dear jay-cee, keith, jota love, tina, chook, tanya, carlos, jazzy, arleen and eric:

the good lawd has seen fit to punish me with a mirror image of me circa ’96. it aint purdy and let me just state that its very kind of all of y’all not to have taken me on a mile jog off a 40 meter pier.

yours in christ,

oscar

this particular case of gout came from way left field, y’all. i am not sure if it was the ride up to amherst or the swigs from the scotch bottle, maybe it was both but that dont matter ice cubes in february righ now. i spent all day monday in bed, took some meds and thought i would be over this with the quickness but here is saturday and i can barely walk.

the swelling is all in the front of the knee which means that i am in mad pain when my patella is in flexion so any time i have it at a right angle, im phuked. this aint dat bad since i can stand pretty well and pimp limp across a room with some 70s huggy bear flair just dont ask me to do any kinds of stairs or to sit comfortably.

the opposite is kinda worse, when the rear of my knee catches it and it hurts to straighten the leg. walking becomes una ventura llamada jodido and standing makes me sweat like a bull with lil releif from sitting since the tender area is hot as hell.

the all time winner- both knees infected at the same time (add in the ankle as well for one particularly fun weekend)

the most common- one of mah toe joints going all 99 luft balloons on me

the normal thing for a sane human to do is get mad bed rest but if i was any kind of a conformist what would i be doin yellin on stage and desperately tryin to get republished? instead you will see me at the dodge poetry festival, at urbana, helpin people move to a four story walk up, algarins readin at the nuyo, singles dinner or partyin at a club… yeah, yeah, i know.

right now i am at an ER waitin for a cortisone shot and new meds. this revelation of common sense came from talkin to a friend and almost collapsin on the floor like a spaz cuz your knees couldnt figure out what to do with itself.

love ya like thermometers love mercury

Poets:

OSCAR BERMEO

RICH VILLAR

LYDIA CORTES

PATTYDUKES

Singer:

ANTHONY RODRIGUEZ

Freestyle cypher with mc’s:

MILS, NIKKI T and IJE

Hosted by: MARLYN MATIAS

with special surprise guests

TIME: SUNDAY December 19, 7-9pm

LOCATION: THE LIVING ROOM

154 Ludlow Street NYC (between Stanton and Rivington)

More details:

www.livingroomny.com / tel: 212.533.7235.

FREE/No cover and no reservations.

$5 suggested tip jar donation and one drink minimum.

in baseball they say, “you are only as good as your last start.” ok, i’ll buy that for a dollar. after a year of highs (first show of ’04 with 21 open micers, the NY Times article, the anniversary celebration, Algarin featuring) and a year of lows (fighting the Yankee playoff game, fighting the weather, fighting hecklers, and… well… YOU fill in the last blank) the last acentos of the year turns into an amazing celebration of all we try to do.

some old faces came back to let us know that the blue ox is still their poetic home with our regulars in the place to be as well. my hosting was pretty sharp but thats easy to say with great open micers and a fun crowd. also on point– my time management skills, not always my strongest suit, as i was always aware of the clock and knew how long to ramble between poets. a lil egg on my face for the night with the returning raj catching me out there when he signs up as “Geko Jones” aka ‘que cojones’… lol

the open ends with mah three favorite poets/road buddies with rich readin from the new chapbook and reminiscing on the year, jess comin thru with the new sheet and fish also reflecting on the year that was acentos and covering a poem from my chapbook. all i can say is thank ya brudher.man for being as big in heart as you are in talent.

did i mention that pat rosal is all kinds of kick ass? i know he reads this so i wont try to make him blush too much but pat really came through with guns blazing and showing everybody why he is one of the louderARTS fave poets. normally, i would tell folks not to talk too much about their poems before hand but pat’s work has so many levels and nuances that allow him to banter on the origins of the poems without giving the “secret” of the poem away.

the one thing i have yet to master in my hosting travels is the closer. no snazzy catch phrase (is ‘peace/progress/poetry’ still available? :-) ) no cool end speech. most times, i am just trying to get the F out of dodge before fuckin anything up. this time around, just as i fumble through my mental rolodex for a cool way to end the show, help comes from the most unexpected spot as the blue ox bartender requests a moment and lets out one of the most heartfelt testimonials on the power of poetry i have ever heard. if you know anything about the acentos crew, you know that we do this for the people, not the people who appreciate poetry, but THE people and hearing that we made one more person change their tune from “what the F you mean ima pour drinks at a poetry reading” to ‘let me tell you- these nights give me goosebumps’ really brings it home

okey doke, mah arm is about to snap with all this self.patting but its been a good night (and an even better year) so ima gonna enjoy it… at least until the next acentos

we are comin up on I-91 to head back to the house acneos built. no real news to report. a symphony of sinus kept tata away and some how all of us were up at various times of the night. jokes set off the day when thr first thing out my mouth is snaps and then what follows… well, what happens in amherst stays in amherst

this feels like a good end to what otherwise has been a hellish week of angst, flu.fightin, dissapointment and even more angst. i’ve dealt with all this pretty well.

there is still a lack of new poems in my life. there are still holes in my performance that are masked with on the spot wit. there are similair holes in my life but the year is shaping to be pretty nice.

love ya like i shared the bottle wit ya