A Poem Inspired by Brokeback Mountain: Everybody Needs A Buddy

When I first read Annie Proulx’s Brokeback Mountain, it was for The Bushwick Book Club Seattle. How did I avoid reading it for so long? Her prose sings like poetry. My own offering below is nothing compared to her craft. On one level, her style is eminently readable. On another, the story itself is unlike anything I’ve read.

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Poetry Inspired by Dan Savage’s The Commitment

theCommitment_web_smallMy third show with The Bushwick Book Club Seattle was very close to home for me. The book was Dan Savage’s The Commitment, about his marriage to his husband, Terry. It’s a tad surreal living in Seattle and actually seeing this author and his husband out and about at the farmer’s market, etc. Terry is a popular local DJ, and watching him spin at a club while being reminded of the intimate, published details of his home life breaks that “fourth wall” between performer and audience. Rather than making the celebrity seem more average, it makes the audience feel more special. Curious how that works. Read more