Howling Hex - panopticpants

Past Tense

panopticpants — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 12:01:40 GMT

smoke on the porch
an infinite span of finite land.
bee devils buzz and huzz
beneath your quarters,
flaring out - yellow and black
the becoming blue sky -
"Water Tower." and birds and birds
sing sing span of wings differences
disappear at this hour.
huzz of the Queen buzz.
Her desolation and infinite grace?

Come out and hear see
before the blasted sun rises
Come out and hear see
before I can see you,
covered in animal, gunting
all the shovels and all the ditches
the "necessary"
hunches at every skyline balks
to put the bees away and be waking
Being, only. bark and
these eerie leaves huss the wind
will verb you. "Cabrini Green"
uh-oh. They sought to spread us
out where we could not hear her
but only see. Of a certain Order.
The Empire's stench tucked
into Fulton Market, pig and fish
guts splayed in hot art district.
Or tricked out on 95th and State.

span of wings differences
disappear at this hour.
gut check gouged by Time
come out before the disassembly
line tears into heart
this muted belief
that we could be

reaiding and panel at university of arizona

panopticpants — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:28:41 GMT

Tonight, I'm reading with akilah oliver and brandon shimoda
At u of arizona's poetry center. They've kindly put material and
Reviews on their site. I'm on a phone or I'd link it. Tonight at 8 pm.
Yes, I'm excited. Also a class this morning. A panel on ffriday at 4.

Hanging around, there are obvious patterns, differences,
It's strange. No smoking pole here. An automatic turning on
Of tv. I miss the hex. Am grateful
To be alive, and to be reading with such great people.

"Anyone here from out of town?"

Can one feel a jolt of serenity?

I couldn't get change for laundry at dominick's yesterday.
Then, a customer behind me gave me 3 bucks in quarters. Just
Kindness - didn't smell! Just...thoughtfulness - I seek to emulate.
Made the day. To be considerate. Uncommon in chicago.

these works by karyna mcglynn

panopticpants — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:23:25 GMT

more Here

did not get to say goodbye

panopticpants — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:39:15 GMT

it was sad, losing a friend. why did he die? we lived together for four years. but I couldn't be there ultimately. I couldn't. And I feared the worst but I couldn't be there. so many people loved him. He was so kind and funny. He saved my life, found me having my first seizure and yeah - saved my life.

He treasured and laughed and made others feel some sort of joy that comes from that part of us that's youthful or whatever and yes maybe that's sentimentality oh it is. but it's so sad. did he know how much we loved him? he's in a better place. he left his body. I wonder how his sister is, his mother. The last time the hex was in NYC some of us ended up hanging with her. she's in my first book, in my heart, in everything. and now. what is to be done or said dear reader?

we got sober together in the early 90s, he and I. it was as they say, the "pink cloud" and with him I don't know how to describe it but best put everything was alive with meaning. without force, or annoyance. I can be like that, but know i'm annoying. geno never was.

for a while after oscar dying and geno dying and close studies of slaughterhouses, there seemed nothing. NOTHING. this is entirely false.

what a lie. instead, what's been found is that reaching out produces one result and retracting produces another. after all, he had boundlessness of love. actual love. dear brother, he is missed. write or - don't write. love or do not. the company of others produces the web of human relationships that empowers even the darkest hours. he was a great man. and readers i'm sorry if you don't care but i miss him so. brother in sobriety. kindness in love. never, not once, in all those years did I ever, ever witness one wit of weird cruelty. He only treated others with kindnesses. This is final. And I apologize dear reader.

birds, law, and what is to be done

panopticpants — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:54:49 GMT

266 chickens die in america every time the human heart beats. they are piled on each other in shit. they can't move. they never see sun or grass or expanse or any of the things we attribute to being. approximately 10 billion animals die to slaughterhouse industry yearly in the US. Unlike the US, Europe has implemented controls. There are no legal controls for this here.

