The Dredge Cycle

Last Days Before Mass

Penn­syl­va­nia is an oth­er­worldly drive, through a land-​​bound cloud. It’s my last night in New York, I’m watch­ing Anthony Bour­dain on HBO, miss­ing EVERY­THING and EVERY­BODY. And I’m serv­ing a 48-​​hour adven­ture in food poisoning.

Ugh.

Who both couldn’t sleep last night and doesn’t want to leave the motel? This guy.

Here We Are, Then

I knew this was com­ing. This morn­ing I woke in Chicago and real­ized I’m only 4 days from Mass­a­chu­setts. I leave today for New York and more good friends, with a gra­ciously unso­cial overnight in Ohio. Back in city lim­its by Wednes­day morn­ing. Woot.

Photos!

Now that I’m safely parked in Chicago, and hav­ing dis­cussed almost none of the haps on the trip, it’s time for a recap. Let’s do a photo-​​post, so you can soak up some of my friends’ awe­some, a few strange rest areas, and all the meals I remem­bered to pho­to­graph before they were gone.

The Purpose of Stories, 3

Let’s take this dis­cus­sion back to the book. I’ve thought a lot about porta­bil­ity lately, and even about own­er­ship of words. Maybe the only way the story I’m writ­ing will sur­vive its book­ness is for me to release it entirely. My ver­sion of the story is just one. Yours will be next.

The Purpose of Stories, 2

I’ve had an amal­gam of texts at a rolling boil in the back of my head lately. They all deal with a spe­cial cul­tural dis­tinc­tion between between Taker (colo­nial) and Leaver (indige­nous) cul­tures: the strange insis­tance on his­tory over stories.

The Purpose of Stories, 1

My good friend Kevin and I have a when-​​in-​​town friend­ship, so we don’t get a lot of time to bull­shit. Yes­ter­day, after the day spent catch­ing up, we finally got to. And I gotta tell you, bull­shit is profound.

For later contemplation

I Get the News Bin Laden's Dead

Also, moments after depart­ing the stage, Trevor Byrne-​​​​Smith meets me behind the cur­tain and says, “Your set was great, man, but I’m always going to remem­ber it as the back­drop to hear­ing Bin Laden is dead.” Frankly, I’m get­ting tired of these world-​​​​class ass­holes upstaging me.

Thank you, Denver

I’m not a per­former. I enjoy the spot­light as any self-​​respecting Leo, but I think of myself as a poet, try­ing to do my poems the best ser­vice I can. So it’s a funny thing, real­iz­ing I miss performing.