The high- & near starting-point of our trip to NYC last week was mine & Shafer Hall’s
Burning Chair reading at the Fall Cafe in Carroll Gardens. Not only did it provide an opportunity to hear Shafer, it also gathered some of my closest friends (some of whom I’d not seen since we moved), & further introduced, in person, several people I’d only known through correspondence. Because I’m a dimbulb, however, I failed to bring our camera to the event so my evidence is scant, to say the least. Rest assured, in any case, that the Henriksens are wonderful hosts & a conversational delight. I am in their debt & thank them.
Other highlights of the trip were myriad & typical: catching up w/friends, running around, eating great food (
Blue Hill at Stone Barns,
Alma, et al.), making plans for our next visit (August), wishing we’d had one more day there.
News here is that
the Million is going into the studio the next few nights to demo some songs. I’m guessing that they’ll end up on the website sooner than not. I’ll post word of it when such word exists.
The last couple months have been, above all else, a busy time around here. There’s been some musical activity (the
For Callum compilation;
The Million has been playing some shows; the trip to TN; etc.); some Cultural Society activity (a
website update; the publication of Joel Bettridge’s
That Abrupt Here; plans for a couple of chapbooks — one of fiction, one of poems — & one full-length book of poems by year’s end); We’ve had a good deal of action @
Letterbox (K. is astonishing), too. I’ve even had a couple of far-flung poetic occasions (the trip to OK; upcoming
reading in NYC) & am pleased to have met many wonderful people (& anticipate meeting many more).
All of which goes to say that I haven’t had time for a proper blog entry. Maybe our trip to NYC this weekend will snap the blogging aspect of my consciousness back into place. Who knows? I’ve got some notes on Johan Van Der Keuken’s
Beauty, a short film I saw a few months ago, that have brought some ideas about non-metaphorical art to bear. Even if I don’t pull it together, the film is worth a look. As is non-metaphorical art of any kind.
