[Paul Lake]

Ah ha! At last I know what happened to the draft of one of my best poems. About six years ago, as I was about to board my plane for Arkansas, Catherine Tufariello accosted me at the Gate supposedly to say goodbye and wish me a safe flight. In the confusion, she walked off with my bag, in which was stored an almost -finished draft of a dramatic monolgue I'd just written called "Useful Advice." Imagine my surprise when I was teaching my Intro to Creative Writing class, using Sam Gwynn's Penguin poetry anthology, and I discovered my poem published under the name of that notorious bag-snatching plagiarist Catherine Tufariello. Can that unpronouncable name really be her own? Mark Jarman, who taught Catherine "Fingers" Tufariello in a master class this year better watch out or we may all be treated to *Unholy Sonnets II* this time next year.

Marilyn, the first time I met you at West Chester you claimed to have recently suffered a fall that left you with a still-healing nose. Clearly, the injured nose was not caused by a fall, but by plastic surgery in your sad attempt to look like Timothy Steele. Ironically, before your "fall" and recovery, you already bore an uncanny resemblance to another poet, who made an even bigger splash at West Chester this year --James Fenton. You should have left well enough alone. Even today, beneath the wig and extensive surgery, the uncanny resemblance to that British poet can still be detected by a close observer.

[Simon Hunt]

A quick word of agreement with Meredith about the participants' reading. I only attended one of the two, and it was a real highlight for me. I wish I'd made the other. Like Gioia (I think it was he) said, some of the participants at WC could rival the faculty anywhere else. The smaller room, the informal setting, the 5 minutes reading time per poet, and above all the great poetry all made for a really exciting experience. It's not often I like almost everything I hear at an open mic. And it was particularly cool to hear sphere members read.

[R. S. Gwynn]

Well, this is obviously beyond my skill-level.
http://www.xprojectmagazine.com/arch...ercrowley.html

[Paul Lake]

Thanks, Sam. Now I'm really frightened. If James Fenton is really Aleister Crowley, the famous drug-addict, Satanist, and sex maniac, and Marilyn Taylor, before her surgical metamorphosis into Tim Steele, looked like James Fenton, does that mean perhaps the notorious Great Beast 666 is none other than Marilyn Talyor?

Has Satan himself come to visit his Rebel Angels at the West Chester Poetry Conference ? If so, then clearly "Unholy Sonnnets" Jarman and Dave Mason, who edited the Rebel Angels anthology, are behind it. How else explain Mason's glossolalia at his poetry reading? He was possessed. Remember Linda Blair in The Exorcist.?

It's all coming together at last. Sometimes sleep deprivation can open one's mind to deeper truths.

[David Mason]

Isn't alcohol a simpler explanation?

[R. S. Gwynn]

Paul Lake unmasked:
http://www.dictatorofthemonth.com/Ro...of_romanov.htm

[R. S. Gwynn]

David Mason and Maura Stanton unmasked:
http://www.suspense-movies.com/stars...lake/ladd.html

[R. S. Gwynn]

Tim Steele (a.k.a. Marilyn Taylor) unmasked:
http://www.celebritiesfans.com/Pierce_Brosnan.html

[Paul Lake]

The after-effects of alcohol consumption may explain my current revelations and maybe even your Greek song, but, Dave, I saw you breathing smoke at the bar at the Holiday Inn Saturday night. There are witnesses.

Notice, too, that our congregation of Rebel Angels assembled the day after 6/6/06.

Coincidence?

I think Sam's onto something big.

Oh, my God. I just remembered: At his reading, Sam read a poem in fhe very form and words of Dante's Inferno--a parodic version of the master's classic as unholy and profane as a witches' Sabbath. What next, Sam? A satirical version of Paradise Lost? The Passion of Christ sung to Gilbert and Sullivan?

The Great Beast 666 was the nasty surprise in the sandwich of the West Chester Poetry Conference.

[R E Bolick]

It was great fun to meet so many Sphereans in their physical sphere of influence. Wish I'd met more of you who were there, that just speaks to the sizeable attendance. I had not thought poetry had undone so many.

Thanks to those I did meet for the gracious welcomes to a first-timer. I am on business travel for the next week or so and plan to share photos with Katy -- if I just get the blasted things downloaded.

The Menashe reading was a highpoint for me. I had bought his CD from poetryarchive.co.uk (wide selection and great prices there, btw) and been listening to it over an iPod as I cut the grass (short poems, small lawn), so when I overheard him talking with Gioia and Yezzi in the lounge, I disrupted their conversation with "Hey, I mow the lawn to your poems." Don't think Yezzi was impressed. Anyway, go get the CD, folks; superb reader.

Cheers,
BobB

PS to All and especially the "corrigible" Hodge: Will harvest the quatrains in Drills and Amusements shortly.