so says the straw hat

“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by ...

A short list of observations/thoughts from tonight's ATX poetry slam: Anis is pretty much awesome at pac-man Why have an event start at a time if it never starts at that time? Is a late starting event a self-perpetuating monster of slowly increasing tardiness? Resulting in ever-later start times? Resulting in further encouraged tardiness? Causing even later start times? So people show up later than ever.... Most slam masters remind me of one particular slam master I used to know quite well. I wonder if it is the nature of memory or the nature of slam masters. Why go to a poetry event if you aren't going to listen to any other person's poems? Why poetry? Is poetry egotistical?  What would  happen if somebody signed up to Slam and did not use "the old standards" up on stage? Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz is one funny, talented lady. She made me laugh so hard I lost my breath.  And to go a little more introspective...I wonder if letting go of my faith all th...