Very cool to see that our book was a finalist for the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards
Thanks to Tolsun Books for figuring out how to combine Jia Oak Baker's photographs and my poems in convenient paperback form exactly how we envisioned but better.
Since all of my celebrations are virtual, here are a few more of those "Poetic Distancing Reading Series" video sessions that I did instead of whatever book tour I was planning before the pandemic.
I almost had to give up on this one in the canal because every take kept getting ruined by screeching jets from the nearby airbase. Another example of the Military Industrial Complex budget squashing local arts. I will edit together a bunch of these outtakes that feature me cursing at the sky as if those pilots might be able to hear me.
My poems in this next video address Portlandian hipster-ness, 90s album covers, fleeting punk fashion statements, and my longtime appreciation of Chris Cornell. The shadows reminded me of a classic Soundgarden video, so I wore one of those shirts that former Phoenix skater (and longtime friend of Chris Cornell) Kevin Staab put out for his 90 skate company, since Chris often wore those, as seen in their video for Fell On Black Days:
Excited to say that our book is now available at Stinkweeds Record Store if you're ever in Downtown Phoenix. This is especially cool because back
in high school, I used to drive out to Kimber Lanning's original shops in Mesa and Tempe to
buy import bootleg CDs. I've also seen in-store performances by folks like
Jello Biafra and Lou Barlow's Folk Implosion over the years. Since
Jia's photos and my poems were heavily influenced by some of our beloved
Phoenix bands, we're proud to have this book available in that same iconic
record store for less than it would cost from Amaz*n (in keeping with Kimber's local indie-first ethos localfirstaz.com).
In more literary news, Gravity & Spectacle got a great shout out from the Academy Of American Poets (what!?!) in an issue American Poets Magazine! It was almost surreal for Jia and I to see ourselves listed on the back cover with writers like Joy Harjo, Forrest Gander, Natalie Diaz, Adrian Matejka, and other heroes.
Inside the magazine, there was a wonderful write-up by Phoenix Poet Laureate Rosemarie Dombrowski along with one of my sample poems from the book:
Since the new book Gravity & Spectacle came out right at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, I wasn't able to do any readings and that was disappointing. I tried a few Zoom readings and subjected people to my cluttered backroom, confusing timezone, and spotty wi-fi connection. It wasn't the best way to introduce anyone to our brand new book, but we did what we could.
Then I noticed a call for submissions of video readings for a virtual literary conference. I liked the idea of recording a session without the limitations of wi-fi, so I went out into the desert and read a few poems to an audience of Saguaros. Unfortunately, I said the wrong conference name in my intro, so it was rightfully rejected for the virtual event.
So I decided to just do my own "Poetic Distancing Reading Series" in various five minute sessions on youtube like these:
The above video was the desert session that I filmed at the White Tank Mountain Regional Park.
This next one took place in front of The Rebel Lounge which has a long history as an important Phoenix music venue for up and coming local bands and national touring bands who haven't yet moved up to theaters (including bands like Nirvana, The Ramones, Soundgarden, Guns N Roses, Pearl Jam, etc back when it was know as The Mason Jar). Needless to say, Jia and I were stoked to have our book announced on their infamous billboard.
I will post more background notes on the other session in upcoming entries, but if you want to skip ahead and see all 8 of these youtube readings, here is the link to that playlist like the laziest book tour:
Back in 2014, I noticed that JJ Horner was having a yard sale. JJ was always one of my favorite artists, so I try to keep an eye out for him. I stopped by after work and saw some great paintings that couldn't fit into my little Honda before finding a strange piece that looked like a flesh-toned Saguaro covered with eyes.
JJ said it was hollow because he made it to go over someone's head in a video that he directed. I had no plans for it, just thought it would look cool on my desk to stare at me while I write.
But a few weeks later, Jia Oak Baker won a new Leica camera from an Instagram contest (she baked cookies that looked like little cameras) and she wanted to see what it could do. We drove JJ's mask out to the desert (where it seemed like it belonged) and took a bunch of photos. We did this a few times over the next month in random locations like a grocery store etc.
We were still just experimenting without any purpose, when Jia noticed a chapbook contest that wanted ten poems with ten images. We liked the idea and the challenge so we went for it. Unfortunately, our little manuscript didn't get selected but we liked what was developing so we focused our attention toward creating a proper full length book.
I gave Jia some more background on JJ Horner: that I first met him when I started doing Tuesday night readings at The Paper Heart Gallery, where JJ would set up a canvas and do live painting while poets read, musicians played, and host DJ Seduce would spin records. He started up a skateboard company called Pyramid Country and designed all the trippy artwork for their shirts and skate videos (which get lots of love from Thrasher Magazine).
photo by Paul Horner
I remembered that he also did a video for one of my favorite Phoenix bands AJJ, so I showed Jia his video for the song Coffin Dance and was surprised to see our Many-Eyed Saguaro mask make a brief appearance at the 2:20 mark:
Phoenix streets, music, art, skateboarding. Jia encouraged me to take the poems into all those areas of influence, since they were so interwoven.
We visited a skatepark next to Cowtown Skateboards and almost seemed to blend in.
Then we went to AJJ's album release show (for The Bible 2) at the Rebel Lounge and felt welcomed. Integrating those types of elements within our poems and photographs helped give our project some direction.
Our book launch was canceled, so I'll just make a quiet little blogpost announcement:
It began with an impulse purchase of an art mask sculpture from artist JJ Horner's yard sale, before going through five or six years of collaboration work with photographer Jia Oak Baker. Now Gravity & Spectacle has been published as a gorgeously square book of poems and photographs by Tolsun Books.
This project was supposed to come out about two years ago, but we kept pushing back the deadline because it just wasn't good enough. We finally got to a point where we were proud enough to publish it right when the pandemic hit.
"Jia
Oak Baker's stunning photographs of a discarded
punk-rock-skateboard-video-prop-mask, and Shawnte Orion's sardonic, pop
culture-infused poetry make the strange world of Gravity & Spectacle. It is a slanted ode to Phoenix and its surrounding deserts,
both gorgeous and absurd, stoic and wry, gravitational and spectacular, a
"love letter to the fireplace" of a hometown seen through the lens and
the pens of two of its inhabitants."
We had to upgrade and pay extra for high quality gloss pages so they could handle all the photographs. We were still nervous and hoping everything would look right, because we couldn't order a preview copy first... but the Tolsun team (special thanks to David Pischke) did an amazing job with the layout and design. Jia and I were so excited to see that this book came out better than we could have imagined. We can't wait to bring it to readings in some of our favorite cities whenever we are allowed.
I'll make more posts about the background (including the J.J. Horner art), blurbs (infinite thanks to Rosemarie Dombrowski, Sean Bonnette, and Matt Hart), and sidestories of the book in the coming days.
