Long Time No Chat

Here's a post from last fall that I abandoned as a draft without posting, and I can't recall why. So I'll post it now.

I practically forgot about this blog of mine -- time to start making a record of my poetic or literary musings and adventures again.
Recent outings included another excellent poetry performance produced by Emotive Fruition that featured a variety of actors reading a staged presentation of poetry highlighting women's voices. Like all Emotive Fruition productions, this one really highlighted the dramatic element of poetry and the power invoked by layering multiple voices together.
Also, out at the music venue National Sawdust in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Paul Muldoon convened another combination of music and literature, this time uniting a classical trio (flute, violin, cello) with a Ukranian novelist and the American poet, and memoirist and human rights activist Carolyn Forche.
And, most importantly of all, I partook in a four week master class poetry workshop at the 92Y in New York City. The class was led by the inspiring and amazing poet Rowan Ricardo Phillips, and I'd encourage any poet who has a chance to do a workshop or class with him to take advantage of the opportunity. The class brought together one of my favorite groups of writers I've shared a workshop with, and I think many of us were sad that the workshop only lasted for four weeks.
Also, in addition to Rowan's poetry (Heaven is his most recent volume, and he has another highly anticipated collection coming out next year), he's also written a very entertaining and compelling nonfiction book about teens, The Circuit. The book follows the professional tennis tournament during the 2017 season, with many digressions about the nature of the sport and its followers (the piece about the origins of clay court tennis is worth the price of the book).

Danez and Friends at the NYPL

For a long time, I tended to write poetry in isolation, which had its benefits but also more drawbacks than I realized. I'd participated in several writing groups over the years, but to a large extent I plugged away at writing poetry and fiction on my own, viewing it as a solitary avocation.
As I've aged, I've come to recognize the fellowship and community in poetry. Nowhere was that sense of poetry as fellowship on display more than at Danez Smith's reading, along with two of his poet-friends, at the New York Public Library last week. Smith was celebrating the publication of Homie, his latest poetry collection which is a tribute to friendships that have helped shape him.
His fellow poets, Shira Erlichman and Angel Nafis, read before Danez and both are now on my gotta have their books list. But what struck me most about the reading was the sense of comradeship and camaraderie among the three writers. (Danez shared a story about sneaking into open mic readings at an Ethiopian restaurant in Minneapolis -- they were underage at the time and had to arrive when the restaurant was still open to avoid getting carded -- and then stay until the open mic started after restaurant hours). So often group or multiple reader poetry events evoke an undercurrent of friction, or perhaps a sense of competition between readers. Not so with Danez and his homies -- love was all around at this wonderful event.
If you have a chance to hear any of these three writers share their work, just go. You won't regret it.