WILL

After neglecting to define the world ( = settle on set definitions of my definitions of the things I perceive) ( = decide I am something or someone) it seems maybe the time is upon me to neglect my neglectings. I don't know if this means anything. But I can feel something meaning to enunciate its will within me.

After years of subduing my will and shirking most feelings of desire, I feel almost able to do things ( = waking up in a morning you listen only to your own thoughts and move towards filling those, ie. having goals not set in other people's think tanks.)

Am I finally, eventually, inevitably, a real human?

RYAN J. EILBECK / RICHARD WEHRENBERG, JR. POEM TOUR INFO

GUTEN HAI. I’m leaving Bloomington late tomorrow night for Columbus to begin a poem reading tour w/ my dear friend Ryan J. Eilbeck. We’re going to be reading poems and hanging out across a decent expanse of North America for the next two weeks at the various bookstores and houses listed below.

Ryan’s going to have a new zine of poems, Disappearing Farmer’s Tan (MHP-003), I’ll have a newish tape / zine combo called Imaginary Order, and quite possibly a new nine-person-collabo zine about songs / music called The Stuff of Song (MHP-004). Also quite possible: former zines and chapbooks. Also def possible: my speaking w/ you. Our speak-share. Life itself.

TBA dates to be updated ASAP. IDK. IDC. IDGAF. JK. NOTJK.

Come hang?

***

There is life and there is us and we and us and we will be where you might be and would like it to share time and speak spokes and truly heart. Yeah?

HERE :

COLUMBUS OH * FRI OCT 5 @ 539 E. Town St. (Rear) w/ James Payne, Tara Jay, Alex Mussawir 9pm free, featuring the Cheapo Beer Smorgasbord. Pay what you want for a drink to help us with some gas $$

[http://www.facebook.com/events/289776631128161/?ref=ts&fref=ts]

SAT OCT 6 @ TBA

CHILCAGO IL * SUN OCT 7 @ Jim Joyce’s w/ Matt Whispers, Nicki Yowell, Collin Brennan, Jim Joyce 8pm $3-5 Donation$

[https://www.facebook.com/events/500433213301774/]

MINNEAPOLIS, MN* MON OCT 8 @ 3022 Chicago Ave South w/ The Velveteens, In Boil, & Diva 93 7pm Donation$
 

MILWAUKEE, WI * TUES OCT 9 @ People’s Books Cooperative (804 E Center St) w/ Fly Steffans, Cynthia Spencer, Chelsea Tadeyeske, Jessica Baumann 7pm $5[http://www.facebook.com/events/408782205842085/?notif_t=plan_user_invited]

INDIANAPOLIS, IN * WED OCT 10 @ Indy Reads Books (911 Massachusetts Ave) w/ Christopher Newgent, Wendy Lee Spacek, Benjamin Bernthal 7pm Donation$
[http://indyreadsbooks.org/events/]

PITTSBURGH, PA * THURS OCT 11 @ Cyberpunk Apocalypse (1200 Boyle St, enter in the back) w/ Max Wheeler, Laura Brun 7pm Donation$
[https://www.facebook.com/events/422456411150657/?fref=ts]

WASHINGTON, D.C. * FRI OCT 12 @ (1408 Crittenden St. NW) w/ David Combs, TBA 7pm Donation$
[http://www.facebook.com/events/284989908271807/?ref=ts&fref=ts]

BROOKLYN, NY * SAT OCT 13 @ 41 Varick Ave w/ Paco Buenasnoches, Gabby Mattis, Andrew Worthington, Ashley Bayer 7pm donation$
[https://www.facebook.com/events/159712234169920/]

BOSTON, MA * SUN OCT 14 @ TBA
 

ORONO, ME * MON OCT 15 @ TBA
 

MONTREAL, QC * TUES OCT 16 @ TBA
 

TORNTO, ON * WED OCT 17 @ TBA
 

CLEVELAND, OH * THURS OCT 18 @ Visible Voice Books (1023 Kenilworth Ave) w/ Brianna Ries 7pm Donation$[http://www.visiblevoicebooks.com/events.php]

(*photo cred. Lisa Dorazewski)

RYAN J. EILBECK / RICHARD WEHRENBERG, JR. POEM TOUR 2012

HI HI HI. From October 5th through October 18th I will be traveling w/ my poet-kin and dear colleague Ryan J. Eilbeck throughout the Midwest and East Coast.

We would like to read poems in any room of your house, at your library or bookstore or university, or in any dope reading / performing spot you might know of or think of or discover. Will you have us? The dates are below.

