February 5th, 2009 / 9:19 pm
 Author Spotlight & Presses

Barry Graham is a Writer I’d Like to Fuck

Barry Graham is a writer I’d like to fuck. Now, we all know that here, so why bother, you ask? Because I want to fuck him, man! And he’s a writer!!! And I invented the WILF! It is probably the only good thing I have ever invented! So, Graham’s excellent collection of stories, The National Virginity Pledge, just published by the independent press Another Sky Press, should be on everyone’s shelf. (Above the bed shelf is my spot for it). The collection features work that originally appeared in Storyglossia, Hobart, Wigleaf and many other journals. (Lots of links here, people. Check it.) It consists of short shorts and longer, more traditional short stories, but all represent Graham’s rich vision of the complexity of sorrow and humor in life. Here is “Parable of the Dead Rolling Snowball”:

I’m outside my father’s house, looking through the window, he won’t let me in. The door is locked when I turn the handle. I knock on the door. It wasn’t cold this morning, but it’s getting there. My coat and hat and gloves are inside. I look through the window and my father and mother are reliving the only day they ever loved each other. Him, sitting at the table, shirtless, beer belly, singing Conway Twitty tunes along with the record player. My mother, sitting beside him, enamored. My little brother on her lap, stealing sips from her can of Pabst. Laughing, telling jokes about the time I almost died because the babysitter left a half-cup of train oil on the floor beside the model track and I drank it. And another one about the time my oldest sister super-glued my eyes shut. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes sitting out on top of the stove, applesauce sprinkled with cinnamon. My father sees me looking, closes the curtain. The laughing gets louder. The air outside gets colder. I knock on the window. I knock on the window. He opens the curtain back up. All three of them pointing at me. Laughing. Laughing, like the time my mother was pregnant and fell down a hill and rolled like a snowball. My father may already be dead and this may or may not be a parable.

There is no excess of words in this collection and yet language matters.The sentence “I knock on the window” is repeated because the narrator knocks again. And yet the repetition serves also to emphasize, to be language, to break our hearts. I love the ugly/beauty of the people, the precise details of their lives, the richness of their rage and lust. I love the integrity with which he caresses the hopeless souls on this planet. Human life is so miraculous and so sordid and wrong and beautiful and Graham knows this and spews this knowledge onto every page.

But back to why I want to fuck him Beyond his great ability to wield words, Barry used to be a boxer and that just makes me hot. He had kids way too young, which is rad as fuck and is part of his general world-weariness/I-love-life take on existence. He thought I looked like a dude when I posted a photo of my tits here on htmlgiant and that broke my heart in half and you’re always hot for the guy who breaks your heart, right? The man, obviously, looooves pussy. Once we were chatting here about how fucked up we used to get and he wrote about this time he put all this crap inside himself, “until”, he said, “ I barfed foam”. That’s right, “until I barfed foam.” I fucking love you, Barry. You are a really soulful, skillful writer. You are the real thing.

Tags: , ,

42 Comments

  1. February 6th, 2009 / 2:45 am ryan—

      nice, i just read this book the other day and enjoyed it quite a bit. and what can one say about the picture, except that hopefully a book with my name on it will be graced with such a lovely picture one day.

  2. February 5th, 2009 / 10:45 pm ryan—

      nice, i just read this book the other day and enjoyed it quite a bit. and what can one say about the picture, except that hopefully a book with my name on it will be graced with such a lovely picture one day.

  3. February 6th, 2009 / 2:46 am ryan—

      also, are those peter max panties? they kind of look like his work… if so i adore you even more.

  4. February 5th, 2009 / 10:46 pm ryan—

      also, are those peter max panties? they kind of look like his work… if so i adore you even more.

  5. February 6th, 2009 / 5:32 am Blake Butler—

      dang, if i had a special butt i’d sell a lot more books i bet.

  6. February 6th, 2009 / 1:32 am Blake Butler—

      dang, if i had a special butt i’d sell a lot more books i bet.

  7. February 6th, 2009 / 5:34 am ryan—

      blake, don’t let anyone tell you your butt is not special

  8. February 6th, 2009 / 1:34 am ryan—

      blake, don’t let anyone tell you your butt is not special

  9. February 6th, 2009 / 1:41 am pr—

      Blake, your butt is special, that is how I got my babysitter to show her ass.I showed her a pic of you humpiing that couch!

  10. February 6th, 2009 / 1:02 pm barry—

      pr:

      thank you very much for posting this. i really liked and appreciated what you had to say abut me and the collection. also. very nice panties. are those peter max? ha.

      blake:

      your butt is special

      ryan:

      thanks for reading the collection and telling someone yu read the collection. i aprreciate it. also. how do you know peter max?

  11. February 6th, 2009 / 9:02 am barry—

      pr:

      thank you very much for posting this. i really liked and appreciated what you had to say abut me and the collection. also. very nice panties. are those peter max? ha.

      blake:

      your butt is special

      ryan:

      thanks for reading the collection and telling someone yu read the collection. i aprreciate it. also. how do you know peter max?

