Monday, February 16, 2009

discombobulated attempt to recall becoming discombobulated

1. On plane to Chicago sat next to Indian dude who started singing after we took off: atonal and associative moaning, he didn't have headphones on, just his mind. He sang 30 minutes of the flight, loud enough to be heard for rows, right in my ear, and was fiddling under his seat most of the time, like looking for a button.

2.1 Seeing Shane Jones step out of the rows of shelves at the bookstore with the lit up face made me light up too. Lots of light.

2.2 Seeing Peter Cole punch Adam Robinson in the brainstem (literally) is probably my #1 image recalled from the whole shit. Adam Robinson I think could walk through a mall of milk and come out looking clean and right. Peter Cole speaks from the heart, and is every bit as rad as I had thought. I really like the looks Adam gets on his face.




3. Chicago, do you realize the gift that are those Mexican dudes coming in the night with the coolers full of tamales? I seriously said aloud, "I am hungry I need food" and he appeared. And he appeared again the next night. And he appeared again the next night. Zach Dodson was right, the cheese ones are the ones.

4. Zach and Allison were kind enough to put me up in their lovely home, which on Saturday night resulted in my returning at 4 am (thank god Daniel Bailey had been with me or I would have gotten lost in the city, plus I would not have bought that drunk sandwich from those rude 7-11 dudes). Zach smiles even when woken from his sleep. He's just that cool.

5. Came half an impulse away from barnstorming over the stage with Amelia Gray at the end of 1 of 47 readings I attended: usually ending with poems about pussy is rad, especially when girls are reading, but 'real talk' almost got us exploded. I am really excited about Amelia's AM/PM, you must buy it, Amelia is a total gem.



6. Was still drunk when I woke up Friday morning, and floated happily until it began to come down, at which point the benevolent Dave Clapper maybe literally saved my mind handing me two Excedrins from his pockets. The pills both had an E on them in my palm they read EE which I think washed down with a swig of a water bottle handed to me by EE (+ Aaron, which means Aaron must also have been contained within the pills)

7. Drinking from Conor Madigan's cold homemade vodka from a mason jar (Deaths Door Spirits) got me drunk in like two slugs, and in floating way. That vodka seriously is something else.

8. If I could have more daily doses of conversation with Dan Wickett I am certain I would become that much more efficient, fine, and pleased. I also feel this way about Matt Bell. If you recorded their car conversations from MI to Chicago and back, you might have an audio handbook to 'good job.'

9. I think I managed to stay drunk enough the whole time that I never talked like the awkward goober that I often can be around new people. Evidence of any talking goober is appreciated. I do vaguely remember being sloshed enough to pound the table and etc after Quickies while talking to David McClendon, who is a true true man. His presence helped assuage the miss of Peter Markus, whose sinus infection I dedicated my reading to, and Derek across seas.

10. Buying the $80 bottle of tequila with Gene Morgan probably saved my head from being complete sauce the next morning, though it definitely was enough to wash me into supposedly needing three people to hold me up while I read on the absolutely transcendent El train reading. That was the most fun reading ever, and should be instituted across the nation as the new form. Makes the whole thing an actual experience rather than another sitdown. My main memory of the train ride was trying to punch the train car's ceiling out when Mike Young announced Sam Pink's rise to the mic.



11. Sam fucking Pink = um, Travis Bickle plus your stillborn younger brother plus realest motherfucker you ever met, plus awesome. Drinking $27 beers with him and Gene at Fuckers in the hotel I think I felt the happiest I have felt standing in a chain restaurant with two guys. I need a poster of Gene smiling for in my car. Gene also has a very killer iPod mix.

12. Fuck a book, I am really about to start my rap record: here is a line I made today on twitter: dat mothafucka titty fucked that mothafucka / with da biggest knife you dun eva saw, son / with dat knife knife / with dat goo weed

13. I feel like I aged several years this weekend and also grew several years younger, bringing me back to where I am supposed to be.

14. Those two light up columns with the peoples' heads on them made me want to star in the next sequel of the Neverending Story.

14. God I bought a ton of books. I think I spent $30-50 apiece at the Fence, Action, Dalkey, and FC2 tables each. Plus all the others, though it seems like I didn't even see 1/3rd of the tables. I hardly took anything free. My shoulders are still sore. Between this and my bday and Xmas I have enough to read for 8 years and to also build a small paper extension onto my house.

15.1 I think people were stealing No Colonies, which is fine, if they read them or burn them for heat.

16. We did not play poker and we did not eat nachos, which makes me sad. I really wanted to take Sean Lovelace's money. I liked the way Sean talks, especially in cooperation with his hair and runner's sweaters.

17. Did anyone else see the midget woman ('little person') in the motor car? I want to solicit her work. Was I hallucinating?