In Maine, in about 2001? 2002? they literally changed the bestiality law to not include the animal/slaughterhouse industry. I guess they were worried about potential turnons of continual slicing open beaks and smothering little chickens? Male chickens are offed/smothered or incinerated right after birth in the egg industry.

there is no easy answer to this stuff. I am sorry to these little animals. I remember being on tour and there would be these little swallows at the starbucks hell I think I took pix and posted them here, and we would be imagining that it was the same little bird at each stop (or I did) and playful jokes about it I would say hi hello! and it made me happy. a being. a little being.

i just can't participate in this sector of the economy. I know that this is not to say that in so doing I haven't opened up my own practices to a billion other inconsistencies. Also, I do not want to be all judgmental of others like some fascist evil and I love my prosciutto as much as the next or more but shit - I'm doing what I can. For now, until I learn otherwise, I cannot eat meat or consume dairy or participate at any further level in that economy.

For whatever it is worth, a compassionate view of beings necessitates...all compassion for all beings. and while that categorical imperative will never be met - I'm quicker to be compassionate at all levels of human interaction. I tend to hate humans more than other animals. And, with a new vision in place, it's all about reducing suffering, compassion, and support of others. to the best of all my abilities.

As such, it makes sense to move towards Law. Which is what I intend. I believe I will be able to litigate for labor, civil rights, anti-death penalty...the world explodes with possibility. thus, fuck. another degree????? yes. but this is the last one. and with that, perhaps, I will be able to implement changes for others' well-being.

Bauhaus and the destruction of historic buildings

panopticpants — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 07:48:18 GMT

Went to the BAUHAUS event on Saturday in Chicago. Not only did I have the fortune of hearing phenomenal poems by Jamie Kazay, Larry Sawyer, and many others, but also phenomenal music. I was taken with the sax player's sounds the most. Like Coltrane. Which is to say reaching toward the divine. He stunned. I could and will dwell another time on the great work, particularly of Miss Kazay, but for now - another focus.

That said, the centerpiece may have been the presentation on the destruction of the Michael Reese Hospital Complex in Chicago for the Olympics Chicago hopes for (NOTE: Chicago has not been awarded it yet, but the destruction and acquisition by city has begun for this function). This will permit parking and temporary retail areas. It also will result in the decimation (already has begun) of Walter Gropius' most sustained project (1944-1959) of his life.

As the Founder of the Bauhaus movement, a movement that was well ahead of its time and offered amazing advancements in architecture and well beyond, Gropius' work has educational, historic, cultural, political, functional value. Yes functional value. It's also surrounded by the stunning landscaping of Hideo Sasaki. Oh yeah, and a church and a park and a public school - all of these are being demolished. The realization that the Rees complex was Gropius' work came only recently, but is it too late? NO.

While the hospital arguably should not reopen, the buildings (over million feet of space being destroyed and reconfigured as blacktop and temp sales) retain value. While Chicago is celebrating 90 years of Gropius' contributions, it is also leveling some of his finest collaborative work. I wished there had been a petition. I'd imagine councils responding well to that. I could imagine a group of people gathering them at Wicker Park Fest, and at places like University of Chicago and the Art Institute. But then, it's also on me to do more than write about it. Unless something is done by October, these masterpieces are gone forever. Posted by Philip Jenks 0 comment

Oscar Jenks (Sep 28, 1993-July 20, 2009)

panopticpants — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 07:09:22 GMT

On Monday, I said so long to a being I've lived longer with than my family, longer than any relationship, and for the first time since he arrived in my life in 1996 - I was alone. Strange. After a 60 minute grand mal on thursday, overheating in chicago traffic en route to the vet, the damage was final. But it would have been soon anyway, I believe. I spent a couple days helping him get back on his feet after wounding a paw during the fit. actually, he insisted on it. after that, all energy was gone and a vacancy set in. he would not and could not stand or walk. that was sat night. By sun night, it was imminent and a matter of time. He passed peacefully. I thought it strange that the vet at Animal Medical Center (and they are great otherwise) sent me his
pawprint in the mail for sympathy, apparently taken postmortem. What solace.

I miss Rxconor and I miss Oscar. hope to see them both around, somehow/somewhere/someway...

TO RXCONOR

panopticpants — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:47:36 GMT

Please take my over the top rant with several grains of salt. I had hoped to edit, but as a regular contributor you beat me to it. As usual.

