lit shiz and other...
a couple of things you should check out:
these interviews with the World's Most Buttoned Poet, justin.barrett, here and here are a good read.
the first 2008 release from Hosho McCreesh is due out Jan. 20 from our good friends at Kendra Steiner Editions and it's gonna be a stunning collection of work featuring short haiku-like bursts called 37 Psalms From The Badlands. seriously, Hosho is writing some of the best poetry of his life right now, I've read some of his recent work, and can say without any doubt that his new stuff is at a whole new level. it seriously peels paint. check it out (and his NEXT EXIT when it's available), and while you do, pick up the Glenn Cooper offering from the same press (at the same link). you won't be disappointed.
I've been asked to do an interview for Calliope Nerve by the kick ass interviewer Jason Behrends from Orange Alert (my second talk with Jason about poetry, art and the GPP). I love to get a chance to ramble on in my endless, pompous fashion about how my opinions are much better and more accurate than yours, so that should be fun. I'll post a link when it's available. also, I've got a couple of pieces in the new Right Hand Pointing which should be live in a couple days so I'll post that too. Dale puts out a good online mag, and while I don't care for the medium particularly, I do like his attitude and the poetry he publishes, along with the all around quality of his presentation. almost like turning the pages of a book. worth a read always.
in non lit shiz, but still worth a mention, cyn is now a professional Organic Chef, making pastries and deserts for a local organic restaurant, after stunning the owner with her original creations like Tangerine Triple Citrus Bars (all organic) and unreal peanut butter choc chip cookies. the girl's got mad cooking skills; she makes everything from scratch and is very very serious in the kitchen. this promises to be a good step on our road to opening our own restaurant in Asheville, NC where we plan on living (soon, we hope). plus, she gets to work out of our kitchen here at the Compound. pretty sweet. she's also had some jewlery commissioned for a wedding and might have a photography show soon at a local gallery. we'll see on that, but congrats to my talented, and much smarter than I, sig. other.
this brings me to something I want to rant about. here in Atlanta we have a "community" co-op grocery store called Sevananda. it has to compete with a few Whole Foods and a shit-ton of Krogers and Publix for its customers, and sells mostly organic natural food. it prides itself on being local and a part of the community. their hours are, daily, nine a.m. to ten p.m. tonight, we needed, specifically, an organic lime to complete our grocery shop for cyn to make some citrus bars for the chef at the local restaurant. now understand this: a local chef wants to buy some produce, in this case a single lime, from a local, community owned co-op, to sell to a locally owned restaurant, who will then sell to local consumers, keeping the money right here in the community. make sense so far? we arrive at nine fifty five p.m., having driven twenty minutes across town. we find, upon arrival, APD Officer Bugeye McFatneck (not his real name), one of Atlanta's "Finest," standing at the door with his hand on the lock. cyn gets out and walks up and is told that the store is closed. she checks the time and says, "no, I've got five minutes and I just need a lime." Officer Ratbrain (not his real name) says, "store's closed." can you see where this is going? the store ISN'T closed, there are FIVE minutes left (for more info on how I feel about staying open until the posted closing time, having worked in the service industry for years, please see the poem last meal of the night here). so I get out of the car and "explain our position" to the stubborn gatekeeper in his city issued security guard uniform, and show him, on my cell phone, that it is now 9:57, and I just need one lime from a store I shop at literally every other day, and spend thousands at over the course of a year, a store where I know about half of the employees by name, and they all know me. I show him the cash money in my hand for my one lime. I tell him I know where they are and will be out before ten, when the store actually closes. Officer Bollocks (not his real name) looks at my phone and at that moment, I can see in his eyes a FULL REALIZATION that he's wrong, that the store IS open, and he's got a decision to make.
he, of course, chooses to be an asshole about the whole thing, having found an opportunity to excercise what little power he has, this little fucking nazi. so, after I tell him exactly what I think of his act, he threatens to arrest me.
now does any of this make sense? I want to shop at a local business that has its hours clearly posted in huge red paint on a window, a store that is still open, that I assume wants my money in order to stay in business, and this prick tells me, "people like you try that all the time and end up shopping for a bunch of other stuff."
