Read This: Sea Trails by Pris Campbell

I first met poet Pris Campbell through her blog, Songs to a Midnight Sky. Although we've never met in person, I've gotten to know her through her candid posts and significant body of work, which she has shared on her blog and in her new collection, Sea Trails ($15, Lummox Press). Here, Pris talks about the creation of the collection.

What prompted you to write Sea Trails?
Actually, I never set out to write a book. I wrote "Streaking," a poem based on the New Jersey leg of my 1977 trip down the east coast in my Tanzer 22 sailboat. A terrifying storm hit the night we headed for Atlantic City and I tied it in with the deteriorating relationship with my partner whom I refer to only as R. The poem was published in Empowerment4Women and tucked it away under my other publications.

I soon realized how much I enjoyed writing that poem, so I wrote more, based on other aspects of the trip. I started a sailing poems folder. From time to time, I would add to the folder. One day I looked at the poems trying to decide if I wanted to submit a batch to a journal and suddenly recognized that a book was actually trying to write itself. I dug out my old scrapbook from the trip, with photos and snippets of small charts from the area guidebooks along the way, then pulled out my old log books. Yes, I still had them almost 30 years later. I began going through the log notes and writing more poems as they spurred more specific memories. It seemed natural at that point to add snippets of the log notes since they provided a good transition between the poems. I merged and smoothed them out for better reading.

Lognotes? Sailing poems? A relationship falling further apart as my connection with the sea and life on the water grew? This wasn’t a traditional poetry book. I tucked it away, feeling no-one would publish such a mixed bag. Last November, 2008, I took it with me to on a weekend getaway to Daytona and shared it with a dear friend, Margie Stevenson. She read it, made some suggestions, loved it and told me I had to get it ‘out there’. After that, I began sharing the poems with Scott Owens and Carter Monroe and, with their help, seriously honed the poems and added new poems when needed.

I still didn’t have confidence that it would be taken seriously with log notes, so I sent it to Lummox first with them removed, but mentioned what I’d done. Raindog said they actually sounded intriguing and asked to see them. He liked the combination and Sea Trails was born.

Sea Trails

I must go down to the sea again... – John Masefield

I board the tiny sloop that has carried me

twice to Maine with its deep

silent harbors and moaning buoys.

I'm ensnared, trapped by increasing

longings to ride that magic carpet

into places different from my own

narrow world of nine to five rewind.

Saltwater rises through my body,

is transformed through its heat

into golden mist. I expand

without Alice's cookies,

become a gull dropping clams

on the rocks to crack them,

a molting lobster, a leaping dolphin,

a man watching the sky from a deserted dock.

The sea is my cradle and it rocks me,

lulling me into new ways of seeing.

My arms unfurl into sails.

I let the wind take me.

Idol elimination, poetry weekend

The first round of eliminations took place on "American Idol" last night, with two boys and two girls being sent home. The Top 24 is now the Top 20. You can read the recap at Project Q Atlanta. My recaps usually post immediately after the show (or sometimes the next morning), so be sure to check here or Project Q if you're looking for the update.

BFF Mal has already decreed that this season of "Idol" is the worst ever. I'm not ready to call it just yet, but I have to admit it's pretty bad. Ellen hasn't been funny, Simon looks like he's watching a clock offstage counting down the days to his departure and some of the contestants simply cannot sing. May suddenly seems a long way off.

This weekend is chockfull of poetry. Tonight, I'm reading in my hometown of Fayetteville at the 12th annual Blended Heritage Festival. I have written a poem for the event every year, and I'll be performing it tonight. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. and the Jennifer Perry Combo is performing and novelist Ferrol Sams will be reading from his novel-in-progress. Here's a link to find out more.

Tomorrow night is Love Out Loud for Haiti, a fundraising event at First Existentialist Congregation. I'll be performing with Theresa Davis, Karen G, Franklin Abbott, Yolo Akili and many others to help raise money for the earthquake victims. The Facebook invite already has 115 confirmed guests, so if all those folks show up, we'll make some good money for the cause. First E is at 470 Candler Park Drive and admission is only $5. The gig kicks off at 7 p.m. Come out and join us.

