Thursday August 18th, 2005 - 4:52AM

So i want to say thanks to all of you who weighed-in with opinions and commentary on art vis a vis slam. i'm now back from the National Poetry Slam and had a wonderful wonderful time. i'll get to that in a moment. This conversation was overheard in a bar upstate NY last night. The speaker is wearing a tractor cap, a t-shirt cut off at the sleeves, construction boots, jeans, long, stringy hair...

- he doan like country music, he don't like NASCAR, he don't even like the Yankees, he doan like nuthin!!!
-did ya ask 'im what he like?
-he only like PUSSY!!!

dude sounded so incredulous, so flabbergasted that the subject didn't like country music or NASCAR that i almost fell on the floor on the way to the bathroom and it had nothing to do with the Cabo Wabo tequila (very smooth by the way).

So Nationals - when i proclaimed myself emperor of the swimming pool on Friday night (lamp shade on my head and all)i didn't think it was that funny. i just needed to proclaim something and that was it. But it was about 1AM and the folks gathered round the pool and the folks who left the room we were hanging out in to see what i was actually going to do apparently thought i was hilarious.

While i was the first one to christen the swimming pool after the hotel's allowed hours, i was not (contrary to popular opinion) one of those who was naked in the pool or who ran the naked foot-race in front the hotel.

You'll be happy to know the poetry as a whole was a lot better than its been in recent years. The tournament and celebrtaion as a whole was an excellent one and just about redeemed the whole experience after St. Louis' debacle.

I'm filling time until i can fall asleep again since i'm having a hard time sleeping tonight. i'll give the rundown on the actual bouts when i'm actually awake for real...