Iran update 6.0 (Saturday, June 20th)

Apologies for the late update but I was waiting for news to get out of Iran, which was harder to come by today with the crackdown. With that said, here’s what’s going on and some interpretation/speculation interspersed:


* Street clashes: the announced plan for today was for people to march from enqelab (revolution) square to Azadi (freedom) square, but there were conflicting reports—which people pinned to hackers on opposition sites, including their facebook accounts—of whether these were cancelled. Eventually the plans were more or less confirmed as still being on, and people tried to make it to the march. The head of police in Terhan went on TV ahead of the scheduled protests and warned people not to take part in these ‘illegal’ demonstrations. The security inside Tehran was far above and beyond what was seen in recent days. There were riot police and basijis with clubs, tear gas, water cannons, and live rounds blocking off almost every conceivable entrance to Azadi square and preventing people from assembling on large streets. The metro was shut down so people couldn’t get into central Tehran, and student dorms were surrounded so they couldn’t leave. Helicopters flew overhead and gave tactical support to the security forces, and in short, all the stops were pulled out and crowd control was exercised to the maximum extent. Still, people dared to come out and tried to demonstrate in the streets. The numbers were far less than in previous days, but in Terhan in the thousands. They began with silence but when attacked fought back the basiji with rocks, bricks, throwing back tear gas, and from several youtube videos, you can see them actually forcing the basiji to retreat (which was greeted by the roar of the crowd). The violence unleashed upon them was more brutal than ever before. It’s still unclear but there have been reports of around 20 dead and 50 or so badly beaten. I won’t link to them here, but there are several widely circulated videos of a woman being shot dead in the protests, a middle-aged woman being beaten with batons by several basiji while people around her curse at them. Apparently the water cannons being sprayed at people was more than water and some sort of a mix of water and chemicals that burned the skin. People were again scared of being taken to hospitals and several European embassies were accepting injured people. Almost all the footage I’ve seen is from Tehran, but there were reports of riots in Tabriz, Mashhad, Ahvaz, Isfahan, and Shiraz.
*

* Musavi: Originally today’s protests were supposed to be attended by Musavi, Karrubi and Khatami, but they did not (or very possibly, could not) attend them. Musavi is not under arrest but is not allowed to speak near cameras or microphones, but later in the day there were numerous reports that he did make it onto the streets where he spoke to his supporters and said that he is ‘prepared for martyrdom’ and if he is arrested the nation should strike. Later in the day he released an official statement that you can read the English translated version of below, but in general he is not letting up and will not accept the results of the election. This is a much needed statement, given that some people were waiting for an appearance or statement from him. Still, as my previous posts should have made clear, despite his courageousness and emerging leadership, the opposition isn’t really about him. It’s about things larger and deeper than just the election. Anyway, here’s a link to his statement: http://iranfacts.blogspot.com/2009/06/my-translation-of-mousavis-latest.html
* Legal update: the Guardian Council said it would recount 10% of the votes, chosen at random, which was rejected by Musavi and Karrubi. Recognizing that dealing with this body was futile, these two didn’t attend the scheduled meeting to discuss electoral fraud today, while Rezai’i did (though to no resolved conclusion). Musavi also wrote to the Guardian Council complaining that there were plans to rig the election at least a month in advance. I’m sure he knows that nothing will come of this complaint, but he’s keeping the legal avenue open so that he can claim to be trying to work within the system to resolve these problems.
* Fake bomb: Iranian state TV reported that a suicide bomber struck one corner of the Khomeini mausoleum outside of southern Tehran, and claimed that 2 people were injured and the bomber killed. There was initially speculation that the regime may have been responsible for this so that it makes the opposition look like vigilantes, and also possibly that an exiled opposition group—which is reviled by people inside Iran, named the Mujahedin-e Khalq—could have been the perpetrators. They later showed footage of the bombing and it became clear than this was entirely fabricated. The ‘aftermath’ was essentially just a broken window. No damage, no blood, nothing, just a broken window. This just shows the desperate tactics the regime is resorting to, and also how haphazard and clumsy they are getting. Similar to this, State TV showed a few young people ‘confessing’ to traveling to the US so they could get training in guerrilla tactis and stroke unrest. It’s a typical regime canard and one that almost no one believs anymore. Also, state TV is showing parts of Obama’s statements on Iran, but mistranslating him as saying that he supports the protestors and wants them to continue protesting.
* Where’s Rafsanjani: there’s still no word on where Rafsanjani is. The general belief is that he’s still in Qom speaking to clerics and members of the expediency council, but he hasn’t been heard from or seen since the protests began. Late today there was one article that said the assembly of experts will issue a statement saying they fully support khamenei and his sermon from yesterday, but that is very likely the state’s further attempt at mis-information. Whether they eventually do come out and support Khamenei, it’s telling that they have taken so long and remained quiet for this amount of time at this crucial period of his tenure.
* More on khamenei: there’s an important point several commentators made about his Friday sermon that I didn’t include yesterday, that is, that it’s very rare for Khamenei to openly side with one faction against another. His traditional way of ruling has been to keep all sides and factions happy, and thus keep the regime’s support base as broad as possible. Whenever an unpopular decision has to be made that may alienate one faction, he usually delegates this to other persons or bodies such as the Guardian Council. In general he has tried to remain ‘above the fray’ from politics and prefers to work behind the scene, his so explicitly coming down on the side of Ahmadinejad is rather unique.
* Who won?: with everything that was building to this day, the question remains of who won, the opposition or the regime. I wish I could provide a more definitive answer, but I believe in the end both sides did. On the regime side, they prevented another massive gathering through both threats of and use of force. Musavi, Khatami and Karrubi were not able to address the crowds, and the regime made a point that this is how they will deal with such demonstrations in the future. However, on the side of the opposition, the fact that thousands of people were still willing to go onto the streets and risk—if not lose—their lives is an accomplishment. They exposed the brutal tactics of the regime, and people continue to be furious about the state-perpetrated violence. Many reports said that the ‘allah-u akbars’ are louder now than ever before, and at least for the time being, the opposition is not backing down. It’s been somewhat underreported just how many prominent members of the opposition have been arrested. Senior members of both reformist candidates, as well as members of reformist political groups and democratic activitist groups, have been rounded up and arrested, and yet the protests continue. The regime is hoping to render the movement immobile by taking out its limbs, but it’s become clear that the movement is not directed from above but is a truly popular movement that has no one center directing it. We’ll see tomorrow where this is headed. If people somehow came out in the numbers they have been the security forces would be unable to stop them from marching or assembling, but clearly this would result in massive bloodshed. Musavi and others do not appear to be backing down, and the prospect of a national strike could cripple the country, much as it did in the 1979 protests. I remain hopeful and in awe of the protestors, but whatever happens, Iran has experienced fundamental changes that cannot be undone, and the cleavages that have emerged will not go away any time soon.


As a last note, this is a must read from someone from the NYT on the ground in Tehran: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/opinion/21tehran.html


I should also say that I’ll be traveling for a few hours tomorrow for an interview so the update will likely come as late, if not later, than today’s, but I’ll try to send it out as soon as possible.

Saturday

Friday

Iran update 5.0 (Friday, June 19th)

