DrunknSailor

Day: Saturday

Stage: The White Horse

Time: 2:50 PM

Interview with creator Peter Milne Greiner.

1. Tell us a little bit about your organization.

DrunknSailor started out as a reading series in the basement of Lolita on the Lower East Side. At the time, Anna Dunn and I intended it to showcase writers from Eugene Lang and their friends. Somehow the group got a percentage of the bar, and, after a couple months, we decided to use it to make a large-ish format book that collected some of the work read there. Eventually, a hand-made, anthology-sized volume in an edition of thirty materialized off of Anna’s beercan-scattered floor, and we had a launch at what was then McNally Robinson. This sort of became the template for our events: ensemble cast, a space, a quickly made and super lo-fi chap-book-zine thingy. And a party. We call the events parties because we work pretty hard to make them fun and lively and activated. Mostly we threw them in Williamsburg at a gallery called Outrageous Look, which later became Capricious Space. Maybe once a year. The ideas for the books arise generally from drunken conversation between Anna and I. The most recent one was an homage to Hart Crane. The group is currently in residence at a gallery called This Must Be The Place, and is working on a new book to be published by Haven Press later this year or maybe in the spring.

2. Who is reading in your slot at the Festival and why?

Rachel Herman-Gross and I are reading at the festival this year because the rest of DrunknSailor is scattered across the country/globe right now. Jess is on an island off the coast of Washington State, Anna’s in Darjeeling, Andrew’s in Ithaca, Mary’s in Portland, Maine. Everyone else is everywhere else. So Rachel and I are trying to figure out something fun and different to do with our slot.

3. Who else are you looking forward to seeing at the Festival?

I’m looking forward to seeing the Augury Books showcase because my final project advisor at Lang, Albert Mobilio, told me recently that Paige Lipari is a good poet. Also because I’m a B.C. Edwards fan. His stuff is great, and he’s a great reader.

4. Did you attend the festival last year? If so, what was your favorite thing about it?

I attended the festival last year and my favorite thing about it was the chaos; watching a giant project, a giant idea, try to articulate itself in real life and real time. Of course to me it was a wild success, but there was a broad spectrum of responses overall. I had a chance to talk about this with Stephanie and Nick when I interviewed them for You’re Beautiful, New York. We agreed that that chaos and those inevitable x-factors attendant to any such project are what made it feel really alive.

5. Why is live poetry important?

I’m one of those poets who always rattles on about sound, so live poetry is important to me because that’s when the sound is in the limelight. When I’m held hostage by it, without the safety of paper or screen. It’s a chance for the mind to metabolize poems differently. Then there’s the friends and beer part. The Festival’s setting is especially singular and exciting because there’s so much going on simultaneously, continuously. It gives the idea of the poetry reading—which is patently boring—a chance to expand and live, which is what DrunknSailor is always trying to do, as well.