memory

javabill, thisrabbit, theryk, rainbows27, johnpowers, and I went to the calling hours for Lisa King tonight.

I’ll spare you a blow by blow; the family was grateful for the love Lisa inspired and seemed genuinely pleased that she and her work would live on.

But there were a couple of moments that bear mentioning…

— the photo of Lisa and final_girl, smiling in a bar in NYC. I called Ms. D to let her know she was there in spirit.

— and speaking of there in spirit: in one of Lisa’s personal albums that was out for visitors to see was a picture of…the infamous, legendary, 1997 NPS Naked Poets Pool Party.

So you were all there in spirit — yes, you, pinata; Wammo, Danny Solis, Lisa Martinovic, Jason Carney, and a whole host of naked, drunken people, all having a great time. The date was on the photo: August 8, 1997.

The minute her cousin heard us exclaiming over the photo, she came over — no one in the family had a clue as to what it was or where it had come from, and we stood there in the middle of the wake naming names and laughing.

Everyone was having such a great time in that photo.

I signed the guest book, not only with my name, but with a note from “all the poets who couldn’t be here.”

Afterwards, we went to dinner down the street at a really good Chinese place – lucky find. We raised a glass to Lisa and talked and told bad jokes and all that.

I’m glad I went.