Bun B saved me from grousing around like a total dick today I think

I don't know if I have the wherewithal yet to say I had a blast in Ann Arbor for the Hobart readings, and thanks to all those who put me up, pulled me around, and hung out. It should happen four times a year or something too much good.

Highest of high points maybe was watching Matthew Simmons's mother watch Matthew Simmons read from his book A Jello Horse, she looked so proud and invested in every word he said, it made me teary eyed a little, the reading was also good.

Matthew's drunken snoring (which he later declaimed as only when drunk) was the most explosive thing I've ever heard, it would be intense for a few minutes, then enter a period where it sounded like he was chewing something, then he'd explode in the throat. It was 'incredible,' I wasn't even upset that I couldn't sleep through it.




Sam Pink is a funny sleeper, with shoes on, facedown, no pillow/blanket, probably not by choice but both nights I looked to see this, I think the first night I kept rubbing my feet on his head.

At some point on night two I remember putting on 7-10 shirts and freestyle rapping, then spraying Sam in the mouth with the sink nozzle, and getting into a wrestling match with Adam Robinson, somewhere in there he smeared 4-5 bananas in my face and mouth, my clothes the next day looked like someone had ejaculated on me, I had to keep saying "It's bananas," during the fight Adam's old friend Benji or something thought I was hurting Adam or something and got me in a headlock, he decided he didn't like me after that and kept asking me what my drunk babble was supposed to mean, I kept telling him "It is what it is, if it's for you, it's for you, or not," which seemed to make him madder, sometimes people just don't like me I guess, that's understandable.

So much other good and good people I can't even recall it all, lots of great reading and talking and staring drunkenly through sun, I am ready for action.

Thanks especially to Elizabeth Ellen, Aaron Burch, and Matt Bell for setting things up, driving me around, making me feel at home, and facilitating the writer weekend madhouse, it ruled.

Thanks as well to everyone came out to the reading, in particular Sean Kilpatrick (finally met my filth man, a gentleman for weeks), and brothers and sister Peter Markus, David McLendon, and A. Minetta Gould.




David McLendon said the new Unsaid is 500 pages long. Holy wow.




In the airport waiting for my flight I walked the length of the Detroit airport 5-7 times while reading the last 70 pages of 'Human Smoke,' what a fucking book that is, I kept noticing the same people noticing I was walking past the same point over and over again while reading, on the plane I sat next to a woman bigger than I am who had on a body shawl and kept trying to fix how she was sitting on/inside it, and situating herself in the seat, she also had a brown paper bag on her lap that she kept crinkling with both hands like she was giving it a massage, I never saw what was in the bag.

Every time I am on a plane, when they ask what I want to drink I get ginger ale, and about 3 out of 5 times if the person I am sitting next to has already ordered, they will stop and change their order to ginger ale.

On the plane I read most of 'Natural Novel' by Georgi Gospodinov, it was fun and interesting, Dalkey wins again.




I am glad I came home w/o a tattoo.




I need to get my brain/act together.