I drove out to Morgantown, WV to see the Raw Dog Screaming Press reading event — sponsored by the Morgantown Poets society — for stalwart “bizarro” writers and old friends John Edward Lawson and D. Harlan Wilson. This event marked the official print release of Lawson’s new book, SuiPsalms, which he introduced by announcing the number for the Suicide Hotline and explained that his book fell in with a new genre he hadn’t been aware of until he started writing the book, Suicide Poetry (example here). D. Harlan Wilson read a hilarious excerpt from the tongue-in-cheek Hitler: The Terminal Biography. Their reading was followed by open mic, which included Daniel McTaggert, Rich Bottles (co-ed of “The Big Book of Bizarro”), Stephanie Wytovich, Scott Emerson and myself (I read a random sampler from my new book, The Gorelets Omnibus and some twitter poems from The Nest). It was a very transgressive, witty, dark night… as Scott posted on twitter:
@mikearnzen Thanks for joining tonight’s madness. I think the weirdos finally outnumbered the normies.— Scott Emerson (@Tweet_Shrieks) August 17, 2012
Here are some apologetically unfocused but accurate photos I took from the wonderful “weirdo” experience: