Do you do this? Read passages out loud to whomever is in the room? Or to yourself? Have you laughed out loud, snorted or merely grinned as you read a book in public?

here’s me:
HAHAHAHAHA, I say holding up the book, reciting a bit of Harlen Coben dialogue, or a snippet of a Tom Franklin story- anything from George Singleton, ALL of McSweeney’s lists.

And when I found Chelsey Minnis’, BAD BAD
I couldn’t stop finding someone to share it with.
Hey, listen to this:

“…. You look good, You feel good, But you’re bad bad. You’re a swan, so carnelian to be with you………..so vexing and vicious with ….quirts of leather ….and rock-roses…. BAD BAD… like a scorch…… it is curacao to be with you and ….omnivore to be in love….. with your crimson ….and your rogue….. It is blackjacks….. and being stabbed with a butcher knife…… it is showerhead to be with you…….. you are a terrible burden like a cello………..”

( I am doing a terrible disservice to not put all the ellipses- ish dot spacing that she does- as the pauses make you wonder and think and imagine and halt on the word choices… but you get the picture, and they do go on for 2 pages- and no, that’s not the end of the poem. )

We- my husband and I- must have said the cello line about four times each- which led to me telling a story about a girl on a plane in CA once who I met when she bought a seat for her cello. I had never told him that story, and he thinks he’s heard all of my stories twice.
He has no idea.

I like when reading other people’s words inspires my own. I have a writer friend who says even reading the bad stuff can be good for you- it makes you feel better, smarter, as if there really is a spot on a bookrack waiting for you.