> Apologies for the lateness of today’s update, but here’s what happened today. As always, feel free to forward or post, but please take off my name/email.
>
> Unlike previous days I’m combining my interpretation with the updates:
>
> * Opposition protest called off: yesterday I wrote that today (Friday) could very well determine the future of Iran, given that the opposition was going to hold a protest and march to Friday prayers where regime supporters were being bused in for Khamenei’s Friday sermon. Musavi, Karrubi, and the opposition decided to call these protests off for two reason: 1) the ‘turnout’ for the Friday sermons and the corresponding protests would be used to show regime support, and the opposition didn’t want to inflate these numbers; and 2) the opposition wanted to avoid being provoked into violence and wait for Khamenei’s sermon to see how to react. As I’ll highlight below, given what Khamenei said in his sermon it now seems absolutely clear that the gauntlet has been thrown down and this watershed moment will now take place tomorrow.
> * Khamenei speaks: leading up to Khamenei’s speech, there was speculation that Khamenei might compromise, sacrifice Ahmadinejad for the sake of the regime, or heed to some opposition demands to save face for the regime. From his sermon, though, he is not backing down in any way, and has firmly thrown his support behind Ahmadinejad and conceded nothing to the opposition. The speech was full of usual scapegoating of Western media and enemies of the regime, claims that the huge turnout was a victory for the regime, but there are some very significant parts of it:
> o he explicitly chided Ahmadinejad for attacking family members of Rafsanjani and Nateg Nouri, but he also fully supported Ahmadinejad. Khamenei went as far as to say that the incumbent president’s views and opinions are the closest to his own than any other candidate, and that there was no fraud in the election—without any sense of irony, Khamenei actually said how is it possible to fake 11 million votes (Ahmadinejad’s winning margin;
> o Khamenei also made several points to woo Rafsanjani back to his side. He did so, as noted above, by reproaching Ahmadinejad for attacking Rafsanjani’s family, but also tried to co-opt Rafs by talking about his importance to the regime, his revolutionary credentials, his important positions within government, etc. Ahmadinejad, as well as some other senior regime members, were present at the sermon, but Rafsanjani was not, and speculation continues that he is in Qom rallying support against Khamenei;
> o Most seriously of all, Khamenei not-so-subtly said that any violence coming from future protests is the opposition’s fault and not the regime. He called the protests illegal, said they must stop, and again said that people must move on and accept the election results.
>
> * Opposition response: there was no immediate response to Khamenei’s speech from the opposition, but no one is backing down from holding a protest tomorrow at 4 pm. Reportedly Musavi, Karrubi, and Khatami will all be there, and again it will be a silent protest with a combination of mourning for those killed in the protests so far and a continuation of the ‘sea of green.’ I can’t overemphasize the importance of tomorrow’s events. As scary as it may sound, so far the regime has tempered its response to the protests, and is capable of far more brutal tactics. As Khamenei’s speech suugests, there is every indication that the crackdown will occur tomorrow. People were bused in from across the country for the Friday sermon, among them basiji members and reservist, who unlike the army and even some revolutionary guards, are almost uniformly pro-regime and will not hesitate to inflict violence on what they see as anti-regime activities. The basij numbers could be around 500,000, and their reserve forces 1 million. While all of these will not be mobilized, they will be in much stronger force than any other day. How the opposition responds to this violence and whether their momentum continues will be the most clear indication so far of where the movement is going. On top of this, after Khamenei’s sermon tomorrow’s protests are a direct challenge and rebuke of the Supreme Leader. Not that the opposition has in previous days been in any way pro-regime, but as I said above, Khamenei has essentially thrown down the gauntlet and dared people to demonstrate, and tomorrow, we’ll see their response. Lastly, Musavi called on people to again yell “allah-u akbar” from their roofs and balconies, and some people are saying it’s even louder than in previous nights.
> * Whither Ahmadinejad: I believe I noted yesterday about the conspicuous three-day absence of Ahmadinejad, but on late yesterday a recorded TV statement was broadcast on national TV where Ahmadinejad adopted a more conciliatory attitude and claimed his remarks about the protestors were taken out of context. He said that his previous words were not meant to insult or disparage any Iranian, and said that every single Iranian is valuable. The government is at everyone’s service.” This is quite a turnaround from his usual uncompromising stance. While on the topic, I should also note here why Khamenei has and continues to support Ahmadinejad despite the clear advantages of sacrificing the president for the sake of the regime. As I said yesterday. Khamenei’s religious credentials have always been suspect, and his religious authority and legitimacy is in no way comparable to Khomeini’s. Compared to his predecessor he’s fairly weak, and since taking the position of Supreme Leader in 1989 has tried to consolidate his power in the face of direct and indirect challenges to his rule. For example, when he became SL Rafsanjani was president, and the latter managed to abolish the position of Prime Minister, thus strengthening his position against the Supreme Leaders. That rivalry has continued behind the scenes since then, and is becoming more apparent now. When Khatami was president there were direct challenges to his authority that were not seen during the more moderate days of Rafsanjani. Khamenei was able to deal with these much more easily than the insider Rafsanjani, but his sense of vulnerability surely increased. With Ahmadinejad he found a base of support in the Revolutionary Guards, basij, and radical members of the clergy. Ahmadinejad’s supporters have been labeled Iran’s ‘neo-cons’, as they represent a new generation of regime supporters different from traditional conservatives, and Khamenei seized upon them and has used them to consolidate his grip on power. In summary, letting Ahmadinejad fall from power at this point could mean subjecting himself to the same fate.
> * Legal update: not much to report on the legal front, but the Guardian Council may recount votes in some districts, but in light of what Khamenei said today not much is to be expected from this. I haven’t heard whether Musavi, Karrubi and Rezai’i will meet with them as planned tomorrow, but I suspect they will continue to at least entertain legal channels in addition to mass movements.
> * Western response: some commentator, and I apologize that I forget who, made the point that the European and US response to Iran has essentially switched. European states have had a more critical response to events in Iran, while the US has been more silent and diplomatic. This could be an example of ‘good cop, bad cop,” and is significant in that these European states are the ones that, unlike the US, actually have economic and diplomatic ties to Iran. While I don’t doubt the necessity of these states adopting a more hardline approach, I think Obama should make a more explicit denunciation of what’s going on in Iran. This may not mean endorsing the election results, but at least taking a harder stance on human rights violations. The other day Obama unfortunately said that for US national security purposes, there is “no difference” between an Ahmadinejad or Musavi presidency, and while this may have been taken somewhat out of context, this is clearly not the message to be sending the Iranian people.
> * Finally, I wanted to quote in full an email (translated) from someone in Iran that underscores what’s at stake tomorrow:
>
> “I will participate in the demonstrations tomorrow. Maybe they will turn violent. Maybe I will be one of the people who is going to get killed. I’m listening to all my favorite music. I even want to dance to a few songs. I always wanted to have very narrow eyebrows. Yes, maybe I will go to the salon before I go tomorrow! There are a few great movie scenes that I also have to see. I should drop by the library, too. It’s worth to read the poems of Forough and Shamloo again. All family pictures have to be reviewed, too. I have to call my friends as well to say goodbye. All I have are two bookshelves which I told my family who should receive them. I’m two units away from getting my bachelors degree but who cares about that. My mind is very chaotic. I wrote these random sentences for the next generation so they know we were not just emotional and under peer pressure. So they know that we did everything we could to create a better future for them. So they know that our ancestors surrendered to Arabs and Mongols but did not surrender to despotism. This note is dedicated to tomorrow’s children…”
>

THIS

sucks!

I like this post over at Thinking Again

An Interview with David Bromige

Three Poems: Amy Wright

Nighttime again in Iran

Nighttime again in Iran, so here’s my daily update. As always, feel free to forward but make sure to take off my name.

First, what’s happened:

* more protests: there was another protest today that by some accounts was as well attended, if not more so, than the one on Monday. With foreign media banned from covering these it’s difficult to tell, but The Guardian said it could have been as many as a million, and Iranian State TV even admitting it was in the tens of thousands. Whatever the number is, the important thing is that they show no signs of stopping. Musavi and his wife both attended and spoke at today’s rally, which he called (loose translation) “a sea of green in black silence.” Like yesterday’s it was a silent protest where people mourned those who have been killed so far in the protests. Thankfully, so far there have been less reports of violence from today’s demonstrations, though I don’t doubt that plainclothes officers were still beating people in the streets. Musavi has called for a candlelight vigil tonight, and the protests now have taken on an explicitly mourning theme, much as happened during some of the protests during 1979.
* Tomorrow’s events: with the magnitude of what has happened so far it is difficult to call any one day more important than another, but I believe tomorrow will be perhaps the most important day thus far, and could very well determine how the rest of these events play out. The reason for this is because tomorrow, Friday, is the Muslim Holy day, which is when Friday prayers are given in mosques and where state-sponsored political messages are disseminated to the public. According to one report I’ve seen, tomorrow Khamenei will give Friday prayers in, of all places, Tehran University. People are already being bused in from outside the city to shore up support for the regime and bolster its numbers. Khamenei might maintain the line that the elections were legitimate and the protests are illegal, or he might soften his stance and promise some sort of recount. Either way, I don’t see him making any sort of grand gesture to the opposition, and if he does speak more of an accomodationist line, it will likely be to buy more time to diffuse the situation. On the opposition side, Musavi has again called for mourning and silent protests, and urged people to march from one large public square to mosques to attend Friday prayers. Both Musavi and Karrubi will attend the events tomorrow. Jumping ahead to Friday, a clerical group that I mentioned in previous emails, the Association of Combative Clerics, has asked for official permission to hold a protest and rally on Saturday. I read a few reports that another, more centrist clerical group has issued a statement supporting the protests, but nothing I can call definitive.
* Government response: one expert who I link to below said that so far the government has had no clear strategy in how to deal with these protests. I couldn’t agree with this more. After the first few days the government has dispatched security forces including the Revolutionary Guards, Basij, Hezbollah, etc, but without a coherent plan on how to deal with the protestors. Their strategy initially seemed to be to scare the protestors with arrests and violence, but that has clearly failed so far and the protests continue to gain momentum. There has not been—and hopefully will not be—a massive show of force like the rolling in of tanks at Tianamen, and police, army, and even some revolutionary guards do not seem willing to crack down on the protests. There were reports today of basiji wearing masks because they were afraid of the repercussions which is significant, but I have seen photos of them arresting people in previous years donning black masks. This and what appears to be a decrease in violence perhaps shows the security forces waning will to deal with the protestors (or alternatively, the government backing off its earlier strategy). Also, the interior ministry tried again to paint protestors as supporting a foreign-backed coup when they claimed they uncovered was a ‘foreign-backed’ plot to bomb mosques on election day.
* Soccer protests: some of you may have seen this already, but yesterday Iran played South Korea in a World Cup qualifying game. Six of the players wore green wristbands for the first half, and one kept his on for the second half after being told to take them off. If any of you have seen the movie Offsides, you know that soccer in Iran is massive and by far the most popular sports in the country. People were undoubtedly watching this and the courageous stand the players took on national TV was not lost on the population. On the downside, Iran tied Korea 1-1 and is now eliminated from the next World Cup, something that further angers Iranians (Ahmadinejad actually spoke about improving the soccer team in one of his campaign appearances).
* Summoning ambassadors: Iran has so far summoned 6 ambassadors in Tehran, including the Swiss one to discuss “US interfering” in Iran’s internal affairs, and also the Canadian one for similar reasons.
* Legal update: the latest news out of the Guardian Council is that they are now looking into 646 submitted electoral problems and, as reported on state TV, have invited the 3 losing candidates to discuss the election with the 12-member body. Rezai’i, who was a conservative challenger to Ahmadinejad who initially did not denounce the election results, has no done so since he wanted the GC to finish with its recount by the end of yesterday. He, along with Karrubi and Musavi, may speak to the GC as early as Saturday. Tellingly, before the GC invited these three to speak with them and was beginning its “recount,” the Interior Ministry’s electoral commission said by law they could not show the contents of ballot boxes to the presidential candidates, so they essentially had to trust them that an actual recount was going on. These are the kind of non-solutions that have been proposed so far, though Saturday may see a change in that (though this is doubtful, given the composition of the GC). Also, Musavi and Khatami have issued a joint statement to the Judiciary asking for the release of those who have been arrested during these protests.
* Parliamentary investigation: the parliament’s investigation into the attacks on the Tehran University dormitory began and ended in a fistfight. MPs who convened the investigation asked why plainclothes officers had been sent here without official orders, and also questioned the Treasury Ministry as to why “shares” of money were given to Ahmadinejad before the election basically to dole out to people on his campaign stops. When the questioning of the attacks continued some of their staunchest supporters in parliament began arguing with those asking questions, and eventually the verbal fight turned physical. I highlight this just to show that while support for the regime and such tactics may be waning, it is nevertheless still strongly held by an amount of people that should not be discounted.
* Some rumors: I mentioned yesterday that there were rumors some senior members of the Revolutionary Guards had been arrested for siding with the opposition. I spoke to a few of my Iranian friends who confirmed this and said it was in some reliable Persian-news sources, but no conformation of this from official government channels or Western media. Soon after the election some rumored ‘real’ numbers were released by a supposed dissident member of the Interior Ministry that showed Musavi winning more than 50% (I forget the exact numbers). This person was apparently killed in a car ‘accident.’ Again, the same goes for this as the Revolutionary Guard arrest story, though the Iranians I’ve talked to (admittedly partisan in these matters) believed both to be true and confirmed from their own sources. Lastly, there’s a rumor that several members of the Interior will soon write to the GC themselves saying they found widespread problems with the election. We’ll see if this does happen, but for now just a rumo


Some thoughts:

* Pro-Ahmadienjad poll: I mentioned this in one of my previous updates, but there was a pre-election poll carried out by an NGO called “Terror Free Tomorrow” that some of you may have seen mentioned in various articles (they defended their poll a few days ago in the Washington Post). The poll was taken via telephone and purportedly showed Ahmadinejad was twice as popular among the respondents, which is now being cited to show that Ahmadinejad did win the election, and the cries of fraud are unwarranted. I’m including the link to a full debunking of this poll below, but there are 2 major problems with this poll. First, methodologically, the phone survey was of a little over 1,000 people, and just only 57% answered definitely. The rest either said “no comment” or were undecided. That’s a large number of unanswered, and when you weigh that with the percentage that said they did support Ahmadinejad, you get a far less overwhelming endorsement of him. Second, and more importantly, there are political problems with this poll. This poll was conducted around a month before the election, and before the official campaign time began. Unlike American, Iran has no strong political parties, and people will not just vote for someone—say, like Musavi—because he’s a member of the party they identify with. Opinions change and undecided sway much more in Iran than in American. Musavi had been out of the public eye for almost two decades before the official campaigning began, so it’s no wonder he didn’t have more support when this poll was taken. On top of this, his campaign really built steam later in the campaign period, particularly after his June 3rd televised debate with Ahmadinejad when the latter attacked numerous members of the establishment such as Rafsanjani’s family, Musavi’s wife, and others. If you want to read more about this poll, check: http://tehranbureau.com/2009/06/17/poll-indicating-legitimacy-of-ahmadinejads-victory-called-into-question/
* Revolution? (again): One important aspect of the protests we’re seeing now that people have mentioned but I have failed to include in my updates is the class component of them. What we’re seeing now, in contrast to protests such as 1999 and 2003, is the conspicuous presence of the middle class. Like I said yesterday, it’s not just students vs. regime, but a large collection of groups, including the ‘new’ middle class, against some (but not all) of the regime. The videos and pictures from the protest show a wide diversity of people taking part in the protests that really brings to light how much legitimacy the regime has lost and the various groups and sectors of society it has alienated. Again, this is far different from previous protests, and similar to ones from 79. With that said, and I don’t mean to beat a dead horse, we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves and see this as a repeat of the revolution three decades earlier. I’m copying a link to the best analysis I’ve seen of this, but one of the major points he makes is that unlike 79, the opposition now does not have a clear leader driving the movement. Musavi is at least the symbolic head of these, but in many ways he’s “catching up” to the protests rather than driving them. Anyway, read the whole thing: http://garysick.tumblr.com/post/125605556/is-this-another-iranian-revolution
* Obama: Lastly, as the protests pick up steam Obama is being urged to take a more definitive stand in support of the opposition. Some republicans like McCain have been urging him to do so, but some Iranians I’ve talked are agreeing with this. The European Union in fact came out in support, but I’m not sure if any individual countries have followed suit. This is an extremely complicated question and one I’m still unsure about. My default position is to listen to Iranians on the ground themselves and respond to their wishes, but I still believe Obama fully supporting the protests just plays into the hands of the regime and lets them paint the opposition as foreign puppets. Obviously he should continue to support the peaceful right of assembly and speak out against the violence, but perhaps he should take more of a stand on electoral transparency. Again, a tricky question, but I’d urge caution.


PS, check out this picture. One of my favorites: http://twitpic.com/7jgqk

Flarf article in P&W by Shell Fisher

Exoskeleton comments

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This Tuesday!
June 23
5:30pm Gates

Nightime again in Tehran, so here's today's update.