American Idol 9 - Top 12 Guys Perform

After the disastrous performances from the Top 12 girls on “American Idol” Tuesday night, I was hoping the Top 12 boys would really shine, but they didn’t come close.

As with the girls, it was a night of terrible song choices and even worse voices. Some of these guys simply cannot sing. You know it’s a bad night when the commercials are more entertaining (“Glee” back in April and Powerade’s resurrection of NuShooz’s “I Can’t Wait.”). Read on.

Todrick Hall: Was he actually singing? He sort of rapped/talked Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You Been Gone” and stripped it of any melody, making it unrecognizable. Arrogant, cocky and more jazz hands than a Fosse musical, Todrick needs to go home immediately. If you voted for this ego monster, shame on you.

Aaron Kelly: He’s only 16, cute as a button and already making the tweens scream in the audience. He has a surprisingly good country/pop voice, although I wasn’t feeling his version of Rascal Flats’ “Here Comes Goodbye.” He’s a safe bet for all the flyover state conservatives, so he’ll make Top 12 for sure.

Jermaine Sellers: He auditioned in Atlanta and is a self-described “church singer,” but God wasn’t with him tonight as he destroyed “Get Here” by Oleta Adams. Breathy, pitchy and more runs than a hooker’s pantyhose, it was like a bad high school talent show performance.

Read the rest of the recap at Project Q Atlanta now, and check back tonight to find out which two guys and two girls get sent home.

American Idol 9 - Top 12 Girls Perform

Finally! The competition got under way tonight on “American Idol” with the Top 12 girls performing for your votes. For the next three weeks, the bottom two boys and two girls will be eliminated in a quick purge to reach the Top 12.

After Miss Seacrest opened with the usual dramatic overstatement about the winner being vaulted to superstardom (yeah, ask Taylor Hicks and Kris Allen how that’s working for them), we were “entertained” by a skit of Simon supposedly feeling Ellen up under the judge’s table. That was supposed to explain why they were sitting at opposite ends of the table, but rumor has it they aren’t getting along. Ellen, sadly, had very little to add tonight.

We’ll be mercifully spared theme nights until the Top 12, so that means for the next three weeks the contestants can sing songs from any era of the Billboard chart. That’s more than 50 years of music for the hopefuls to slaughter.

Simon has stated publicly that he believes a girl will win this season, but judging by these performances, I’m not so sure. It was a bunch of girls trying to be Adele, Duffy, Norah, Lily, insert-retro-singer-name-here.

Read the rest of the recap at Project Q Atlanta now!

English Beat, Dining Poets & Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood is in Atlanta tomorrow night for a reading/discussion/signing from her new novel, The Year of the Flood, at the Savannah College of Art & Design. Last week, I had the privilege to interview Atwood, who is one of my literary icons. To say I was nervous was an understatement, but she was gracious, funny and candid. My interview is online now at Atlanta INtown. If the stars align, I'll be meeting her tomorrow.

On Friday night, BFF Jennifer Perry took me to dinner at French American Brasserie (or FAB as it's more commonly known) in downtown Atlanta. I'd never been to the restaurant (which was formerly Brasserie Le Coze and located at Lenox Square) in its new incarnation. When it opened a couple of years ago, the local critics savaged the food, and it got a whole new round of controversy when the Real Housewives of Atlanta filmed the notorious fight scene with She'ree trying to snatch Kim's weave off her head. I'm no dining critic, but I thought the food was delicious (I had a marinated skirt steak over whipped potatoes, tasty bread and one of the most decadent desserts -- warm chocolate cake and sorbet -- ever) and it's a beautiful space. I'd definitely go back.

After dinner, we headed over to The Loft at Center Stage for The English Beat concert. The Beat had a number of hits in the late 70s/80s including "Mirror in the Bathroom," "Save it for Later," and when Dave Wakeling left to create General Public, the big pop hit "Tenderness." All of those and more were expertly staged by Wakeling and Co. Lot's of dancing, singing along, hand-clapping and a big blast of 80s nostalgia.

