Friday, December 31, 2010

SETLIST: jambandbootleg

"Paul Siegell is ecstasy
in the present tense...
Siegell’s poems bend
the jamband scene
into enthused reveries."
--RELIX Magazine




CASSETTE
9: 08.12.04 – PHiSH – Tweeter Center, NJ
11: SET I

PLAY
19: The 18 Majors of Greg Hollowcost
20: the read wheelborrow
21: Pass/Fail
23: THE AFTERNOON SET of 12.31.99

SIDE B
29: 05.27.05 – Jam on the River – Great Plaza, PA
30: the wilderman mission hay(na)ku
31: E.T. POEM HOME
32: The Logic of Rock
33: Patchwork Acrobatics: Harlequin Period Typos
34: ALABAMA GETAWAY, 1962
35: N.I.C.U.
36: in order to get back to bed, you gotta go back to work
37: DAY OFF SHUTTLE LAUNCH
39: Tekiah Gedolaaaaahhhhh
41: LO SCROTO SOLOS
42: 10.15.05 – Keller Williams – Electric Factory, PA
44: 11.17.05 – Galactic – TLA, PA
45: 11.19.05 – Bright Eyes – Academy of Music, PA
47: TREMENDOUS
49: dense as city
50: anything to stay warm
51: cargo
52: 12.03.05 – Iron & Wine w/ Calexico – Electric Factory, PA
53: LARYNGITIS LIGHTS
54: 12.26.05 – Benevento/Russo Duo feat. Mike Gordon – Music Box, NJ
55: 12.28.05 – the Disco Biscuits – Tower Theater, PA
56: 12.29.05 – Phix – Grape Street, PA
57: NYE 2003 @ MSG in NYC

FLIP
61: JΔM>

SIDE A
65: MIDNIGHT to SUNRISE: N.Y.E. PHiSH 2000
67: Tattoo’d by Non-Hodgkin’s at 18
68: Parallelograms
71: RE: Cover Letter
72: EPIcureANS PAY FOR FeeLINGS
73: Care-Giving Apathy
74: tickets, please
75: 06.25.00 – PHiSH – Alltel Pavilion, NC
76: toast: is this a joke?
77: crammed-full classroom of little ns, one on left with hand raised
78: SCENE AT DUNG GATE
79: “it by watching”
80: 10.17.96 – PHiSH – Bryce Jordan Center, PA
81: LIT FROM PENN STATE TO PITT
82: 10.19.96 – PHiSH – Marine Midland Arena, NY
83: Meet Me at Will Call
87: SET II
94: FORT SKATEBOARD
95: SET III

REWIND
105: ENCORE to JΔM>

PLAY
109: The Winged Minute
110: GATE-CRASHER’S SONG
111: TEAM PLAYERS
112: ARCHiVE SKYSCRAPE MiCROPHONE
113: Requiem for a Festival

# Publisher: A-Head Publishing; 1st edition (July 1, 2009)
# ISBN-10: 098162832X / ISBN-13: 978-0981628325
# Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.9 x 0.4 inches
# Paperback: 122 pages
# Cover design: Elisa Schmidt
# Author Discount: Email for SIGNED copies: only $10
# Amazon: Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping

Poems arose in 5AM, BlazeVOX, E Pluribus Unum: An Anthology of Diverse Voices, Kulture Vulture, MiPOesias, Moria, New Pony: A Horse Less Anthology, Otoliths, PFS Post, Pinstripe Fedora, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Press 1, Rattle, Sawbuck, Shampoo, Siren, Softblow, Sous Rature, Surrender to the Flow, Three Rivers Review and Umbrella.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

WHEN NATURE CALLS

It’s a long shot, but with your help, maybe we can make a go at it. With incredible appreciation for your support, VOTE WILD: Goodreads 2010 Choice Awards - Poetry

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

WHAT! 2010 Choice Awards for Poetry: Goodreads nominates wild life rifle fire

It’s a long shot, but with your help, maybe we can make a go at it. With incredible appreciation for your support, VOTE WILD: Goodreads 2010 Choice Awards - Poetry