What's going on:

* more protests: there was another huge protest today in Tehran. The Guardian (UK) reported it was 500,000 strong, but that's probably a bit high. I've seen pictures and some video from it, and it's certainly very sizeable, but maybe not as big as monday's. Today's protest was a silent protest, and if some of you have seen the videos, it's quite chilling seeing tens of thousands of people walking in silence and holding their fingers in a "V." People also planned on bringing flowers and giving them to members of the basij. Like the other days, the police and army are just standing by and doing nothing, and even in a few cases, protected them from attacks by the basij. Musavi and Khatami weren't present at these protests either, but Musavi's wife was and went to Tehran University to denounce the attacks against the students. Again the night before people went to their rooftops to scream "Allah-u Akbar" (a throwback to the 78-9 protests), and a few people said security officials were walking around the streets taking down addresses where people were doing this.
* violence: the violence has increased, with people again being beaten indiscriminately in the streets by plainclothes officers. Many of the hospitals are reported to be filled, and official orders are to take anyone injured in the protests to one of the military hospitals, which clearly no one wants to end up in. A report from the largest student group in Iran reported 32 deaths, but that has not yet been confirmed. People are again reporting seeing Arab (specifically Lebanese) security officials among the basij, which wouldn't be unprecedented in Iranian protest-quelling history. It's interesting, though, that the regime needs to outsource this job, and perhaps evidence that they don't have the numbers willing to subdue these protests. There's a very scary email from a female medical student that I'm quoting here in full to give you a sense of what's going on:

Hello,

It's painful to watch what's happening.

I don't want anything to do with what has been said this far, as I neither have the strength nor the resilience to face all these unfathomable events.

I only want to speak about what I have witnessed. I am a medical student. There was chaos last night at the trauma section in one of our main hospitals. Although by decree, all riot-related injuries were supposed to be sent to military hospitals, all other hospitals were filled to the rim. Last night, nine people died at our hospital and another 28 had gunshot wounds. All hospital employees were crying till dawn. They (government) removed the dead bodies on back of trucks, before we were even able to get their names or other information. What can you even say to the people who don't even respect the dead. No one was allowed to speak to the wounded or get any information from them. This morning the faculty and the students protested by gathering at the lobby of the hospital where they were confronted by plain cloths anti-riot militia, who in turn closed off the hospital and imprisoned the staff. The extent of injuries are so grave, that despite being one of the most staffed emergency rooms, they've asked everyone to stay and help--I'm sure it will even be worst tonight.

What can anyone say in face of all these atrocities? What can you say to the family of the 13 year old boy who died from gunshots and whose dead body then disappeared?

This issue is not about cheating(election) anymore. This is not about stealing votes anymore. The issue is about a vast injustice inflected on the people. They've put a baton in the hand of every 13-14 year old to smash the faces of "the bunches who are less than dirt" (government is calling the people who are uprising dried-up torn and weeds) .

This is what sickens me from dealing with these issues. And from those who shut their eyes and close their ears and claim the riots are in opposition of the government and presidency!! No! The people's complaint is against the egregious injustices committed against the people.

* more arrests: arrests of opposition leaders and activists continue, including a few more people from Khatami's administration, and a prominent leader of the Iran Freedom Party, Ibrahim Yazdi, who some of you may have seen speak or interviewed in the US at times. The same student publication I mentioned above says the arrests are now more than 500.
* legal update: there's been a few interesting updates in terms of the legal process. One, the Guardian Council began its 'partial recount' of votes in Kermanshah (a Kurdish province), and surprisingly, found 'little irregularities.' Khamenei reportedly continues to meet with all 4 candidates to figure out a solution, but clearly nothing has been agreed upon. One story I've seen is that Karrubi wants the entire election to be declared void, while Musavi is lobbying for an independent "truth finding commission" to pour through everything that happened leading up to and including the voting. I find Musavi's strategy to be a bit odd, since one would assume he would want to capitalize on the momentum he has going, not to mention the fact that the people in the street would find anything short of a re-vote appalling. Still, it might be a clever ploy to expose all the fraud and irregularities that went on in this entire election and de-legitimize not just Ahmadinejad, but other ranking regime members that were active or complicit in this.
* Whither Khamenei: this is very much unconfirmed, but there are some reports that Rafsanjani has called an emergency meeting of the Assembly of Experts (the body charged with overseeing and choosing the Supreme Leader) in Qom. Long before this people thought Rafsanjani was interesting in holding the position of Supreme Leader when it became vacant--there's been rumors of Khamenei's illness and impending death for almost a decade--but now there is speculation he's been in Qom lobbying for the removal of Khamenei. Hopefully there will be more news about this later, but this would clearly be a ground-breaking development.
* media wars: the media and cyber-warfare going on between the regime and opposition continues. Most English-language websites are blocked sporadically, communication has been spotty at best, and as of a few days ago regime loyalists have caught on to the twitter phenomenon and have begun setting up accounts and posting mis-information. People on twitter are urging people not to trust new users, and also, are urging people with pre-existing accounts to change their location and time zone to Tehran to overwhelm Iranian authorities. So if you want to help, set up a twitter account from "Tehran" and help keep Iranian intelligence busy!
* just for fun: there's a very famous Iranian folk singer named Shajarian, and the other day he said he did not want any of his music played on state-run Iranian TV or radio anymore. Earlier Ahmadinejad called the protestors "brushwood and thorns," and Shajarian said "Don't broadcast my voice on Seda va Sima [IRIB Music channel] ever again: my voice is like brushwood and thorns, and it will forever remain brushwood and thorns!"
* coup right back at you!: Ahmadinejad and his supporters like to call protestors American, Israeli puppets and their actions an attempt at a CIA-backed crew. Musavi's European spokeman, the famous film Director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, accused Ahmadinejad and his supporters of carrying out a Russian-backed coup! He said Ahmadinejad travelled there to get advice on quelling the protests from Medvedev, and said in the past 4 years Iran has sold off its economic interests in the Caspian Sea to Russia. I don't know about the veracity of his claims, but you gotta love to jujitsu.
* day of mourning

So, again, what does all this mean?

* There's not much more to add in terms of interpreting what's been going on, but I will say that the protests have no signs of dissipating, and the regime is increasingly facing a difficult decision of whether to more violently crack down or not. So far it has used measured but still cruel pressure, but it doesn't seem to be acting to definitely crush the protests....perhaps because at this stage they simply can't. There's further protests planned, and importantly, Montazeri has called for a day of mourning for those killed in the protests so far. Many of the large protests in the early days of the revolution came from mourning and funeral processions for those killed by the Shah's police, so this is again an explicit throwback to the events of 30 years ago.
* lastly, the fact that the election was rigged is beyond debate now, despite what some of the neo-cons might be saying (I'm looking at you Robert Kagan), but if you want to read a bit more about it: http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0617/p06s01-wome.html

Thanks for putting up with my emails and if you want to show your support wear green! Again, if you forward just delete the line with my name and email.

PRAXIS DUDES FEST at VELVET LOUNGE

PRAXIS DUDES FEST
an international gathering of contemporary performance art, poetry, and music Saturday 06.20.09,$8, doors at 7pm, sets start at 8pm, 18+

THE VELVET LOUNGE 915 U Street NW, Washington, DC

Haley Dolan (Providence/DC)
Justin Katko (Providence)
Jow Lindsay (England)
Nour Mobarak (Portland)
Andrew Bucket (DC)
Ryan Dobran (NYC)
Joshua Strauss (Buffalo)
Keston Sutherland (England)
Mike Wallace-Hadrill (England)
Adrian Parsons (DC)
Chris Grier (DC)

AND a special performance by Lampduck (baltimore) to make-big-party

--How are used-by-capitalism today?

--Fine thanks, and used-by-capitalism?

Bill Berkson at Bridge Street this Sunday 6/14!

THE EDGE READING SERIES
at BRIDGE STREET BOOKS presents

Sunday, June 14th, at 7 PM

BILL BERKSON

Please join us for a reading to celebrate his latest book, Portrait and Dream: New & Selected Poems.

Bill Berkson was born in New York in 1939. A poet, critic, teacher, and sometime curator, he moved to Northern California in 1970 and during the next decade edited a series of little magazines and books under the Big Sky imprint. From 1984 to 2008 he was a professor of Liberal Arts at the San Francisco Art Institute. He is a corresponding editor for Art in America and has contributed reviews and essays to such other journals as Aperture, Artforum, Works on Paper and Modern Painters. His recent books of poetry include Gloria (in a deluxe limited edition with etchings by Alex Katz), Our Friends Will Pass Among You Silently, and Goods and Services. Other books include a collection of his criticism, The Sweet Singer of Modernism & Other Art Writings: 1985-2003; Sudden Address: Selected lectures 1981-2006; an epistolary collaboration with Bernadette Mayer entitled What’s Your Idea of a Good Time?: Interviews & Letters 1977-1985. His Portrait and Dream: New & Selected Poems appeared form Coffee House Press in April 2009. Berkson was the 2006 Distinguished Mellon Fellow at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and received the 2008 Goldie for Literature from the San Francisco Bay Guardian. He now lives in New York and San Francisco.

