Out on a Friday Night

Megan, I, and the boys went out to Minsky's Pizza tonight. It has been a long week and neither Megan nor I were up to going through the normal routine of preparing dinner. It was a pleasant little family dinner minus, of course, sitting right next to the entrance.

In a little bit Megan and I are going to watch The Duchess. We tried to watch Appaloosa earlier this week but could not watch all of it. I don't think it was a bad movie; it kind of reminded me of old school westerns: very plain, straightforward dialogue, clear bad guys and good guys, a woman who vies for the affection of the rugged gun slinger. But I kind of got bored which was too bad since I love Ed Harris, Jeremy Irons, and Viggo Mortensen.

Oh, and before we watch The Duchess I'm going to run out and get fixings for Cosmopolitans. No, I don't drink Cosmopolitans but Megan likes them and she's in the mood for martinis. So, I'm going to attempt to make my first martinis tonight. It could get ugly.

I'm getting three Tupperware containers full of encyclopedias tomorrow. And my parents are visiting which should be fun. And I'm going to the Apple store in "The Plaza" or "The Plaaaaza" to price a new computer.

David Kirby

I went to David Kirby's reading at the Kansas City Art Institute tonight. There was a fairly large turnout...mostly art institute students through. I've read Kirby's work before and it is littered with obscure (and less obscure) literary and pop culture references. He has a very stream of consciousness style which can be difficult to follow but very rewarding if you stick with the poem. But hearing him read the poems brought the poems I've read to life and added an even greater texture to the language, narrative, etc. David Kirby appears to love language, narrative, story-telling, pop culture, literature, and he has tones of fun with each of them as he weaves in-and-out of different threads within the same poem. It was fun listening to him read. The reading made me appreciate his work a whole lot more...so much so that I bought his most recent book: The House on Boulevard Street: New and Selected Poems (LSU press).

The Party Monkey

Today I felt a little out of sorts. I still had "the party monkey" on my back as one of my co-workers put it. Although there are some naysayers regarding AWP I had an excellent time. My top 10 highlights:

1. Hanging out with BJ and MD drinking beer, single malt McCallan's, and eating good food.
2. Buying John Gallaher's Map of the Folded World (I also bought Heather Derr-Smith's The Bride Minaret and Ashley Capps' Mistaking the Sea for Green Fields from the University of Akron Press and look forward to reading all three...thanks to Mary Biddinger for her recommendations on Derr-Smith and Capps).
3. Walking 20 blocks in the wrong direction attempting to find the Rabbit Lights Live reading at New Wave Coffee, walking 20 blocks back to the Empty Bottle, and then another 6-8 blocks before BJ, MD, and I gave up. It was an adventure.
4. Drinking beers with BJ and MD at Blueline after walking around for 2 hours after attending No Thousands: A Small Press Reading and attempting to find the Rabbit Lights Live reading.
5. The Poets of American Hybrid reading: Peter Gizzi was amazing.
6. The More Than a Collection: Imagining and Realizing Thematic Poetry Projects panel. Oliver De La Paz, Jake Adam York, and Sean Nevin were great. This was one of the most professional, articulate, and helpful panels I've been to at AWP. Great job...my favorites were ODLP, JAY, and SN.
   
7. Hanging out with BJ, MD, FK, etc. at BJ's place in Hyde Park which happens to be 2 blocks from where Barack Obama lives and he happened to be at home for the weekend which meant that the street leading to his house had no parked cars. That's a little tid bit that made me feel warm and fuzzy...but that could have been the Knob Creek.
8. Buying Brandi Homan's Hard Reds: it feels good to know there's a published Marshalltown poet or poet from Marshalltown.
9. The University of Missouri-Kansas City/New Letters reading featuring Robert Stewart, Michael Pritchett, Christie Hodgen, Hadara Bar-Nadav, and Michelle Boisseau. Christie's story kicked ass as did Michelle's and Hadara's poetry. The whole thing was really great!!! Thanks for hanging in there BJ and MD.
   
10. Falling asleep at 2:30 AM on Friday night after a day and night of drinking McCallan's single malt and beer. I snored while BJ and MD chatted away until 4:30 AM. O, AWP.

