Yesterday, Standup Poetry Guy Jack McCarthy died.

A light. A life lived well. And shared beautifully. An inspiration.

I first remembered meeting Jack on a magical night when he and Martha Silano and I read at Edmonds Bookshop. I remember he read this:

But this past spring, again reading together at Edmonds Bookshop, Jack reminded me of the time we’d met years before that, at Scott’s in Mount Vernon. I don’t think he introduced himself. We just talked about short and long poems.

Recently, on a sunny Sunday afternoon when I turned on the car radio, I heard this wonderful, soothing, familiar voice–and it was Jack! On Snap Judgment.

I feel grateful for the times I got to hear him read. I’d been thinking about him, hoping to hear him again.

My heart goes out to his wife, to all his family.

To Jack McCarthy, thank you.

This Move video made me feel so many things all at once.

From the site:

3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage… all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food ….into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films…..

= a trip of a lifetime.

move, eat, learn

A colleague sent me the link to Sarah Kay’s TED talk.

(I’d try embedding it here, but I’ve been having trouble embedding videos.)

She said what I need to hear this morning–especially the part about writing your own poems. I’ve been writing my own poems, but it gets lonely. This helped.