Weekend Update

With the help of friend and fellow poet Jackie Sheeler, I am finally launching my own YouTube channel tomorrow. Jackie filmed my performance of work from After the Poison at Cornelia Street Cafe in New York on Oct. 30 and it's now the centerpiece of the channel. If you're a friend on Facebook, a teaser video of "Human Trafficking" is already posted and there's also clips on both of my MySpace pages, so check this link and this link. Check back tomorrow evening for the full details. 

Jumping back to earlier in the week, I had fun reading with Franklin Abbott, Karen Head and Ken J. Martin on Tuesday at Outwrite Books. We had a great turnout and rather than read from After the Poison, I read new work from the collection in progress and closed with "Why I Want To Be Pam Grier," which I hadn't read in ages. Karen was flawless as usual and Ken J. performed some of his original music. He's hot on so many levels. 

The rest of the week was taken up by the day job, and I worked a a couple of 10 and 11 hour days putting our holiday issue together. Missed Ginger Murchison and Stephen Bluestone reading at Callanwolde  and David St. John and Ilya Kaminsky at Poetry at Tech, but it couldn't be helped. This evening, we had a Poetry Atlanta meeting to discuss the DVD project (it's coming Spring 2009), grants and other matters. I had dinner with Megan Volpert to discuss the 2009 Queer Lit Fest and catch up on our lives. I also managed to get over to Java Monkey Speaks for Theresa Davis' feature (brilliant as usual) and I read "Barney Rubble Saves Our Lives" from Atlanta Review during the open mic. Big crowd despite the cold weather.

Bill Clinton is coming to campaign for Jim Martin this week in the run up to the runoff on Dec. 2. Martin needs all of our support, so consider making a donation or volunteering for the campaign. I'm planning to work the phones again. 

Oh, and if you want to be awed and inspired and motivated, read Cleo Creech's letter to President-elect Obama about Prop 8 on his blog. He sums up what so many of us are feeling in the GLBTQ community brilliantly!