NB: A listener wrote in to offer another perspective on the titular story in this episode: “per your recent podcast—there were some key errors in the telling, not that those on the receiving end, including one who deserves far more acclaim than he ever got, and who certainly deserves more than being a punchline. I know Ernie bore no deliberate malice, but anyone who might gently push back has no opportunity to do so, and in A—’s case, never will. I find the notion that the reading was a front for a series of drug deals frankly offensive, even if none was intended. It was not A—’s fault that the guy who was supposed to open the library completely forgot and only bothered to check his messages a day or two later. A— was also completely gutted, and it intensified a path of sustained substance abuse, part of a series of relapses that ultimately claimed his life. He had some good years, though, and he organized some quite successful readings in previous years that the 2015 reading was supposed to culminate, had the venue not fucked up. I know this is less amusing. It is, however, significantly more accurate and fair to someone who deserves better than your scorn.”
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Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:
– Order Brian’s book The Optimists! It’s so good! Now give Brian’s book a 5-star review!
– My chapbook The Soft Black Stars is out now!
Ep 122: The Sore Thumb Crisis, ft. Ernie Hilbert
Poetry readings I have known by Ernie Hilbert
The Red Tower by Thomas Ligotti
This Lime-tree Bower my Prison by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Easton Press
Franklin Library
Fallingwater
The Henry Heckelbeck Collection by Wanda Coven
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Caligulan by Ernie Hilbert
ContraPoints: Cringe
Toynbee tiles
Poetry for Dummies
Savage Night at the Opera by Destroyer
Frequently mentioned names:
– Joshua Mehigan
– Shane McCrae
– A. E. Stallings
– Ryan Wilson
– Morri Creech
– Austin Allen
– Jonathan Farmer
– Zara Raab
– Amit Majmudar
– Ethan McGuire
– Coleman Glenn
– Chris Childers
– Alexis Sears
– JP Gritton
– Alex Pepple
– Ernie Hilbert
– Joanna Pearson
– MattWall
– Steve Knepper
– Helena Feder
– David Yezzi
– Victoria Moul
– Katie Dozier & Tim Green
– George David Clark
– Tristram Fane Saunders
– Philip Metres
– Helena Feder
– Nida Sophasarun
Other Ratbag Poetry Pods:
Poetry Says by Alice Allan
I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall
Versecraft by Elijah Perseus Blumov
Advice from an Unknown Poet by Alice Allan & Jonathan Farmer
Alice: In Future Posts
Brian: @BPlatzer
Cameron: Minor Tiresias
Matthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Music by ETRNL
Art by Daniel Alexander Smith
Ireland