If you're scoring at home on how to test a marriage four months after its union, this the second departure and cumulatively 3rd week I've been on the road in the last couple of months. This week, I was able to take Niobe (that would be my 1999 Acura 2.3 CL in case you weren't aware) on an almost non-stop drive to Providence, RI on Tuesday.
I don't want to write any preemptive eulogies here, but I was intent on doing my Tryst through the Tri-State with my Acura as opposed to taking Leah's Pontiac Vibe like I do on most road trips. I've had Niobe for a long time. But she is getting up there. And I was determined to let her have one more long road trip left in her before getting myself a younger, giggly, still can walk the run way model later on in the year. Its been a good trip so far for her. She's held up remarkably well and wants to prove to me that she's still capable of being my steady. We'll see.
Anyways, I started my mini run at Got Poetry Live which was a pretty nice treat. I don't think I've ever been that far north east before, so it was a treat before I even entered the venue. The reading is intimate, but extremely attentive and welcoming. I felt like I could really run the gauntlet of subject matter in the room and everything was being received well. And getting to hear some Tony Brown and Ryk McIntyre live is always a good thing.
Wednesday, I made my way up to Boston for my feature at the Cantab. Look, the Cantab is the muthafuckin Cantab. That's all there is to it. Far better poets than me have described what its like to rip a set there, so I won't bore you with my analogies. I'll just say it feels like home. The room was ridiculously stacked, standing room much of it. J.W. Baz had featured at Hampshire College the day before so he and some incredibly talented Hampshire kids made the trip down there to see this hack from Columbus feature. Mike McGee was also in the house which always makes the room three times more comfortable. My set felt good. Real good. I did everything I wanted as far as a set list and got rewarded with a standing 'O' for it. Aww shucks, Boston. I fuckin love this scene. It always stays with me a little after the night.
So the next day or so I spend hanging with Simone Beaubien. Simone and I can talk for HOURS (as we proved over the course of a couple days). Her unflinching honesty is infectious, her perspectives are completely unique, even within our poetry slam fam. She's like the anti-cliche. We must have spent two hours alone making fun of all the 'fem and esses' isms (as in her favorite title in the world, Fem-cee) that our community has created. At any rate, if Leah ever comes to her senses and realizes that she's way out of my league before dropping me like a kidney stone, I'd have to add the Boston Area to my short list of relocation spots (for those scoring at home, said list is Chicago, Boston, Phoenix, NYC & Charlotte, in that order).
Tonight I make my way to the NYC for my co feature at the Nuyorican with Brian Ellis. So, I'm geeking out a little bit because Brian is probably my favorite poet doing his thing right now. Period. So sharing a Nuyo stage with him should be pretty damn exciting. After that, I'm gonna make a non-emergency run home for the weekend. Cuz ya know, I wanna see my wife. I'm so anti-Tiger living son. I'll come back to NYC on Monday for a co-feature with Aricka Foreman at LouderArts, Urbana on Tuesday, deconstruction of poems with Roger on Wednesday, then Loser Slam on Thursday. Then the big boat ride home Friday morning.
Till then homies (and homie-esses)
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