Polestar Poetry: Double Release!

1. Both lovers of unicorns & patterned tights: Leigh Stein with reader Lauren Ireland. 2. Fiction & poetry writer Ben Carlton Turner with reader Paul K. Paul says, “If you hang out in a barber shop, expect a haircut.”

According to their website, Polestar Poetry Series is: held one Sunday a month, the brainchild of poet Melissa Broder, dimly lit, and smells like Dylan Thomas (I don’t know what Dylan Thomas smells like so I can’t verify if that last part is true). It is also usually at Cake Shop, but last night’s reading was at Bruar Falls in Williamsburg, which is a cozy little bar on the half still-heroiny, half gentrified south side. The evening was a double release party for lit mags Annalemma and La Petite Zine (which was described by hosts Melissa Broder & Chris Heavener as “in the ether, a literary fart”), and featured a band, Sweatpants, that played after the readings.

The bar was crowded, but not oppressively, which was pretty awesome for a poetry reading on a Sunday night. Sasha Fletcher went first, and he gave us a tip during one of his poems: if you watch Jaws backwards, it shows a shark throwing up enough people to fill up a beach.

1. Reader Ben Mirov with friend Zee Cee. 2. Johnny, graphic artist Amanda Noa, & BlackBook’s Steve Lewis.

Ben Mirov took the stage next and offered us two envelopes to choose from, either Sadness or Confusion. This led the bar to chanting SADNESS! CONFUSION! SADNESS! SADNESS!, and this felt like a metaphor for something, although I’m not sure what. Childhood in third world countries? Maybe serious relationships. Anyway, the audience chose Sadness, which caused one audience member to loudly wonder, “Why am I at a poetry reading about sadness?” But really, is there any other kind? Mirov’s poetry was chock-full of one-liner gems, including but not limited to: “My only wish is to make high-quality pizza for government men.” “No one ever says now is the time for assholes and cake.” “Sometimes I think everyone on television worships Satan.”

Lauren Ireland was up next, and her poetry tackled topics such as loneliness, feelings, time, dreams, being sad, sad cheese fries, better cheese fries, tough sluts, and pissing on Belinda Carlisle. But, more importantly, she also had a whole series of poems addressed to Lil Wayne. Because Lil Wayne is awesome, I asked her about it later. She said she loves Lil Wayne, and also TI, and has sent Lil Wayne postcards at Rikers but he doesn’t return them. However, she hasn’t visited him because she doesn’t need another restraining order.

1. The band Sweatpants which features the publisher of Publishing Genius, Adam Robinson, on guitar & vocals. 2. Polestar’s hosts: Chris Heavener (who got an MFA in hugging) & Melissa Broder (who I’m pretty sure is the winner of the Most Pixxx on Dish Award).

Krystal Languell read fourth, and one of her pieces was about NASA and outer space, which was a topic she likes because space exploration makes her feel patriotic, she explained.

Paul K was the last reader, and his piece was, as Broder put it, “brutal.” Well, I fucking like brutal. He told a story about a girl in South Florida named Amber, who was “trashy and hot” like girls from Florida often are, before they look like characters from “Intervention and Cops.” I won’t spoil the rest for you, but K also covered super sexy things like the Shaq movie Kazaam, having a seizure while giving a blow job, and using puke to swallow Klonopin.

What an amateur… doesn’t he know that benzodiazepines dissolve in your mouth?

–Julia Jackson is working on her MFA in fiction at Brooklyn College, and is a regular contributor for Electric Dish.

Amanda Noa took photos for this event.