We would like to award a belated Honorable Mention to Spencer Martin Gauthier for his poem “SEX.”

SEX

The sheets are white and pure as skin
I hold her hips in my hands and place a kiss between her eyebrows.
She grips my biceps and I push her down against the bed. I kiss her then remove myself
and stand to gaze in the full length hotel mirror.
I am beautiful. “Prepare yourself.”
I go into the bathroom and rub myself before slipping on a very thin condom.
I rub the latex shell against her, pull away, then kiss her belly.
She is upset. Something washes over me, a feeling of despair. I pull up my briefs
And stand in the doorway of the bathroom looking at her. Am I punishing her or myself ?

 Spencer Martin Gauthier

We are pleased to announce this Valentine’s Day the winner of our Un-Bad Sex Poetry Contest, Carlos Davy Hauser with his poem “Pink.” Thank you to everyone who participated in this contest. We enjoyed reading all of your poems. Look out for more contests soon!

Pink

Sometimes I wonder
why she cant be still
wailing fuckoffs from her pink
room after her mom finds the cigarets
in her lunch pale.

Sometimes I wish I still heard
the drop of cuts on a slab in
her pink room and him tripping
out the back window every
time, that sumbitch. I’d get a
call from the butcher’s widow,
asking if her son had been over and I’d
say can’t remember, you doing
anything next Saturday night, but

Most of the time I love the silence
and I love my gray wife. Although,

sometimes I miss bleaching out
the blood and jism gravy from the pink and
purple sheets and smelling them. Thinking
Am I wrong remembering
the wonder of pleased girls
on air mattresses in backyards?

Carlos Davy Hauser

Alpha is a science-fiction, fantasy, and horror writing workshop for writers ages 14-19 held every year at the University of Pittsburgh’s Greenburg Campus.  This year’s workshop is scheduled for July 18-27th, in conjunction with Pittsburgh’s science fiction convention, Confluence.    They look for enthusiastic, talented young writers who have a strong interest in science fiction, fantasy and/or horror and a passion for writing.

As a two-time alumni of the Alpha workshop (I applied the summer after my freshman year at UCLA, and was invited back the year after), Alpha provides a great opportunity to learn more about writing, learn from famous authors (including Tamora Pierce), and to meet like-minded writers and life-long friends.

If you’re interested, the application date this year is MARCH 2nd, and all applicants must submit a story of 2000-6000 words.

The daughter of poet Miller Williams, singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams made a tour stop at Royce Hall Friday night. Renowned for her lyrical southern style and country-bluegrass tone, Williams began with a set of solo acoustic songs and was later joined by her band and guest Blake Mills, an L.A.-based guitarist who recently toured with Band of Horses.

Throughout her nearly four decade-long career, Williams has never been pinned down to a single genre. At times country-rock, at times folksy and bluesy, it’s only Williams’ poetry which remains ever present. At the beginning of the night she seemed to dwell on the more solemn country-folk songs of her early career. By the end of the night she had settled in on solid rock; and though a rocker, she never ceases to remain so humble as to seem almost bashful. When it was almost time for the encore she admitted to the audience, “I was a little shy at first tonight, but now I think I’m starting to warm up.”

Read more

I’m a big fan of speculative fiction (read: science fiction, fantasy, surrealism, and all its wonky spinoffs and subcategories).   These genres frequently get short shrift in the literary world, for a number of reasons often linked to what people perceive as their inability to answer big questions like “Who cares?” or “How is this even relevant?”

There are many possible answers, and many people who feel strongly either way, but by far the best and most coherent response I have read is a recent guest post by Cathrynne M. Valente in the blog of British science fiction author Charles Stross.

“Ask me about the future and I’ll tell you a fairy tale.  Ask me about the past and I’ll tell you about uploading. We are always writing about ourselves–we can’t help it. The difference between a post-human and a fairy, between a dragon and a lobster, is only in the name.”

