Anancy Song & Ask me how my weekend went

"Anancy Song" by Geoffrey Philp

Which reminds me that I have yet to read Neil Gaiman's 'Nancy Boys'. And which reminds me that I am a child of the Caribbean and that I have to hold on to that. A lot of people have this misconception that Anansi's adventures are all about deceipt and opportunism when really, Anansi teaches us what we've needed to know since civilization opened its eyes: How to Survive. And how to do so using nothing more than your intellect, and what you have at hand.

I don't know why I'm so maudlin. Technically, i had a pretty great weekend. I read at the closing of Book Week, an event entitled 'Literary Night'. Interestingly enough I was...possibly one of two sane, non-eccentric writers in the room. Though, I hold myself slightly to blame for that perception. I'm almost certain that 'River of Fire' was sitting in the crowd debating whether or not he should read his 'Three things thrive in the darkness: Snakes, Scorpions, and Battymen' poem when, out of the blue, he hears the fellow at the mic describing Sea Hag nipples and wet tongues circling red lips. I think that's the moment he decided 'This seems like a crowd I can whip out the battyman material in front of'!

But all in all it was well received, I think. The crowd had me nervous at first. I got through the first lines of 'The Fortunate End of Jonas Black' and kept thinking 'this is way too corny to be taken seriously.' There were murmurs at the mention of mermaids, tittering as I went through several paragraphs describing their breasts (What else would you describe on a mermaid?), but by the time I got to poor Jona's actual descent into death there was rapt silence.

'I Could Call you Brother' was a bit better received, though I'm not sure people got that first stanza (It was a dog in the first draft. Now its a horse. Point is, though, its an animal, then a man.) And 'Dreaming of Flying' got me a crowd of 'Aww's. So, good for me! I just had to sit through the crazy a bit longer. Not too bad with Jon and Sean there to make me want to guffaw every eight minutes.

Lets see...what else?

Women are generally confusing. That doesn't change. I consider making grand gestures. Then...I consider whether or not it would even be worth it. What if i did sweep her off her feet? She'd still be the girl who drunk dials exes on her birthday. But maybe that's a good thing. Is anybody going to Drunk dial me on their birthday this year?

Ah. That's why I'm maudlin.