jasonpettus

I visited Middletown in 1997, to attend that year’s National Poetry Slam. I didn’t have a particularly good trip, so instead of bad-mouthing the city I’ll just end my comments here.

I’ve made two trips to Ohio now, both surreal. The first was for the country wedding of my second cousin, out on their ranch in Amish country (east of Columbus). Reception held at an Amish restaurant, which was my first time dealing with them face-to-face. Those bonnets are curiously sexy, man. Then in 2000 I made this very bizarre road trip from Chicago to attend that year’s regional poetry slam finals in Dayton. Talk about a city created by David Lynch or something! The weirdest, most interesting people live in Dayton, yet the town itself is nothing particularly worth noting; maybe there’s something in the water there? The poetry event was on the edge of town, with nobody but the poets knowing about it; then we all got wasted at this white-trashy hotel downtown. What a strange trip that was.

I visited Providence in 2000 for the National Poetry Slam. It was an interesting historical city, but man, the entire place shuts down like a ghosttown around 6 pm or so. And we were staying in the central city, so there wasn’t a thing to do or place to buy stuff for the majority of the nighttime hours. Plus, it’s definitely difficult to get around there without a car. Not sure if I would just go back on my own again; New England isn’t exactly for this Midwesterner’s tastes.