Goose Hill

Just some new thread colors picked up at the local flea market. I rarely buy new new materials. I find it especially stimulating, creatively speaking, to make something work out of a limited stash of resources. Resourcefulness = New ideas. And new ways of seeing things. It's my little Oulipo -like philosophy of sewing and making, in which " constraints are used as a means of triggering ideas and inspiration" (Wikipedia). Never read a piece of Oulipo work? I recommend starting with Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler . He is one of my absolute favorites.

In my most recent thrift store adventures, I found this beautiful machine. According to my research, it is a 1958 Royal Futura 800 series typewriter, still in working condition (I gave it a little test run in the shop). And I bought it for only $40! Carrying case and all. That is why love thrift stores and flea markets. Like a box of chocolates. This same typewriter is being sold here and here for $150, and here for a whopping $525! Beautiful. I'm building my typewriter arsenal: collection, obsession, whatever you want to call it.  And this one, is magic ! Note the buttons: "magic column set." And those red buttons to either side of the carriage? They are "magic margins!" Taking this important trait into consideration, I think I will call her Hermione.

When I'm at work on a poem (a process of many days, even weeks), I often brainstorm ideas and words before bed. And hell if I want to get up every few minutes to look up some word or other association. So I have just gotten in the habit keeping my mammoth of a dictionary in bed with me. Webster is my best friend when I'm writing, and I often get caught up in the searching: one definition leads to another word needing clarification and another. When writing poetry I like to know the exact definition of the word(s) I intend to use, in each possible context, because often it is the implied associations of the word that are the most important, creating a web of meaning and a depth of story.

New typewriter cozy made from flea market fabric finds.  I think the color inspiration may have come from my midsummer's discovery: cold cantaloupe soup. So good, sometimes I just pour it into a glass and drink it.

from Steidl , makers of the new "Paper Passion" perfume If you have been fearing the rise of the digital age--of e-readers replacing your hardbacks, of laptops and tablets replacing your typewriter--more than the preservation of tradition and objects, it is probably the experience of the thing that you cling to most. But as much as I love my things--my books, my typewriter, my card catalog, my bookshelves, my printing press--I am a HUGE admirer of technological innovation. And from what I read , I am reassured that our sensory indulgences have not become lost in the deluge of robotic progress.  Missing that distinctive smell of a book while flicking through virtual pages on your snazzy new e-reader? Apply some Paper Passion perfume to your wrists! (or maybe the air around you, instead) No, I'm not joking. What fun ideas people have! I am always pleasantly surprised with what other people come up with: the simpler, the better. This product, packaged in a hollowed-...

I love to make things. Let me make something for you. Letterpress printing. Book arts. Experiments in hand-sewing. Just send me a message at threadlockpress@gmail.com

I think I have reached that point of mid-season malaise. Between the hot, sticky weather and the stagnation of working life and the completion of creative projects, I find myself longing for something new, something to write poetry about. Which is very silly, of course. There is always something to write about, it's more a matter of forcing yourself to write it out because there is something else in the way. It's just the doldrums of July.