Microdosing Monday- April Fool’s Edition
a weekly cross post with my Patreon blog
Holy shit. It’s April already. The first of April is a day for fools, and we all know it. But did you know that April Fool’s Day might have started because of poets? True story. I did some research, fell down a few potholes and chased a rabbit once, and no one knows exactly why we have an April Fool’s Day. They don’t fucking know. But many suspect that old Chaucer might have started it by being too mysterious in his poems, or it might have been some French composer and Renaissance poet named Eloy d'Amerval. I’d never heard of him before, but I know poets, and he was up to hijinks, I’m sure of it, whether he invented Fool’s Day or not.
It’s also National Poetry Month, and I have a lot of sketchy and conflicted feelings about poetry month and ya ya ya. I’m certain I’ll rail about it all month, but it’s fucking Monday already, and I’m supposed to be microdosing it and not standing on a soapbox railing against the sins of the world.
Last week was last week. I wrote a pretty solid story about my reading in Cincinnati in February. It’s up on Patreon and Substack, and I did a lot of other things that I should write here, but I have a lot of other work stacking up, and I’m writing more and accomplishing less every week. I did attend a cool reading at Hyde Bros. Booksellers in Fort Wayne, where I had the honor of hearing Indiana Poet Laureate Curtis Crisler read from his latest book. Probably a short write up coming about that soon.
But it’s Monday. A new week lies ahead like a brand new notebook we’ve just began to fill with our words. And I once again have managed to escape any reasonable suspicion of responsibility this week. None that anyone can see. But trust me. The work no one sees is all consuming. Working on a poetry manuscript, writing blogs and a column, penning poems, nibbling on some short stories hoping I’ll sink into a big, juicy one eventually, writing once again on a big secret book that I need to finish this year, and well, I could use 28 hours in a day, just so I had time enough to write.
However, after this week, all hell breaks loose, and I’ll be reading in five states at six events throughout the rest of the month.
Catch me here!
Thursday April 11 in Toledo. Can’t wait to see everyone at the new Wandering Bean Coffee Co on Sylvania. I’ll be reading with traveling poet John Amen, Detroit poet extraordinaire One Single Rose®️, and local poet Tim Geiger, one of northwest Ohio’s finest poets.
Thursday - Sunday April 18th - April 21st
I’ll be reading four straight nights as part of the The Not Suitable for American Television Tour. The tour will feature me, Portsmouth, OH poets J.I.B. and Nikki Blankenship, Indiana poet and artist Brooke Nicole Plummer, and Kansas City based poet and artist Nettie Zan.
We’ll be kicking off in Kansas City, MO Thursday the 18th, then to Indianapolis, Toledo and back to St. Louis. It’s going to be four days of endless highways, good friends, epic performances, sleeping bags on living room floors, and adventure beyond prediction. I hope to document it via video camera as much as possible.
And finally on Saturday April 27th I’ll be reading in Owensboro, KY as part of the Bard & Busker Fest, an event featuring 20+ poets and three live bands.
Sounds like I better stock up on coffee for the month. We’re gonna need it.
Hey, don’t forget that you can order my latest novel from any bookseller. Tell them you’re looking for The Dead and the Desperate by your favorite writer Dan Denton, even if some of that’s a lie. White lies never hurt anyone in National poetry month.
It’s April Fool’s Day. No matter what else happens I’m going to focus on laughing more this week. Looking for the good. The humorous. The kind. The pretty things we too often overlook in our hurry to condemn the ugly.
Peace be unto you.
-Dan
Indiana Poet Laureate Curtis Crisler reading last Thursday in Fort Wayne.
Hyde Bros. Booksellers is home to the coolest cats. This one had their own chair for much of the reading last Thursday.
the first of many tour posters for the Not Suitable For American Television Tour.
I’ve been feeling this a little bit lately. It’s been a lot of just winging it as I go since I left the factory, and it looks like there’s a lot more showing up and winging it to come. Guess I’ll keep trusting in the magic.
Funny meme of the week. I’ll always be a sucker for a good cat meme. Love y’all.