That day I was the Wedding Poet

Yesterday I was humbled with the opportunity to read a poem at a friends wedding. It was not my poem, but one by Taylor Mali, and I was honored to carry it around with me for a few weeks so I could read it aloud and get to know it so I would not screw it up when the time came.

The night before, we were at the rehearsal when I read it in public for the first time and it went alright. I was worried about my pacing and tone but assured all was well.

Just before the wedding, the DJ came up to me and said the hand held microphone would be ready for me when I needed it. Gulp, I was not aware there would be a microphone but figured out how to hold the mic and paper so it would be ok.

The ceremony was lovely, a lot of love in the ballroom and when it was my turn I walked over, took the mic and bashed it out quite well. Had two pages and dropped one discreetly when necessary and one of the flower girls picked up the page and handed it to me when I was finished. Darn nice of her!

Cannot thank Alexis and Jaison enough for having me be a part of their special day!

Here's the text of the poem I read. Taylor Mali performs it a bit different than the text, especially in the beginning. It's his poem, a fine poem, he can do whatever he wants.



Earlier this afternoon, my wife told me of the death of Lou Reed. It made me sad for his wife, Laurie Anderson, but did not come as a huge surprise as he just had a liver transplant in May. Although no cause of death has been released, I suspect years of abuse, and possible complications from the transplant, finally caught up to him.

His music was raw and inspiring. It could also be odd and infuriating. He was an artist who frequently was at odds with the critics and his own fan base. The one time I saw him live in Fredonia in 1984 left a bad taste in my mouth about him. He was allowed to whine about the brightness of the house lights, but to berate his guitarist, the great Robert Quine (who did not deserve it, and did not work with Reed again) and his drummer (may have been Lenny Ferrari, who missed cues) while kissing the ass of bassist Fernando Saunders showed me an incredible lack of professional tact - the show did live by the creed of the Velvet Underground, it left me wanting less.

Gone now, his music has influenced generations of aspiring artists, and will continue to resonate.

The registry of Kim Jong Un and his new wife Comrade Ri Sol-ju.

One nuclear weapon
Two matching Jeremy Lin Houston Rockets jerseys
Three bottles of that plum liquor I had a couple of weeks ago
Four free downloads of the bride’s song, “Excellent Horse-Like Lady”
Five Olympic women’s soccer players to replace the ones who tested positive for deer glands
Six party talks that proves effective
Seven Portuguese world cup soccer goals to be removed retroactively
Eight defectors to come back from the South to the Fatherland
Nine more years for the Dear Leader to spend in Switzerland
Ten nuclear weapons.

Saturday, in the shop

We were headed to a clambake yesterday afternoon. What we thought would be a casual day in a backyard. I brought a bottle of Vihno Verde, some lemon meringue pie. Packed up the kid, and his Ipad and off we went.

On I-70 East, right before the split to I-71, I sensed something wrong with the car. While accelerating the front end violently shook. Had an idea what was wrong as the car was making a bumping sound while turning left. Pulled off the highway and got us home. Luckily I found a mechanic down the block who could look at the car.

As I suspected, it was the driver's side CV joint. Spend two and a half hours at the shop, got to hear about golf, and the other things that were wrong with the car - mechanics always do that to you. It could have been worse, we were not stranded on the highway, and I knew this repair was coming.

Found out the party we were going to was a surprise wedding. Congratulations to M&T!!!

We were not dressed for the occasion. My wife was in flip flops, my son had a Woodstock shirt on and I was wearing this.



Who knows how awkward we would have felt!

Oddly enough the mechanic asked about the shirt and if it had significance other than being a target roundel for the British Royal Air Force.



So I told him about Keith Moon and The Who. He asked if I was a drummer. We talked about golf more, and how I was not much of a fan. Then I mentioned my Scottish Wife and how they were not really into golf either, and he was taken aback.

Finding out the clambake was a wedding was quite a pleasant shock. We're sorry we could not make it. The pie was good though.

Next week there is another party we're attending now that the car is fixed, will this be a wedding, too?

Tres años

Happy Anniversary to my lovely Scottish Wife.

Marriage the Second, the Parts that Melted

Somewhere in here I got married for a second time. My soon to be mentioned that a certain Saturday in March also fell on St. Patrick's Day. I thought it was a good idea too.

Finding a venue was tough, but in the end it worked out ok. It was close to the airport for our out of state guests. There was a shuttle and that seemed to work well.

The officiant was wonderful, the theme obvious. Too bad there was a stupid sum of money wasted on an ice sculpture of a Claddagah.

The motel was a spacious Holiday Inn Express, but not anymore.




Does not even look open anymore.

When You're Not Invited Anywhere, Make Your Own Fun

Yesterday my Scottish Wife and I celebrated our second anniversary. She cleaned the kitchen, I mowed the lawn. We watched N. bounce around on the yoga ball all day. Too hot to go out. We're having a celebratory anniversary/her birthday (which is Monday) on Thursday night at Alana's.

A lot of poetry is going to be starting June off. Tomorrow night at Writers' Block there will be a Haiku Death Match. Eight poets enter the ring with their haiku, there is hari-kari, one poet will be crowned champion. Simple, right? All that plus the usual shenanigans and the continuation of the race war. Starts at eight at Kafe Kerouac.

On Saturday is the Columbus Arts Festival. The Poetry Tent will be hopping all day. I'm reading at 2:20 with a twenty minute set. Here is the complete schedule. Make your plans, see all the poets cooler than me. Drink plenty of fluids, it's going to be a warm day and it's a sauna in the tent!

Coming up on Sunday is the another installment of The Language of Art. The opening is at 2:30 and the poetry reading is at 3:30. I really enjoyed taking part in this event last year and this year promises to be great as well.

Last week of school for my son. Em's being great looking after him while all this is going on this weekend, and I'm working on Sunday before the reading. It's busy, he starts day camp for the summer on the 13th. We're less than three months from our trip to Scotland.

No picture of Sophia Loren today. I should make that a feature of this blog, she has brought a lot of traffic here.

Sports and Weddings

First up I am reading at the Columbus Arts Festival again this year. The reading is set for Saturday, June 4th at 2:20. You can see the whole Word is Art schedule here.

Thrilled that I'm not going first. Good mix of poets this year, the familiar and unfamiliar.

An early post for Saturday because I will be busy in the morning watching Everton play Manchester United.

Just watched the Sabres blow a three goal lead only to win in overtime against Philadelphia. Game six is in Buffalo on Sunday. I do not know if this Buffalo team can win a game seven on the road.

Also on Sunday is the Old Firm match. This one has some unfortunate drama as Celtic Manager Neil Lennon was targeted with a nail bomb. Luckily it was intercepted but it's yet another ugly incident for the rivalry to stomach.

Enough about sports.

Day 23 - A song you want played at your wedding.

My answer to that is which one?

At wedding one, there was no music. Maybe that's why it was a joyless marriage.

Wedding two had music, nice music. Some unexpected music. Alice Cooper and Annie's Song were played. It also had a hideous, excessive ice sculpture. More on this on day (checks sheet) 28.

Wedding three also had music. Nice music. Some unexpected music. The DJ called us to the dance floor, which was the lawn of the B&B. It was also something neither of us really wanted to do. We did not have a 'song'

But we gamely got out there and the song started, and we were confused because the song had nothing to do with us. It was also, really really long. Or it seemed that way.



We muddled through it.

I'm going to embed the original of the song, because I like it better than the cover. This is not a slam on the DJ either. He's awesome.