Yesterday morning I found an email in my spam sent late Saturday night. It was from three poets from Minnesota. They asked to send poetry before dawn for a new project that was going up in the morning. I was a little late but sent a few new things. The result is Left-Facing Bird, a collection of 100 poets put together in less than 12 hours and it looks pretty good. Kate Greenstreet, Noah Eli Gordon, Chris Tonelli, Elisa Gabert are there.

I guess between 12-3:45a.m. on Saturday they'd already received 75 submissions. I sent mine through the curtains of a hangover. And while I don't feel especially proud of that, I do find it a little sad 75 of these people were around the country, inside, on the interenet on a Saturday night. Someone needs to throw a party.

Friday night was something special. My friend Jen hosted a reading at her house. Her house was one of the nicest I've ever seen in the area and she made the best appetizers - Brussell Sprout leaves friend in canolda oil with cayenne pepper, stuffed mushrooms, hot Mexican cookies. She, a fella named Paul, and Chad Reynolds read from their works. I wished I'd had a camera. There were a whole bunch of people, drunk and full, who paid the utmost respect and interest to the reading, even when it ran a little long. Really something special.
Very special to finally hear Chad Reynolds read. He knows his stuff. He also read from a Frank Stafford poem, whom I have to check out. He'll be reading in June with Zach Schomburg and Carl, which is gonna be great.
If anything though, Friday inspired me to put together a reading at my house. My place is small, but I think it'll work out. If you would like to read at my house in May, let me know.