Monday, November 22, 2010

WHAT A RELIEF

.•:*¨¨*:•. ¨*:•. It's wild life rifle fire .•:*¨ .•:*¨¨*:•.
“The effect is shocking... An important book... The poem adds
to the conversation about what is poetry.” --A Bunch Books


Assume the throne with a signed, discounted copy: only $8.00. (+ $2~ for US post. International? Let’s talk! Paypal or check.)
“A stunningly beautiful work... Gorgeously clean… Imaginatively designed... Finding the tricks in the language that the language couldn't know it had.” --Geof Huth
No crap! Get your copies signed & with surprises thrown in. Email
crowkeeper64 [at] gmail.com for details.

It's the perfect gift for every household with a bathroom on your list! Ha-Ha-Happy Holidays!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

*philada blues* (originally published in Philadelphia Stories)











*philada blues*

pink nickel-Ziplocs
branded

“NEW LIFE”

litter the outskirts
of a high-

rise condo

construction site
dumpster

that’s been

tagged “DREAMS
GO HERE

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Monday, November 15, 2010

TABLE of CONCEPTS: Poemergency Room


I - poembark
9. text message
10. Poemblazonry
11. THE’S THEME PARK THESAURUS
12. the hyperventilating hyphen
13. THAT THAT JOY BENDER
14. thots during Hebrew school, or trans-obliteration of a few brachot
15. private magazines
16. ANTIBIOTICS

II - poembattle
19. to answer the new interview
20. Guarding the Unparkable
21. why I love art students
22. ZEPHYR KAYAK EMBRYO
24. America stop honking I know what I’m doing
25. The Cantilever Bridge
26. NAMETAG TIME LAGS
28. FROM PENNSYLVANIA STATION
29. for The Ticking
30. server error
31. toast: and if within
33. STACY TOLD ME A STORY
34. Poempathisizing with Winter

III - poemerge
37. Poembrace the Bloom
38. 04.06.06 – the Greyboy Allstars – TLA, PA
39. A Poembarrassing Display
40. Esmeralda Barracuda Seven-Dollar Semaphore
41. JUST A FEW BLOCKS
42. 05.28.06 – the Disco Biscuits – Electric Factory, PA
43. Hecanbe
44. City Blocks with Gift Shop Mug and Nude
45. SUICIDE IN THE SUBWAY
46. A meeting of messengers
47. corporate client to graphic designer
48. acrobatic macaroni, or at a music-boiled battle scene
49. Poemporium of Home
50. BLIND CARBON COPY TO GERTRUDE STEIN

IV - poembolden
57. Staff Teen Tourientation, or Poemancipations
58. ZION ON A ROCK, DEEPER IN, LISTENING
59. driving the center lane lines
60. HORSESHOE BEND LOOKOUT without Camera
61. EbEnEzEr Huge, eBeNeZeR Truth
62. the chill soar
64. Legend of 261 Corso Cristòforo Colombo, The
66. FIRST HIKE in the LAST FRONTIER
68. caustics
70. global warming

V - poemboss
73. Morning Outside C-205
74. all our aisles
76. Monotono! An “eGarage” of the InfoAge’s first vowel
77. 10.23.06 – Beck – Tower Theatre, PA
78. LISTLESS
79. 19th & Delancey
80. 11.08.06 – Michael Franti & Spearhead – Electric Factory, PA
81. 11.11.06 – Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood – Electric Factory, PA
83. Poembalmed
84. 11.17.06 – Roger McGuinn of The Byrds opening for Doc Watson – Keswick Theater, PA

VI - poemanate
87. The Double-o Poem, or All in a Woodpecker’s Afternoon
88. A Good-Surprise Experience Awaits
91. In the Elevator, Friday 5:30
92. 12.16.06 – the New Deal – TLA, PA
93. WINTER VINTAGE VINYL WINE
94. 12.30.06 – the Disco Biscuits – Electric Factory, PA
96. 12.31.06 – the Disco Biscuits – Tweeter Center, NJ

