Noisemakers 2000: Stand and deliver

>> Jason Gallagher takes no prisoners

by PATTI SONNTAG

Jason Gallagher is the real thing. He writes and that's all he does, occasionally taking a crummy job to keep things going. As he describes his last job as a window-washer, he reveals his habit of calling people on their pretentiousness: "I would meet these people with their big homes, and they'd ask me, 'Don't you want a big house like mine?' And I give them responses that are not believable, like, 'In the wintertime I go to Australia to wash windows because the seasons are reversed.' And that makes them happy and they go away."

This deadpan, plain-spoken style makes Jason's spoken word performances impressive, and not for their props, use of music or any other additions. He stands and delivers his poems, beer in hand, as if he's talking about something which happened to him that day. And sometimes he might be:

I was in my first year of university/I had taken a poetry class/thinking it would be a good way/to help me figure shit out/and perhaps get me in/with all the artsy chicks.

Jason has been compared to Charles Bukowski because of this no-bullshit style. When asked about this, he said, "How are we similar? In my drinking or my writing?" Another difference is that Jason started out as a stand-up comic at venues like Comedy Works, doing warm-ups for the larger acts. This background is evident in poems like "What if they drive BMWs in heaven?" or the name of his latest chapbook, Funeral Home Sandwiches.

Jason's work will be seen next at the Devil's Voice, or you can read a few pieces in Fishpiss or the zine Poop Deck. l