Message me on here or email me at richardwehrenbergjr AT gmail DOT com if you want to host a reading for us or know someone who might or just if you want to chat about anything. Really.
____________________________________________

OCT 5 - COLUMBUS, OH

OCT 6 - ANN ARBOR, MI OR ELSEWHERE, MI

OCT 7 - CHICAGO, IL 
OCT 8 - MILWAUKEE / MADISON, WI

OCT 9 - MINNEAPOLIS, MN OR MADISON, WI
OCT 10 - INDIANAPOLIS, IN
OCT 11 - PITTSBURGH, PA
OCT 12 - WASHINGTON, DC
OCT 13 - PHILADELPHIA, PA OR NYC OR NEW JERSEY
OCT 14 - BOSTON, MA
OCT 15 - PORTLAND, ME OR SOMEWHERE, NH
OCT 16 - MONTREAL, CA OR SOMEWHERE, NH OR  UPSTATE NEW YORK
OCT 17 - TORONTO, ON
OCT 18 - CLEVELAND, OH
____________________________________________

EXAMPLES OF US

Me reading a poem on Septemeber 11th, 2010 in Kent, Ohio called "(Subjective) Truth Spittin' in Punk House Kitchens" -

Ryan reading a poem on January 21st, 2011 in Columbus, Ohio called "I Don't Smoke (I Lied)" -

Ryan reading a bunch of poems on October, 6th 2011 in Columbus, Ohio -

Ryan has two chapbooks here, here and a blog.

I have some internet-writing here.

We did a four-way split chapbook here.
I will email you any of my poems if you want them.

____________________________________________

EXPLICATIONS OF 'GOALS'

I tried to explicate some tour 'goals' (goals...yeah, you know, you get things from doing things, there is a empirical input-output ratio, a clear cause and effect that you affect with intention, dawg /// no, no, no, you never know what you will get out of something so what is this 'goal' you speak of, what do you mean, it will never be predictable, life, besides knowing you may glow w/ new people, new words, new new new, always, ever-again) below:

First Attempt at Positing Tour 'Goals' / Predictions

We will read poems and tell stories and hang out and fall asleep and drink things and listen to other stories and words and be open and earnest. We will meet you and something unprecedented will happen. The days will pass without stopping to say hello. We will drive a car to a new city each day, passing innumerable other cities with uncountable amounts of other lives, just passing them by, like, how many others. I will walk into a grocery store. We will try to do some things. We will not try to do anything in particular.

Second Attempt at Positing Tour 'Goals' / Predictions

We will read poems and people will listen to them earnestly or maybe they will be blase or maybe it will be their first time actually enjoying poetry or maybe they will be on a different, like, aestethic level and totally just get it but not really care for it per se. We will fall in love. We will encounter exceedingly encouraging examples of people. We will encounter things not for us. I will see you and you will respond to me (or not respond, but email me later and tell me something you thought.) We will harness an unrestrained sense of wonder and imbue it into our every action and word. There will be happening.

Third Attempt at Positing Tour 'Goals' / Predictions

We will grow in unbeknownst ways. We will take new routes to the same old places and then they will be new. I will miss home and certain people intensely. I will be silent. We will have conversations we never have imagined. There will be sadness. There will be being. I will walk into a forest and an ocean. Time will pass without regard for continuity or understanding. I'll try and remember. We'll go home and assume former shapes and roles. We'll have a refreshed reverence for the natural world. For language and humans. I will be standing before a river and think of you.

____________________________________________

THAT'S IT, MMBYEBYE
 

richardwehrenbergjr@gmail.com

ryanj@monsterhousepress.com

PLAYING AND READING AT PLAN-IT-X FEST

 

This year's PLAN-IT-X FEST, a diy-punk music and more festival in Bloomington, IND., will take place on June 21st-24th, 2012. 

I will be playing songs on June 21st for the 'local's only' show w/ a full band (ostensibly named Great Health) at the Bishop along with Toby Foster, Madeline Ava, Canadian Tuxedo, Lioneater, Erin Tobey, Closet Burner, Pink Houses, Inky Skulls, & Pleasure Blade.

I will also be reading poems on June 24th, the last day of the fest, at Rhino's at 12 p.m. Here's the full schedule of everyone who is playing:

I'm also organizing a Poetry in Punk reading the morning of the 23rd at Boxcar Books to coincide w/ the fest. More details later.

Come hang out in the town that I (we all) live in. It's quite magical.

DIE KINDER TAPE

 

Die Kinder, a musical project I am a part of w/ Kari Jørgensen & Ryan Eilbeck, released a six-song tape at Skylab Gallery on May 5th in Columbus, Ohio.



Download the songs for free HERE (or direct zip file here)

OR if you would like a physical copy of the tape via mail, paypal $4 (ppd) to richardwehrenbergjr at gmail dot com.

OR get in touch at the same email address for other ways to get the tape.

Reach for the strange fruit.

ZINE WORKSHOP NOTES

On Monday, March 26th, Penina Gal and myself spoke to a feminist studies class of middle and high school students from Harmony School in Bloomington, Indiana about ZINES at Boxcar Books. Subjects we touched on included: the general history of zines, the poetic history of zines, the punk history of zines, the comix history of zines, the feminist history of zines, the subversive nature of zines, the urgency of self-publishing, famous zines, anti-famous zines, infamous zines, sexy zines, zine libraries, fests, archives, punk, house shows, diy punk, feminism, Monster House, poetry tours, and community.

Below is the outline I would glance at occasionally to gain my bearings when my thoughts had flown off course:

CHICAGO ZINE FEST 2012

I'll be in Chicago this weekend tabling at CHICAGO ZINE FEST for MONSTER HOUSE PRESS & BOXCAR BOOKS.

Come visit, please.