Brontez Purnell and Tommy Pico: September 13, 2018

After being introduced, Brontez Purnell begins the night with "No Shook Hands" from the manuscript to 100 Boyfriends, then, from his book Johnny Would You Love Me If My Dick Were Bigger, reads "Me vs. The Writer" and "Experimental (Porno), Trash, and No Star." Returning to the ms. of 100 Boyfriends, Purnell finishes his performance with "Polaroids of Photographs and Paintings of Film Stills" and, lastly, "Moonlight, Tops, and The Cold War."

After an introduction by Steve Dickison, Tommy Pico begins his performance with an extended excerpt from Junk, one long poem he describes as "a break-up poem in couplets." He continues by reading a lengthy excerpt from the manuscript to his forthcoming book Feed.

Tommy Pico and Brontez Purnell field questions from the audience. The recording opens after a question by Heather June Gibbons, who asks both writers if they've ever taken voice lessons and about the impact of breath when they perform. Pico credits Pamela Sneed was his mentor and says she taught him the importance of breath control: "breath is the engine of speech." Purnell remarks, "I've always been loud. I'm a singer." When asked about the significance of text language/internet slang in their writing, Pico replied that he's always written online (Twitter, Tumblr, blogs) and utilized the language. "Any permutation of writing is important, whether it be Old English, texting, etc." Both writers were asked how other disciplines inform and influence their writing. Purnell joked that the more disciplines he works in, the more checks he gets, then remarks how each medium allows him to explore different things that he can't get away with in other forms. Pico says, "I don't really have any disciplines, besides writing and talking." When asked about their writing inspirations Purnell mentions "Sugarwalls" by Sheena Easton and the New Mutants comics of the 1980s. Pico credits A.R. Ammons' long poem Garbage and Janet Jackson, both of whom influenced his book Junk.