Now, Where Was I?

58º ~ a beautiful southern sun at rise through the trees all green with new leaves

Right, day four of AWP: Saturday, April 10th. First thing, I attended the best panel of the entire conference: Hot/Not: A Panel on Sentiment: Joy Katz, Sally Ball, Mark Bibbins, Jenny Browne, and Sarah Vap. Typically I prefer to attend readings over panels, as I find more instruction and inspiration from listening to poetry read aloud than being discussed; however, this panel and these panelists rocked the subject of sentimentality in today's poetry. The discussion was complex and while the panelists had differing opinions on sentiment they were entirely respectful of each other. I asked several panelists if I could email them and request the text of their talks so I could absorb and think more about the subject. Watch for future post on this.

Bill Notter

Post panel, it was off to the book fair where I ran into lots of old friends and made some new ones. First, I stopped by the Southern Illinois University Press table where Bill Notter (fellow Arkansas grad and good friend) was signing copies of Holding Everything Down, his new book. Yay Bill!

Adam Prince

Josh Robbins

I also, finally, got to meet Josh Robbins in person and snapped a picture of Adam Prince at the Grist table at the same time. One AWP disappointment: no picture of the beautiful Charlotte Pence for this blog. Sigh.

Brent G & me

Gary McDowell

Stopped by the Cooper Dillon table for Gary McDowell's signing of They Speak of Fruit and bumped into Brent Goodman as well...fellow blogger and new friend. Thanks to Adam Deutsch of Cooper Dillon for snapping this shot of me and Brent giving Cooper D the thumbs up.

Copper Nickel in action!

More book fair goodness. The folks at Copper Nickel deserve a huge shout out for their tireless support of this year's fabulous conference. Yay CN! Also, I was so happy to see a copy of Mara Faulkner's Going Blind at the SUNY Press table. Mara was my first writing instructor and has supported me without fail for 20 years. You need to read this memoir!

Rick Campbell, Anhinga!

Josh Poteat

Then, there was Rick Campbell, my intrepid publisher and leader of the Anhinga flock. In this photo, Rick is doing the trademark Anhinga pose. I can't say enough about the folks who make this fabulous press work. Was lucky to run into fellow Anhingan Josh Poteat as he was leaving the fair and the conference.

George David Clark

Whew...in need of refueling, I had lunch with George David Clark, whom I met when he was the poetry editor for Meridian. We connected at AWP Chicago and it was a joy to spend some time with him again this year. We share a Little Rock connection, so it eased my homesickness a bit.

Mary Ann Samyn

Michael Martone

Back at the book fair, I stopped by the New Issues table for Mary Ann Samyn's signing of Beauty Breaks In. Mary Ann graciously blurbed Blood Almanac, and this was the first time I had the chance to meet her in person. She is a delight. Sadly, the best photo, the one of the two of us, malfunctioned and did not save to my disk. Bad technology! Also a highlight was running into Michael Martone and having the guts to give him a copy of Blood Almanac. Martone's writings on the Midwest are an inspiration. He suggested he hold the book in the photo, not me. Blush.


And, finally, here's a shot of the giant blue bear who holds up the convention center. The long line of people in the other picture were not waiting to get into the book fair. They were there for the public day of the auto show. I had a brief fantasy about diverting the line through the book fair just for kicks!




Goodbye, Denver! I'll miss you!