Lone Star Floating Buffalo Poems - Polaroid Dreams by Mark Erickson "What we have here is "Lone Star Floating," a collection of poems, adventures, history and emotions by Mark Erickson, that travel back through time and ahead into the future." - Phil Matier 2009 60 pages (soft + hardcover available) | $21-35 purchase (blurb.com)

No Desolation New Orleans after Katrina by Mark Erickson and Katy Zartl "Katy Zartl and I decided we needed to put together a book of the collaborations we had done last year of my photos taken in New Orleans. In art we can only show you images, and the rest is up to your imagination. The city of New Orleans, still a jewel of a place. " 2009 30 pages (soft + hardcover available) | $26-38 purchase (blurb.com)

Paintings Under The Influence Post Modern Baroque by Mark Erickson "The paintings in this catalog are in many ways influenced by the flat colors and text balloons of comic books." 2009 40 pages (soft + hardcover available) | $19-31 purchase (blurb.com)

The Book of Titles Splashed Against a Black Wall by Mark Erickson and Katy Zartl "Titles have always been invitations to the infinite and teases to the imagination." 2009 80 pages (soft + hardcover available) | $30-44 purchase (blurb.com)

Missed Connections: Short Stories and Stuff by Patrick Daly The new book by Patrick Daly. 2008 141 pages (hardcover) | $25.00 purchase (amazon.com)

My Midnight Mind: Drunken Poetry by Patrick Daly Patrick Daly's first book of poetry. This may not be what you would sit down, drunk late at night, to write, but it is what he did. 2006 128 pages (softcover) | $11.99 purchase (cafepress.com)

Loathe Mega Corp: Do you have to be drunk to write? If so, why?
Patrick Daly: Yes and no. I can write plenty without beer, but I don’t. So I do the best I can.

LMC: What exactly do you drink when you write?
PD: Beer.

LMC: Where's the best bathhouse in San Francisco?
PD: There are no bathhouses in San Francisco. I’m told there are some over in Berkley, but SF closed everything down as a knee-jerk reaction to the AIDS epidemic. Sex clubs? That’s a different story.

LMC: You mention arrests and the law in your poetry, have you been arrested and what for?
PD: I have been arrested several times, mostly for drunk and disorderly and similar charges. During the time mentioned in MMM I was caught having in my possession something I wasn’t supposed to have. I’m being as coy here as I am in the work because if you don’t know the story you don’t need any details. Figure it out for yourself.

LMC: What kind of poetry is this? Beat? Scat? Jam?
PD: Drunken. Can’t you read?

LMC: If Barry Bonds is convicted of using anabolic steroids, what should MLB do about the Home Run record?
PD: Nothing. Babe Ruth was a drunk and you don’t see any asterisks yet, do you? I doubt we’ll forget this mess, but Barry broke no rules when he did whatever he did (There were no explicit rules in MLB prohibiting any performance enhancing drugs).

LMC: Why "My Midnight Mind?" - what does it mean?
PD: I liked the alliteration of the phrase. I also liked My Nighttime Mind, which I think had a better flow, but I forgot about it when we were naming this thing. Mean? It means "this is the crap I think about late at night." Most of these pieces were written late at night drunk.

LMC: What advice do you have for somebody wishing to be a poet? Did you go to school to learn to write?
PD: I went to school to learn. That I did. I did study journalism, so yes, I did go to school to learn how to write a certain way. That didn’t pan out, though. If you wish to be a poet, then be a poet. Figure out how to make that work later, but make words first. And stop asking for advise. Bleed your heart on the page or screen, create, and go from there.

LMC: What do you hope to gain from having a book out?
PD: Fame. Fortune. Chicks (just kidding, Trina) A reason for toiling at day jobs. Solid history that I was here, for later. And proof that my thoughts matter. And a speed boat, if that’s doable.

LMC: How long did it take you to write your book?
PD: 25 minutes all told. 8 years to get it to this point, but less than an hour on the creative side.

LMC: How can I get you to autograph a copy for me?
PD: Just ask. I’m not too famous yet. Later it’ll take serious jack, but for now, just ask. I’m quite proud of my signature. It’ll look good on your wall.

LMC: Did Hawkeye steal that Jeep?
PD: It’s the one he came in.

LMC: Are these poems about real or imaginary people, places, events?
PD: Real deal here, sister. I can’t pretend that I could make this shit up.

LMC: Do you consider yourself an introvert or extrovert?
PD: I’m an introverted extrovert.

LMC: Denim or leather?
PD: Depends on the event. Chantilly lace on odd days, gun-mettle diamond plate on evens.

LMC: If you could be a musical instrument, what and why?
PD: A classic looking solid body electric guitar. Rough around the edges and loud. Why not?

LMC: Why poetry? Do you have other aspirations?
PD: The poetry suprised me. It just fell out. I have the idea that I’m a short story writer, or better, a short-short story writer. I concoct mini dramas that tell volumes in very few words, letting the reader sculpt the back-story (I’m lazy, really). And some tales will come from my adventures in San Francisco and beyond. I don’t really create fiction, don’t have the imagination for it. I wish I did, though.

LMC: Where do you think the human race is headed? Damnation and tragedy or pulling it's ass out of the fire just in time? Why?
PD: It will all work out. Or it won’t, but if it doesn’t, it will still work out. Humans are just critters, doing their best to make it to tomorrow. There is nothing more.

LMC: I once knew of a young journalist, P.J.Daly; are you one and the same person?
PD: There never was a by-line like that. So no.

LMC: When writing prose, do you wrap sentiment around images, or images around sentiment?
PD: What the fuck kind of question is this? Picture my drunk fist sentimentally awkward, poetically.

LMC: Now that you're a big-shot, published author, will you still associate with the same old rabble or will you be too busy with your shiny new literati friends?
PD: I’m anticipating drunkenness abound, folly on high, and bimbos. Then I’ll go back to church. And I’ll park the car full of "shiny new literati" on a train track and walk home after the wreck.

LMC: With this one in the bag, what's next? Anything in the works?
PD: A collection of short stories is next. Then the novel about the hotel. Then the screenplay about the novel. Then the movie based on the screenplay. Then I’ll be rich enough to not care. Then the monastery. Then the relapse. Then the confessional book/reality TV show. Then the MOVEMENT. Then the suicidal event. Any more and I’m giving it away. Join me, won’t you?

LMC: Why write?
PD: Why not? Paint is messy, as is clay.

LMC: Are you going to eat that?
PD: See if you can guess what I am now - a zit - get it?

LMC: Who are your influences?
PD: The Who and The Ramones. And Richard Brautigan and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. And Hunter S. Thompson and Charles Bukowski and Mark Twain and Jon Stewart and Tony Stewart and Barry Bonds and Roger Mudd and John Belushi and Burt Reynolds and Charlie Chaplin and so on.

LMC: What sound do you love?
PD: Breaking glass.

LMC: What sound do you hate?
PD: Cash registers and cell phones.

LMC: Who (or what) is your favorite cartoon character?
PD: Space Ghost, new version.

LMC: Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?
PD: North of Haily, south of Ketchem, Idaho, that is.

LMC: If there is a heaven, what would you like to hear at the Pearly Gates?
PD: Get in here, you silly fucker.

Mirth & Dither The Book by Jason Chastain The complete Mirth & Dither collection in one handy place. Now more than ever, this is the perfect reading material for the bathroom. Contributors included Patrick Daly, B.L. Wassoon, Dave Edgar and many more. 2007 40 pages (softcover) | $9.99 purchase (cafepress.com)