Saturday, June 26, 2004

Okay - i'm not sure what i've told you all so far, but now it's saturday and the week is done and this was an absolutely inspiring week of teaching and learning from the students at Volume in Ann Arbor (or the Ace Deuce as they like to call it). that piece i did from kevin coval's workshop, i've titled 1986, with a dedication to Anthony Joseph (1968-1984). i've made some revisions. i'll tell you about them later...

so in no particular order, i'd like to thank from my group first of all, Sonya Carter (who is a hearing impaired writer and has expanded my head as to what a poem is), Erica Goethel (who is an excellent writer and is headed to Illinois State on a soccer scholarship in the Fall), Evelyn Hollenshead, Lauren Banka, Lauren Whitehead, Claire Forster (aka Inky Billows), Carson Bishop, Bow-tie Maggie, Maggie Dethloff, Becky Prokopiak (i think this is the Polish version of Lynne Procope's name), Kaitlin Barrer, Kendall, Alex Lopez and Marcie (i'm so sad she couldn't read in the students' reading cuz she is quite simply ambitious and brilliant and will be a star). in fact, lemme just say, the students in my group floored me at every turn. every time i think i know the extent to which teenagers can be transcendently brilliant, one of them pushed me further. i'm actually going to try to get them to send me some of their work, so i can publish it here and show y'all...

...and there are all the other young men and women who hung out with us, took us to Value World (dope-ass thrift store. i got me a three-piece suit for $25.50. i got me a white hat, a yellow and blue plaid shirt and three pairs of shorts), so much much much love to Maggie (aka Various Smalls), Paco (who beat-box for me on my reading), Matthew (who showed us around, and delivered such a sterling poem on the final night, that was written that day, that most of us were in tears, for the sheer honesty and techincal brilliance of the device he used in it), Alli, Nina, Arhm (who read the poem about wrestling with trying to grow up and trying to be a role model for a younger sibling, and it's the poem i needed to write when i was 18) and all the other folks (me and marty and regie and kevin and jen and scott were drinking every night and acting the real ass on the streets of the Ace Deuce, so i can't remember all the young peoples' names) who made the week so inspirational and made us say wow when they went to the stage on the last night. y'all have NO IDEA how huge this was for me and how much i'm already fixing my schedule so i can come back and work this residency next year. i love y'all like the last song in the jukebox.

and then there's jeff kass, who put this together and asked us here, and i can only take my hat off (the phat white one that's cocked to the side right now that i got at Value World) to the amount of work, dedication and drive he has invested here to make this program what it is (hat back on).

so... once the residency was done, and Pamela (who works with Volume as a graphic designer and can cook her aaaasssssss off) had made us breakfast and sent us (marty Kevin and I) on our way to the train station (and drove back to give me my phone which was left at her house because she's just that dope); and after me and marty and kevin cut up and made the worst kind of jokes (that i can't tell you all about, because while you'll believe i said those things or even marty said those things, you'll never believe kevin said those things), marty and i disembarked at Niles, MI. yes the town is called Niles. we were being picked up there by marty's mom to go to a family function in South Bend, IN. nuff said. i'm tired, i had to eat ham and by the time we got back to Chicago, i was dead upright.

so i'll write again tomorrow, let y'all know about the Gay Pride parade in Chicago (i've definite thoughts on this), talk a little bit about some poetic theory vis a vis the past week and a few other things...

later...

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