Valente is an acclaimed author of award-winning works like The Orphan’s Tales and Palimpsest, is  by her own words, “a fantasy writer, and more particularly, a folklorist and historian.”

To all my fellow bookworms out there, I’ll bet most of you guys have made reading more books a top priority on your list of New Year’s Resolutions. This is definitely true for me – for some reason, it’s harder to find time to read for fun in college.

But thank goodness for goodreads! I discovered this awesome website last year, and I absolutely LOVE it! You can set a challenge for yourself as to how many books you want to finish reading by the end of the year, and goodreads will tell you whether or not you’re on track (currently, I’m one book behind). Moreover, you can rate and review books and join groups with literary interests similar to yours. Personally, one of my favorite features is the free book giveaways. You get the chance to win a copy of a book that has yet to be released to the public, which I find pretty exciting. I have received two books myself through goodreads

If this all sounds jolly good to you, you can sign up here: www.goodreads.com

Happy reading!

Oh yeah Poets. Mmmm yeah, it’s that time of the year. Yessssss mMMMmm. Time for some sweet&sweaty, sticky lovin.

That’s right! Westwind’s calling for submissions for its first NOT BAD SEX POETRY CONTEST.

Start sending in those submissions, baby. You know you want to. Just be sure to get ‘em in by Valentine’s Day. Yeah, get ‘em in all the way. One sexy winner will get his/her naught(bad)y sex poem blown up on the Westwind website.

So what are you waiting for, baby?

WE WANT YOUR SEX poems.

I’ve never been a fan of listening to writers go on and on about their work (whether it be pretentious or boring) BUT I’ve find solace in The Paris Review’s series of interviews titled The Art of Fiction or The Art of Poetry, depending on who is being interviewed of course.

Their website only has samplings from more recent interviews but there are a couple of classics on the website in their entirety … I’ve posted William Faulkner’s The Art of Fiction No. 12, interviewed by Jean Stein. Enjoy.

Personally, I’m tired and all I want to do right now is read some good poetry. So I’d like to direct you attention to what is, perhaps, my favorite poem.

Tobacco Kiosk by Fernando Pessoa

I am nothing
I shall always be nothing
I cannot wish to be anything
Aside from that, I have within me all the dreams of the world.

(…)
Today I am bewildered, as one who wondered and discovered and forgot.
Today I am divided by the loyalty I owe
To the outward reality of the tobacco kiosk of the other side of the street
And to the inward real feeling that everything is but a dream.
I have missed everything.
And since I have no aims, maybe everything is indeed nothing.

What I was taught,
I go down from the window at the back of the house.
I went down to the countryside with grand plans,
But all I found in it was grass and trees,
And when there were people, they were just like other people.
I step back from the window and sit in the chair. What should I think about now?

If you’d like to read the rest of the poem (and I hope you do because it is amazing) go here http://etctatic.com/post/455441339/tobacco-kiosk.

So…when debating what to write for the Westwind Journal, my mind continually went to a blogpost I recently read at the New York Review.  And though I will be the first to admit that posting another person’s blog post AS a blog post is a total cop-out, I am still continuing with this because I feel it’s important for people to read (and, as an actual writer for an actual magazine, I think he articulates his point much better than I ever could.)
However, before I post the link, I will go as far as to describe the article, which, in the nutshell, explains the importance of journals.  In this age of the iphone, ipad, mac, and all other technologies, I still do believe there is value in a handwritten journal- whether it includes entries of what you did that day, or random facts, or (like me) favorite quotes of yours, it is still physical, tangible memories.  It is something you can look back at and laugh at or maybe be embarrassed by, but either way it is a facet of yourself and your personality and your thoughts and ideas at a certain point in your life.
And though I always figured there most be other people out there that feel the same way, I had not ever read something about it, especially something so well articulated.  So I hope you all read this, whether you keep a journal like me, or don’t, because I guaranteed it will at least get you thinking about keeping one- and, with no further ado, here’s the link:

http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/oct/12/take-care-your-little-notebook/