In a week, I’ll be giving my graduate reading at Saint Mary’s. *shakes head in wonder*
It’s a long haul out to campus, but if you’d like to come on along, I’d love to see you. I’ll be reading with Joel Bahr (CNF), Warren Buchanan (Fiction), Charlene Caruso (CNF), and Clare Fitzpatrick (Fiction), so I’ll be the lone poetry ranger.
Wednesday, September 26th at 7pm in Hagerty Lounge on the Saint Mary’s campus in Moraga.
That’s right. I went to Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.
Pinch me.
It’s hard to put the experience into words. I mean, there’s a pretty powerful history at work up there. Many thanks and lots of love to my intrepid companions: First to Qiana Towns, Kelli Lang, and Christopher DeWan for keeping me sane. Second to all of my workshop crew including our workshop fellow Bruce Snider. Third to Eman Quotah, Ross White, Amy Holman, Harriet Clark, and this list could go on and on, but all those other folks over there (waves hand) too.
A special thank-you to Eavan Boland, who was inspiring and supportive. She told me what I needed to hear, and, as I start my final year in the MFA, her timing couldn’t have been better.
Oh yeah, and this is me reading in the Blue Parlor. There’s a painting of Robert Frost Joseph Batell behind me, though I have to admit that, at first and second glance, I thought it was FDR both FDR and then Robert Frost. *sigh*
Thanks to Margaret DeAngelis for the correction on the painting. Batell’s buildings and the adjoining land were bequeathed to Middlebury College in 1915. The three of them look strikingly similar when rendered in oils. If I meet them in the afterlife, I’ll have a bit of explaining to do, I’m sure.
Photo graciously provided by Grant Bergland.
No need to listen to me yammer on wildly today. This poem has been published online in its entirety, so I’ll let it speak for itself. The “Sherwin” we have in common is coincidental.
“Apparition” by Sherwin Bitsui.
I spent this past week at the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley. It was an amazing experience, full of all kinds of “Pinch me!” moments. I can’t wait until I can go back, which will be a long, long two years from now.
My next big adventure is another conference in August. More about that when it begins to loom…
So many thankyouthankyous to the folks at Squaw! My instructors: C.D. Wright, Robert Hass, Kazim Ali, Katie Ford, and Sharon Olds. My housemates: Charles Douthat, Dawn McGuire, and Eric Parkison. My fellow classmates Peter Burghardt and Bryn Garrehy. And big love to so many of my fellows: Celeste, Abbie, Jeff, Meg, Rowan, Brett, Jeff, Amy, Eduardo, Jon, Kelvin, and many, many more.
Thrilling! Here’s the video from the reading at Diesel Books in Oakland. I read “I Arrived on Sunday Afternoon” first and then three selections from my current project, a serial poem entitled “Dedicated Version.”
The boiled-down gist of this serial poem is pretty simple: write a poem for each of the songs that composer and bassist Reid Anderson has written as a member of the jazz trio, The Bad Plus. The project is barreling along at a frightful rate now. Next step will be to muster the courage to write to Reid and tell him about the whole thing. And, you know, not sound like a crazy stalker person while I’m doing so. And maybe get him to write a blurb if it gets published.
This is the debut of the sections “Giant,” “Physical Cities,” and “Forces” from the serial poem. Helping me here with “Physical Cities” is Sara Vander Zwaag and Gabe Johnson. Jeff Von Ward put the whole thing together and monitored the little camera, but as you can see, the space was pretty narrow. And I’m pretty tall. 
I love it!
Happy to announce a reading this Friday (that’s June 15th) at Diesel Books in Oakland. The whole shebang starts at 7pm, and I’ll be reading with a bunch of great folks:
Channing Allen, Jeff Von Ward, Peter Burghardt, Gillian Hamel, Robert Perez, Liz Demi Green…and maybe a few others.
I’ll also be debuting a few sections from my serial poem, ”Dedicated Version,” including the polyphonic lark “Physical Cities” for three voices, so Sara Vander Zwaag and Gabe Johnson will be lending their voices. Art-school madness, I tell ya. If the video turns out well, I’ll post it up.
Come on along. It’s going to be great.
Thanks!
me
Saturday, May 5, 2012.
“Dream #1: Once an Angel”
“A Reading: For Eleanor”
and “Kirkwood”
This one came up pretty quick, so my apologies for not announcing it. Thanks to everyone who came out and read with me. And of course, a big thank you to Jeff Von Ward for setting things in motion.
mps
Again, a huge thank you to everyone who came out to the WTAW reading in Sausalito. I had a great time!
And of course, you can access the other lovely readers at the WTAW site in their audio section.
mps
I’m very excited to be reading at the Why There Are Words Reading Series this Thursday, April 12th, in Sausalito. This is an amazing series—really fantastic, every single month—and I am thrilled to be invited.
The whole shebang starts at 7pm, and there’s a $5 cover. The theme? Break.
It’s at Studio 333, which is right on Caledonia Street in Sausalito. I’ll be reading with Shannon Cain, Stan Goldberg, Leo Litwak, Meredith Maran, Sommer Schafer, and Linda Gray Sexton.
I’ll be reading prose, so come by and watch me try to not read with Poet Voice. Hope to see you there!
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