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By Purdy, Director of Publicity

Michael Manner and I were English majors at Plattsburgh State before the days of email, before the days of the fax. Indeed, the modern technology of the time was floppy disk computers, and the CD was quickly replacing the cassette tape. Manner and I have kept in touch through the years and when we are together we often argue and bicker like a married couple about love, fear, greed, envy, lust, hypocrisy, music, cats v. dogs, words et al. I think the only thing we ever seem to agree on is that chocolate milk is the greatest invention ever. But enough about me, Manner is a freelance computer consultant living with his mangy, blind cat in Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY. His love of poetry dates back to when dinosaurs roamed the earth and he first heard the words “ugga bugga” uttered by a passing Neanderthal woman. He’s been writing verse since the Iron Age and one day hopes to be cited in the OED. His fave comic book hero is Batman. Despite all this I think is is a truly talented poet and have asked him to post some poems on this blog. You be his judge.

It never rains in Brooklyn.
I dream of being cold enough to dream of being this warm.
I could wrap myself in a blanket and sit by the fire –
eat hot soup –
turn on the lights.

I would shiver nostalgically and regress to Sunday showers and TV Dinners
watching the gray gloaming fade into black.
I remember being finite surrounded by cold.
But - it never rains in Brooklyn.

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The New York times ran a story about Pioneer Valley, Mass., where you have your choice of 20 or more author events each week.

I love going to see authors read and talk. First, their approach to writing is often so different than mine. I remember Susan Fromburg-Schaffer talking about how she researched a book for four or five years (once even learning Japanese), but makes no notes at all. Then she writes 20 hours a day and has the whole thing done in a few weeks. Phil Margolin creates a detailed outline that runs nearly 100 pages, then simply fleshes it out for the book. Carol Shields once explained the patterns she followed when writing, but I don't have my notes any longer.

Second, it's just fascinating to see what they are like in person. Clyde Edgerton did like a reader's theatre when he read from one of his book, putting on a baseball cap for one character, and eating an apple when he was a second. But a friend leaned over to me at one point and whispered, "I'll bet he's a drinker." I have no idea if that's true, but I could see it. Charming to the point of recklessness.

Third, you make an author's day just by being there. Buying a book is optional.

Fourth, you never know who you'll run into or what doors will open. Which is why I got to spend a little time with Michael Chabon in 1992 - because he was a friend of Louis B. Jones, and there were only three people in the audience.