Poetry and stuff

So, my biggest fear right now is that my profile story is going to lead to police presence on the corner of 16^th and Mission. I emailed a representative from BART and asked about their stance on the corner poetry slam. I expected they knew about it, after their response I’m sure they didn’t.

The lady who answered my questions, Luna Salaver, responded to like 10 inquiries about different things with the same answer: if they’re on BART property they need a permit. If they don’t have one it’s illegal for them to be there.

She seemed pretty annoyed that the open mic was happening there, and even more annoyed that I thought it was an awesome idea that BART would be cool with.

I’m gonna be there tonight and I hope that nobody comes and tries to break it up –I don’t run fast.

But at least I’m happy with my profile! I’m glad it’s finally done, even though I’m doing a whole different, gigantic, story on the corner for another class.

I’ve gotten into poetry a lot more since I started hitting up the corner; I’m also finding grimy bars on 16^th that appeal to me endlessly.

I’ve met the vast majority of the poets who are on the corner every week. I definitely want to do a profile on this dude Pat Dale—the guy with the poem about Charles Bronson’s face—he’s totally intriguing to me.

The guy I used as the main source for my profile, Charlie Getter, is also super kick ass.

His story is awesome: he came to the city to write a novel, it sucked. He wrote another, it sucked. A hot girl used to walk by his apartment window so he started writing poems to read to her.

He fell in love with poetry and ended up on the corner, where he has been since. I’m going to try and post a video of him reading a poem on the corner, but blogger usually hates on me anytime I try to do something cool like that.

Carnaval in the Mission is quickly approaching; I’m stoked on that. I think it will probably play a part in my final story. Maybe I’ll find a beautiful brown skinned woman with a long, exotic name who wants to marry me and make me chorizo and egg burritos for breakfast every morning. I’ll make her macaroni and cheese every night.
It could be beautiful!

Last week I was in the Mission after the Giants got their asses handed to them by the A’s, I saw funny things. This dude in full Giants attire came out of the BART station, drunk as fuck, screaming some crazy shit about how he’d beat up anyone who wasn’t from the city, and that if you were from Oakland you’ better go home. It was like watching HBO for free AND in 3D!

Anyway, I’ll let you know if I get beat up by a gang of theater kids for ruining the coolest corner in the city in my next post. Stay golden.