I’m deeply grateful for the invitation from John Deming to read at the KGB Bar Monday Night Poetry Series. For nearly three decades, this series has presented exceptional poetry in the best Soviet-themed pro-Ukrainian bar in the East Village. As the date of my reading approached—with real poets Kristina Andersson Bicher and Tom Sleigh—I grew increasingly nervous. I hadn’t written a poem since 2019. I had spent the past five or more years immersed in nonfiction. While I was excited to read from my forthcoming book, I Am Here You Are Not I Love You, I realized that this was an opportunity to force my mind back into the mode of poetry. I began working on two new poems on the recent flight from JFK to Madrid (I did not purchase wifi), and Rachelle helped me edit them in the weeks since.

Because of her help, I was able to open my KGB reading with three poems: my long poem that appears in Best New Poets 2019 and two new poems. All three, as it turns out, are about Rachelle. I did not beat the wife guy allegations.

After the poems, though, I read the prologue of I Am Here You Are Not I Love You, just two and a half pages.

As I listen to the first few seconds of my voice on this recording, I’m struck by the strength of the Buffalo accent. The irrepressible “āẽyhh.” I don’t have anything profound to say about this—just, wow. It’s stronger than I realized.Thanks to Ata for setting this up, to John for the generous introduction, to Grace and Selena for all their work to keep this series going.