A Love Letter

A Love Letter

Christopher Shugrue

February 1, 2014

Boulder, CO

I think of Neal Cassady.  What if Jack had never met you?  Would he have written On the Road?  Would Jack have taken to that ol’ road at all without your letters to spur him on?  What if you had not been there to be his muse?  Would Visions of Cody still be dangling in the firmament, waiting on another time, another space to be born?  What of Allen—who he without his cocksman of Denver?  Would his howl still shake city walls?  And if no Jack on the road, would there be a school named after the man whose words you so inspired?  Probably not and maybe good for them there on the Arapahoe:  then they wouldn’t have to hide from the lineage made them famous.   Hello Jack Kerouac School:  why do you deny your lineage? Embrace your story and remember:  it’s all about the writing.  Oh Naropa:  Now that I am gone, will you deny my name when my words get out?  Will you deny me because I am not “other” and not worthy of a voice?  Oh JKS:  there is more to this world than feminism and queer theory.  Such worthy voices, yes, so please let them sing, but why limit yourself to just those sweet tunes?  Embrace Jack and Neal and Allen and for fucks sake:  teach a class on Anne Waldman’s poetry:  in this great future, you can’t forget your past; you can’t deny your present.  And when you’re done reconciling your demons, let’s hit that mad road together . . .

Bouldering Poets: Tomorrow!

Two Crows is happy to announce:  Tomorrow! Bouldering Poets celebrates its Two Year Anniversary. Come show your support at Trident Booksellers and Cafe in Boulder. The event is FREE and welcomes ALL AGES.  The event features Alan Mudd, Teacup Gorilla, and Two Crows' own Christopher Shugrue. Bring CA$H as books from the features will be available.  And after the features hit the stage, don't forget about the world famous Open Mic.  Bring your poems, bring your barbaric yawps, bring your selves!

Two Crows is also excited that this event will double as the release party for Christopher Shugrue's new book, Straw Writes (Monkey Puzzle Press, 2014).

Come on out and support local writers, performers, and musicians!  See you there!   

Straw Writes Unveiled

We at Two Crows are proud to announce the release of Christopher Shugrue's new prose chapbook:  Straw Writes!!  The book was published by the great people at Monkey Puzzle Press and is now available for purchase here. 

You can also read an interview with the author about the work here.  Get your copy today and enjoy!

Praise for Straw Writes

Straw Writes is nothing short of astonishing. The ghosts of Walt Whitman and Allen Ginsberg weave through the text, and Christopher Shugrue ably shows himself to be one of their literary heirs.

--Linda Tate, author of Power in the Blood: A Family Narrative

Christopher. P. Shugrue is an incredible person.  Have you heard him read?  Try.  It's an altering and intense experience.  To read his work, yourself, is to enter into a space that is shattering something, always.  And finding a way back.  In this sensitive and brave first book, Shugrue works hard to make sense of the materials of war, and of the time that follows it.  He considers the memory that a person might build -- and loop -- in civilian life.  The life where you get to love someone and follow them a little bit of the way.  He is not afraid to write into the madness.  What it means to go and not, always, return.  I am honored to write in support of this generous writer who is -- as they say -- the real thing.  I never knew what that actually meant until I encountered Chris himself, as I hope you will one day.

-- Bhanu Kapil, author of Schizophrene

World on fire, ghost winds, naked children in the American night, as a Whitmanic and Ginsbergian ethos permeates the battleground of a Fallujah nightmare.  This is the scape of Straw Writes, a hybrid text of conviction and urgency.

--AnneWaldman, author of Gossamurmur