first of all, that's what grocery stores are for, you self-important, unreasonable asshole cop. I don't know of any customer-based business that will voluntarily turn away paying people, especially local regulars, because it seems like a bad business practice to forbid folks from giving you their money. you'd think that those cashiers would like to know they're gonna keep getting paychecks, that the farmers are gonna keep getting paid, that the owner can keep his doors open. how many customers has this shithead cop lost for Sevananda while he's been in their employ? I hope that Officer Fungusmonkey (not his real name) had a good time on his date with the wild donkey or feral pig that he was late for (I assume) since he cost Sevananda not just my "lime money," but all of my future business as well, baring some kind of managerial apology.
one lime versus thousands of dollars in business and a shitload of bad advertising courtesy of me all for the sake of literally two minutes. and to threaten me? what kind of fucking police state do we live in (as if I don't already know) where at the whim of a piece of crap city flunky moonlighting as a security guard I can be forbidden entry to a "community" grocery store in my own community? and then threatened with JAIL because I dared to complain? fuck that shit, my friends, I hope after my talk with the manager he sees my side of things and gains a greater understanding of Customer Service.
because how the hell can a local business ever hope to succeed when fucking WalMart and Starbucks stay open for their entire business day. it's how you make money isn't it? not turning away paying customers, then threatening them, police-style, when said customer gets pissed. and our trusty "public servant" wouldn't even tell me his name or let me get a look at his nameplate, so I guess Fatneck is as good a name as any for that Lil' Hitler.
what crap.
these interviews with the World's Most Buttoned Poet, justin.barrett, here and here are a good read.
the first 2008 release from Hosho McCreesh is due out Jan. 20 from our good friends at Kendra Steiner Editions and it's gonna be a stunning collection of work featuring short haiku-like bursts called 37 Psalms From The Badlands. seriously, Hosho is writing some of the best poetry of his life right now, I've read some of his recent work, and can say without any doubt that his new stuff is at a whole new level. it seriously peels paint. check it out (and his NEXT EXIT when it's available), and while you do, pick up the Glenn Cooper offering from the same press (at the same link). you won't be disappointed.
I've been asked to do an interview for Calliope Nerve by the kick ass interviewer Jason Behrends from Orange Alert (my second talk with Jason about poetry, art and the GPP). I love to get a chance to ramble on in my endless, pompous fashion about how my opinions are much better and more accurate than yours, so that should be fun. I'll post a link when it's available. also, I've got a couple of pieces in the new Right Hand Pointing which should be live in a couple days so I'll post that too. Dale puts out a good online mag, and while I don't care for the medium particularly, I do like his attitude and the poetry he publishes, along with the all around quality of his presentation. almost like turning the pages of a book. worth a read always.
in non lit shiz, but still worth a mention, cyn is now a professional Organic Chef, making pastries and deserts for a local organic restaurant, after stunning the owner with her original creations like Tangerine Triple Citrus Bars (all organic) and unreal peanut butter choc chip cookies. the girl's got mad cooking skills; she makes everything from scratch and is very very serious in the kitchen. this promises to be a good step on our road to opening our own restaurant in Asheville, NC where we plan on living (soon, we hope). plus, she gets to work out of our kitchen here at the Compound. pretty sweet. she's also had some jewlery commissioned for a wedding and might have a photography show soon at a local gallery. we'll see on that, but congrats to my talented, and much smarter than I, sig. other.
this brings me to something I want to rant about. here in Atlanta we have a "community" co-op grocery store called Sevananda. it has to compete with a few Whole Foods and a shit-ton of Krogers and Publix for its customers, and sells mostly organic natural food. it prides itself on being local and a part of the community. their hours are, daily, nine a.m. to ten p.m. tonight, we needed, specifically, an organic lime to complete our grocery shop for cyn to make some citrus bars for the chef at the local restaurant. now understand this: a local chef wants to buy some produce, in this case a single lime, from a local, community owned co-op, to sell to a locally owned restaurant, who will then sell to local consumers, keeping the money right here in the community. make sense so far? we arrive at nine fifty five p.m., having driven twenty minutes across town. we find, upon arrival, APD Officer Bugeye McFatneck (not his real name), one of Atlanta's "Finest," standing at the door with his hand on the lock. cyn gets out and walks up and is told that the store is closed. she checks the time and says, "no, I've got five minutes and I just need a lime." Officer Ratbrain (not his real name) says, "store's closed." can you see where this is going? the store ISN'T closed, there are FIVE minutes left (for more info on how I feel about staying open until the posted closing time, having worked in the service industry for years, please see the poem last meal of the night here). so I get out of the car and "explain our position" to the stubborn gatekeeper in his city issued security guard uniform, and show him, on my cell phone, that it is now 9:57, and I just need one lime from a store I shop at literally every other day, and spend thousands at over the course of a year, a store where I know about half of the employees by name, and they all know me. I show him the cash money in my hand for my one lime. I tell him I know where they are and will be out before ten, when the store actually closes. Officer Bollocks (not his real name) looks at my phone and at that moment, I can see in his eyes a FULL REALIZATION that he's wrong, that the store IS open, and he's got a decision to make.
