Tonight is the Jim Carroll Tribute & Dead Poet Slam at The Dirty Gerund at Ralph’s Rock Diner (9pm; 148 Grove Street, Worcester, MA)

I want to read a poem of his, or more specifically, his awesome story "A Day At The Races," the one about he and his lover pulling crabs from their pubes and racing them across a seedy room. He read it when my buddy Erik Berg and I saw him read at Villa Montalvo in 2001. It was a fun night, indeed. Definitely became a fan of his.

I got a signed copy of Jim Carroll’s "Living at the Movies" that night, but I gave it away to a friend. (Geoff Trenchard, methinks?)

 In my years of collecting, publications always find their way out of my homes and backpacks. Once I’ve read something, I usually give it away. I think it’s a "don’t want to much weight on my back for the next few weeks." Chapbooks are light = chapbooks make it home with me.

My philosophy is that books should always be read. Always. NEVER having a chance to collect dust. NEVER. Own no bookshelves. Instead, I have a very limited CD rack, modified to hold chapbooks/self-published works. Chapbooks are very sentimental to me, even though I despise making my own.

Now I’m curious: Do YOU have any of these chapbooks of mine?

• 333 (2000) [maybe 100 copies in print]
• WILL EAT FOR FOOD (2004) [300-400 in print]
• POCKETFUL OF AWESOME (2004) [300-400 in print]
• ROCK THE MIKE (2004) [300-400 in print]
• SOFT-HEARTED LOUDMOUTHS UNITE (LIMITED ILLINOIS EDITION, 2006) [54 in print]
• NO SHOWERS ‘TIL TORONTO (with Robbie Q. Telfer, 2008) [100? in print]

Does anybody have the text for Jim’s "A Day at the Races?" If so, post it as a comment for others to read. I will make up for it by buying a copy of his book online this week. Other’s should as well.

Not a big deal, really. I have a handful of poets I could read in the slam as well.

Just hope we know how to honor all of our poets who pass on.
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For those of you who commented on my last post (http://mikemcgee.livejournal.com/177286.html), I love you all. Will respond to each comment today, once I have more ‘puter power.
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Word to the nerd.

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This entry was written by Mike McGee, posted on 21 September, 2009 at 1:23 PM, filed under Personal Updates and tagged a day at the races, death, died, jim carroll, poet, tribute. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.