We're so close to $400 for the print fund and I gotta say, it's been really exciting to see this happen. As a project, Endsville is not what people would probably expect from me. Maybe they would. Maybe a few saw the signs in other works. How am I to know? But, generally, while writing for Endsville there was a general sense of anxiety that permeated the entire process, mixed with a gunslinger-cowboy attitude. I was shooting from the hip every moment, not caring where my bullet landed, but an alien sat between my ears and second guessed every shot.

Poetry is a thing. It exists. This is something we know. In games, poetry has been used to explore characters, worldbuilding, and even the nature of games themselves. The lyric movement, which I feel has mostly vanished from the current discourse, was a shooting star that exploded in our atmosphere. It drew ire and it drew out inspiration that brought a great many new faces (most of them queer) into the scene. It was magic, truly. It also terrified me.

Poems are very fragile and vulnerable by their very nature. Being seen and being known (equally) are terrifying concepts. Its why I pretended to dislike poetry for most of my adolescence. I didn't want to admit that yes, I wrote it, and yes, I liked reading it. But still, inside of Endsville there are several poems, each one snagged from compilations and word docs that have been sitting on my computer for ages, some old enough to be in grade school right now.

While the fiction came easy, choosing which images of poems to share was tough. And I won't feign knowing their connected theme, or what they mean. I'm a mirror, not an encyclopedia. I only choose to mention this now because I'm interested in how you feel about poems. Not just the ones in Endsville, but just in a broader context. 

The one thing I know to be true is that only you can tell me what this book is about. And I hope to hear from you someday.

Until then, have a good night. Rest well.

- JB