Rxconor, maybe I'm jealous. Quite literally and figuratively - how do you afford and manage to post so much writing?

balance was all I intended. I'm imbalanced in the other direction in terms of "posting habits" rxconor. As I'm positive you know. I took things out on you that didn't have any place. Matters not pertinent (see below). You are obviously brilliant and I do have my two cents, but that's just my opinion. I kept vexing at the mysterious Rxconor. I'm a terrible poster child for moderation. I'd genuinely be sad to see Nothing at all. While I've hardly been able to respond to everything you post, I do respond and felt that was less the case conversely. Why post if no one responds? You are prolific but didn't respond. So, I had suggested more dialogue. I like hhex65's thread on Victory Chimp. Lots of voices going in/with/to one another. Not writing at all would be the equivalent of flooding, just inverted.
These matters are minor irritations and I lost my temper. I got irritated and the "unsend" button has yet to be invented in consciousness or online. I would NOT be offended by you posting. I did feel it was a little like flaming someone, to flood. I'm equal to that, just conversely. How convenient then, for both of our tendencies - if no change transpired or if either/or (post/not-post) continued. More challenging might be to dialogue. Like now.

All that said, I never should have written that late, dejected about my cat's last days, frustrated over missing tour, and angry at circumstance. I concede the tone and some of the content of the responses was a function of personal matters and for that I apologize.

Philip Jenks and Simone Muench with Patrick Culliton Reading Sunday, 21st, at Myopic Books, Chicago

panopticpants — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:21:34 GMT

THE MYOPIC POETRY SERIES - a weekly series of readings and occasional poets' talks

Myopic Books in Chicago - Sundays at 7:00 / 1564 N. Milwaukee Avenue, 2nd Floor

Sunday, June 21 - Simone Muench, Philip Jenks, & Patrick Culliton

Simone Muench was raised in Louisiana and Arkansas and now lives in Chicago, IL. She is the author of The Air Lost in Breathing (Marianne Moore Prize for Poetry; Helicon Nine, 2000), Lampblack & Ash (Kathryn A. Morton Prize for Poetry; Sarabande, 2005), and Orange Crush (Sarabande, 2010). Her latest chapbooks are Orange Girl (dancing girl press, 2007) and Sonoluminescence written with Bill Allegrezza (Dusie Press, 2007). She also published collaboratively with Philip Jenks, writing a book of epistolary poems titled Little Visceral Carnival on Cinematheque Press (2009). She is a recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship, the 49th Parallel Award for Poetry, the PSA's Fine Lines Contest, the Charles Goodnow Award, the AWP Intro Journals Project Award, the Poetry Center's 9th Annual Juried Reading Award, the Frederick Stern Award for Teaching, and the PSA's Bright Lights/Big Verse Contest. She received her Ph.D from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and is director of the Writing Program at Lewis University where she teaches creative writing and film studies. Currently, she serves on the advisory board for Switchback Books and UniVerse: A United Nations of Poetry, and is an editor for Sharkforum.

Philip JENKS will be reading with Simone Muench from their new "Little Visceral Carnival" (Cinematheque Press, 2009). Additionally, he wrote two volumes of poetry, On the Cave You Live In (Flood Editions, 2002) and My First Painting will be "The Accuser" (Zephyr Press, 2005). He's published two chapbooks, The Elms Left Elm Street (Plane Bukt Press, 1993 and Cultural Society, 2008) and the ekphrastic How Many of You are You? (Dusie, 2006). He is completing his third manuscript, "Colony Collapse Disorder". He teaches at University of Illinois at Chicago. His poems have appeared in MoonLit, Chicago Review, Traverse, GutCult, h_ngm_n, The Canary, The Gig, Cultural Society, LVNG, Cultural Society and elsewhere. He collaborates with Simone Muench, publishing in The Canary, Zoland, Moonlit, barrelhouse, and Eleven Eleven and elsewhere. He is a vegan and plays percussion, sings, and howls with the Howling Hex on Drag City Records.

Patrick CULLITON was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. His poems have appeared, or will soon, in American Letters & Commentary, Coconut, Columbia Poetry Review, Conduit, Court Green, The Hat, Indiana Review, The Journal, jubilat, Rabbit Light Movies, Realpoetik, Tarpaulin Sky, and elsewhere. He is the recipient of a 2009 Individual Artists Fellowship from Illinois Arts Council.

