I came home after the session and passed out, I was so tired…not nearly enough sleep last night.

Gotta get something to eat and then hit Staples to get something copied for class.

In the meantime, I’m thinking that there’s gotta be another poem in the countryside around here, but I haven’t been able to find it.

I did pass a sign that said: “Sheep Shearing Festival this Saturday!! Sheep! Music!”

I’m assuming that the sheep and the music are separate attractions.

outside the truck stop
two men
arm wrestle on the hood of a car

one is named yankees
the other bethlehem steel
if their t shirts are telling the truth

when yankees pins bethlehem
with a grunt
they slap backs laugh and go back inside

a guy standing there shakes his head
says they do this all the time
and yankees always wins

but bethlehem keeps coming back
because it’s the only thing he’s got to do
since the factory closed
so yankees always gives him a game

it’s dark in pennsylvania
it’s going to rain tonight
and you know what they say

some will rust
some will get rained out
but they’ll keep coming back

in Hanover, PA after a LOOOONG fucking drive. Working for two days at Tyco Electronics, teaching a class.

I’m here for tonight and tomorrow night, then driving back on Thursday PM. Then, it’s moving time.

I’m lonely. But you could have guessed that.

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My comment on the inherent conservatism of slam esthetics seems to have touched a nerve.

Several people asked what could be done about it.

Beats the fuck outta me. I mean, I decided to put my money where my mouth is and slam again; I’ll be doing the Ken Hunt Award again; other than that, we’ll see.

My own artistic energy is really focused on Duende right now, so I see this all as a bit of a sidetrack. But I’m willing to try shit if I think it might help.

What ideas do you have?

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I cross posted my request for info about on page vs. off page performance to the PSI forum. I was struck by the number of people there who gave me memorization tips and ways to improve my memory in response to a post that specifically said I wasn’t looking for those things, but was trying to gauge people’s perception of how much of a handicap being on page is.

It didn’t really happen here, which says something, I’m sure. Or not.

I’m always struck by how people answer the post they think they read, rather than the one that was posted.

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I have this weird poem brewing right now that involves a man named “The Yankees” arm wrestling another man named “Bethlehem Steel.” It came to me somewhere outside Reading PA around 8:30 tonight.

No, I don’t know what it’s about yet.

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Early AM tomorrow, so beddy bye for me.