NASCAR POETICA

Tuesday night in Cambridge, Michael Carr, Derek Fenner, John Mulrooney, Jesse Marsolais, and I were standing around after the Rikki Ducornet reading at the Pierre Menard Gallery musing about two of our favorite public poetry personas: the peripatetic internet hopper and master of irreverent verse, Jim Berhle, and the by-the-sea sequestered hermitage-bound connoisseur or minimalist swill, Joe Massey. As the conversation turned to Massey and his often-sited blog, somebody broke out with an idea, "You know what I'd really like see — a Joe Massey book of NASCAR poetry; now that would really shake things up!" And it would. And we all sat around savoring the free wine as the idea of Massey NASCAR poems swirled in our heads. It's brilliant! So Mick Carr got out a pen and paper and wrote down the idea before it got lost in the ether of the warm Cambridge night and we all moved on to some bar where the Red Sox won again and the couple next to us enjoyed an intimate dinner date with full sound, lighting, and video crew hanging on every word.

So, yesterday, down in the English Office, I checked Joe's blog and he's posted (for LIVEJOURNAL users only) an entry about how some weird dude (Carr) emailed him guaranteeing publication of book of his NASCAR poems! Ha. Ha. I almost choked on my school-issued graham cracker. Joe also mentioned that he actually grew up next to a NASCAR racetrack in Delaware! In the comments section, he mentions that he will do it (write the poems!) for a flat fee of $100 bucks. I for one would LOVE to see this. So I'm game for $10. If nine more of you are willing to chip in $10, we could see this thing come to light!

Get ready to reve up those poetic engines, Joe! Consider it the fast track down memory lane.