May 28, 2004: Brandon Brown and Cynthia Sailers
Wow, what a way to close the series for this Spring. Lots of people -- Diane, who was finally able to attend, thought there were 30 or so. Barely cramming into the studio; I promise to make the seating more accommodating next time. I caught sight of David Larsen zipping up to the front door on his bike as I was getting ready to do the introductions.
Brandon went first, and was splendid. He read a long sequence of poems about his "love," which was apparently quite painful, as he kept pausing to sigh and almost broke down completely several times. All very post-post but in a funny and playful way, as the poem stopped several times to comment on itself and let you know what was coming next. But he pulled it off because he felt, in person, so damn sincere. I found myself pulled in and pulling for him and his "love."
Cynthia closed out the reading with some selections from her beautiful little chapbook and some poems presumably from the manuscript that Tougher Disguises is planning to publish. Tight, image-based stuff that felt bold and true. I was especially happy to have these two, not only because they both got cancelled when Lisa Jarnot was unable to make it, but because both have been so involved in hosting readings and publishing mags and so on and so forth and that sort of thing so often gets overlooked, as I was talking with James "Miracle" Meetze about afterwards. Nobody got locked on the roof this time, good thing because Kasey wasn't there to bail us out. That's all till next fall -- thank God. Just softball between now and then.
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