41. Ladybug Laws- Laura Moriarty
Laura is my boss. Laura gave me this new chapbook of hers a few months ago. I don’t remember who published this book. Laura is also my friend. It’s great when your boss is your friend. We take turns taking out the trash at SPD. We divide the labor by month. SPD has a staff of 8. So, every 8 months it’s my turn to take out the trash. I can never remember to take out the trash when my turn comes around. So far I’ve been through 2 chore-cycles and have failed miserably at my duties both times. Laura will come into my office and say “hey John, don’t forget to take out the trash…” and then I will forget. And then she’ll come back and say “hey John, you forgot to take out the trash…take out the trash, it’s full, and disgusting, and overflowing…” and I’ll say “sure thing Laura, so sorry, skipped my mind…” and then I’ll forget…Laura is a pretty patient woman. Laura writes fantastic books and is my favorite person to poetry gossip with this side of the Bay Bridge.
42. Her Friends Down At The French Cafe Had No English Words For Me- Patrick Dunagan
I think Push Press published this book? Patrick gave me a copy when we were hanging out at Mini Bar on Divis. We were out celebrating the publication of the new issue of Jason Morris’s magazine Big Bell. Jason Morris was there, Russ Dillon was there, Micah Ballard was there. We were all drinking whiskey and passing around poetry books. Every cover of Big Bell is unique. I think Jason and some of his artist friends create all the covers: hand painting, photocopying, drawing etc. Neato. I remember a drunk guy that Micah sort of knew sat down with us in the middle of a conversation. Micah looked annoyed so I had the green light to stink eye the bro. Later that night I saw a pretty girl and went to talk to her. I ended up talking to the bartender/owner instead. A few weeks later I saw the pretty girl again, this time we chatted and I asked for her number. She gave it to me and we made plans to go out the next week. I was excited, she was pretty, and weird and had those sexy "I'm a lil' crazy" vibes. I texted her the next Wednesday to make plans. She texted back "Sorry John, this just really isn't a good time for me...," oof, argh, blag. Onward!
43. The Last Avant-Garde The Making Of The New York School Of Poets- David Lehman
Got summoned for jury duty. Unlike most people I was stoked for jury duty. Did everything I could to get selected (acted like a norm, answered honestly but not too opinionated, gave the attorneys a blank slate). Voir Dire was super interesting. The jury pool went from 100 people to about 40. I was still hanging in there. Whittled down the pool from 40 to 19. I got selected as a primary juror, #11 i think. Stoked! A criminal case…dude was accused of stalking, threatening and stabbing his girlfriend in a low residency hotel in the Mission. Crazy right? The judge told us that the trial was projected to last about a week…a short trial for a criminal case. The book that I started, and finished in the week I spent at the court house was David Lehman’s The Last Avant-Garde. A big book I bought back at the SFSU bookstore in 2003. I was really excited to read what unfortunately turned out to be a long boring, messy behemoth. Not so much a cohesive biography on the NY movement, which I was hoping for, as a loose dissertation in 4 parts. Too much close reading and not enough gossip. I don’t care about Lehman close reading a Koch poem. But I do care about Koch. Too much about how Lehman feels about Ashbery’s poems and not enough about Ashbery. Super boo…started the book excited at the beginning of the trial, finished the book bummed on the last day of the trial. It did pass the time I guess, I just wish that time passing was more fun. We ended up finding the guy not guilty after deliberating for a couple days, we were all pretty sure the dude stabbed his girlfriend (in the leg), but the burden of proof wasn't met. The victim of the stabbing was an incredibly unreliable witness. She kept nodding off while testifying, she lied while on the stand to try to try and bolster her case, a lot of what she said contradicted earlier statements. It was hard to sit through, she shouldn't have been made to take the stand (but what else could they do I guess), this was a woman obviously dealing with addiction and mental issues, she was in no state to face her attacker let alone the judge, jury and courthouse. So in the end we were compelled to find him not guilty on the stabbing offense but found him guilty on 3 other felony offenses, including criminal stocking. The accused was already in county jail for another felony offense, and with our guilty verdict on the 3 lesser charges he’s going to remain there for a very long time. Was really glad for the experience, I would recommend everybody serve at least once.
44. United United- Sunnylyn Thibodeaux
Micah Ballard gave me a copy of Sunnylyn’s Lew Gallery chapbook the first time I went over to their apartment. Back then we were in the courting stage, new poetry friends with tons in common wanting to get to know each other more. Went over there to watch the new Alien Workshop video. Micah also skates. Brought them my The Moveable Ones chapbook, Gary Gygax and a copy of BOUT BOUT. In return Micah gave me a brand new World Industries skateboard!, a new set of Spitfire wheels, a misprint copy of United United, a ton of Auguste Press books and 4 or 5 Lew Gallery editions. We drank beers, and talked skating, and talked poetry and broke bread (burnt pizza). Since then Micah and Sunnylyn have become a couple of my dearest friends, poetry and otherwise. Hung out with Micah and Sunnylyn yesterday at Alamo Square Park. I finally got to meet their beautiful, brand new daughter Lorca. We had a few beers and talked skating, poetry, pregnancy, delivery and parenthood. The baby is a gem and so are her parents, I cherish days quiet days like that.
45. Luna #5
A Gulf War veteran poet named Sean gave me a copy of this journal (intentionally not calling it a magazine) back in 2003 at SFSU. I think he had just joined the editorial board or something and was handing out free copies to students in the program. I liked Sean a lot, nice guy if somewhat square. Does Ray Gonzalez edit Luna? I just pulled that name out of the sky, I have no idea if Ray Gonzalez is a real person. I don't like Luna journal at all. I feel bad about putting it that way, but what can I say? Luna is just really not my steelo at all. It just has a very safe aesthetic: a middle-aged Democracy Now listening, black and white photography of indigenous peoples vibe. Boring. I think Paul Hoover had some poems in this issue, but I can't remember anything else specific about the contents. In the end it's my fault and not Luna's, Ray Gonzalez is doing his thing, I just have zero interest in that thing.
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