Sitting at Newark airport on a long layover, waiting for my flight to Seattle. Pleasantly surprised that both BDL and Newark have free wi-fi....
Last night's reading at the ALL Gallery was awesome. I wish I had taken pictures. Suzanne was a gracious hostess in a well-lit and intimate gallery space in what appeared to be the loft district which is in some heavy transition. We had a full house, with audience members who came all the way from New York and Providence to hear Rick. Rick was a rock star - he read about 20 minutes worth of materials spanning love poems, poems about his children, poems set in the Mojave desert, and poems integrating the visual arts into their narratives. His introductions to the poems were precise and engaging (not rambling like mine!) and he read with a confidence and presence that reminded me of hearing Mark Doty read. ALL recorded the event and eventually a podcast should be available here. I followed with a reading from SIGHTINGS and some of the new material that I worked on a Soul Mountain, closing with the Autumn Nijuin Renga that I wrote with Andrew Schelling, voiced together by Rick and me. The ALL is a great venue for anyone looking to readings in the Northeast. There was a contingent of audience members from the Yale community, and the readers in the open mic were quite good. The acoustics of the gallery were good, and it was an intimate and friendly space, reminiscent to me of alternative art spaces in Chicago.
The sun is finally out on the E. Coast, post nor'easter. I arrive in Seattle tonight just past 9 if all goes well. Then teaching tomorrow at the Seattle Poetry Festival, which has been in full swing since Friday. The emerald city - I have been waiting to see Seattle for almost 14 years - I have almost ended up going to school in the Puget Sound on at least 3 occasions. I'm not sure why the region calls to me or what it holds except new possibilities for being and creativity.