On Saturday night, we had another of our Poet Dinners, this time at Holy Taco in East Atlanta Village. Karen Head, her fiance Colin Potts (who took the photo), Megan Volpert, Cleo Creech and Julie Blomeke were in attendance. We had a lively discussion about poetry, movies, real estate and the zebra that escaped from Ringling Bros. Circus on Thursday and was galloping through the main expressway downtown tying up traffic for miles. You can read about that here if you missed it. A fantastic evening and food with friends.

American Idol 9 - Top 24 Revealed

The leaked list from Tuesday’s post on "American Idol's" Top 24 was 99.9 percent correct. One off; so close!

Chris Golightly—the orphan with Sideshow Bob hair—was disqualified because he already had a recording contract and some barely seen kid named Tim Urban has taken his place.


I still don’t understand how some of these people made the Top 24. How the hell did Haeley Vaughn—she of the strangled voice—beat out poor Angela Martin? Proving that the third time isn’t always a charm, she got cut again despite an epic backstory: daddy died, daughter stricken with seizures, time in jail. She’s a better singer than Haeley and deserved to be in the Top 12 girls

Tyler Grady, the mop-haired ‘70s throwback, has Jason Castro stank all over him. I see him going to the Top 10 then burning out. He’s a little too cocky, and he’s watched too many old Jim Morrison videos.

Who the hell is Lacey Brown? She made Top 50 last year, and now she’s in the Top 24. I don’t remember her, and I have a feeling I won’t be remembering her from this year either. Lilly Scott made it, too, but her jazz-tinged voice has a limited vocal range, which will hurt her during Broadway showtune week or disco diva week or whatever shitty theme they’ll foist upon the contestants—and us.

Read the rest of the post and see the Top 24 list at Project Q Atlanta!

American Idol 9 - Hollywood Week, Part 3

They left their jobs, families and homes to come to make the Top 24 on “American Idol.” Most of them will go back to flipping burgers, living in their parents’ basement and drowning their sorrows at karaoke.

The producer tried to make it more dramatic Tuesday by showing us the final 71 divided into three empty rooms while Simon, Ellen, Kara and Randy (photo, with host Ryan Seacrest) made the final cut. The contestants’ final solo performances were shown in flashbacks, complete with echo effects and slow dissolves. They’re regular fucking Kubricks at “Idol.”

If you’re waiting for the final unveiling of the Top 24 on Wednesday, stop reading now. If you’re sick of auditions, read on.

Read the rest of the recap at Project Q Atlanta now!

Mid-Week Notes: Swing Out Sister, interviews & readings

After a wait of more than 20 years, I will finally get to see one of my favorite bands live. Swing Out Sister is coming to Atlanta for a show at Variety Playhouse on April 22. Tickets have been secured and I'll be going with another big fan, BFF Jennifer Perry. The title of SOS's debut album, It's Better to Travel, was the inspiration for my first poetry collection and Jennifer actually sang a couple of SOS tunes during the book launch back in 2003. We are hardcore fans. I'm giddy with excitement.

I'm also giddy that Jessica Handler, author of the brilliant memoir Invisible Sisters, did a Q&A with me about Conquering Venus at her blog, Swimming in the Trees. I appreciate the support!

Also showing Conquering Venus some love is poet Diane Lockward, who features the book trailer on her blog, Blogalicious, in a thoughtful discussion on using trailers to promote literature. Thanks, Diane!

On Saturday, Feb. 27, I'll be one of the artists lending my voice for Love Out Loud for Haiti, a benefit concert featuring poetry and music. See the invite and info here. I'll be reading poetry at the Sun & Moon series in Atlanta on Friday, March 19, with fab poets Mike Dockins and Amy McDaniel. You can see the details at the Facebook invite.

Snow

We got our snowstorm in Atlanta on Friday and Vanessa Daou released this video clip of "Snow," a piece from the Love Among the Shadowed Things project. I do love winter.