BRIDGE STREET BOOKS
2814 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC

ph 202 965 5200

Bridge Street Books is located in Georgetown next to the Four Seasons Hotel, five blocks from the Foggy Bottom Metro Stop it.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

The VELVET LOUNGE, Saturday June 20th
PRAXIS DUDES FEST
an international gathering of contemporary performance art, poetry, and music- $8, doors at 7pm, sets start at 8pm, 18+
Haley Dolan (Providence/DC) Justin Katko (Providence) Jow Lindsay (England) Nour Mobarak (Portland) Andrew Bucket (DC) Ryan Dobran (NYC) Joshua Strauss (Buffalo) Keston Sutherland (England) Mike Wallace-Hadrill (England) Adrian Parsons (DC) Chris Grier (DC)

DCAC, Sunday June 21st, 3 pm
Buck Downs reading 69 poems
from Black Peppermint

this is not that Cafe at The PHILLIPS COLLECTION
Thursday July 2nd, 5-830 PM
Lee Ann Brown, C.A. Conrad, Mel Nichols,
Jason Zuzga, Greta Byrum, Rod Smith, and others
http://www.thisisnotthatcafe.com/

Peter Brotzmann's Full Blast (Atavistic), PRV Trio (mem. of Kohoutek/Janel & Anthony), The Undisco Kidds (mem. of Thievery Corporation/ Gogogoairheart/Fugazi)

Thursday 06.11.09
Doors 7:30pm/Show 9pm/21+/$12

THE VELVET LOUNGE
915 U Street NW, Washington, DC
202.462.3213
Shows are 21+ unless noted

Joe Ross & Buck Downs @ Bridge Street, Tues 6/9 8 PM

Tuesday, June 9, 8:00pm
Buck Downs & Joe Ross
@ Bridge Street Books

Joe Ross is the author of 12 books of Poetry including How to Write; or, I used to be in love with my jailer (Texture Press, 1992); An American Voyage (Sun & Moon Press, 1993); The Fuzzy Logic Series (Texture Press, 1996); The Wood Series (Seeing Eye Books, 1997); and EQUATIONS=equals (Green Integer, 2004); and Strata (Dusie Press, 2008). A former resident of DC, he now lives in Paris. In 1997 he received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Award for his poetry.

Buck Downs lives and works in Washington, DC. Some of his poems have recently appeared in puppyflowers, Brooklyn Rail, and Columbia Poetry Review. His books Ladies Love Outlaws and Marijuana Softdrink are available from Edge Books. He is renowned for his high energy reading style.

BRIDGE STREET BOOKS
2814 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC

ph 202 965 5200

Bridge Street Books is located in Georgetown next to the Four Seasons Hotel, five blocks from the Foggy Bottom Metro Stop it.

Earn Your Milk

It did not sit well with parents.

Conrad/Nichols/Sherlock i.e. series 6/6

the i.e. reading series welcomes
CA CONRAD - MEL NICHOLS - FRANK SHERLOCK

Saturday, June 6th-
8 pm at

LOF/t
120 W. North Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21201

Linh Dinh in the Times

Poetry Time at Space Space, 5/30, 8 pm

don't forget
ROD SMITH
CORINA COPP
SCOTT ZIEHER
MRIGAA SETHI
+VIDEOS
BY BRANDON DOWNING

This Saturday
May 30
8pm
390 Seneca Ave. Ridgewoood, Queeens
Corner of Seneca & Stanhope
Entrance on Stanhope
3 blox from the DeKalb L
Beer
Poetry
Movies

http://www.poetrytimeatspacespace.blogspot.com

Saturday, May 23rd, 7 PM
The Tangent Reading Series
Jen Coleman, Mel Nichols, & Rod Smith
at Clinton Corner Cafe
21st & SE Clinton Avenue, Portland

O Oregon

Crater Lake, Kaia & the chickens, & Kasey's duck . . .

O uncontrollable!

Ashland Readings

Tuesday, May 19th, 7 PM
West Wind Review 2009 Release Party / An Evening of Flarf
Nada Gordon, K Silem Mohammad, Mel Nichols, Rod Smith, & Gary Sullivan
Bohemia Gallery
552 'A' Street in Ashland (new location!)
$10 (suggested donation)
free for students

Wednesday May 20th, 7 PM
EMERGENT FORMS: A 21st-CENTURY READING SERIES
Mel Nichols & Rod Smith

Panel & Reading For The Collected Jack Spicer

My Vocabulary Did This To Me: Panel & Reading For The Collected Jack Spicer

May 15, 2009
6:30 pm
8:00 pm
Friday

This special event is to honor seminal West Coast poet Jack Spicer (1925-1965). My Vocabulary Did This to Me (edited by Peter Gizzi and Kevin Killian) is a landmark publication of this essential poet’s life work, and includes poems that have become increasingly hard to find.

6:30pm: Panel in the Parish Hall with Dodie Bellamy, Samuel R. Delany, Kevin Killian, Jennifer Moxley & George Stanley. Moderated by Kevin Killian.

8:00pm: Reading in the Sanctuary with Dodie Bellamy, Anselm Berrigan, Julian T. Brolaski, CAConrad, Samuel R. Delany, Peter Gizzi, Kevin Killian, Basil King, Douglas A. Martin, Deborah Remington, Harris Schiff, Rod Smith, George Stanley, Lewis Warsh & Karen Weiser.

The Poetry Project at St Mark's Church, NYC
Co-presented with Poets House.

Nealon & Lerner at Bridge Street 5/10 7 PM

THE EDGE READING SERIES
at BRIDGE STREET BOOKS presents

Sunday, May 10th, at 7 PM

BEN LERNER
&
CHRIS NEALON

Please join us for a reading to celebrate Chis Nealon's new book Plummet! O & this guy Ben Lerner's pretty damn great too!

Chris Nealon is the author of two books of poems: Plummet (just out from Edge Books) and The Joyous Age (Black Square Editions, 2004), as well as Foundlings: Lesbian and Gay Emotion Before Stonewall (Duke UP, 2001). He is currently completing a book of criticism called The Matter of Capital: Poetry and Spectacle in the American Century. He lives in Washington, DC and is Associate Professor in the Department of English at Johns Hopkins University.

Ben Lerner's first book, The Lichtenberg Figures (Copper Canyon, 2004), was a Lannan Literary Selection and was named one of the year's best books of poetry by Library Journal. Angle of Yaw (Copper Canyon, 2006) was a finalist for the National Book Award. A former Fulbright Scholar in Madrid, Lerner co-founded and co-edits No: a journal of the arts. He recently joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh.

& if you can't make the reading you can still get your copy of Plummet here: http://www.aerialedge.com/ChrisNealonPlummet.htm

BRIDGE STREET BOOKS
2814 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC

ph 202 965 5200

Bridge Street Books is located in Georgetown next to the Four Seasons Hotel, five blocks from the Foggy Bottom Metro Stop it.

UPCOMING READINGS:

Sunday, May 17, 3:00 pm
John Coletti & Buck Downs
@ DC Arts Center

Sunday, June 7, 7:00 pm
Jane Sprague & Diane Ward
@ Bridge Street Books

Tuesday, June 9, 8:00 pm
Buck Downs & Joe Ross
@ Bridge Street Books

Sunday, June 14, 7:00 pm
Bill Berkson
@ Bridge Street Books

Plummet by Chris Nealon! New from Edge.

Plummet
Chris Nealon
ISBN 978-1-890311-29-2
64 pgs, Cover by Liliane Lijn
Design by Justin Sirois
2009

$11.00 direct from Aerial/Edge
(regularly $15)

Bumstead/Fuller i.e. Baltimore, 5/2

the i.e. reading series welcomes

LESLIE BUMSTEAD & HEATHER FULLER

Saturday, May 2nd 8 p.m.
at
LOF/t
120 W. North Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21201
www.loadoffun.net
www.ieseries.wordpress.com

Leslie Bumstead is the author of Cipher/Civilian (Edge Books, 2005). Her most recent work has appeared in New Ohio Reveiw ( /nor) & the anthology Not For Mothers Only (Fence Books, 2007). She lives in Takoma Park, MD.

