Amanda Renee: To me, al was something of a cross between John Updike and g.g. Allin. Brutally and often uncomfortably honest, al had a beautifully macabre rawness that was alternately easy to misunderstand and to relate to. I’ve had few friends who were as encouraging, entertaining, and flat out reckless. I feel privileged to have known him, and will miss him greatly.

Salvador Macias: He was a madman, a poet, a hermit, a pervert, a jester, a genius, and friend.

One more poem (because every poet should be the one to write their own elegy):

the Propaganda of Death’s Cartography (excerpt)
… But gather together yr philosophies & unwieldy puzzle pieces of truth
To throw on the fire that we share & feed the fire
with the Propaganda of Death’s Cartography
To battle the darkness that none of us can deny
we’ll  feed each other the bounty of the forest
& get drunk on its intoxicants
We’ll make suicide pacts while tending one anothers wounds
& Dismantle the disco ball of knowledge
& each carry a piece of mirror
To enjoy the distractions of narcissism
Argue about where the light comes from
&  the source of the river
We’ll enact blood rituals just to prove a point
& each do our best to protect one another from the darkness
But for me
I beg that you not dissuade me
From trying to believe
That as what I experience behind the wall of sleep
So also will my experience continue
Under the shroud of death
For if I am convinced that this encampment
On the edge of the wilderness is all that there is…
I will swim to the center of the river
& give myself to its currents