"The game between the Jews and the Indians

is tied going into the bottom of the ninth inning". For those of who do not know, that is the title of a Sherman Alexie poem. It is one of my all-time favorite poems, by one of my all-time favorite poets. "Why are you telling us this?", you are asking. Because, tonight I got to see Sherman in person at Joseph Beth in Cincinnati. It was the first time I had been to a book signing. I do have other autographed books, Da Chen's Colors of the Mountain being my favorite with hand brushed Chinese calligraphy, but this was the first time I actually got to watch my book being autographed while saying wildly stupid things to the author. I kept trying to remind myself that he is just a person, there's no need to act like an idiot, but I wasn't convincing myself. I practically idolize the man (not as much as a certain High School English teacher I know). He's the reason I started writing poetry, which is the least stupid thing I said to him. So, with autographed book safely in hand, I ran out of the store before my mouth could once again outrun my brain. When I'm done berating myself, I'll remember this as one of the best "entertainment" events I've been to, second only to the first time I saw Tori Amos at the Arnoff in Cinci (where I made the aforementioned English teacher stand around the tour bus for an hour waiting for the smallest glimpse of Tori). If you're not familiar with Sherman's work, I highly recommend you change that. If you like poetry, read The Summer of Black Widows. If you prefer prose, check out The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. If you're not a reader, watch Smoke Signals. There's something for everyone!

A little sidebar about the weekend: There is nothing cooler than a newborn baby. I got to hold a 2 day old little girl, who opened her eyes and looked at me and I thought, "there could be no better experience than this, except holding my own baby, if it ever happens". Then I remembered that the sweet, angelic 2 day old would someday be a demon possessed teenager and I happily have her back to her mother.