Heather Fuller’s works include ‘perhaps this is a rescue fantasy’ (Edge Books, 1997), Dovecote (Edge Books, 2002) & Startle Response (O Books, 2005). She is one of five poets featured on the Narrow House Recordings CD titled Women in the Avant Garde. She lives in Fullerton, Baltimore. For more FUN FACTS visit www.startleresponse.com.

Editions Louis Wain is pleased to announce

Editions Louis Wain is pleased to announce the availability of a new chapbook:

Roseland
by Dana Ward
10 pgs, saddle-stapled $4

For a sample from this book, and to purchase it through Paypal, please visit the site: http://editionslouiswain.com/books/

Also available from Editions Louis Wain:
- Necco Face by Michael Carr, Jess Mynes, & Aaron Tieger
- The Collected Typos of Aaron Tieger
*Special Offer* -- get all three publications for $14, see the above link for details.

Catalytic Exteriorization Phenomenon by Mel Nichols, New from Edge Books!

Catalytic Exteriorization Phenomenon
Mel Nichols
ISBN: 978-1-890311-30-8
98 pgs, Cover by the author

Regularly $17.50
$12.00 direct from Aerial/Edge
Free shipping!



Mel Nichols' first full-length collection, Catalytic Exteriorization
Phenomenon, takes its title from an early formulation of Jung's
concept of synchronicity. Imagine an edgy cityish Niedecker-- that
kind of lyric sense, writing from the trash in the street, the storms
among the power lines. Nichols seeks, like much good poetry, to
illustrate and sing the porous, immediate, particular interchange
betwixt inner and outer life. Rob Fitterman writes: "Maybe we had it
all wrong. Maybe it’s all exterior. Maybe certain hierarchies fall
when everything—found and unfound—gets in. Maybe not as things, but as 'as octopus/on the porch/snow/still/now/a comma/a ticket/a timetable.' Or maybe 'We are going to get serious [page break] about project management/we are going to spend a lot of money on project/management software to prove it.' Maybe we are. Maybe Mel Nichols' Catalytic Exteriorization Phenomenon is just that." Nichols is a member of the Flarf Collective. She lives in Washington, DC and teaches Digital Poetics at George Mason University. Her previous chapbooks include Day Poems (Edge), Bicycle Day (Slack Buddha), and The Beginning of Beauty, Part I: hottest new ringtones, mnichol6 (Edge).

Dreyer/Inman @ Bridge Street 4/26, 7 PM

THE EDGE READING SERIES
at BRIDGE STREET BOOKS presents

P. INMAN
&
LYNNE DREYER

SUNDAY, APRIL 26th, 7 PM


BRIDGE STREET BOOKS
2814 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC

ph 202 965 5200

Bridge Street Books is located in Georgetown next to the Four Seasons Hotel,
five blocks from the Foggy Bottom Metro Stop it.

UPCOMING READINGS:

Tuesday May 5, 7:30 pm
Corcoran All-Stars
curated by Doug Lang
@ Bridge Street Books

Sunday, May 10, 7:00 pm
Ben Lerner & Chris Nealon
@ Bridge Street Books

Sunday, May 17, 3:00 pm
John Coletti & Buck Downs
@ DC Arts Center

Tuesday, June 9, 8:00pm
Buck Downs & Joe Ross
@ Bridge Street Books

New at Bridge Street in Poetry & Theory

VERSED, Rae Armantrout, Wesleyan, HC 123 pgs, $22.95. "Look -- I'm cooperating! / I can pull myself apart / and still speak"

THE LETTERS OF SAMUEL BECKETT 1929-1940, ed Fehsenfeld & Overbeck, Cambridge, 782 pgs, HC $50. "My dear Tom / The discrepancy between mind and body is terrible."

HEGEMONIC LOVE POTION, Jules Boykoff, Factory School, 104 pgs, $15."Do cops hate puppets?"

THE BOOK OF FRANK, C.A. Conrad, Chax, 150 pgs, $16. "they waited to see what Frank would do"

THE CAVE, Clark Coolidge & Bernadette Mayer, Adventures in Poetry, 70 pgs, $16. "He tells us techniques are disappointed now. Six men in plastic."

BODY LANGUAGE, Mark Cunningham, Tarpaulin Sky, 120 pgs, $14. "Regeneration? It comes and goes."

REASON, FAITH, AND REVOLUTION: REFLECTIONS ON THE GOD DEBATE, Terry Eagleton, Yale, HC 185 pgs, $25. "Knowledge is simply one moment or aspect of our bodily collusion in reality, a moment which modernity falsely abstracts and enshrines."

THE WINTER SUN: NOTES ON A VOCATION, Fanny Howe, Graywolf, 198 pgs, $15.
"My father worked for social justice and was eviscerated."

WE SAW THE LIGHT: CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN THE NEW AMERICAN CINEMA AND POETRY, Daniel Kane, U Iowa, 270 pgs, HC $39.95. Writers and filmmakers discussed include: Anger, Duncan, Creeley, Brakhage, O'Hara, Leslie, Ginsberg, Chaplin, Frank, Warhol, Malanga, Ashbery, Burckhardt, Jarnot, & Reeves.

CENSORY IMPULSE, Erica Kaufman, Factory School, 94 pgs, $15. "time for total reconstruction"

POETRY STATE FOREST, Bernadette Mayer, New Directions, 196 pgs, $17.95. "oops, we're in orono!"

APOCRYPHAL LORCA: TRANSLATION, PARODY, KITSCH, Jonathan Mayhew, U Chicago, HC 222 pgs, $45. An exploration of Lorca's afterlife in U.S. poetic cultures. Includes examinations of the Lorca in/of Hughes, Blackburn, Creeley, Spicer, O'Hara, Duncan, Koch, Rothenberg, and others.

LOVE LESSONS: SELECTED POEMS OF ALDA MERINI, trans Susan Stewart, cloth 130 pgs, $19.95. "There are nights/ that never/ happen."

GIRL SCOUT NATION, Yedda Morrison, Displaced Press, $12.99. "Maybe body?"

HEARTH, Simon Pettet, Talisman House, 178 pgs, $17.95.

NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT: LIFE AND LABOR IN PRECARIOUS TIMES, Andrew Ross, NYU, HC 264 pgs, $27.95.


SOME BESTSELLERS:

THE COLLECTED POEMS OF JACK SPICER, ed Peter Gizzi and Kevin Killian, Wesleyan, HC 465 PGS, $35.
SAGA/CIRCUS, Lyn Hejinian, Omnidawn, 150 pgs, $15.95.
RADICAL VERNACULAR: LORRINE NIEDECKER AND THE POETICS OF PLACE, ed Elizabeth Willis, Iowa, cloth 308 pgs, $39.95.
THE ALPHABET, Ron Silliman, U Alabama, 1062 pgs, $39.95.
COLLAPSIBLE POETICS THEATER, Rodrigo Toscano, Fence, 160 pgs, $19.
THE GOLDEN AGE OF PARAPHERNALIA, Kevin Davies, Edge, 146 pgs, $15.
HUGHSON'S TAVERN, Fred Moten, Leon Works, 88 pgs, $15.95.
ADORNO'S NOISE, Carla Harryman, Essay Press, 182 pgs, $14.95.
PICTURE PALACE, Stephanie Young, 114 pgs, ingrimmus, $15.
BICYCLE DAY, Mel Nichols, Slack Buddha, 32 pgs, $6.
CENSORY IMPULSE, Erica Kaufman, Farfalla, 50 pgs, $10.
50 YEARS OF RECUPERATION OF THE SITUATIONIST INTERNATIONAL, McKenzie Wark, cloth 78 pgs, 30 color illustations, $24.95.
MAXIMUM GAGA, Laura Glenum, Action, 112 pgs, $16.
THE OUTERNATIONALE, Peter Gizzi, Wesleyan, 111 pgs, $13.95.
THE LETTERS OF ALLEN GINSBERG, Allen Ginsberg, ed Bill Morgan,$30.
SICK PLANET, Guy Debord, trans Nicholson-Smith, Seagull, 94 pgs, $16.95.
GRAVE OF LIGHT: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS, Alice Notley, Wesleyan, 366 pgs, $22.95.
NTERVIEW WITH ROBERT CREELEY MAY 1998, interview by Brent Cunningham, Hooke Press, 28 pgs, $10.
NIGHT WRAPS THE SKY: WRITINGS BY AND ABOUT MAYAKOVSKY, ed Michael Almereyda, FSG, cloth 272 pgs, $27.
DEED, Rod Smith, U Iowa, 88 pgs, $16.
GERTRUDE STEIN: SELECTIONS, Gertrude Stein, ed Joan Retallack, U Cal Press, 352 pgs, $19.95.

