BIG NIGHT

I'm excited about the final reading of 2009 and having more Canadian poets come into town. I feel lucky over the years to be at great readings from Kemeny Babineau, John Barlow, and Rachel Zolf, among others.

It's convenient to draw from the regional pool at this time of year so people don't have to deal with weather while flying. But this storm were under now in Buffalo gets me thinking that driving around the Great Lakes in these months is often an adventure.

I really admire Sam Kaufman's chapbook, Two Three Four, published by Kemeny's "Laurel Reed Books." Here's a selection:

I was blue in the bathroom

reflection so sad

the bubbles synchronized abnegation

of essence and relation

here, there, pop

well if Albright or Knox

wants their 8 bux

they can come get it

the centre of attention

too easily disturbed

a new neighbour, a garden soon

five rooms

a corpse, and a balcony

What more can you ask for? Defiance, language bubbling up to the surface clumsily, ethnic spellings of center and neighbor . . . So I asked Sam to come down and invited him to bring company of his choosing and so he chose.

And I'm tremendously excited to see what Scott Puccio projects for us as well. I feel like it's been years since he's shown his films, like it's his little secret no one gets let in on.

-al

BIG NIGHT
BIG NIGHT: FEATURING POET SAM KAUFMAN
Sponsored by: Just Buffalo, Talking Leaves Books, Western New York Book Arts Collaborative
Saturday, December 12, 2009 @ 8:00 PM
Big Night Presents Poet Sam Kaufman

• Poetry by Sam Kaufman
• Films by Scott Puccio
• More poetry by Rebecca Houwer and Thom Olsen
• Food by Geoffrey Gatza

Made in Toronto ca. 1981 by parents who - he hopes -- will loan him the van to bring us to Buffalo. Sam has worked as a tutor, textbook editor, collator of public opinion, researcher, & hobby bookseller; has renounced several beginnings at high-altitude education (artificial intelligence, math, law, recreative writing) but is euphemistically taking another stab at the summit (English lit). Kemeny Babineau of LaurelReedBooks published his chapbook "twothreefour" in June 2008; poems or their mutilated fragments can be gathered from the New Chief Tongue and Literal World mags.

Scott J Puccio is a filmmaker; he lives in Buffalo. He like sharing his films with the people he loves.