  12. February 6th, 2009 / 1:23 pm barry—

      i have been looking at your ass…excuse me….this photo for quite awhile now and i am quite certain that wedding ring on the finger of the hand holding the book makes this pic that much hotter. very nice.

  13. February 6th, 2009 / 9:23 am barry—

      i have been looking at your ass…excuse me….this photo for quite awhile now and i am quite certain that wedding ring on the finger of the hand holding the book makes this pic that much hotter. very nice.

  14. February 6th, 2009 / 1:24 pm barry—

      i like the word quite.

  15. February 6th, 2009 / 9:24 am barry—

      i like the word quite.

  16. February 6th, 2009 / 3:34 pm Matt—

      I’m in the middle of reading this, the book not the post. Much enjoyed, post and book.

  17. February 6th, 2009 / 11:34 am Matt—

      I’m in the middle of reading this, the book not the post. Much enjoyed, post and book.

  18. February 6th, 2009 / 4:30 pm ryan—

      barry, it was a good read, and with a title like that how could i resist?

      and peter max is the shit. i’ve loved his work for a long time, and have plans to get a peter max inspired tattoo at some point… but that’ll probably have to wait until i get my yellow submarine mural done on my leg…

  19. February 6th, 2009 / 12:30 pm ryan—

      barry, it was a good read, and with a title like that how could i resist?

      and peter max is the shit. i’ve loved his work for a long time, and have plans to get a peter max inspired tattoo at some point… but that’ll probably have to wait until i get my yellow submarine mural done on my leg…

  20. February 6th, 2009 / 5:32 pm pr—

      Thank you Barry and everyone for reading my post. Barry, your book is a fucking treasure of sorrow and hilarity. Congratulations, my man. I am now hungover and ashamed (to have exploited my babysitter), but that is life. My life, that is.

  21. February 6th, 2009 / 1:32 pm pr—

      Thank you Barry and everyone for reading my post. Barry, your book is a fucking treasure of sorrow and hilarity. Congratulations, my man. I am now hungover and ashamed (to have exploited my babysitter), but that is life. My life, that is.

  22. February 6th, 2009 / 7:06 pm elizabeth ellen—

      barry, why don’t i have a copy of this book?! i want to tit-fuck it and post a picture. also, that looks an awful lot like andrea kneeland’s ass. i usually like a little cellulite on a chick to make it feel even dirtier, but still: nice.

  23. February 6th, 2009 / 3:06 pm elizabeth ellen—

      barry, why don’t i have a copy of this book?! i want to tit-fuck it and post a picture. also, that looks an awful lot like andrea kneeland’s ass. i usually like a little cellulite on a chick to make it feel even dirtier, but still: nice.

  24. February 6th, 2009 / 7:51 pm barry—

      matt:

      thanks

      e:

      i’ll bring you a copy sunday. i better get a titty pic.

  25. February 6th, 2009 / 7:51 pm barry—

      pr:

      FOREVER

  26. February 6th, 2009 / 3:51 pm barry—

      matt:

      thanks

      e:

      i’ll bring you a copy sunday. i better get a titty pic.

  27. February 6th, 2009 / 3:51 pm barry—

      pr:

      FOREVER

  28. February 6th, 2009 / 3:54 pm pr—

      andrea kneeland is my babysitter.

  29. February 6th, 2009 / 8:03 pm elizabeth ellen—

      awesome

  30. February 6th, 2009 / 4:03 pm elizabeth ellen—

      awesome

  31. February 6th, 2009 / 8:08 pm elizabeth ellen—

      barry: bring your camera.

  32. February 6th, 2009 / 4:08 pm elizabeth ellen—

      barry: bring your camera.

  33. February 7th, 2009 / 4:54 am barry—

      pr:

      andrea would make an outstanding babysitter i think.

      e:

      you can’t handle the camera.

  34. February 7th, 2009 / 4:54 am barry—

      i have no idea what either of those two sentences mean.

  35. February 7th, 2009 / 12:54 am barry—

      pr:

      andrea would make an outstanding babysitter i think.

      e:

      you can’t handle the camera.

  36. February 7th, 2009 / 12:54 am barry—

      i have no idea what either of those two sentences mean.

  37. March 10th, 2009 / 4:00 pm YOU SUCK—

      You all suck and you are so immature you writing makes me sick!!!!!!!!!!

  38. March 10th, 2009 / 12:00 pm YOU SUCK—

      You all suck and you are so immature you writing makes me sick!!!!!!!!!!

  39. March 10th, 2009 / 5:07 pm Ryan Call—

      ,” he exclaimed!

  40. March 10th, 2009 / 1:07 pm Ryan Call—

      ,” he exclaimed!

  41. March 10th, 2009 / 8:42 pm YOU SUCK—

      You are all probably a bunch of lazy jobless loseres living of the back breaking work of others . you are all sexual deviants. Sick!!!!! and your but is gross at least tone up!

  42. March 10th, 2009 / 4:42 pm YOU SUCK—

      You are all probably a bunch of lazy jobless loseres living of the back breaking work of others . you are all sexual deviants. Sick!!!!! and your but is gross at least tone up!