Here’s a quick event update from the last few months…
I had the pleasure of spending last week in Santa Fe at the Glen Workshop. I took Pádraig Ó Tuama’s “Poetry and Preaching” class, in which we read poems and had thoughtful conversations about midrash and more. I got to attend amazing readings and panels, write in the company of friends, attend an opera, practice yoga while the sun rose over the mountains, visit the Ojo Caliente hot springs, eat fantastic food, stand in awe at the Georgia O’Keeffe museum, and wander happily through Meow Wolf. (I also got to visit urgent care thanks to a spider bite!) It was so good to be in the company of some of my favorite poets and creative people.
On June 22, my family kicked off our 3-week road trip by driving up to L.A. so I could do a reading with Zoetic Press at Book Show. I had so much fun reading with Gayle Brandeis, Marie C. Lecrivain, Kevin Wetmore, and company, and I got to see Kolleen Carney Hoepfner and meet her famously adorable baby in person. Thanks again for hosting this, Lise and Kolleen!
In mid-April, I was once again chairing the Poetry Studies & Creative Poetry Area of the Popular Culture Association National Conference, which was held in Washington, D.C. I got to spend my first day with the kind and brilliant poet Sarah Ann Winn, who showed me around her home in Virginia (tulips! book shop! tasty food!) before we ventured over to the conference. Then I got to spend three days immersed in poetry sessions, which was exhausting and exhilarating. I love hearing undergraduates read alongside retired professors. We had a spectacular off-site event this year: a poetry salon at the home of Anne Harding Woodworth, whose windows look out over the city in view of the National Cathedral.
At the end of March, I attended the AWP conference. I love being in the crowd of creative writers, but this year I finally felt like I found my groove: a few panels, a few off-site events, lots of chatting at the book fair and over meals with friends. I had two major commitments at this conference, and they were deeply meaningful to me. First, I hosted a tribute event for Marthe Reed, my beloved dissertation advisor who passed away the previous April. We had such a wonderful time reading work by/for her and celebrating her life together. Second, I co-sponsored One Poet, One Poem on behalf of Whale Road Review, and there I read Marjorie Maddox’s poem in honor of Anya Silver, a dear poet friend whom we’d lost the previous August. In some ways, it felt strange to go to a writing conference for these grief-related purposes, but I was so glad that I had the opportunity to grieve with others and to honor these incredible poets.