Thanks for the great time BJ and MD. And thanks for having us over to your apartment Anne. Also, it was great seeing Friedrich again.

Misery

Check out your misery index. It looks like we're mildly miserable in Missouri. Although Kansas City is ranked better than Chicago. Kansas City is ranked 92nd; whereas Chicago is ranked 159th. But of course this is not a joking matter...things kind of stink right now and the media is fanning the flames everyday.

Tonight is going to entail the following:

1. Watch a little Lord of the Rings with Elijah and Gavin
2. After Elijah and Gavin go to bed I'm going to drink a few beers
3. I am going to drink a few more beers and either watch The Duchess or The Namesake with Megan

I finished another rough draft this morning: "After Watching Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" which of course is based partially on the incidents after watching Nightmare at 20,000 Feet with Elijah and Gavin.

Four days left. I'm going shopping this weekend. Guess what I'm shopping for?

2009 Poetry Tournament, Eastern Region Round 2 continued

Here's Eastern Region Round 2 for Group 2:

Jean-Paul Pecqueur, "Truth"
vs.
Mark Bibbins, "Just Yesterday"

WINNER: Jean-Paul Pecqueur, "Truth" - this is somehwhat of an upset because I've read Bibbins before and thoroughly enjoyed sky lounge but upon reading "Truth" a third time in the last week I saw thing I did not see in previous readings.

* * *

Nancy Krygowski, "This Loss, Any:"
vs.
A. Loudermilk, "Daring Love"

WINNER: Nancy Krygowski, "This Loss, Any:"

* * *

So here's the final 4 for the Eastern Region:

Joan Houlihan, "Squall Line"
vs.
Joshua Beckman, "Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter"

and

Jean-Paul Pecqueur, "Truth"
vs.
Nancy Krygowski, "This Loss, Any:"

Ahhh, the things I do to pass the time. I think I might do a post-AWP poetry tournament involving all the poetry books I purchase at AWP.

2009 Poetry Tournament, Eastern Region Round 2

Here's Round 2 for Group 1 from the Eastern Region bracket:

Joan Houlihan, "Squall Line"
vs.
Jim Daniels, "The Dark Planet"

WINNER: Joan Houlihan, "Squall Line"

* * *

Joshua Beckman, "Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter"
vs.
Anthony McCann, "Father of Noise Ceremony"

WINNER: Joshua Beckman, "Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter" - I think BJ's right: Beckman is going to be hard to beat. His poem is pretty awesome.

* * *

Tomorrow we will move on to Round 2 for Group 2 from the Eastern Region bracket and then we will be down to our final four. The poets competing in Round 2 for Group 2 are:

Nancy Krygowski, "This Loss, Any:"
vs.
A. Loudermilk, "Daring Love"

and

Mark Bibbins, "Just Yesterday"
vs.
Jean-Paul Pecqueur, "Truth"

I can't believe I just used the words "poet" and "competing" in the same sentence because I'm idealistic and don't want to believe poet's would ever compete amongst one another. Of course, my idealism is bull shit because whether poets like to admit it or not they either overtly and secretly compete with each other quite frequently.

I keep referring this poetry tournament thing as the "Eastern Region bracket" because all of these poets were or still are from the east coast: Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, etc. Plus, I like to think of this as my own little private "NCAA-like" tournament only with poetry.

Tuesday Tid Bits

This is the dialogue between my wife, Brayden (my youngest son who is turning 3 in 19 days), and I the other night (keep in mind my son has never said "I love you" to either of us because he's stubborn):

MEGAN: I love Brayden. Who do you love Brayden?

BRAYDEN: I love mommy.

MEGAN: No, I love Brayden.

BRAYDEN: I love mommy.

ME: What about me? I love Brayden. Do you love me Brayden?

BRAYDEN (taking his eyes off of me and slowly turning his gaze towards Megan): I love mommy.

MEGAN: Don't you love daddy?

BRAYDEN: I love mommy.

ME: C'mon. I love Brayden. I love Brayden. What do you say Brayden? Do you love daddy?

BRAYDEN: I love Brayden.