he, of course, chooses to be an asshole about the whole thing, having found an opportunity to excercise what little power he has, this little fucking nazi. so, after I tell him exactly what I think of his act, he threatens to arrest me.
now does any of this make sense? I want to shop at a local business that has its hours clearly posted in huge red paint on a window, a store that is still open, that I assume wants my money in order to stay in business, and this prick tells me, "people like you try that all the time and end up shopping for a bunch of other stuff."
first of all, that's what grocery stores are for, you self-important, unreasonable asshole cop. I don't know of any customer-based business that will voluntarily turn away paying people, especially local regulars, because it seems like a bad business practice to forbid folks from giving you their money. you'd think that those cashiers would like to know they're gonna keep getting paychecks, that the farmers are gonna keep getting paid, that the owner can keep his doors open. how many customers has this shithead cop lost for Sevananda while he's been in their employ? I hope that Officer Fungusmonkey (not his real name) had a good time on his date with the wild donkey or feral pig that he was late for (I assume) since he cost Sevananda not just my "lime money," but all of my future business as well, baring some kind of managerial apology.
one lime versus thousands of dollars in business and a shitload of bad advertising courtesy of me all for the sake of literally two minutes. and to threaten me? what kind of fucking police state do we live in (as if I don't already know) where at the whim of a piece of crap city flunky moonlighting as a security guard I can be forbidden entry to a "community" grocery store in my own community? and then threatened with JAIL because I dared to complain? fuck that shit, my friends, I hope after my talk with the manager he sees my side of things and gains a greater understanding of Customer Service.
because how the hell can a local business ever hope to succeed when fucking WalMart and Starbucks stay open for their entire business day. it's how you make money isn't it? not turning away paying customers, then threatening them, police-style, when said customer gets pissed. and our trusty "public servant" wouldn't even tell me his name or let me get a look at his nameplate, so I guess Fatneck is as good a name as any for that Lil' Hitler.
what crap.
posted by christopher cunningham at 1:50 AM
2 Comments:
cc--thanks for the mention, I hope everyone will take a chance on 37 PSALMS--I am really pleased with it.
As for the other...I often find myself wondering "at what point did we lose the ability to simply be decent to each other?" I'm not saying we all have to group hug & get along...but why must EVERYTHING be about winning, about flexing on someone else, about proving something to an uncaring world, & about refusing to simply say "Hey man, cool--promise me one lime though--the folks inside are tired, I'm tired, & we all just want to get home & kick our feet up. Cool?" Too much to ask? I don't think so. I worked as a head doorman in a few bars years ago & I have seen, first hand, how this pointlessly aggro-attitude causes more problems than it ever solves. & yet, from the White House all the way down to your local grocery it seems we've lost the ability to simply admit we were wrong (when we are), apologize, & just be human to each other. I don't suppose it's much different now, than it's ever been--just that being young & (once) idealistic seems to fill generation after generation with hope that it could be different, & so much more than it actually is--be that America or just two guys talking in a rainy Georgia parking lot in front of an unlocked door at 9:57pm in the year of our lord two thousand eight a.d...
here here.
2008 is the year of change, the year of the Hosh...
decency and empathy, two words the world has lost all concept of.
simple as that.
oh, and i can attest to the deliciousness of Ms. Cyn's peanut butter cookies. lawd ahmighty, they 'uz good!!! :) (thanks again Cynthia!!! oh, and congrats on the new gig, and good luck with the jewelry and art show...and good luck to both of you on the restaurant endeavor!)
decency, my friends. common decency. that's all we need.
imagine all the people....
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