POETRY AT PC, APOLOGIES, ETC... My monthly gig of hosting Poetry at Portfolio Center was this evening and we had the amazing Ayodele Heath as our feature. He did a set of brand new work, which was excellent. I had given him hell about rolling out "the greatest hits" at his last featured reading at Java Monkey Speaks and wanted to see some dividends from all that money he's spending to get his MFA at New England College. He wowed us...well the 10 people who were there. The crowd was disappointing yet again, so in January we are moving the reading to another night. Friday just ain't happening...not in Buckhead anyway. The series is booked with features through December, so we've got some time to think about it. Judging how the New Year holiday falls, we may not start back until February.
Now I must apologize to Dr. Madelyn Hatter for not dropping in on her birthday soiree this evening. I have no excuse other than I was exhausted. I'm making a public mea culpa and promise to take her to dinner. Speaking of Dr. M, she is starting her own open mic next Friday night at the Aurora Coffee House in Little Five Points. I'll be interested to see how her event goes. She's probably going to get some "automatic" audience simply by holding at a coffee house. I'll be there (I swear!) to support her, and she's also our December feature at Poetry at PC on Dec. 1. Happy Birthday, Doc.Today was a very long day. I got up early to meet up with my executive editor for the media preview of the Louvre Atlanta exhibit at the High Museum. For the next three years, treasures from the Louvre will rotate through the High. I was both impressed and slightly disappointed by the exhibit. While what was there was top notch, I wanted more. We were kinda rushed through it, but I'll go back for another look. The special gift shop full of Parisian goodies also looked tempting, but I'm being a spendthrift in the run up to the trip to London.
I'm planning to hibernate this weekend and work on poetry and read. I took a detour in my reading schedule and picked up Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking. How she could put together such an eloquent book so soon after the death of her husband and child is remarkable. What a memorial to them. I have faithfully been carving out an hour each evening before bed to read. I plan to keep up this regimen. There are so many books I want to read.
I'll close with a bit of good news: Sam Rasnake, editor of the online lit mag Blue Fifth Review, has accepted two of my poems for a special movie-themed edition in 2007. Rumor has it that Barbara Jane Reyes is writing an essay for this issue as well, so I already know I'll be in good company. Thanks, Sam.
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