Try! Magazine

Steve just got up from the couch where we were sitting and reading through my collection of Try! Magazines, each of us with a stack on our lap.

I need to choose a piece from one of these issues to read aloud tomorrow at the benefit for Try at 21 Grand. I have a few ideas so far. In the stack of Trys were a few stowaway programs from The New Reading Series at 21 Grand. It's really so nice. Maybe it's an obvious thing to say and I know that this was probably David and Sara's intention in putting together Try, but as I was reading I honestly felt this sense of continuity creeping in the backside of my head, reminding me that time had in fact passed, something(s) had happened within that time and that I cared about all of it and that it had and currently does mean something to me and here was a record of it in tangible paper form sitting in my lap.

"Oh, I love this one. It's fucking weird."
"What? Gross. This one is super gross!"
"Aaack! This one is gross too."
"Is that the gross issue?"
"Whoa, I really like this. Oh, duh, he's awesome. Ron Palmer. His brain is so weird. It's awesome."
"Oh that's the cover of the record."
"I think it's Candy Darling."
"Here's an email from Dana to David."
"Here's Anne!"
"Is this you?"
"Yeah, that's me!"
"Some things are so beautiful when they're photocopied."
"Yeah"
"Like this one, I can't even tell what it is but it's beautiful."
"I always feel like I'm sucking Brandon's poetry dick but it's just so good."
"Oh, this is Logan. I like that. Reading something you like and then turning the page and thinking 'Oh, I know him.'"
"Oh, you lost me."
"Aaack, boooring."
"I mean what the fuck? I hate it when people sit down to write a poem and they're all 'Okay, it'll be about stars and have the word abyss in it and..."
"I'm such a jerk."
"I like this one. Remember Joseph Mosconi from L.A.? He did this one. It's super weird. I wonder how he wrote it."
"Here's a poem by Dana."
"Oh I love this cover!"
"You got anything good over there?"

I felt like I was looking though a yearbook. These things are striking. They make me feel sentimental and miss my poet friends. Luckily, I will see many of them/you tomorrow. Thanks for being part of my life and having me in yours, all, and thanks to David and Sara for making tangible a very important (and on-going) time in my life.

love,

Lindsey