OK, I’ve been at this blog/internet thing for one year today. Not all of it here at KGP, took me a couple platforms and a few domains to nail it. But then, I’m a degenerate indecisionist.
I’ve been throwing poems and podcasts and ringtones and photos and video and shirts at you.
A few of these have stuck.
Many have not.
Either way, its been a good run. As far as the writing goes, I’ve been living in more fire this year than the previous ten put together.
It is a good time to be alive. A killer time to be a writer. And extremely lucrative.
For instance, this site has pulled in $6 this year.
If you take a look at the bottom bar, bottom left, you’ll see a list of links titled “KGP Backers”.
Every one of those folks has helped this site immeasurably. Check them out.
Interestingly, only two of the links there are literary in nature. Not exactly sure what that means, but I realize that I’ve been virtually ignored by established lit folks, blogs and institutions.
Fine.
It might be that my stuff is crap.
It might have something to do with photos like this.
I don’t know.
Whatever the reason, it seems that my readers and supporters are generally people outside of the literary world (watch out Boog, you might get canned for linking to me).
Which is a good thing and exactly what I had hoped for.
So here’s to you guys. Every one of you that has come around, emailed, commented or linked.
And here’s to the next poem. I have no idea where it’s coming from…
UPDATE: At a second look, I think this post came off a little whiny, maybe more down than I had intended… well, let’s just say I plan on getting some sleep tonight. Yeah, I’ll chalk it up to that. It has been a hell of a good year…
20 responses ↓
1 Liz Strauss | 21 Jun 2006
Don’t even think of calling your stuff crap again. You see you’re my friend and it irritates me when someone calls my friends’ literary genius crap. So I would just have to take you out back and talk to you, which would cause me an inconvenience.
Speaking of literary, did you count me in that group? Of should I start looking for a new job with Jason? :)
2 Robert Bruce | 21 Jun 2006
The problem with you Strauss is that you do everything.
Now, when someone does everything, that usually means that they stink at most of it.
Well no, not ME Strauss, she does it all AND she kicks ass at it…
Thus, the problem.
As far as looking for a new gig with Jason, I think you could pretty much link to anyone you want to. I mean, who’s going to challenge you? ;)
3 Robert Bruce | 21 Jun 2006
Or… who’d have the guts to challenge you…
4 Brian Clark | 21 Jun 2006
I agree with Liz… never refer to your stuff as crap again. And the best patrons are ostensibly out in the commercial world, seeking cash and yet also searching for the soul-nurturing fulfillment that only the poet can quickly provide.
Or something. : )
5 Robert Bruce | 21 Jun 2006
I agree with that B.
The only idea I had for this when I started was to get the stuff out there, to plumbers, lawyers, housewives, rock stars, con men, baristas, surfers, doctors, secretaries, etc., etc…
To people that would probably never pick up a year’s subscription to Zyzzyva.
Nice post on persistence by the way.
6 Brian Clark | 21 Jun 2006
Just bought a shirt. I have a fetish for black t-shirts, but it gets hard to wear them this time of year down here in hell.
7 Robert Bruce | 21 Jun 2006
Thanks man. JC said his came out good…
I couldn’t bring myself to do a white one.
btw, its 64 degrees and sunny here…
8 Howard Lindzon | 21 Jun 2006
one year - wow. I am burnt out on this after 6 months. Congrats. Not easy stuff.
9 Robert Bruce | 21 Jun 2006
You’re not kidding man. And I only post around 3 times a week.
At least there’s the money…
10 candice | 21 Jun 2006
You people…make me feel old. I’m younger than all of you, but I’ve been doing this nonsense for six years now.
11 Robert Bruce | 21 Jun 2006
Enjoy it. Very soon you will be old.
And I’ll be dead.
And then who are you going to send your HK shots to?
12 JC Stefano | 22 Jun 2006
I’m proud of you brother. After all we have been through, you stuck it out and made it happen. Don’t be distracted by the bull. Love ya, and talk to you tonight.
13 Robert Bruce | 22 Jun 2006
Yeah, this stuff moves a bit faster than Hollywood… but that’s what I asked for.
Blood on the walls and beer in the gut. There’s no better life.
