We’re happy to count Hank Lazer among the Ahadadians. We’ve started to ask folks like Hank to recommend three of their students or three other established poets that they think should be represented on our site via an e-chapbook during the up-coming year. The results should be interesting. More news: because of space, and other, limitations, we are currently investigating the possibilities of Print on Demand and hope to shift at least one portion of our publishing to that mode.

We still have some major projects in the works: books by Yoko Danno, Mark Spitzer, David Axelrod, Mike Heller, Robert Thompson, Elizabeth Smither, David Jones; e-chaps by Alison Croggin, Judith Skillman; translation projects with Robin Blaser and Robert Lax; audio material from David Jaffen that should go up on Radio Ahadada–a resource that we should really start using.

Ahadada Books as I envision it is an exercise in freedom and the exploring of possibilities. We’ve gone through some bumps and a tailspin or two, but we’ve still managed to promote a large number of really talented people in one fashion or the other for 10 years now come April. And I think 2008 will be our best year yet. Jesse

VEC/Rod Summers finally made it to YouTube with an interesting video of his audio fountain installation, and yet another of a Zennish moment of a door in Maastricht slamming in a high wind. All very VEC if you ask me! Sniff them down via the search function at the continuously amazing YouTube site.

Burton Watson, Philip Rowland, and I have a special lunch club that meets every three or four weeks near Tokyo station. Philip took this shot of Burton and me at our last meeting in December.

At that time, Philip gave us copies of the fifth number of Noon; Journal of the Short Poem. Noon is always beautifully done; a real collector’s item. This issue features fine work from a wide variety of writers–some established names like Bob Arnold, John Martone, Gary Hotham, Jim Kacian, David Baratier, Alistair Noon, Chris McCabe, and rob mclennan and new names (at least to me), like Joseph Massey and Kit Kennedy who gives us:

tomorrow

indecipherable
damp napkin

The “smells like teen spirit” award of the issue goes to John M. Bennett who is forever young but forever the same, flogging away at the same ham, the same glans, with the same roar and the same whiff that he’s been flourishing since the 1970’s in one zillion trillion littles. But, just for fun, here he goes again:

sog

the long fog the dancing
whiff the blam hog the
glancing roar the ham dog
the rancid elf the glans
log the stammered hip the
grease bog the antsy drip
the wrong cog the massif

For whatever anyone wants to think—I admire Dr. Bennett—because he embodies exactly what Howard Nemerov told me one summer’s day way back in 1978, when he said that every writer finds the audience he or she deserve if they keep at it long enough. Dr. Bennet’s case should give hope to every aspiring writer. Bennett is a nice fellow and his generosity is well known. On the other hand, he appears to have a cadre of well-meaning “supporters” who refuse to let a balanced view of what he does appear on Wikipedia or other places. This is really a shame, but I’m afraid that the person most harmed by this is Dr. John himself, whose experimentalism does have its good points, but also its obvious limitations. I really don’t think that Dr. Bennett’s work needs to be shielded from the truth. Do you?

Noon’s a great read as always, and a treasure. For more information about submissions, subscriptionss, etc., please contact the editor at noonpress[at]mac.com.

What a great day we had—Burton, Philip and I—talking about cabbages and kings. We hope to continue our meetings well into the new year and beyond.

Jesse