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