There are currently two ways to order: 1. E-mail your order to rod@bridgestreetbooks.com or aerialedge@gmail.com with your address & we will bill you with the books. or 2. via credit card-- you may call us at 202 965 5200 or e-mail w/ yr add, order, card #, & expiration date & we will send a receipt with the books. Please remember to include expiration date.

I.e. Series 4/18-- Rae Armantrout, Laura Sims, Valzhyna Mort

April 18- Rae Armantrout, Laura Sims, Valzhyna Mort

The i.e. reading series
is held at

LOF/t
120 W. North Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21201
www.loadoffun.net

Saturdays - 8 p.m.

DCAC in The Washington Post

Written up: Rob Halpern/Ryan Walker reading last month.

Tomorrow:
Sunday, April 19, 3:00 pm
Adam Good & Jon Lee are WE ARE SCIENCE, & Thom Donovan
@ DC Arts Center, 2438 18th Street in Adams Morgan

Armantrout & Nichols 4/17, 8 pm

THE EDGE READING SERIES
at BRIDGE STREET BOOKS

A reading & publication celebration

RAE ARMANTROUT
for Versed from Wesleyan University Press
&
MEL NICHOLS
for Catalytic Exteriorization Phenomenon from Edge Books

Friday, April 17, 8:00pm

Bridge Street Books is located at 2814 Pennsylvania Ave NW-- 5 blocks from Foggy Bottom Metro, next to Four Seasons in Georgetown. Phone 202 965 5200.

UPCOMING READINGS:

Sunday, April 19, 3:00 pm
Adam Good & Jon Lee are WE ARE SCIENCE & Thom Donovan
@ DC Arts Center

Sunday, April 26, 7:00 pm
Lynne Dreyer & P. Inman
@ Bridge Street Books

Sunday, May 10, 7:00 pm
Ben Lerner & Chris Nealon
@ Bridge Street Books

Sunday, May 17, 3:00 pm
John Coletti & Buck Downs
@ DC Arts Center

I like Magic Beans.

Darragh & Kunin Friday 4/10, 8 PM

THE EDGE READING SERIES
at BRIDGE STREET BOOKS

TINA DARRAGH
&
AARON KUNIN

FRIDAY, APRIL 10th, 8 PM

Please join us Friday April 10th @ Bridge Street Books for a reading by Aaron Kunin & Tina Darragh.

Tina Darragh lives in Greenbelt, Md. Her books include on the corner to off the corner, Striking Resemblance, a(gain)2 st the odds, adv. fans - the 1968 series, and Dream Rim Instructions. Her work has been included in numerous anthologies, including the seminal "Language"-oriented anthology, In the American Tree(edited by Ron Silliman).

Aaron Kunin is a poet, critic, and novelist. He is the author of a collection of small poems about shame, Folding Ruler Star (Fence Books); a chapbook, Secret Architecture (Braincase); and a novel, The Mandarin (Fence). He lives in California and is assistant professor of negative anthropology at Pomona College.

BRIDGE STREET BOOKS
2814 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC

ph 202 965 5200

Bridge Street Books is located in Georgetown next to the Four Seasons Hotel, five blocks from the Foggy Bottom Metro Stop it.



UPCOMING READINGS:

Friday, April 17, 8:00pm
Rae Armantrout & Mel Nichols
@ Bridge Street Books

Sunday, April 19, 3:00 pm
Adam Good & Jon Lee are WE ARE SCIENCE, & Thom Donovan
@ DC Arts Center

Sunday, April 26, 7:00 pm
Lynne Dreyer & P. Inman
@ Bridge Street Books

Sunday, May 10, 7:00 pm
Ben Lerner & Chris Nealon
@ Bridge Street Books

MELANIE NEILSON & JESSICA GRIM Saturday, April 11th 8 pm

the i.e. reading series welcomes

MELANIE NEILSON & JESSICA GRIM

Saturday, April 11th
8 pm at

LOF/t
120 W. North Ave
Baltimore, MD 21201
www.loadoffun.net

Melanie Neilson is the author of three books of poetry, including: Natural Facts, (Potes and Poets, 1997); and Civil Noir (Roof Books, 1991), and two unpublished collections, Minor to Major (2007), and Magnanimous Horizon (2009).

Jessica Grim’s books include Vexed (online from ubu editions, 2002) which has just been published in print by BlazeVox, Fray (O Books, 1998), Locale (Potes & Poets Press, 1995), and The Inveterate Life (O Books, 1990). Recent work appears in Primary Writing, Exchange Values, and OCHO. She lives with her family in Oberlin, Ohio, where she’s a librarian at the college.

A belated Happy Birthday to Cecil Percival Taylor, born March 15 or March 25, 1929. 80!

Cheryl's Gone @ Big Bear Tonight, 8pm

Rae Armantrout on KCRW

Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided to other Amazon.com readers and reviewers. Your vote will be counted and will appear on the product page within 24 hours.

fyi

The January 26, 2009 Publishers Weekly reviews Orders Is Orders by L. Ron Hubbard in a starred review, that says, "Hubbard's stunning writing ability and creative imagination set him apart as one of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century."

31 USC 714(b)

Upcoming Readings - Raworth! &&

the i.e. series welcomes

TOM RAWORTH
LAUREN BENDER
ROB HALPERN

Saturday, March 7th-
8:00 pm at

LOF/T
120 W. North Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21201
www.loadoffun.net
*

The John Ashbery Poetry Series presents

Rod Smith
and
Ann Lauterbach

Tuesday, March 10
Bard College
Annandale-On-Hudson, NY

Time: 6:00 pm
Location: Olin, Room 102
*

Adam Good
& Jon Lee
present
We Are Science
Saturday, March 14th, 8 pm
Washington Improv Theatre’s annual TOURNAMENT OF THE FIST
The Source
1835 14th St NW
Tckts: $10
*

Experimental Frequencies

Rod Smith (words)
& Obetrol (sounds)

Saturday, March 14, 7:30 pm
Kensington Row Bookshop
3786 Howard Ave
Kensington, MD
*

Sunday, March 15, 3:00 pm
Rob Halpern and Ryan Walker
@ DC Arts Center
*

Sunday, March 22, 7:00 pm
Mark Cunningham, Ann Gorrick, and Maryrose Larkin
@ Bridge Street Books

“Roses are red,
violets are too.
In Soviet Russia,
poem writes YOU!”


Now pure-bred sounds shake all on their own, beaker-speaks for which the only demand in the world
is for words unsown in that world
where field animals
have no language
only evolution
which is a picture
not a history
although it looks like one


dictionary at light’s squeak,
glimpse as skin too instead,
away from things the while
beyond them. chin smidgens.

Steven Zultanski reviews The Golden Age of Paraphernalia at Rain Taxi

MELANIE NEILSON and SARA WINTZ
SEGUE READING SERIES @ BOWERY POETRY CLUB
Saturday, Feb 21, 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
308 BOWERY, just north of Houston
$6 admission goes to support the readers

Melanie Neilson was born in Humboldt, Tennessee, grew up in Southern California, and lives in New York City. She edited Big Allis magazine for many years with Jessica Grim and Deirdre Kovac, and is the author of Civil Noir (Roof) and Natural Facts (Potes & Poets).

Sara Wintz’s writing has appeared in Ecopoetics, Cricket Online Review, Interrobang?!, and on Ceptuetics. She co-directs, with Cristiana Baik, :the press gang:, publisher of Intricate Systems, by Juliana Spahr and One Might, by Karen Volkman. She lives in Brooklyn and works at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center.

Welish & Smith @ Georgetown, 2/19

Please join us at Georgetown University

Thursday, February 19th
a reading and seminar by

ROD SMITH
&
MARJORIE WELISH

Seminar: 5:30PM Room 462 ICC
Reading: 8:00PM Copley Formal Lounge

Marjorie Welish is the author of several books of poetry, including Word Group (2004), Isle of the Signatories (2008) and a limited edition collaboration with James Siena, Oaths? Questions? (Granary Books 2009).