American Idol 9 - Hollywood Week, Part 2

If you watch Wednesday’s “American Idol” and ask your boyfriend, girlfriend or cat “who the fuck are these people?” you’re not alone. The majority of singers seem new, but it’s typical “Idol.” There were some good performances, but even Ellen seemed aghast at much of the backstage shenanigans and the resulting performances.

Cheers, tears and queers were in abundance, along with a healthy dose of diva attitude, most of it coming from Todrick “I Toured With Fantasia in ‘The Color Purple’” Hall, who I already hate.

Todrick was part of Destiny’s Wild (gag me), who pitched a big hissy when another group, Neapolitan, also decided to sing an a cappella version of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” I thought both groups sounded like shit, but the judges put them through.

Team Awesome included Michael “Big Mike” Lynche, whose wife gave birth to a daughter while he yelled “push that baby out” on his cell phone. Mike made it through, but another member of his group Michael Castro (brother of dreadlocked season seven finalist Jason “Stoner” Castro) was given the boot.

Read the rest of the recap at Project Q Atlanta now!

American Idol 9 - Hollywood Week, Part 1

After a month of audition shows, the competition got under way Tuesday in Hollywood. Along with it, America’s favorite lesbian, Ellen DeGeneres, finally joined the judging panel.

Ellen explained her qualifications to be a judge: “I do know what it’s like to stand on stage and please a room full of people.”

Which means a Goldie from the Clairmont Lounge could be an “American Idol” judge. Hey…not a bad idea. I wouldn’t mind a little music followed by some beer cans being crushed by massive knockers on primetime TV.

While 181 wannabes made it to Hollywood week, you’d never know it watching Tuesday’s frenetic hour full of too many commercials. With groups of eight performing in sudden death rounds –either coming back for tomorrow night’s group rounds or going home—we never met most of the people being cut, so there was no emotional attachment to worry about.

Many of the contestants who sounded good in auditions—and some who should have never made it to Hollywood in the first place (I’m looking at you, SkiiBoSki)—were shown the door quickly.

Read the rest of the recap at Project Q Atlanta now!

Savannah Report

The trip down to Savannah for my reading at the Savannah College of Art & Design was quick, but fun. It was gloomy and rainy for the entire the three-and-half hour drive (I listened to Miles Davis the whole way -- good driving music). I stayed in a gorgeous new hotel in the historic district called Springhill Suites (it's a Marriott hotel) that I booked on Priceline. I'd never done the bit where you name a price, they pick a hotel and you don't find out which one until after they charge your credit card. I seriously lucked out.

The reading with poet John Valentine was organized by poet Mary Kim and held in SCAD's beautifully renovated Arnold Hall on Bull Street. The former school building has been totally renovated and the auditorium was striking. I think there were between 75 and 100 in the audience, most of them students. John read a selection from his chapbooks and then I read a chapter of Conquering Venus. We had a good Q&A afterwards and then a few students came up to talk personally and have their books signed. I nabbed one of the posters (pictured) SCAD had put up all over campus.

After the reading, Mary, John, his wife Dona and I went to dinner at the fancy 700 Drayton restaurant in The Mansion Hotel. The food was delicious (I had filet mignon) and so was the wine. We closed the place down, talking about poetry, movies and more. Mary and the Valentines were great company, and I'm already looking forward to going back down to Savannah to see them again.

Many, many thanks to Mary and SCAD for having me.

Off to Savannah

I'm reading tonight in Savannah at the Savannah College of Art & Design with John Valentine, 7 p.m. in Arnold Hall. You can see the details at this link. I'll have a report tonight or tomorrow with some photos.

American Idol 9 - Best of the Rest Auditions

After a month of often vomit-inducing audition shows, “American Idol” finally let us have a look at some of the contestants going on to the Hollywood round next week.

Miss Seacrest said that only 181 contestants out of the more than 100,000 auditioned made it to Hollywood. Next week, the process will begin to whittle that number down to 24 – meaning 12 boys and 12 girls.

