Thursday, October 21, 2010

How random is random when it comes to Postcards??

Four years ago:
I flew over to Los Angeles with my good friend Rocky, to see a Dinosaur Jr. reunion show at The Troubador . We had some time to kill before the show, so my only L.A. friend Caren took us to an art-walk tour of the Brewery Arts district that was also happening that weekend. There were a lot of memorable studios and artists, but since I was on a poet's budget, my shopping spree consisted of grabbing promo-postcards (that are given away for free) from the artists who caught my eye.


Two months ago:
I participated in a cool postcard exchange project that was arranged by the Albuqurque poet Christian Drake (who keeps a fantastic blog over at The Quantum Biologist). He secretly assigned each poet with the addresses of two other poets and commanded you to send them a poem on the back of a postcard.

So I ended up using one of the postcards that I collected from that Los Angeles trip, mailed it off to a poet in Texas named Faylita Hicks (we didn't know each other) and forgot about it.


Two weeks ago:
I got an unexpected email from Los Angeles artist Mark Hix, saying that he received my postcard, out of the blue. The post office apparently had some problem delivering it, so it was returned to him (since his studio address was printed in the back corner).

I think he thought that was kind of cool, so he posted it over on his own blog:





So, I am sorry that it never got to Faylita,
but at least this proves that I did mail one out, Christian.
Hopefully, this will be enough to keep me from getting excluded
from any of his future postcard exchanges.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

returning to the back alley scene of the crime

This month, I will be featured poet at the Words In The Alley, that takes place
in the newly renovated alleyway of A Shot Of Java coffeehouse.

It would be IMPOSSIBLE to top what happened the last time I did a feature reading there, so I can only promise that it will be different.

In case you missed last year's reading, here's a glimpse at what transpired:

First, a little backstory: several years ago, we saw a touring poet who was not very good. He became a running joke for all of us who endured his set. Among his many offenses, he had an obnoxious banner that he set up on the stage beside him.

Mark has been threatening to make me my own banner, ever since. I kind of forgot about that, but when I approached the mic to perform my set, he ambushed me with THIS:



It was embarrassing but amazing and it took me several minutes to stop laughing and begin reading. Half of the audience was cracking up because they were in on the joke. The other half just looked bewildered...like "Who the hell does this egomaniac think he is????"

Instead of The Hunter's club and shield from the constellation, Mark originally had me holding a club and a book, but his wife Dani suggested that I should be holding a pen instead of the club to complete the theme.
Btw- all of the stars are sparkly rhinestones!
































It was hilarious and creepy to see that thing looming behind all of the poets
who were reading during the open mic:


















Someone mentioned that it also reminded her of one of the Harry Potter books.
So I looked it up and I can see exactly where she got that vibe: