Post-Update Update, or Another Quixotic High Concept Is Born

Money came! You can basically relax now and wait for me to repay you. FYI.

In other news, I thought I'd mention that I'm overloaded with light verse poems at the moment, and there's no reason that I couldn't make a book out of what I've got, and (if I may risk an immodest assertion) no particular reason I can see that people wouldn't want to buy it. (No one who ever grew up loving Shel Silverstein, anyway.) The problem is, I can't seem to convince a single agent to even look at what I've got. The only way, I've been repeatedly told, to get anyone to pick up a book of funny poems (or a book of humor, for that matter) is to be famous for something else first. So that sucks.

However, there is one guy in the country who really does make a living writing (among other things) light verse poetry: Calvin Trillin. And he's really good at it---so good, in fact, that he has just published a book of poems about the Bush administration, compiled (and, I believe, slightly expanded) from a series he does for Time Magazine. And here's the thing: he's coming to The Strand Bookstore in mid-June to read from and promote said book! So my plan is, in the absence of any other influential fans, I'm gonna go there (and buy his book: support light verse!) and give him a sheaf of some of my poems. If he's the guy I think he is, he'll hopefully be impressed and maybe kick open a small door somewhere. (And then I'll kick one open for my former co-worker Scott Emmons.) I'm thinking five pages would be enough to show that I'm consistently good and can produce plenty more.

I may, of course, be delusional. But if it doesn't work, I'm no worse off than I am now, and at least the poems will be read by a fellow practitioner.

So here's your chance to be an enabler! If any of the poems I've written on this blog seem like especially strong candidates for a five-page sampler, please let me know! I've got a month to assemble a sort of light-verse C.V. , and I'd welcome any help y'all are willing to give. (And if you want to vote for some poem I've e-mailed you, feel free to post it in the comments.)

By the way, I've also noticed something wrong with my website: it has no links to other websites. So if you have a website, send me the address and I'll see if I can figure out how to link to it.