My literary crush, Stuart Dybek, has won a MacArthur "Genius" Award. His book, The Coast of Chicago, is one of my favorites.

"Love, it's such a night, laced with running water, irreparable, riddled with a million leaks. A night shaped like a shadow thrown in your absence. Every crack trickles, every overhang drips. The screech of nighthawks has been replaced by the splash of rain. The rain falls from the height of streetlights. Each drop contains its own blue bulb."
from "Nighthawks"

When I saw Dybek at the only AWP conference I've been to, he read a story that contained a pirate song. Now, in general, I'm anti-pirate, but this pirate song had a purpose in the story. It had everything to do with childhood imagination and nothing to do with weird adults playing dress-up. Anyway, he sang the damn song to a packed auditorium. I have been extra-crushed ever since.