justin carter is a good dude. he resides in texas. he helps run banango lit. he writes interesting stuff. he replies to emails swiftly. he is a good dude. discovered who justin was by stumbling on banango lit my first week of emailing. i liked the name banango and wanted to know who was responsible for this cool ass name. i then sent this email:

hey mr. carter, tell me how you’ve been
they’re some questions from me to you that kept me wondering why
like when did you start writing? is your writing original at all?
none of this fucking matters anyhow, cause your doing what you love
more questions
what does banango mean?
that’s a cool name i believe
like if you were out with your friends
smashing shit
causing a scene
going banango if anyone fucks with me
more questions
what race other than yours would you want to be?
hypothetically
i picture you a colombian flarf lord
heading your own literary faction
with about 5 wives
translating your elegant prose
all chill as fuck of course
is there any other way?
you’re the chillest of them all
a latin g in his prime
carter’s the name
don’t hate the player
hate the muthafucing game

being the clever/good dude that justin is, he replied to all of these random questions:

These questions are questions I often lay awake at night pondering.
just kidding

unsure who you are and unsure what the ‘tone’ of these questions are meant to convey (i.e. are they derogatory or are they not)
but I will answer them for you
right now

became serious about writing in 11th grade, in the form of sitting in the back of the classroom being ‘that kid’ that wrote a lot of ‘lyrics’ that did not make much sense.

is anyones? i try to write as ‘original’ as possible. i write a lot of ‘non-flarf’ type stuff but very little of it has been published although i feel like it is ‘better’ than my published flarf stuff

what does banango mean?

i think the word came up during a FB convo between me and Rachel Hyman and one of us included ‘voice of our generation’ after it and then I made the blog and stuff

what race etc etc etc?

i think being a columbian flarf lord sounds very cool. if not that, i don’t know. i could be any race and be happy.

i am unsure what the rest of everything means

is ‘you’re the chillest of them all’ meant ironically or earnestly?

who are you?

what game are we hating?

do people ‘hate’ me because that would make me feel sad probably?

is this entire email ironically making fun of me or is it just a humorous email asking fun questions?

okay
okay
okay

his reply made me laugh the first time i read it. idk why. it was fun getting to know who justin was and what he was all about during this period. he put my email on banango and was the first to do that. thought it was pretty nice of him to do that considering he didn’t know who i was. he’s the kind of dude that will embrace people he’s never heard of before. he’s the kind of dude that will give you a chance when you didn’t know you had any left. he’s the kind of guy that has multiple wives and treats them all with respect

once again, justin is a good dude. if we ever get the chance to meet irl, i’d like to buy him a drink to thank him for his goodness. he just wants to write, ya know? he just wants to share his writings with other like-minded people and spread the word about other writings he cares about. he runs banango and writes chapbooks and does things the way he wants. he’s a fucking good dude.

that’s justin in the above picture. observe his good dude-ness. observe his ability to be just as welcoming as he is threatening. observe his spectacles.

justin ryan carter has been doing quite well in the past year
there’s no need to ask any questions
he’s still holding down his literary faction in columbia and texas
dropped a couple of his wives to de-stress
gotta cut the fat
get rid of some meat
has more time to focus on banango street
edits that with high priestess hyman
she and justin are on to something sweet
it’s impossible for the god to be lame
still doing what he loves
coaching poetry teams
while causing scenes and smashing shit
the above line is what banango actually means
how is that columbian flarf lord thing going?
you hanging on okay?
must be tough now that you let go of some of your wives
can’t translate all that prose
but you’re better off without them i suppose
interested to witness your journey
you’re a good dude justin
hope your chill ass fuck personality stays the same
hi haters
in 2012 
the carter’s still the king of this muthafucing game

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