GBD5: Wordjoy for Life

The Greg Brownderville Dimension

This episode’s guest is a magnificent poet named Johnny Wink, author of _Haunting the Winerunner_ and _Seven Ways to Prune a Grapefruit_ . . .
(03:04) Johnny meets the great bluesman Fred McDowell, and then something beautiful and unforgettable takes place
(09:45) “Errors” as edits
(11:17) welcoming, and benefiting from, constructive criticism without applying all of it slavishly
(14:52) embroidering otherwise-true stories to make them better (including a great Yeats anecdote)
(17:20) Yeats vs. Frost cage match (loser must retire!)
(20:57) Don Rickles, Frankenstein’s Monster, a chocolate milkshake, Las Vegas, and love (complete with Johnny’s thoughts on Flannery O’Connor)
(26:44) Johnny’s hilarious “in truth” game, including the mystery of ”sowder” and cameos by Godzilla and Mothra
(32:17) the magic of nicknames and homespun mythologies
(38:13) Greg’s way of carrying on the Winkian tradition of zany fibs at SMU, including watermelon tales
(43:45) Johnny Shakespeare
(49:47) it turns out Greg has only ever seen three movies:
_Mystic River_
_Meshes of the Afternoon_
and _Teen Wolf_
(51:51) it turns out Greg’s religion forbids him to read prose of any kind for any reason, but thanks to Gunstream Girl, he is permitted to read an important road sign
(53:26) it turns out that _Strove for the Pie Crust_ is one of the finest three movies of our epoch
(55:47) Johnny’s trick for getting people to believe his craziest fibs
(01:00:32) the beauty of listening
(01:07:58) the story of how Johnny’s book _Seven Ways to Prune a Grapefruit_ came to be (and all about the surprisingly critical role that was played by The Great Gray Moles)
(01:12:10) the centrality of the role of words in creation stories
(01:15:16) living in reader mode vs. living in character mode
(01:18:33) fostering a joyful classroom
(01:21:21) slabbing
(01:25:04) guys who say “whom”
logo design by Julie Savasky at 508 Creative (https://508creative.com)
music by Beekeeper Spaceman