Circular Logic: A Preface to the Best American Erotic Poems Reading Five Days Ago

I don't know why I do it, but I do. I don't know why I feel compelled to do it, but I am.

What am I talking about? This.

I blame Brian. And I blame Hubert. Well, not entirely, but they're adequate scapegoats.

Brian was a book scout in L.A. Now he lives in Toronto. Hubert lives in L.A. When I first moved to New York in 1997, I missed them and we e-mailed back and forth about books.

As great a city as L.A. may be, nothing holds a candle to New York. On any given night, September through May, you can throw a rock and hit a poetry reading, book signing, or other literary event.

Well, maybe not the event, but perhaps someone going to an event. You know what I mean.

In the course of my adventures attending signings over the years, I have always had interesting things to relate to Brian and Hubert. I would send them lengthy e-mail accounts of the events and the signing afterwards. Some of these e-mails survived server purges and mass deletions and appear on BillyBlog in the archives, prior to September 2005.

But the habit of documenting these events has stuck with me and re-reading what I wrote 10 years ago about a literary event is very self-gratifying.

So this is why my e-mails to a couple of friends have evolved into blogfodder, complete with pictures, hyperlinks, and other internet goodies.

I hope that people reading these recaps, infused with memorable quotes, anecdotes, and tallies of my obsessive autograph collecting, find these posts enjoyable and interesting.

So without further ado, scroll down to March 10, the day the Spitz hit the fan, or click here to read about the Best American Erotic Poems reading at KGB at the beginning of the week.

My only regret is that I couldn't post them sooner.