14 candice | 22 Jun 2006
I don’t think that this post was whining at all. I will say though that you are so much more accessible than what seems to pass for modern american poetry, which looks like it is only written for other poets. (A friend from highschool, she’s starting her phd in poetry soon. I see the other side, the journals she gets published in sometimes, and it’s crazy.)
15 Robert Bruce | 23 Jun 2006
Candice, that’s a fine compliment, I’ll take it and feel good.
I’ve got nothing against education for those who need certain skills in place (eg. structural engineers or the guy who opens up my chest and digs around..)
But it seems a bit much for something like the poems… which is also why I’ll never make it into the elite journals.
Besides, who actually reads that stuff? I’ve picked up two or three in the last decade and every time I end up wondering why I did it.
And why are poets so locked into these things?
Some need for Legitimacy I guess. The way its always been done, etc.
16 Tom O'Leary | 23 Jun 2006
We’re all full of crap every now and then. And that’s ok. Sometimes you can find really interesting things inside fecal matter. We’re all full of genius too. Sometimes, we just have to sift through the shit to find it. A long, long time ago, I wrote
Anyone can be a writer, for is any writing any brighter than any other?
The point being that the quality of our writing is determined by ourselves - it’s good if it expresses our thoughts as we intend it to - if it speaks our language and tells our story. Quality can not or should not be graded on some predetermined scale or objective measurement. Some think that Shakespeare was incredible - suggesting that nobody since has written about a topic that he hadn’t already covered. BUT…many, many people DON’T like Shakespeare’s work. They find it overly complex and difficult to digest. And that’s what matters. Not the proper use of iambic pentameter. Normally, there are others who speak our language, who understand our story as we tell it. They will appreciate what we have to say.
To that end, there are 12 year old dropouts on street corners in Brooklyn who are besieged by their friends to spout out their latest lyrical flow- to some people, it’s the best shit ever composed - it tells a story that they understand and it moves them in a way that Shakespeare, Yeats or Hemmingway never did - and never will.
Tell your truth Robert. And don’t give a crap if your truth has some crap in it - if there are days when creativity doesn’t spill out of your pen in a recognizable form - a form that you associate with quality or that others compliment you on. Step out of the box of personal or public expectation.
Hey, this might all be a pile of shit. But that’s ok - because I know that I’m full of shit - and it has to come out every now and then or I’d get all clogged up and start smelling like those eegits who think that their shit don’t stink. Know-it-alls who don’t have time for nobodies. And I am nobody in the grand scheme of things. A feckless speck on a spinning ball. We all are.
17 Robert Bruce | 25 Jun 2006
Thanks Tom. You’re right. Except for that last line. You were fearfully and wonderfully made my ex ex-pat friend. But we won’t get into that tonight.
Love the 12-year old dropouts line.
I’ll keep flinging it around here…
18 AndrewE | 26 Jun 2006
Just came across this blog through 9rules. Loved it after 30 minutes of reading!
Can I allow myself to be the devil’s advocate here for just a sec? No? Oh well too bad, cos I’m gonna do it anyway…
If Tom O’Leary had the ability of Shakespeare, to write three of his greatest works in a year, I’m sure his ‘bottom-up’ approach would soon swivel to ‘top-down’. This is case in point and not a personal dig at Tom, who I don’t know from Adam, but suspect that he is a decent guy…
19 Robert Bruce | 26 Jun 2006
Hey Andrew, there’s some real interestingness going on over at your place… I look forward to checking it out (only a cursory glance at the moment, just heading to the day-job now). Great, great title.
And if Tom had the ability of Shakespeare and was commenting on this site, well, I could go out with no regrets. And you’re right, he is a decent guy, more than… ;)
20 Tom O'Leary | 26 Jun 2006
I hear you Andrew. But my point is that Snoop Dog wrote 10 of his best in a one year period as well - and has a following as enthralled by his work as are the patrons of the late, great Willie. Snoop Dog shares a story to his posse that Shakespeare couldn’t get across to them. Conversely, Shakespeare connects with his audience in a way that Snoop probably couldn’t. There’s no particular reason that I’m using rap as an example - could be May Sarton, or any writer for that matter.
Decency could be interpreted in a variety of ways as well. If you were a puritan; I might not be so decent in your mind. But, for mainstream moralists, I’d more than likely get an invitation to join the club. But who was it that said, “I’d never join a club that would have me as a member?”
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