Contact curator Larry Sawyer for booking information and requests.
E-mail: larrysawyerpoet@yahoo.com

UPCOMING

Sunday, June 28 - Poet's Talk: Tim Yu (w/Judith Goldman) on Race and the Avant-Garde - Experimental and Asian American Poetry since 1965

Sunday, July 26 - Farrah Field & Jared White

Sunday, August 2 - Kerri Sonnenberg & Guest

Sunday, August 23 - Carrie Etter & Guest

Sunday, October 4 - Chicago Calling w/Dan Godston (additional readers to be announced)

http://www.myopicbookstore.com...

Myopic Books - 17 years of innovative poetry in Chicago

integer

panopticpants — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 05:38:31 GMT

"A person's integrity is inversely proportional to speed at which that person's weaknesses are observed.

He said as I met him and I instantly trusted him.
But he was in the middle of some criticism: The critique, if I recall correctly, was that it was "white hipster" to promote environmental policies. If critique is the word. It was hard to understand at this point of the drunk. His words blathered together. I wondered aloud if it promoted racial justice to let environmental issues rot in the rust belt. Wedge issue. I could see his anger for the first time ever. He couldn't stop raging.

Boy, was I wrong. How did it take so long to figure it out?

At a Distance

panopticpants — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:41:37 GMT

Morningoscar, 2009.

MorningOscar

from afar. I wondered as Monday's trip approached whether it was the right thing not to go. Perhaps Andy was right. Not this time, I thought. Still, a wishing and sadness. What will it be like? Oscar's condition worsened late-Monday and actually I thought another trip to the ER was required. Oscar the cat. By morning, the 130 veterinarian appt was set and it was a good new one. The old vet was dingy and they were cruel to him and other pets. They didn't care. The new vet sprayed the room with a pheromone mother cats release when nursing. Skeptical. But, it totally worked and a lot of unnecessary sedation was averted. Still, "not out of the woods." Four hours of procedures. I was instructed to wait at the starbucks. I thought, appropriate.

Of course, quad shots espresso. Eventually sedation proved necessary. Rent is gone. I wondered what the show was like. The lineups. How New Orleans is. Oscar was totally unhappy last night. I'd be too. Dear reader, I would not divulge such private information. He can enter it if he wants. On waking, "I guess the good news is" that he came right out like normal. purrs. leaps from floor to bed to desk to chair. eating! a first in four days. But, also - and this I felt badly about - with eating comes the meds. So, the poor cat wakes feeling good and after expressing and living that, immediate onslaught. Retreats back under bed, that unusual and sad resting place for when he is ill. I couldn't help but wonder where that bird is - I'm guessing it's somewhere near a piece of bread, pecking, around New Orleans. Flight pattern Baton Rouge.

Little Visceral Carnival, Chapbook by Philip Jenks and Simone Muench

panopticpants — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 23:26:20 GMT

Simone Muench's and Philip Jenks' new chapbook Little Visceral Carnival was recently published by Cinematheque Press and is available for order.

The chapbook features twenty-three epistolary poems Muench and Jenks wrote - Jenks and Muench trade lines and when the poems are complete, they are revised - sometimes to aerate the poem and other times for consistency or both. Usually, the line breaks in the finished poem are not where they were during the trading process. The cover art is by the inimitable Kim Ambriz . Nate Slawson of Cinematheque Press designed the 5" by 5" chapbook, which features not one, but two linocut collaged lithographs. A sample of not only the collaboration, but of Slawson's (and Nikkita Cohoon's) fine work can be found on the first issue of Dear Camera which published "Dear Player" and "An aptitude for bird." The Press' catalog currently includes work by Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Adam Clay, and Ada Limón.

Notes on Come All You Coal Miners:

panopticpants — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 07:30:00 GMT

Recording from Highlander Center, 1973.

Gunning

I've been working on a project since February, of listening to the whole vinyl collection from A to Z. Along the way, I will post some of the findings that caught me off guard, one way or the other. First on the list is under Appalachian, "Come All You Coal Miners" - featuring Hazel Dickens, Nimrod Workman (links to video) and many others, working from the vibrant political and cultural mecca, the Highlander Center down in New Market, TN.

Hazel Dickens and Sarah Ogan Gunning tear up on "Come All You Coal Miners." Gunning and Dickens are just two of many activists and singers who have continued the folk tradition in the sense of Woody Guthrie and his predecessors.