Megan laughed. Brayden laughed. I cried. No, actually I laughed too.

* * *

My other son Gavin (7 years old) said two hilarious things during our farkle game tonight:

1. He told Megan and I that when he visits are tombs some day that he's going to put chicken on my tomb because I eat meat and vegtables on Megan's tomb because she's a vegetarian.
2. He also said that his stuffed otter, which he has called baby for years, is the son of God and that his baby is just waiting to take God's place when he wants a break.

* * *

BJ made me aware of this awesome off-site reading during AWP:

6:00PM-9:00PMThe Burning Chair Readings: Ahsahta Press & Typo
Location: The Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Ave
Cost: Cover charge TBD by venue
Website: http://www.typomag.com/burningchair
Poetry readings from Carrie Olivia Adams, Ben Doller, Kathleen Jesme, Forrest Gander, Brenda Hillman, Alex Lemon, Barbara Maloutas, Rusty Morrison, G.E. Patterson, Marvyn Petrucci, & Stephanie Strickland.

I'm familiar with Carrie Olivia Adams, Forrest Gander, Brenda Hilman, and Alex Lemon. And I look forward to familiarizing myself with the rest.

* * *

Farkle Standings
Gavin - 19
Jon - 18
Elijah - 16
Megan - 13

2009 Poetry Tournament, Eastern Region Round 1 continued

Here's Group 2 for round 1:

Jeffrey Levine, "Blisses"
vs.
Nancy Krygowski, "This Loss, Any:"

WINNER: Nancy Krygowski, "This Loss, Any:"

* * *

A. Loudermilk, "Daring Love"
vs.
Alessandra Lynch, "Birthday"

WINNER: A. Loudermilk, "Daring Love"

* * *
Sarah Hannah, "The Garden As She Left It"
vs.
Mark Bibbins, "Just Yesterday"

WINNER: Mark Bibbins, "Just Yesterday" - Mark Bibbins is pretty freaking awesome. Reading this poem makes me want to read sky lounge again. And since I've read sky lounge before Sarah Hannah's poem was probably at a disadvantage since I haven't read Inflorescence before. You could call it bad refereeing.

* * *

Jean-Paul Pecqueur, "Truth"
vs.
Aimee Nezhukumatathil, "One Bit"

WINNER: Jean-Paul Pecqueur, "Truth" - I can't really say anything about this one. This was an upset. I loved Aimee Nezhukumatathil's At the Drive-In Valcano and thought she'd win this won. But alas, Jean-Paul is the winner.

* * *

On to round 2.

2009 Poetry Tournament, Eastern Region Round 1

You could call this Round 1, Group 1 since it's only the first 8 poets. But since I'm a little short of time I'll have to have Round 1, Group 2 tomorrow or Tuesday. But here you go (I hope this captures the essence of Schomburg's fun poetry tournament exercise):

* * *

Ethan Paquin, "[people are/wherever there's clouds/starry curvature]"

vs.
Joshua Beckman, "Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter"

WINNER: Joshua Beckman, "Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter"

* * *

Anthony McCann, "Father of Noise Ceremony"
vs.
Ellen Dudley, "The Bats"

WINNER: Anthony McCann, "Father of Noise Ceremony" - it was close but McCann nailed the ending like a gymnast nailing a dismount from a pommel horse.

* * *

Rod Smith, "the egret says..."
vs.
Joan Houlihan, "Squall Line"

WINNER: Joan Houlihan, "Squall Line"

* * *

Susan Grimm, "Green Wave"
vs.
Jim Daniels, "The Dark Planet"

WINNER: Jim Daniels, "The Dark Planet" - this one was close as well but its hard to compete with Daniels' ending:

"A smudge at memory's edge: love's
tender silence. Footsteps." (ll. 9-10)

I really love the simple yet stark language alongside the haunting footsteps.

* * *

So, the forthcoming Round 2 for the first group will be:

Joshua Beckman, "Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter"
vs.
Anthony McCann, "Father of Noise Ceremony"

and

Joan Houlihan, "Squall Line"
vs.
Jim Daniels, "The Dark Planet"

The host city will be Syracuse, NY for Group 1 (this is a NCAA hoops reference).