Rod Smith's latest collection, Deed, was published by The University of Iowa Press in the fall of 2007. He is also the author of Music or Honesty, Poèmes de l'araignée (France), In Memory of My Theories, The Good House, The Boy Poems, and Protective Immediacy.

Visit http://lannan.georgetown.edu/ for more information on this and other events in the Lannan series.

UPCOMING READINGS:

DCAC, March 15th, 3 pm
Rob Halpern and Ryan Walker

Bridge Street Books, Sunday, March 22nd, 7 pm
Mark Cunningham, Ann Gorrick, and Maryrose Larkin

Eisenhower, Smith, & Thorson @ DCAC 2/15 3pm

I N Y O U R E A R

@ District of Columbia Arts Center
3:00PM, February 15, 2009

CATHY EISENHOWER
ROD SMITH
&
MAUREEN THORSON

Guest Curator: Doug Lang

Admission is $3.00.

District of Columbia Arts Center is located at 2438 18th Street NW in Adams Morgan, Washington, DC, between the Dupont Circle and Woodley Park metro stations. For directions, see the DCAC web site at http://www.dcartscenter.org/plan_location.htm

Happy Thoughts!: The Poetry of Kevin Davies

Happy Thoughts!: The Poetry of Kevin Davies
by Jordan Davis, The Nation

THE GOLDEN AGE OF PARAPHERNALIA by Kevin Davies

NEW!

The Golden Age of Paraphernalia
Kevin Davies

ISBN 13: 978-1-890311-28-5
142 pgs, Cover by Benjamin Friedlander

Regularly $15
$11.00 direct from Aerial/Edge

Click this link to have your copy of this wondrous tome dispatched to the location of your choosing.

Flarf & Folly

Flarf: From Glory Days to Glory Hole
by Gary Sullivan, The Brooklyn Rail

Nada Gordon's Folly
by Mark Wallace, Thinking Again

11/02 J.H. Prynne et Pierre Alferi @ Centre Pompidou

Double Change et les Revues parlées du Centre Pompidou
vous invitent à une lecture de

J.H. Prynne et Pierre Alferi
le mercredi 11 février à 19h30 (précises)
au Centre Pompidou, Petite salle, niveau -1

Entrée libre

J.H. Prynne est, selon Peter Ackroyd, « sans doute le poète le plus impressionnant et le plus doué en Angleterre aujourd’hui, un écrivain qui, à lui seul, a transformé la langue ». Sa poésie, espiègle et austère à la fois, sans êtredirectement politique, accueille le monde contemporain dans toutes ses dimensions et modifie notre regard sur lui en éclairant les choses, par ses glissements de son et de sens, d’une lumière nouvelle. Pas d’entretiens, nul épanchement : sans se cacher, Jeremy Prynne se met peuen avant. Sa venue à Paris est un événement. Il donnera une de ses très rares lectures, où il tentera de faire entendre la « voix du poème », celle du poète étant pour lui un accident biographique sans intérêt. Ses poésies complètes ont été réunies en un volume aux éditions Bloodaxe : Poems (1999, 2e édition 2005). Parmi ses titres récents, Field Notes: ‘The Solitary Reaper’ And Others (Barque Press, 2007) et To Pollen (Barque, 2006)

Pierre Alferi, a publié des poèmes, des essais, des romans, des traductions et réalisé des cinépoèmes et des films parlants. Il a dirigé la Revue de littérature générale avec Olivier Cadiot et la revue Détails avec Suzanne Doppelt, et collaboré à des disques et des performances avec Rodolphe Burger (Kat Onoma). Parmi ses publications récentes, les livres La voie des airs et Des enfants et des monstres (P.O.L) et le Dvd Ca commence à Séoul réalisé avec Jacques Julien (P.O.L / Dernière bande). Pierre Alferi est l’auteur d’une traduction du livre Pearls That Were (« Perles qui furent »), de J.H. Prynne, parue partiellement en 2000 dans la revue Quaderno.

Eisenhower/Nichols/Smith Feb 7 i.e.

The i.e. reading series
Feb. 7- Cathy Eisenhower, Mel Nichols, Rod Smith

L O F Studios
120 W. North Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21201

www.loadoffun.net

Saturdays - 8 p.m.

Picasso & Truth

The Fifty-eighth A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts

Picasso and Truth

Sundays, 2:00 p.m.

The Fifty-eighth A. W. Mellon Lecture
series will be presented by T.J. Clark

March 22: Object
March 29: Room
April 5: Window
April 19: Monster
April 26: Monument
May 3: Mural

". . . be inspired to the point of madness . . ."

Flarf on Studio 360

Franklin Bruno on A Power Stronger Than Itself

Armantrout's Versed

Conrad's The Book of Frank

The best Obama buttons

DISCUSSED: Fifteenth-Century Currency, The Intercontinental Railroad, Geofinancial Space, Earnestly Drinking Cheap Beer, Impossibly Complex Derivatives, The Smell of Volatility and Fear, The Asian Flu, Anticapitalist Bedtime Stories, Predictive Power of Marxism and Socialism, Conjoining Finance Capital to Daily Life, Turtles, etc.

The Return of the Turtle Shelley

Charles Bernstein: Reading at Folio Books, Washington, D.C., 1978, introduction by Doug Lang

Rod Smith: Reading at the University of Buffalo, February 25, 1998

Good Charles B Ear Inn Story over at Pearlblossom

Flarf vs. Conceptual Writing

Sycamore & Fink Dec 2nd 7 pm

Tues 12/2 @ 7 PM

A Reading & Book Party





Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
&
Jennifer Fink


"Sycamore kicks mainstream literature in the teeth."
—San Francisco Bay Guardian

Bridge Street Books
2814 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC

202 965 5200

Court Indicts Bush on High Treason Charge

Lacking Control Increases Illusory Pattern Perception

This just in.

Clearing Without Reversal by Cathy Eisenhower, new from Edge Books

NEW FROM EDGE BOOKS


Clearing Without Reversal
Cathy Eisenhower
ISBN: 978-1-890311-27-8
80 pages, Cover by the author
Design by Justin Sirois

$11.00 direct from Aerial/Edge (regularly $15)

We are deceived at every level by our behavior. You are grammar and the city is syntax. This book has the brilliant, vulgar, infinite, intimate, alluring vivacity of the real. If you search these poems for meaning that can be summarized, you will find multiple meanings, all of them capable of confounding any summary by proposing its own opposite, its own doppelganger, its own disguise, its own cohort. Cathy Eisenhower brandishes the whip. The psyche rises as a mist from things that are wet. --Doug Lang

These poems glow in the dark. And are so sharp—("fleet of heart"). And every here word is true—startlingly ordered, uncannily combined, in harsh light—("the time it takes / to wash the fire from your face")—bringing truth back again to beauty—not an easy beauty, but a smart one, hard-won, and permanent. --Cole Swensen

Sullivan on The Sophist

Vitiello's Irresponsibility reviewed at Coldfront by John Harkey

“Establish the minimum and then have just more than it.”

Bicycle Day by Mel Nichols at The Brooklyn Rail

IN MEMORY OF MY THEORIES, SUNDAY NOV 16th, THE LYCEUM, ALEXANDRIA, VA

IN MEMORY OF MY THEORIES

AVANT-GARDE POETRY MUSIC PERFORMANCE

Sunday November 16th 4-9 PM

Organized by &
Featuring Rod Smith
The Washington City Paper's Best Poet of DC

Charles Bernstein
Anselm Berrigan
Croniamantal
Nada Gordon
Tom Raworth
Gary Sullivan
Rodrigo Toscano


Mel Nichols, Chris Nealon, Mark McMorris, Doug Lang, Bonnie Jones
P. Inman, Adam Good, Heather Fuller, Buck Downs, Tina Darragh
Lauren Bender, Michael Ball

The Lyceum
201 S. Washington Street
Alexandria, VA 22314

Hosted by M. Magnus. This event is part of the APAA's Guest Artist series at the Lyceum. Poster designed by Justin Sirois.

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.

Cockroach sacks dozens of TV reporters in Turkmenistan

Convicted felons are the new black, it would seem.

New Bloof. Warsaw Bikini by Sandra Simonds.

Thanks, everyone

That's Tim Davis, in the orange shirt.

5 poems at LocusPoint

Edited by Sandra Beasley, the DC section also includes five by Maureen Thorson, Ethelbert Miller, and several others.

It Began in Hawaii One Moonlit Night