On Saturday at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, The Rattling Wall had a celebration to release Issue 3. David L. Ulin, James Meetze, Jillian Lauren, Angel Nafis, and others read at the Masonic Temple to a packed crowd. Michelle Meyering hosted the event from a desk on the stage.
Ulin and Nafis were my favorite readers. Nafis has such a great reading style, and her poem (the one that ended each line with the word black) was a knock out. She concluded the night. Here’s a video of Nafis:
Plus, there was this great video beforehand about the making of The Rattling Wall. Michelle talked a lot about the softball tournament I helped organized back in the summer. She also wrote about the game in the introduction to the book. Michelle writes that during that softball tournament, she realized that she had created a home in Los Angeles by creating The Rattling Wall. It’s a pretty powerful intro and sets up the whole theme of home for the issue.
I was lucky enough to have my poem, “Chinatown,” published in the book. And it’s right next to Ulin’s piece, which is pretty bad ass. Joyce Carol Oates is in the book, too. Plus, there are these awesome illustrations by Ben Tegel in the book. They were displayed during the event, and when people were reading, I found myself laughing out loud…lol.
Well, at one point during the night, Michelle asked the contributors to stand up. That’s when I stood up out of the crowd with all the other writers, and I felt incredibly proud and humbled at the same time. This is really one of my most significant publications to date for my poetry, and it’s an incredible start. And I felt a part of Los Angeles, too — even being some kid from Clinton, Mass.
So, it’s going to be a big week. Finishing up a piece at Pacific Standard. Just got the edits back. And then I’m working on a draft for a piece on Kerouac. I had a pitch accepted at an amazing publication. Just don’t want to jinx myself yet. Talk is cheap. Writing is real. But can still be cheap. Goodnight everyone!