While Appalachia is maligned, the music and political activism from the left is and has been thriving. The listen was haunting and challenging because it immediately begs the question of why am I immobile at this moment in time? Is listening passivity?

"Come all you coal miners wherever you may be

And listen to a story that I'll relate to thee
My name is nothing extra, but the truth to you I'll tell
I am a coal miner's wife, I'm sure l wish you well.
l was born in old Kentucky, in a coal camp born and bred,
I know all about the pinto beans, bulldog gravy and cornbread,
And I know how the coal miners work and slave in the coal mines every day
For a dollar in the company store, for that is all they pay.
Coal mining is the most dangerous work in our land today
With plenty of dirty. slaving work, and very little pay.
Coal miner, won't you wake up, and open your eyes and see
What the dirty capitalist system is doing to you and me.
They take your very life blood, they take our children's lives
They take fathers away from children, and husbands away from wives.
Oh miner, won't you organize wherever you may be
And make this a land of freedom for workers like you and me.
Dear miner, they will slave you 'til you can't work no more
And what'll you get for your living but a dollar in a company store
A tumbled-down shack to live in, snow and rain pours in the top.
You have to pay the company rent, your dying never stops.
I am a coal miner's wife, I'm sure l wish you well.
Let's sink this capitalist system in the darkest pits of hell."

For those wanting to hear how the song goes, there are many versions, this one on "Come All You Coal Miners" is harrowing. It contrasts sharply with Nimrod Workman's radical revision of the gospel "Don't You Wanna Go to That Land" which is sung in group setting. "Ain't no politicians in that land where I go"....Nimrod reconfigures a heaven where no capitalist, mine owner, oppressor is let in the door. Arguably, a more accurate reading of scripture.

Verse aside, the apartment was filled with it all. Some might think that these are from times of old. The album's from early 70s and after all, the labor movement is dead, right? Why bother is often the refrain, if one gets beyond the discussion of whether there are radicals in places like Appalachia. I got this picture from Appalshop.

It's a picture from a demonstration against downsizing and corporatism from 1998 in Knoxville. True, marchers march - and the level of effectiveness varies, but the point remains that activism is not something that was restricted to some nostalgic past captured and rendered so beautifully on the vinyl. The music serves as a signature to action, pushing at every listen to move beyond passivity, noting that for many that is never an option.

Revisiting the First Amendment

panopticpants — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Cass Sunstein's Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech and Stanley Fish's There's No Such Thing as Free Speech and it's a good thing too represent two well-articulated critiques of First Amendment jurisprudence. It is suggested that by comparing these legal scholars who come to similar conclusions regarding the issue of regulating speech, we will discern many nuances and flaws in their arguments that would largely be ignored if one were compared with someone who arrives at an antithetical conclusion, such as Justice Holmes. Although many may think of the two scholars' views as being highly similar insofar as they both support stricter interpretations of the First Amendment, this generalization is problematized after careful scrutiny.

Sunstein explains his principle of "regulation" of speech through his heavy reliance on the works of James Madison. He advocates a "Madisonian First Amendment," which is meant to foster what he calls "government by discussion." This type of government exists only when political speech is heavily protected and non-political speech is subject to regulation whenever it inhibits democratic growth. It seems that contemporary First Amendment jurisprudence has ignored the value of this "two-tiered" approach (political/non-political) and has protected "expression" that we may believe to be "fraught with death." In short, speech with direct political implications is completely protected in Sunstein's model. However, non-political speech is subject to regulation.

In contrast, one finds that Stanley Fish argues that any speech with political consequence should be subject to some regulatory considerations. Rather than searching for a way to determine a content-neutral, formal definition of the types of speech that could or should be regulated (as does Sunstein), Fish relies heavily on a substantive, particularistic approach to jurisprudence. This approach may find contrary to Sunstein that speech which should be regulated above and beyond all other speech is speech with public consequence or political speech. In the paper, I will attempt to find where Fish and Sunstein stand on key cases and issues (e.g. Dennis) in order to highlight potential differences and agreements.

For Fish, First Amendment jurisprudence has its theoretical origins in Milton's classic, Areopagetica. This portrayal stands in marked contrast to Sunstein's depiction. Fish notes that Milton advocated free speech, with the exclusion of Catholics, who should be exterminated. For Fish, this is an extreme example of how "free speech" works: "against a background of originary exclusion which gives it meaning" (p. 104). Thus, it is only by virtue of making something or someone or some speech-act illegal, that "free speech" can obtain a value. It is hypothesized that this differs greatly from how Sunstein arrives at this point.

In conclusion, I propose the following: 1) a development of Fish's Miltonian conception of Free Speech contrasted with Sunstein's Madisonian conception, 2) an attempt to contrast the differences in what speech should be regulated according to both Fish and Sunstein, and 3) an attempt to critique one of the largest shortcomings in both authors' texts, which is their poorly defined and conceived notions of politics and the political. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech seeks to comprehend the reasons why Americans valorize free expression. This goal originates from a controversial premise: if we determine that "free expression" conflicts with the ends it is intended to further (such as "democratic deliberation"), then free expression should be subordinate to those ends. Sunstein advocates what he calls a "Madisonian First Amendment," which links free speech with the "American revision of democracy" (p. xvi-xvii). This revision focused on the value of deliberation or what Madison called "government by discussion."

Sunstein's text sounds very much like a response to a particular strain of free speech absolutism that has gained currency in America. This absolutism has lost sight of the political value of the First Amendment and thus protects political and non-political speech alike. This is important because Sunstein believes there are certain categories of speech (such as certain types of violent pornography) which are non-political and detrimental to the process of government by discussion and therefore, should be regulated. Overall, Sunstein's text is a narrative of decline - where in the good old days free speech was a matter of whether or not you were a communist. More recently, free speech is also a matter of whether or not one can dance nude or falsely advertise. This two-tiered perspective of the First Amendment prioritizes the political over the non-political. In seeking to prioritize the political, Sunstein is favoring a "New Deal" for the First Amendment. Sunstein is loath to create any viewpoint-based or content-based restrictions. For example, prohibiting the distribution of religious pamphlets is content-neutral in that it prohibits the distribution of anyreligious pamphlets.

Sunstein responds to Justice Holmes' conception of the "marketplace of ideas" in his dissent in Abrams v. United States. He brilliantly juxtaposes this notion with Justice Brandeis' Periclean/Madisonian conception of the First Amendment in Whitney v. California. It is this juxtaposition (laissez-faire vs. New Deal, Holmes vs. Brandeis) that Sunstein examines in relation to critical issues facing America. One example is the field of broadcasting. Sunstein delineates ways in which government deregulation of the market (e.g. Red Lion) decreases the diversity of opinions and thus inhibits the aspirations of the First Amendment. Sunstein also addresses such difficult issues as cross-burning, hate speech, violent pornography, and many others. In all of these cases, it seems that Sunstein attempts to perform the same task, which is to determine whether or not the speech-act is political and proceed to negotiate what he believes to be legitimate regulation of non-political speech. But, what is "political speech"? Speech is political "when it is both intended and received as a contribution to public deliberation about some issue" (p. 130). One fears that Sunstein has created a category (or "tier") so capacious as to potentially include all speech-acts. The term "political," like many of Sunstein's other key terms (e.g. Madisonianism), could have benefitted from conceptual refinement.

Despite Sunstein's superlative analysis of the problems facing First Amendment jurisprudence, there are considerable conceptual dilemmas in his construction. By prioritizing content-neutral legislation, Sunstein operates under the presupposition that content-neutrality is devoid of a viewpoint. On the face of it, a given law may apply equally to all. Yet, when we look closer, more often than not it has a specific direction and goal. For example, the regulation of the distribution of religious literature is technically "content-neutral," yet given the "history" of leaflet distribution in airports, it would not be erroneous to conclude that the legislation was primarily directed against the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Sunstein may not want to deal with this matter because it seems to him that "viewpoint-based restrictions are, of course, invalid" (102). More importantly, they are currently the least likely to pass constitutional muster.

Given that there is a considerable pragmatic consideration for advocating content-neutral approaches to the First Amendment, it would seem that Sunstein is in the clear. But, is the process of political deliberation being prioritized by the protection of all political speech-acts while non-political speech-acts are regulated? Conversely, one could argue that speech which risks having significant political consequence should be highly regulated. Sunstein even provides an excellent example, where the selling of strategic (potentially) military information to U.S. enemies (especially during times of war) may be regulated.