VII - poemphasize
101. Poemergency Room

VIII - poem
105. THE BROKEN BONES OF OCTOBER 27TH



# Publisher: Otoliths Books; 1st edition (January 18, 2008)
# ISBN-10: 0980454107 / ISBN-13: 978-0980454109
# Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
# Paperback: 116 pages
# Cover design: Reed Altemus
# Author Discount: Email for SIGNED copies: only $10
# Amazon: Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping

Poems appeared in the American Poetry Review, Coconut, E Pluribus Unum: An Anthology of Diverse Voices, GHOTI, horse less review, Moria, Otoliths, Sawbuck, Shampoo, Siren, Softblow and Umbrella; featured in Paste Magazine.

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

thump thu-thump ah thump-thump, thwong

Benjamin Winkler of Splitleaves Press writes:
"In April 2008, Paste had the good taste to interview Paul Siegell. “One can imagine Siegell’s shaped verses singing from posters … like Pop Art glyphs,” Jesse Jarnow wrote.

At the time, Paul said, “I’m hoping in the next couple months, a saxophone’s gonna come out in something I write, or a trumpet.” Well:






Splitleaves is thrilled to put out these poster-sized broadsides, thump thu-thump ah thump-thump, thwong. Read them, frame them. By the way, you can view that Paste article here.

Set of two broadsides. 11 x 17 each.
Textured paper in honey and concrete.
Offset printed.
Rolled and tied with linen thread.

Limited edition of 40. $7.00"
thump thu-thump ah thump-thump, thwong includes:
*05.04.07 – New Orleans Jazz Vipers – Spotted Cat, NOLA*
*05.05.07 – Jonathan Freilich, Skerik, Stanton Moore, Todd Sickafoose & Mike Dillon – Chickie Wah Wah, NOLA*

To order your set, please visit SPLITLEAVES PRESS. Thank you!

More Splitleaves buzz 'ere. And, here's the order form of awesomeness!

Monday, October 18, 2010

allow me to present the soundtrack to what I was feeling while I was writing my third book of poetry

Book Notes – Paul Siegell (“wild life rifle fire”)
G.R.A.B. | Bisco | Radiohead | Jim James | Wilco | Bob Marley
Grateful Dead | Animal Collective | Portugal, The Man | PHiSH

In the largehearted boy "Book Notes" series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.

Paul Siegell’s third book of poetry, wild life rifle fire, is
“a stunningly beautiful work… gorgeously clean… imaginatively designed… This is a book examining language, finding the tricks in the language that the language couldn't know it had.” - Geof Huth

Vladimir Slender-Hedge wrote of the book:
“Paul Siegell's wild life rifle fire proves, if proof were needed, that the electrifying art and legacy of Concrete Poetry is not dead! Here we find DaDa dynamite and typographical talismans freshened by a poet whose native gifts imbue this exciting work with a whole new sense of poetic object. Siegell’s haptic heroism compels the reader to re-examine the basic elements of a language that we too often take for granted, in the process creating an energetic and always surprising work of both visual art and poetry.”
In his own words, here is Paul Siegell’s Book Notes music playlist for his third book of poetry, wild life rifle fire:

Let’s get into the song!

“Play, Stop, Pause” by GRAB (Mike Gordon, Joe Russo, Trey Anastasio, Marco Benevento)

When I wanna get going, when I want something rocking triumphant, I put on the first song of 06/30/06 GRAB at the Tweeter Center in Camden, NJ, a show my friends and I went to on the cusp of a great summer of travel, and I’m on a T-minus count to “Heck yeah!” An epic 4:26. Adventurous, explosive and memorable, just like what wild life rifle fire hopes to be.

“Digital Buddha” by the Disco Biscuits

Here I am, sitting on this computer, seeking that wrestle and peace of writing something well, and I look up on a weirdness: I had “ZOOM IN” on my screen, a draft for some ad at my marketing department job. I increased the point size a bit but I went too far and it was too much for the margins and then Word broke the line to reveal: “ZOO / M IN.” Cue eureka. (Animals in captivity + zooming in makes something larger, but this says minimize.) I fell in love immediately and that, as if a meditation, would become the first page of the book. And Bisco’s “Digital Buddha” was playing when all that happened.

“Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” by RA D IOHE_AD

“Your eyes. They turn me.”

“Goin’ to Acapulco” by Jim James w/ Calexico

Originally from Bob Dylan and The Band’s The Basement Tapes but then redone for the “I’m Not There” soundtrack, this song’s chorus can be heard belting from outta my body at full blast any given moment that I’m not around anyone. I listened to this song at least once a day while I was writing this book. The idea of fleeing from “meh” and out to somewhere warm and sunny and fun, horns and all, it plays a huge part: “Goin’ to Acapulco. Goin’ on the run. Goin’ down to see some girl. Goin’ to have some fun, yeah. Going to have some fun.” It’s the “yeah” (which is really a “yeeeaaaahhh”) that does most of the work. It’s loud, drawn out and spectacular. It’s speaks the release, and Jim James’ voice owns it. Would only just one thing I do in this life be as good as that “yeah.”

Spiders/Kidsmoke: Wilco

“This recent rash of kidsmoke.
All these telescopic poems.
It’s good to be alone.”

“Bend Down Low” and “Acoustic Medley” by Bob Marley

There must be Marley. There must be “REG / GAE”. There must be the complete Acoustic Medley (Guava Jelly; This Train; Cornerstone; Comma Comma; Dewdrops; Stir It Up; I'm Hurting Inside). These songs mean Pooch and I are headed from Philly to Ocean City and we’ve got Appa with us and all we gotta do is get thru the shore traffic and then I could show her the latest printed-out draft of the book and we’d both know that it was becoming real.

SET II of 06/30/95, Grateful Dead at Three Rivers Stadium - Pittsburgh, PA

I don’t remember who I traded with to get this cassette tape, might have been Izzard, but I remember playing SET II of this show dozens of times back in college. Bootlegs. Goodness. Story went that it was an outdoor show and just as the set was about to begin, it started to rain. Thus: Rain (Beatles cover), Box Of Rain, Samba In The Rain, Looks Like Rain> Terrapin Station> Drums> Space> I Need A Miracle> Standing On the Moon, E: Gloria. You can listen to the show HERE, as I have many times. I have been told that “RAIN” makes a very big impact in wild life rifle fire.

“Also Frightened” by Animal Collective

But what if wild life started shooting back? (What if a “poem / could”?) What if the melt threat was more than a threat? What if our guilt for doing what we do to the planet was actually real and what some actually expect to happen, natural global devastation, actually happens? What if the Earth strikes back?

“People Say” by Portugal, The Man

This song, with some of the smartest, clearest lyrics dealing with what’s going on in the world today that I’ve ever heard, speaks to the elephants of wild life rifle fire and how they reoccur, which is fitting because of the double album’s two versions: the “The Majestic Majesty (acoustic)” version and the electric one on “The Satanic Satanist.”

“Squirming Coil > I Been Around” by PHiSH (11/27/09 Albany, NY)

“It got away, yeah. It got away.”

There’s that “yeah” again. But this time it’s not the “yeah,” it’s the “away.” The away is the extended, harmonized bridge to the yeah, and the yeah gets us to the solo. All the hope in the world arrives every time Trey, Mike and Fishman leave the stage and Page McConnell is left all by his beautiful self, alone with the crowd and his piano. When his bandmates leave, that’s the white space in the book. Lyrically, the sun set, Satan and Jimmy did their thing, Icarus took his taste, and now it’s time for Page to carry us all away on 88 keys. All the gentle turmoil of his “Squirming Coil” solo. Page’s decadent piano excellence—And don’t those piano black keys look like they’re typeset in Helvetica? In my first book, Poemergency Room, I’ve a line: “All I want if for my page to play the piano.” And when writing this third book, I felt like, in some strange, Helvetica-driven way, I was but one note closer.

Hidden Track:

“Float On” by Modest Mouse

“OK, don’t worry we’ll all float on / Even if things get heavy we’ll all float on / Alright already we’ll all float on / Don’t you worry we’ll all float on / All float on.”