CURRENT MISSION

I have sold everything I own -- except the kitties and the computer -- and have set out to find myself on the spoken word highway. I write and perform poetry, and I am touring the United States on the back of a Greyhound with a backpack and a journal.

ABOUT ME

I am a performance poet who uses the stage name Big Poppa E. I know... it's a ridiculous nickname, especially since my work is more Nick Drake mixed with Craig Thompson and Jeffrey Brown than Biggie Smalls, but it's pretty much stuck with me now. If you want to see what I do, just search for "Big Poppa E" on YouTube, and you can see. Yeah, that's me... the little guy with the big heart and the eyes bright wide for the achingly beautiful all around us. I sold everything I own and am now Greyhounding my way across America trying to find myself. I am lost, but I know I am out there somewhere. Along the way, I have met the most amazing people and have performed my poetry for live audiences in 41 states (including Alaska and Hawaii).

PHILOSOPHY

holding a grudge is like swallowing poison and expecting the other person to die. when people ask me what i do for a living, i tell them i live for a living. that's what i do. i live. and i laugh. i think that's how i react to pain. i laugh. one time, i had this horrible spider bite that got all infected, and when the doctor cut into it to extract all the yuck, it hurt so bad that i started laughing hysterically, and the doctor was beside himself with WTF. i guess that's just how i deal with pain. all my writing is like that, using comedy as a charming means of inviting you to feel the most painful things we've ever experienced so we can laugh and cry at the same time.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have always opened my home to travelers, and it has been an experience that has enriched my life and kept me in touch with the joy of being a warm-hearted human surrounded by people with the best stories. I am new to this particular project, but I have been letting touring poets crash on my couch (and the couches of various friends, lovers, and family members) since the mid-'90s.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

The poetry roadtrip has been a central part of my life since 1992, when grunge was king and zines and coffeehouses and local bands and co-ops and indie films and all those amazing DIY things helped me become the me I had been waiting to become. Hitting the road with freshly-minted mixtapes and the all the windows rolled down and only a vague idea of where we'd end up or on whose couch we'd end up crashing. That is still my life, and surfing couches has enabled me to see nearly every major city in America plus a whole lot more in between.

Interests

i love creative expression of any kind: music, theatre, art, poetry, photogrraphy. i love surrounding myself with people who feel the same, people who express themselves because they can't help, because they have to, because even if they were on a desert island with no hope of rescue, they make their art because it's like breathing to them. they have to. i love that. i love the feeling i get when i leave an amazing live concert and feel not only like buying every cd they've ever done, but also like starting my own band right that very moment. i love visiting art museums in every city i visit and taking a notebook and a good pen because i always get so filled with a whirlwind of motivation and desire to do it all right now right that very minute. i love kitties. i love hugs. i love long conversations sitting cross-legged on wooden floors in candlelight. i could like every band i love and every film i love and every book i love, but just know... they are voluminous.

• fish
• arts
• writing
• books
• poetry
• performing arts
• diy
• concerts
• flying
• movies
• music
• spoken word
• fishing
• backpacking
• surfing
• medicine

Music, Movies, and Books

i could go on for days. it changes every day, but here's some random some in which i am throughly in like: wes anderson; paul thomas anderson; the coen brothers; documentaries on odd competitions and the societies surrounding them; david sedaris; ira glass; sarah vowell; sufjan stevens; regina spektor; joanna newsom; band of horses; the beatles; craig thompson; jeffrey brown; guy delisle.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Warm spring rain on my face. Flying fish in the Atlantic. Arabs in fishing boats in the Suez Canal.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Turkey, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States