Belated Bathanti Blog

For more information on Joseph Bathanti check out Wikipedia.

I really enjoyed hearing Bathanti speak. I like the way he reads his poems, and what he writes his poems about. I was impressed with him overall, mainly because he was the opposite of what I expected. For whatever reason I assumed he would be a snotty, stuck-up, entitled person. He did not come off that way at all though. (He did come off maybe a little sexist, though, talking about how awful it is that children can't see their imprisoned moms. Where's the program for children to visit their imprisoned fathers?)
His reading inspired me to write this poem:

Poet Laureate

Poet laureate, poet laureate, nice fantacy,
But let's be honest: something I could never be.

I don't have some awe-inspiring story.
I'm not living the American dream.
Not a big fan of North Carolina,
and I really, don't like, baseball.

My father's from New York,
got some Italian in him.
Must be some immigrants in
our family history somewhere.

My mother's a lesbian,
does that count?
Both are hard workers, as am I,
but really, none of us, like baseball.

I must be too young, maybe too wild.
It doesn't help I'm not a man.
But I do have one saving grace.
I've got one shining hope:

I really, do love, Chevies