armchair travelling: stevens vs hemingway

i am currently watching a livestream vlogger stationed in key west.  i've been to the island once with an old girlfriend.  spent only a day there but i loved it.  key west is a magical place for me.  i remember having a beer at famed Sloppy Joe's Bar where ernest hemingway used to water his horses.

so again, it is Hemingway Days in key west right now.  the vlogger is broadcasting from Sloppy Joe's to see how many 'papas' there are inside because Sloppy Joe's sponsors Hemingway Days.  sure enough, the bar is filled with portly greybeards in honor of the great novelist.  

now, i understand the appeal of Hemingway Days to key west.  Hemmingway is a rare bird of hard-living, hard-drinking, hard-writing american prose stylist whose charisma cannot be contained in a mere published biography.  i resisted Hem myself because i don't cotton to machismo, violence & misogyny  but when i was 25 i spent a summer reading all of Hem's major novels, short stories, essays & other bits & pieces.  dude blew me the fuck away with his spare, clean prose.  his genius for creating a cosmos using the fewest words possible.

but man, i am a poet.  early on, i fell in love with the sumptuousness of Wallace Stevens' poetry.  i don't write like Stevens, i think i write more akin to Hemmingway, matter of fact.  but Stevens' ability to be lush, metaphysical, sensual, cosmic & down to earth bewitched me.  

well now, back to present day.  i am watching this vlogger detail Hemmingway Days in key west.  all these dudes that have cultivated Hem's look.  & as far as i know there are no Stevens Days where older dudes emulate the appearance of the great poet.  after all, Stevens was just a boring insurance executive.  Stevens was a large man but i think if he passed you by on the street you would not take notice of him.

but now yet, Hem & Stevens got into a brawl in 1936 on key west.  yep, that's right.  Stevens broke his hand hitting the granite jaw of Hemmingway.  & Hemmingway managed to knock Stevens in a puddle.  Stevens was in his 50s & Hemmingway was in his 30s at the time of the fight.  you'd think something as cool as this fight would make it into Hemmingway Days.  but no.

& i'd like to see a space carved out of Hemmingway Days sponsored by Sloppy Joe's that would recreate that brawl.  which would mean that a formidable number of participants would ape the look & manner of Wallace Stevens.  that is something i could get into!