Saturday, October 6, 2007

Things i like on Bear Parade

I spent some time this hour reading or rereading things on bearparade.com.

There is a lot of good shit on there. You should go read it if you haven't.

Here are some of my favorites things on there.

i'm going to touch you very hard by TAO LIN: i like this, like i like a lot of tao's poetry, because it rambles and yet seems to maintain a thought, and uses easy language in a new way. i like the line about destroying a house with an aluminum chair and it being the greatest week. this is a common feeling expressed in a way that absorbs the feeling better than trying to use intangibles. i think a lot of the reason why the kind of writing on bear parade is good is because it describes intangibles without intending to and does a good job.

i want to sleep by ELLEN KENNEDY: i like this because of the title and because of how the story seems to have nothing to do with the title but kind of exactly explains the emotion of wanting to sleep abstractly, which makes me think ellen kennedy maybe has had insomnia or at least mild trouble sleeping. since i was a little kid i've wanted to be able to carry a bed above my head that i could stop and climb into that existed in nowhere and nowhere is a place.

the last two lines of II by MATTHEW ROHRER: the last two lines of this poem are: "At night I make a little sound. It sounds like a witch opening a birthday present." i like those two lines a lot. i'm not sure why.

i want the glass panel tinted by OFELIA HUNT: i like this story for the explicit description used in the first paragraph and the way i laughed inside myself when it transitions out of the description and she says "It was a joke" or something like that. i think this does a better job explaining relationships than whatever modern writers write about relationships. i don't read modern writers who write about relationships like i guess jonathan franzen or something. i can't stand reading stories about relationships unless they are written in a way like this and this is good.

I have no idea what I am doing or why I just wrote all of that except that I think more people should read that stuff.

I like a lot of other things on bearparade but this will be where I shut the fuck up and start doing work.

Fuck.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi...i'm a writer too and i saw "eventually i will be mostly lipid" on 3 AM and i just loved it...and wanted to let you know that it's the most accurate description of the frustration i feel that i've heard not expressed by myself. it's like every day all add and divide the time i knew i should've spent writing, and i have lists of magazines that are defunct by the time i submit to them. so if you want to talk about this or writing stuff or writing or non-writing stuff, my myspace is xip_suicide and my livejournal is one_user_less and my blogspot is bitchfacecomics and if you leave me a comment on any of those or an e-mail to myspace I'll see it because I have a problem with Internet addiction, too.
shayn

Zachary German said...

i read your poems on 3am and liked them

i read your blog sometimes

i like bear parade but am tired now so will read what you like about it tomorrow

goodnight

Matt DeBenedictis said...

Bear Parade is a definite great read. I'm really fond of the newest addiction by Mazie Louise Montgomery as well as The Living and The Dead by Noah Cicero. Hey don't apologize or even rationalize why your sharing such great reads, the main thing is more people do need to read The Bear Parade.

Zachary German said...

i like bear parade

you are funny

bucka bucka bucka bucka bucka bucka bucka bucka bucka bucka bucka bucka

when i wrote "bucka" the last time i spelled it "bukca" by accident and then corrected it

bye

BLAKE BUTLER said...

bucka bucka yes

Anonymous said...

you should write a book for bear parade.

BLAKE BUTLER said...

i've thought about it. i've written about 1/3 of a collection that i could see there. hrm.

Anonymous said...

please do

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