter dance

       from my window & blacked out
       when the landlord vacuumed

       electricity out with those cooled
       versions of light & melted my reading

       glasses upping the thermostat
       2 degrees


it's sometimes difficult for me to picture things mentally because the surreal details are layered 3-4 times

here are three of the poem titles that i liked


       A Bit of Couch

       Secret Water

       Our Child is a Vulture


here is info on the reading tour for this book (august + september 2010); page for ofafd on black ocean's website; a video of julie doxsee reading a poem from this book; a blog of mostly photography from julie doxsee; bio and other publications

you can read julie doxsee poems at tarpaulin sky, shampoo, la petite zine; many more available if you search her name in a search engine

notes on 'frowns need friends too' by sam pink

"yep, I am combing your hair with my fingers you motherfuckers."


frowns need friends too by sam pink was out from afterbirth books earlier this year. it is 154 pages, sometimes with more than one poem on a page.  i found sam pink through coconut, then read his poem at pax americana, then read his poems in columbia poetry review 23 and decided to read a book. a friend on facebook recommended this book of his

the poems are usually made up of 1-4 line bits pasted together without much obvious connection between them. for me the book read like a string of punchlines

Board games make me want to kill.

i visited my mom and i had this book and she said sam pink 'is pretty morbid.' the speaker says they want underwear made out of eyelids and 'to cut thin sections off you, beginning with your feet'

the speaker in fnft has a deadpan tone like speakers in bsg, tao lin, or castro, wehrenberg jr, but pink's seems more smart-assed and outgoing

At a restaurant I saw a man with a very long beard.  I said, "I like your beard."  He said thanks.  Then I braided my fingers, put my thumbs together and said, "What do I have to do to walk away with that bad-boy in my pocket?"

the speaker asserts a lot of things that seem logically or physically impossible

My face is held on by magnets.  I can take my face off.

the speaker is portrayed as kind of gross/disgusting

I can't help but think of how disgusted people must feel when I give them a hug.

i liked some of the poem titles a lot. here are 4 of them

WHAT IT IS, MOTHERFUCKERS
WHEN I GO FOR WALKS I PURPOSELY BRUSH UP AGAINST BUSHES AND STREET SIGNS BECAUSE, I DON'T KNOW, IT JUST FEELS SO RIGHT
DICKHOLE
I STILL HAVE ALL MY TEETH, HOMEY

there are a lot of poems linked on the sidebar of sam pink's blog. here are two e-chapbooks by sam pink. here is fnft on the afterbirth books website

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'yall know this band radiohead?' - stephen tully dierks

social media / levar burton twitter
social media / popserial tumblr

i live in chicago now; i moved here for graduate school but i like chicago for a lot of reasons; motivated by personal experiences with pesticides, i'm trying to eat mostly all organic food in chicago; 3 or 4 book reviews are coming pretty soon for this blog followed by a normal stream of reviews, probably 1 per week

links to my other sites twitter facebook veganism veganism

'you can help stop this' (vegan video)

i was working on this video for a little over a year, and now it is posted online.  if you want to understand why i advocate veganism, please watch this



for more info and resources, youcanhelpstopthis.com

thank you