2010

2010 was pretty good overall. Santa Barbara in the spring – beautiful rolling hills of green – Franciscan monasteries – visited a federal prison. Marfa was amazing with Jamie and Lauren and Mags – BBQ and the warm breeze and miles of desert. Chicago was about food and meeting new friends. And Vegas… lord. Fucked and boring, the opposite of Chicago. There was Greensboro, too. That was weirdly fun. Almost forgot about drinking homemade corn whiskey with a contractor.

Lost a great roommate, maybe the best one. Narrow House published some strong work. Adam Robinson and Ric Royer. And I designed some nifty book covers. Bought a car. Collaborated with Aaron on an amazing piece for the Al Mutanabbi Street broadside series. Very proud of that work.

My heart got a little broken. That was also good, though. Then Sebastian died. He was like my little kid. Really little and covered in fur, but much like a kid. I miss him.

Storms. Acted crazy a bit. I smoked a lot of cigars. Too many. Now I’m not doing that.

Worked my ass off on DMBSTRCK which was called 1993 for a while. It’s in a decent place, but it still needs a little work.

Got scared. Then I got relieved. I upgraded and then downgraded and then commissioned my friend Greg to make a beautiful handmade table from reclaimed wood. Then I gave Salts away. The other cat. She was not like my kid.

I think I figured out how to write poems again, but maybe more importantly, how to write prose and poems at the same time. But I still haven’t quite beat the poems out of my prose, but maybe I don’t need to. Two grants. A Best of the Baltimore City Paper award. Some radio and print interviews. Haneen and I are still trying to figure out what the Understanding Campaign is, but it has brought us closer together and that’s the best part of 2010 – feeling closer – closer to a lot of things.

So I’m hoping 2011 will include more grants. And then Paris and Cairo, meeting Haneen. Falcons will come out. Haneen will come to the States. Maybe another book of poems. DMBSTRCK will find a publisher, but not a major one. Will I ever get an agent? Maybe this year. Hey 2011. HEY!