writing – michael jarmer

#758: The Voice That Is Not My Voice Is My Voice

I was compelled to use the word“voice” three times in the title of thispoem, and looking at the word (everyone has had this experience)it feels unfamiliar, unreal, made up. That sound I make when I talkis called a voice, and the personalityof my writing or my art is also calledsometimes a voice, but, too, theContinue reading “#758: The Voice That Is Not My Voice Is My Voice”

#757: Sobriquet for Jeff

I learned a new word today: sobriquet. It’s a fancy word for nickname, a kind of nicknamefor nickname. Because the scientificnames are difficult and hard to remember, people have given sobriquets to flowers and plants: baby’s breath, bleeding heart, poppy (known most commonlyas Papaver Somniferum), even the word lily is shortfor something. We give nicknamestoContinue reading “#757: Sobriquet for Jeff”

#750: I Know a Poet

I know a poet who (years ago) createda software program that could write poems. As an experiment, he brought those poemsto a workshop and pretended they were his. People were pissed at him. They invested their time and their critical acumen to helpthis writer with his poetry and they felt hoodwinked and were not atContinue reading “#750: I Know a Poet”

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program to Talk Some More About Publishing a Book in the Age of AI

And I thought it couldn’t get any weirder. Today, I received a cold email from a guy claiming to be a literary agent interested in my novella. He vaguely expressed interest in my work, saying that my book had come to his attention. He went on to say that his agency’s method was to earnContinue reading “We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program to Talk Some More About Publishing a Book in the Age of AI”

#743: J is for Jackson, Kara

I can’t remember the last timeI was as hypnotized by a voice. Or the last time I fell in love withan album that was, ostensibly, folk. When Kara Jackson tours, I think, she’s just a singer with an acoustic. And while the songs are powerful delivered in this stripped down way,this record is sonically complex.Continue reading “#743: J is for Jackson, Kara”

#739: J is for Jackson, Joe

At first, Joe Jackson struck meas the “other” Elvis Costello, and at the time, in my teens, I could not imagine needing another one. I was wrong aboutthat, of course, and I knew itas soon as Jackson released the big band album, Jumpin’Jive. He actually beat Costelloto the punch with the genrehopping. But this, NightContinue reading “#739: J is for Jackson, Joe”

#737: I is for It’s A Beautiful Day

The first time I heard this record, it was January in 2024 as I was goingthrough a stack of records bequeathed to me by my brother-in-law, Kevin. This is what I wrote: Embarrassed a little bit to admit it, but even though I have seen this album cover a thousand times, and wondered in stupefactionContinue reading “#737: I is for It’s A Beautiful Day”

#731: A Tanka on April 1st, 2026

Happy April 1, the first day of National Poetry Month, and for those who participate, National Poetry WRITING Month, or NaPoWriMo for short. I find myself in a little bit of a pickle. If you’ve been reading my almost daily work here on the blog, you will know that I am writing poem-like-things about eachContinue reading “#731: A Tanka on April 1st, 2026”

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program to Talk About Publishing A Book in the Age of AI

AI is basically sucking up all human knowledge and throwing it back at us–and charging a price. –David Byrne My novella, Submarine Stories, is up now for pre-order in all the usual places where you can preorder a book or its ebook counterpart. Very exciting stuff. This is my second published work of fiction, andContinue reading “We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program to Talk About Publishing A Book in the Age of AI”

#710: F is for Freelance Whales

I love the name of this band. I like to think of whales out therefreelancing, as opposed to the otherwhales out there working for the manor some corporate interest. It’s funny. In so far as whales have jobs to do, you know, other than living as whales, I’d much rather champion the freelancers. It’s beenContinue reading “#710: F is for Freelance Whales”