A quick Google search will tell you who the Top 24 are – since those episodes were filmed weeks ago. The list may or may not change as the live shows approach in mid February, but I think it’s pretty accurate.

Who did we see tonight that made it to the Top 24? There are some potential spoilers ahead, so stop reading now if you don’t want to know.

Lacey Brown (pictured), who auditioned with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” is one of them. She made Top 50 last year and they chose Megan Joy instead. A huge mistake because Megan Joy was like Big Bird on crack and mostly squawked.

Lee Dewyze, who mostly hummed “Ain’t No Sunshine,” has also apparently made the Top 24, so he must get better in Hollywood. Or not.

Read the rest of the recap at Project Q Atlanta!

American Idol 9 - Denver Auditions

It’s the final week of audition episodes on “American Idol” before all those given golden tickets converge on Hollywood for selection of the Top 24 by the judges, including Ellen DeGeneres.

But before Cali, we had to make a stop over in Denver for another evening of auditions. While a montage was shown of all the great singers put through to Hollywood – 26 in all – we only got to see a few of them.

Victoria “Chicken Bone” Beckham was back as celebrity guest judge, looking like a dirty q-tip and offering very little in the way of actual judging, but quite animated when it came to what the contestants were wearing. Too bad this isn’t “Project Runway.”

Not without my daughter…errr…son: Mark Labriola was kidnapped by his mother when he was four and wasn’t reunited with his father until he was 10. While Simon made a joke of his back story, it turns out that Labridoodle can actually sing. Probably won’t make the Hollywood cut, but maybe he could be a Jack Black impersonator at parties.

That Wile E. Coyote Look: With a skeezy laugh and a deep scar in his forehead, Mario Galvan sang a flat version of “Jailhouse Rock” and looked like he’d been hit in the head with an Acme anvil. All that was missing was the Road Runner zipping by. Beep Beep!

Not broken. Yet. Danelle Hayes hosts karaoke nights at nightclubs and sings in a cover band at corporate parties. She had a big, belting voice and was put through to Hollywood. Simon said he believed “Idol” was Danelle’s savior and that she would finally be allowed to be herself. He was joking, right?

Read the rest of the recap at Project Q Atlanta now!

Buy More Books

If you're an author and your name isn't Dan Brown, Stephen King or Mary Oliver, then chances are your book needs a sales boost. Here are four titles that I can whole-heartedly recommend:

Sassing: Poems by Karen Head - WordTech Press has notified Karen that if her brilliant debut collection doesn't sell 250 copies by summer, it will go out of print. This cannot happen. If you want a collection full of smart, contemporary poetry then look no further. Buy a copy today at Amazon.

Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine: A Novel by Ben Tanzer - Orange Alert Press is holding a fire sale and you can purchase one of the last 60 copies of Tanzer's excellent novel for just $6! Visit this link to buy a copy and find out more.

Invisible Sisters: A Memoir by Jessica Handler - A moving tribute and exploration of grief by Jessica, who lost both her sisters to rare blood disorders. Buy it at Amazon.

Gorizia Notebook: Poems by Robert Wood - A witty and lovely travelogue of poems set in Italy. Soak up the Mediterranean light on these cold winter days. You can purchase it at Amazon.

And since I'm tooting their horns, might as well toot mine, too: Conquering Venus is available in print and as an e-book for all you folks with Kindles, Nooks and getting ready to buy an iPad. You can buy a copy at Amazon or visit the book's blog for a list of other retailers.

Vanessa Daou: Love Among the Shadowed Things

You simply must listen to (or download) Vanessa Daou's brilliant, Love Among the Shadowed Things, recorded for the Weird Tales for Winter show curated by Jonny Mugwump on UK radio station Resonance 104.4FM. Poetry, ghostly jazz, sinister choirs, footsteps, trains clacking on tracks, a needle endlessly circling the lead-out of a record and Vanessa's unmistakable voice -- it's like the soundtrack for a film David Lynch has yet to make. Brava!