The Monster Hour in DeKalb, IL

Something very incredible happened to me in DeKalb, IL on Friday. I tried to make this as clear as possible as I spoke to everyone involved in the Monster Hour art show where all the pieces in the show were inspired by specific poems in The Man Suit: writers don't often get opportunities like this and I felt impossibly appreciative and amazed. It was as if I got to walk around for a few hours in other people's versions of the book, to see how it floated around in other people's heads. It's difficult to articulate how special that feeling was, to see these pieces in the room. And I had the chance to read these poems to a very packed roomful of people who had never before knew I even existed. This may never happen to me again, but it will sit in my organs like a great generative disease until I get senile and forget it. I took some pictures (the second half of this little photo-show), but my cheap camera doesn't do right by these pieces. I wish you could have seen them in person. Actually, you still can. They'll be up for a month. 

Jeremy Schulz. From "The Whale."

Jeremy Schulz. from "The Whale" 

Cynthia Orrico. From the "I've Always Loved You in the Sand."

Andrew Sobol. The 3 panels of the triptych from the Black and White telephone series. 

Janna Sobol. The large wooden wedding cake replica from "Center of Worthwhile Things."

Christopher Sisson. From "Full of Knives"

Danielle Barton. From "What I Found in the Forest." This picture is taken with a flash, unfortunately, because what made this piece so great is its shadowiness. The hollowed-out woman has some dimly lit lumberjacks flowering inside. 

Alex Paschal. From "Islands in the Black Night." Most of my photo, however, is just a reflection of me taking the photo. That means something.

Pete Infelise. From "Voice Box with Words Still in it." A video was playing inside. You don't want to know what it was showing. 

From "The Monster Hour"

From "Black Square She Wears"

Documentary on the history  of the building, an old Wurlitzer factory, in which this show is taking place.

Andrew Sobol. From Black and White Telephone Series. 

Jeremy Schulz. Boy with mile-long stilts from "The Whale"