poem online

The new issue of "The King's English is up and you can read my poem, "Palms," here.

The editor nominated it for a Dzanc Books "Best of the Web" anthology. I'm not sure what that means, if anything, but it's quite flattering.

Watched "From Here to Eternity" last night without having read the book. I have to keep reminding myself that it's the more current movies that stole from the older ones, not the other way around. I'm sure when the film came out, it wasn't obvious what was going to happen to Frank Sinatra's character. They didn't have "Top Gun" and "An Officer and a Gentleman" in their heads. Anyhow, it's still good. My first Burt Lancaster experience. Now there's some kind of man.

Read "The Jane Austen Book Club." Ugh. There's nothing wrong with the book, technically, but I find the "cult of Jane" that's developed to be really hideous. It makes people who love Jane Austen but don't worship her embarrassed. I've felt the same about Shakespeare and Dickens -ophiles as well. Can't you just love their work without deifying them and rehashing their work? It's (not really) like killing people in the name of Christianity. It's not what Jesus would have wanted. Jane wouldn't have wanted "The Jane Austen Book Club," I'm sure.

I only read it because I want to see the movie. And I only want to see the movie because I want an excuse to go to Encino and not work on my novel.

The Samuel French bookshop in Studio City is amazing. Love it, love it, love it.