| Notes on Two Idiots Peddling Poetry The Ugly Mug 30 May 2012 ... May 31st 2012, 21:31 I saw Mike Cantin and Nicole Paoli at the restaurant when I ordered a sandwich and salad combo. We talked a little about Mike's new job selling solid-gold bathroom fixtures reclaimed from various deposed despots' palaces. Mike now dresses all in black, presumably for stealth purposes. Having headed up the block to The Ugly Mug, I found Martha Stothard sitting on the patio. She let me know that her good friend Greg Patrick was no longer allowed on the premises due to some terrible misunderstanding, some run-in with Phil, the owner. Perhaps if we all take up a collection and start a petition, Phil will allow Greg to return. I don't know how those things work. Speaking of Phil, I told him that Bank-Heavy Press and their posse of featured writers (of which I was one last night) might generate a crowd, so he put out some extra chairs. Then when it got closer to starting time, and not many people had shown up, I got a little nervous. I didn't want to upset Phil and become the next name on the blacklist. Luckily, everyone was just operating on CPT (California Poets' Time), so they ran a little late. So many folks showed up that there were twenty-nine readers, if you count host Ben Trigg three times and each featured poet separately. Plus, in the audience were people like James Kelly and, if my eyes didn't deceive me, Jim Doane of Redondo Poets. Steve Ramirez and Carrie McKay were out sick, though…again. - Ben started the reading with Christopher Hennessy's "Princess Leia, You're My Only Hope," from Divining Divas: 100 Gay Men on Their Muses.
- Seth Halbeisen read "Brownie Defense Two," "A Calamity of Errors," and "Dirty."
- Daniel Romo read "Zooey Deschanel Is a Prose Poem" and "Full Count (for Maya)."
- Martha didn't read a poem, but rather her daughter's pointed response to a pain-in-the-butt eBay customer.
- Eric Morago read "Outstanding," "Private Dance," and "Reverse."
- Then came the Bank-Heavy portion of the show. I went onstage first, reading "Short Stack" from Husbands and Malfeasant Dogs and a 30/30 poem I've wanted to read in Ben's presence for weeks: "Orange County Cartoons."
- Ian Koehler read "Benzodiazepine Blues" from Avoid Ninja Stars and "The Truth" from Robo-Book.
- Editor Zack Nelson Lopiccolo read Josue Mendoza's "You Get Naked" from Dying Quietly in a Crowded Room and two pieces fromPom-Pom-Pomeranian: absent editor Cory De Silva's "Victoria's Secret" and Zack's own "The Troubling Theory of Balls."
- Clifton Snider read "John Waters" from Pom-Pom-Pomeranian, plus "Vampire" and "Waving Not Drowning."
- Editor Karie McNeley read "Thoughts on a Kissing Picture," "Words with Girls," and Andrew Hilbert's "The Cigarette-Smoking Prophet of South Congress" from Avoid Ninja Stars.
- Marianne Stewart read "Big Trouble" from Avoid Ninja Stars and "War Stories."
- After a break, during which Zack asked me why I don't submit more poems to them, during which I bought Clifton's vast new collection, Moonman, Ben read another poem from Divining Divas, Rafael Campo's "On Divine."
- Anthony Rodriguez read "Irony," "DUI," and "From Mentor to Protege," which he dedicated to G. Murray Thomas.
- Murray read "In the Japanese Garden" from Avoid Ninja Stars and the Ben-Trigg-inspired "Charlie Brown in the Strip Club."
- Nicole Paoli read three untitled pieces. The last two were 30/30s.
- Mike Cantin read "A Cure for Regret," "Fairy Tales," and "Reflection."
- Jeff Burleigh (sp?) read "My Mother's Manicure" and "Psychosomatic."
- Nicole Connolly read "I Want to Give Your Brain a Blow Job."
- K. Andrew Turner performed one of his strongest sets I've heard. He read "fading light" (which will appear in Carnival), "Waiting," and "I Don't Invite Family to Poetry Readings."
- Katerina read "Saffron."
- Larry Duncan read "Prescription" from Robo-Book and "Then Came Tammy."
- Alan (sp?) read "Some Goddesses" and "The Time-Travel Fallacy."
- Phil Aldridge, who is too damn good for small-minded Texans, read "In-Between" and "Crisis."
- Graham Smith read "Cross Examination" and four other haiku.
- Connor Brenner read "Pig," "Quantifying Addictions," and "Finding Each Other."
- LeAnne Hunt read "The Workplace Singalong," the apocalyptic "The Worldwide Shortage of Marshmallows," and the persona poem "Sal."
- Heidi Denkers read "When I Turn Away," "The Moon Is a Giant Robot," and Richard J. Weekley's "The Poet's Navel," a great find she got from a book she bought for a quarter at the library.
- Jacob Slobodien performed an acoustic version of "Broken."
- Ben read "The Pokeball Speaks," "To My Online Friend's Awkward One-Night Stand," and the Robert-Wynne-inspired "Poem in Search of a Rejection."
After the reading, which stretched past ten-thirty, I hung around a little bit. Heidi gave me a poem she'd written, "Open Mic," about the people we know; apparently, I'm in there somewhere. Then folks talked about going to Denny's. I try to avoid Denny's. I went home. Like this: Be the first to like this post. . Bookmark the .  | |