That time Buck Downs published two of my poems in his DC poetry journal Open 24 Hours #10, back in 1994. According to a note I found with copies of the mag, Buck saw me reading at an open mic night at the old 15 Minutes nightclub in DC. Liking what he heard, he requested some pieces, and of those, he took “Best Left to Herself” and “The Odor of Business is Business.”

DC is not an easy town for artists to gain traction in, and Buck has long been an inspiration to me because he never gives up. Although he stopped editing O24H a long time ago, he’s still very active in the DC poetry scene with his poetry postcard mailings, running a poetry reading series, and publishing books. I always run into him in the oddest places around town–random coffee shops, Second Story Books, Bridge Street Books, DC Zine Fair–and often when I’m putting up street art! When I organized the free-improvisation ensemble Croniamantal, he served as the first bard, reading poetry to a backdrop of experimental electronics. But that’s another post!