G Is For Gravity

I think the kid in this illustration by Jenny Mathews from our new book Atrocious Poems A To Z looks like a recurring Norman Fell character that is in A Is For Artichokes and C Is For Crayons, butJenny says it is me. I insist it's Ella because she almost literally makes a similar argument every day of her life and looks exactly like this when she is doing it.

G Is For Gravity is an example of the literary device apostrophe, where one addresses a thing or force that is unseen by the audience. 

It could also be said that it is an example of sprung rhythm. 

I tried to incorporate multiple layers of meaning and message into the poems, as I always do, but sometimes the seeming simplicity belies that finesse. I hope some of this will be brought out in the exhibition the book is in at the Rockford Art Museum where I was invited to write all 26 poems from the book on the wall next to Jenny's illustrations. 

The exhibition, titled Bittersweet Observations, runs through October 1st. What a thrill it was to write my poems on the walls of a major American museum. I doubt any other poet has a show anything like this right now.

I sit here now with not much to do except talk about my last project.  

F Is For Failure  
H Is For Haircut

Dog Poop Poetry Book Gets Museum Show

Atrocious Poems A To Z, a new book of children's poems quickly becoming notorious for its poems about dog poop and urine, has gotten it's own museum show at the Rockford Art Museum

Running through October 1st, Bittersweet Observations is an exhibit dedicated to the darker side of children's stories and fairy tales.

Exhibiting artists include Shark Girl Casey Riordan MIllard, Sarah Reed McNamara, Jenny Mathews, craftsman Jeremy Klonicki, and author of Atrocious Poems A To Z Thomas L. Vaultonburg, who was invited to scrawl each of the 26 poems from the book on the wall of the museum in his own handwriting.

Outsider Poet Thomas L. Vaultonburg writing poems from Atrocious Poems A To Z on the wall of the Rockford Art Museum when no one else is looking

For those who don't care to count, the poem he is writing in this case is about urination.

 The curator was so impressed she went over the poem in her own handwriting to make it extra bold and yellow. 

The opening of the show was a huge hit with kids, many writing their own poems on antique typewriters provided by Zombie Logic Press. 

Outsider Poetry At Midnight

It's after midnight now and I'm still trying to suck something out of this day that will send to bed feeling happy and not so defeated. 

I don't really have any good reason to feel defeated. I just finished my yoga and cardio workout and turned on the dishwasher, and I had the choice of watching a bad movie of attending to one of my long ignore blogs.

I suppose this means I'm choosing blog.

If anything Atrocious Poems A To Z has been a bonus book for me. I never expected to finish it, let alone see it in print, and now it will be on the walls of the Rockford Art Museum June 9th. The curator wants me to come in and write it all down so they can plaster it on the wall. 

Jenny refuses to send me any more of the panels that will be in the art show to help promote our crowdfunding campaign, so I just have my words here. May has been a blur as she finishes her final painting for the exhibit. She has been working on it since January. I'm tired. 

This beautiful Hot Wheel came in the mail today. I'd been watching it for over two years on Ebay. Finally I decided I should just get it because I only saw one other one come up for sale in that time and it went for even more than I paid, so we live only this one time.

I saved this very computer from a cyber attack last week by disabling the directory with Rkill and running several malware programs. I hadn't even visited any questionable sites, but I insulted the Turkish government and I have a feeling that may have done the trick.

I'm going to try another blog somewhere else tonight. 

Outsider Poet Writes Second Children's Book

"It's hard to tell people what you meant when you didn't mean anything at all," says Outsider Poet and two-time children's book author Thomas L. Vaultonburg when asked about his latest book Atrocious Poems A To Z. "Children understand this instinctually," he goes on to say, "It's only adults who have this mania to make sure everything is defined and orderly." 

"Most of it doesn't mean anything at all," says Thomas L. Vaultonburg about his book Atrocious Poems A To Z. 

The art from the book, done by Vaultonburg's co-creator and real life partner Jenny Mathews, will be included in an exhibit at the Rockford Art Museum beginning June 9th and running through October 1st. "Maybe Jenny's art has some meaning. That's probably why it's going to be in a museum and I'm here talking to you," he says with a benign snarl. He isn't enjoying our interview at all, and tells me why...

"Ten years ago I might have had rehearsed answers to your questions about what something means, or what message I was trying to convey, but I gave up on having answers to those questions long ago. The only real and true answer I can give you is that I've been throwing shit at the wall so long I don't know how to stop. If any of it stick you get to decide what it means. I certainly don't know."

Atrocious Poems A To Z is at the printer and can be ordered here