Poetry: Serious. Not That Serious.
Allen Ginsberg at his 39th birthday party. This is what AWP will be like.
- Tribute to the late, great Adrienne Rich featuring Melissa Hammerle, Marie Howe, Kimiko Hahn, Kathleen Graber, Malena Morling. ”˜Nuff said, but from the event description: “Every real poem is the breaking of existing silence, and the first question we might ask any poem is, What kind of voice is breaking silence, and what kind of silence is being broken?” In honoring Rich's legacy, we consider her reflections on silence as a call for authenticity in our work as poets.” Thursday, March 7, 10:30am, Hynes Convention Center, Room 207, Level 2
- UNH's MFA Program reception to honor former U.S. Poet Laureate (and my professor! #humblebrag) Charles Simic on the publication of his New & Selected Poems 1962-2012. Simic will give a short reading from the book, and copies are available, three weeks ahead of official pub date. You will be so ahead of the poetry curve. Free hors d'oeuvres. And a chance to meet the Barnstorm staff—WHO WOULDN'T WANT TO GO? Thursday, March 7, 7:00pm, Hynes Convention Center, Room 301, Level 3
- 3. Considering sneakers so I can sprint from the convention center to Salt Hill's AWP Reading Extravaganza. It feels decidedly unhip to call a reading “hip,” but this event is so overflowing with young(ish), talented (definitely!) readers and margaritas, I don't know what other word to use. Plus, I happen to be acquainted with a few of these guys/gals: Travis Brown, Bruce Covey, Caroline Crew, John Gallaher, Bridget Lowe, Kyle McCord, Suzanne Morrison, Simone Muench, Matthew Salesses, Abe Smith, Benjamin Sutton, J.A. Tyler, Doug Watson, Jillian Weise, Joshua Maria Wilkinson, Joshua Young, and Corey Zeller. Thursday, March 7, 7:30-9:30pm, Fajitas & 'Ritas, 25 West Street, Boston, MA.
- Next stop on the crazy train: VIDA prom. A chance to hear/meet Robert Pinsky? Pam Houston? CHERYL STRAYED (more on that below)? I'm in. (Not to mention, prom attire is encouraged, the event supports women in the arts, and the whole shebang ends with a DANCE PARTY”¦). Thursday, March 7, 8pm-midnight, Daisy Buchanan's, 240 Newbury Street Boston, MA
- I don't know what it is, but I want to go to the Mysterium Tremendium reading, a self-described “black mass of poetry.” Doors at 10:30pm, readings at the stroke of midnight—very Edna St. Vincent Millay. Very Steven Spielberg. Readers: Ariana Reines, Rebecca Wolff (just finished her book Figments, which left my head spinning, the good kind though), Lucy Ives (who's got a great article on the role of a lit mag editor up at Poetry, and Donald Dunbar. Thursday, March 7, 10:30pm-midnight, 535 Albany Street, 4th Floor, Boston, MA
- 6. And UNH's very own poet phenom Marc Paltrineri will be laying it down at the Sixth Finch & Vinyl Reading, only three blocks away from Hynes Convention Center! Here are the other readers (you know, everyone not Marc Paltrineri): Matthew Lippman, Dan Magers, Lynn Melnick, Robert Ostrom, Rebecca Hazelton, Sampson Starkweather, Paige Taggart, Emily Toder, Marcus Wicker, Phillip B. Williams, and L. Lamar Wilson. WHADDA LINE-UP! Friday, March 8, 3-5pm, Commonwealth Salon, Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston St, Boston, MA
- Read Wild, loved it. Gorged on Dear Sugar columns, loved them (highly recommended reading if you have a few hours to kill and a few tears to spare and a few pearls of wisdom to gain). Watched Cheryl Strayed on Oprah, loved her. I've been wanting to see this woman do just about anything (Juggle? Power Point presentations? Hugs?) for just about forever. And this weekend, all my dreams are coming true, because Strayed will be reading and having an on-stage conversation with Augusten Burroughs (my boo from way back) Saturday, March 9, 8:30pm, Hynes Convention Center
- Dinner with non-writer Boston friends on Friday night for a necessary break from the madness.
- (Wo)manning the sweetass BARNSTORM BOOTH from 12-5 on Saturday. THAT'S RIGHT, BABIES, WE HAVE A BOOTH. Plus swag. Stop by and holler at a girl.
The AWP13 Post You've Been Waiting For, care of Plougshares, says it better than I ever could.