Sunstein makes one egregious error in assessing the nature of violence and pornography. After a good literature review of the correlation between violent pornography and acts of violence, he concludes that certain types of violent pornography should be regulated. Indeed, a certain diversity of view is oppressed by violence resulting from violent pornography. But, because the issue for him is the harm done by men against women, he "suggest(s) that the category of regulable speech might well exclude homosexual pornography, for which the same showing of harm cannot be made (so far as I am aware)" (p. 216). Such a method of reasoning (the "so far as I am aware..." school) reasons not from research or logic but from lack of informed knowledge. Another way to look at this issue is, why does Cass R. Sunstein reason from the presumption of homosexual violent pornography being different from heterosexual violent pornography? His civic ideal of improving democratic deliberation is honorable, yet it is errors like this that reduce one's confidence in his particular restrictive heteronormative reading of First Amendment jurisprudence.

Made Me

panopticpants — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:59:01 GMT

Made Me
Finally! Though that too could be true...
as if paw and also the city.
Look, your no nameplace
like when the washes
sent a message.

Jammed up leaves
and flipped plastic unseemly
it's okay it's the cut mark
left behind. (like when
baths pool up to leave
chunks of it, starry rinds
collect or gutter no matter
mass held hands basement
upside down

and now the hair and everything
is too. might be talk.
contagious legions
coral. fan. toothing
for what rids the riddling.
splayed out
with pincers and
the remarkable precision
of gut inspection.

clear the end of fun
in under table steals
lox or maybe vines
it's a tangle in the
berg. splode head shots
and shops. spackle
the tubed interior
invest the ail
or some pallor
with something
France. Once I had to.

my arsonism

panopticpants — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:47:13 GMT

poempeople are are are upset about my Arsonism Anthology. Apparently, the tome I edited for everyone just hasn't gone over well at all in some corners. The Buffalo Poetics Listserv is full of chatter about the 3,700+ page volume.

I tried to include everyone. I just thought it best if for once I write all the poems - don't see the problem really - they can still take credit!

caustic

panopticpants — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:16:16 GMT

lasting vortex abandon
finnegan smashes king ape
with chest spiel and econ.

What was the waltz caper
danger, in revolver, phone
not where reaches smokes filler

caustic regional distension
ascends, plausible, posit.
Closet teaches nein, alone -

Bird scarce. Morgantown cool it,
porchy discourse rot and wrote,
while her touching You are slick

touching after the touch engross
the skin skeined before the blown
identified. Once I caught a mote,

called it tomahawk. and crooned
with splay. distend the dawn
arcane digit riddle roomed.

hey magician, ticket moan
trick, the one with the hands
depend on occupation

where the nothing might, crayons.
You cut out. What happen. tests
cut you up, You into you.

window

panopticpants — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:27:23 GMT

writing renku in holess
plate of window pulled
clean off. flies eject.

there's something.
i didn't mean noting,
nothing. sing.

form from the open space
row of ants climb in.
we do anything for food.

this specific one flies,
Sarah notes. And we've cornered
a Queen. Checkmate.

identity and time travel.

panopticpants — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:41:02 GMT

wonders who is rxconor.
new reproductive technology tests in developing nations, you know, where the good, sustainable, organic coffee comes from...

bills spying on each other. ocularcentrism is fungible, apparently.

wonders where is rxconor.

you are not one, but many. disagreements arise at the coffee pot, "nobody's home." This is not an Aerosmith reference.

As for the political trickery, that is a Richard Nixon reference. His decayed corpse infected the groundwater supply. No great man thought. He was bigger than 'is skin or anything he bought. And known for a certain, antisemitic rage, also not peculiar to him.

how far from austin

panopticpants — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 05:48:16 GMT

set list for "How Far From Austin" (local bar band) features

jesse's girl
like a prayer
and she was

other songs I wanted to forget and did. cool late june greenhouse night air with Jacqueline and Sheen. Ebullient, both. What's the 'right' thing to do with a cigarette butt? Someone runs out of place during Like a Prayer (as sung by a trans Cat Stevens?) yelling 'this is my song! they're playing my song!' Everyone is wearing summer clothing but it's not really summer.