18. This photo might sum the whole shit up indeed



19. Apparently amidst the tequila I went bonkers and attacked the ice machine and the towel room? I do not recall this. I do not recall either how we got home from the Featherproof release party at all. I believe there was a treehouse and a bloss of canopy involved?

20. My favorite reader at the Fence event was Daniel Borzutsky, whose poem to his mutual fund I think just wins. I read his 'Port Trakl' translation on the airplane home, which was a nice cap for the event: drunken corridors and sectors of people.

21. Lily Hoang is a sweetheart and we finally got to sit down amongst people barnstorming her to talk about the 30 Under 30 anthology, which is shaping up, and is going to be mega.

21.1 Jesse Ball, hidden elsewhere in the city, is one of the easiest people to talk to ever, and simply put, quite magic.

21.2 Today began reading the wonderful Sam Ligon's new book 'Drift and Swerve' chosen from the piles of incoming, which I couldn't be much more excited about

21.3 and the except of Robert Lopez's new novel in the new Willow Springs has made me more excited for 'Kamby Bolongo Mean River,' even after I thought I couldn't be more excited.

21.4 Too many fucking awesome people.

22. Imma go listen to Bun B

22 comments:

Matt DeBenedictis said...

dat goo weed...that line may my head spin and make the noise William Shatner will make on his death bed. Kind of a wheeze and a laugh.

Matt DeBenedictis said...

correction "made my head spin". My head is a failed note pad today.

jereme said...

the last day you said 'no colony for donations or you can just have it if you'll read it'

they vanished rapidly after that.

from my limited recollection.

BLAKE BUTLER said...

it all good main

i dont remember anything ever really

Anonymous said...

Sorry I missed out. Maybe I'll come out of hiding to blow some shit up next year. We'll get nachos in nyc, though they better be good nachos.

Amelia said...

Basically this

Jason Jordan said...

You're taller than I expected, Blake.

@ Jereme: I don't know how we didn't run into each other at some point, but I wish we would've met.

Molly Gaudry said...

Re: #19. After the featherproof rdg, you and a bunch of others jumped into a cab. Blythe was with you. I remember you two were in the same cab. I and a bunch of others jumped into the next cab. We all met up at the Palmer House. I found you wandering the halls with Gena. You were happy. You were on a quest to get ice and take it back to Gene Morgan's room. You filled up the ice bucket. On the way back to Gene's room, you passed the maid's closet and ran in and grabbed armloads of sheets. You brought them back to Gene's, and when you let go they flew across the room like dove's wings, blanketing us all.

jereme said...

jason, i'm on the same page. i wanted to say hi and meet you. weds i came in too late.

i guess next time. our beards will rule this universe.

BlogSloth said...

I was going to take your fucking money, friend.

Sean

Anonymous said...

RIP Pimp C

Thanks for the free swag. We run AWP like we run the Internet.

Also:

http://awpliveblog.blogspot.com/

Kaching.

claire said...

I second this:

3. Chicago, do you realize the gift that are those Mexican dudes coming in the night with the coolers full of tamales? I seriously said aloud, "I am hungry I need food" and he appeared. And he appeared again the next night. And he appeared again the next night. Zach Dodson was right, the cheese ones are the ones.

DB said...

i'm glad to have introduced you to the ritual of drunk convenience store sandwiches. it was great hanging out, gettin blasted. do you remember me and gene punching you in the asscheeks?

BLAKE BUTLER said...

booyah to all ya'll

BLAKE BUTLER said...

yes i do remember the ass punches, though i do not remember where we were? i wish i could have a new ass punch today from ya'lls

DB said...

i think you were talking to elizabeth ellen and aaron burch maybe. it was outside that bar at the hilton. i think i told gene, "i'll take the left asscheek. to you take the right."

Molly Gaudry said...

Oh my good goodness. I just read Dan's comment about the ass punchings. I can't stop laughing.

BLAKE BUTLER said...

daily dude asspunchings = yes please

Jason Jordan said...

@ Jereme: Actually, we might've been right next to each other without realizing it. Were you the one who was in front of the Keyhole booth, talking to a girl, and said that David from sunnyoutside had a nice beard? If so, I was the guy next to you. I had on my backpack, which has a lot of buttons on it. If not, the guy pulled off a convincing impersonation of you.

Em said...

dat mothafucka titty fucked that mothafucka / with da biggest knife you dun eva saw, son

basically brilliant, just sayin.

m.lady said...

You're telling me I could have stolen the copies of NC that I paid for? Dammit, I'm too Midwestern and nice. (It was nice meeting you, by the way, thanks for reading at Quickies! it was magical.)

BLAKE BUTLER said...

collaborative, em, look for the debut release of Baby Donor in storez 2010

hi mary, thanks again for the fun word talkingz