moira
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Karma: 3 |  | Letters reading in Lexington VA
« Thread Started on Oct 18, 2008, 5:29pm » | |
Dear Wom-po Friends,
Around noon today I returned home from a fabulous twenty-four hours in Lexington, VA for the reading at Washington & Lee University organized by the incomparable Lesley Wheeler.
The group of us, Jean Anaport-Easton, Sally Rosen Kindred, Ann Fisher-Wirth, Cheryl Pallant, Susan Settlemyre Williams, Susan Williamson, joined Lesley in Lexington yesterday afternoon from our various locations near and far.
The event happened at 4 p.m. EST on the lovely campus of W&L (which incidently is adjacent to the Viriginia Military Institute - a source of fascination for me.) There was a great crowd. Each of us read for about 5 minutes, which was just a wonderful experience for me to have my poems heard along with all of these great and soulful poets. Then we had a conversation about poetry and community in the south lead by Lesley. It was thoughtful and spirited and wonderful.
Wendy Taylor Carlisle came up from Texarcana and Margo Solod, a "local" joined in at the event as well.
Books were sold, people laughed and hugged and had a great time.
Afterward, we had dinner on the campus with a variety of other folks from Washington & Lee and more spirited conversation and then we adjourned to a local watering hole and ate more and drank more and enjoyed being together.
For me, this was an incredibly special and meaningful 24 hours. I salute Lesley for her work in putting it together. She organized a variety of programs on campus to support the event and took care of our every need for the time we were in town. In addition to being an extraordinary editor and hardworker, she rivals Martha Stewart in the hostessing world!
It was great to spend time with these wonderful women and learn more about each. I had planned to take a few digital pictures, but as an indication of how much fun I was having, the camera never came out of my backpack! So you'll all just have to hear the words and capture the good feelings that we all have from our time together.
Thank you to all who were involved in the anthology for creating the vehicle for this experience. Thank you to Lesley for organizing this event, to all of the readers for their poems, and to this list for making so much possible.
With much gratitude.
Julie Enszer
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moira
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Karma: 3 | | Re: Letters reading in Lexington VA
« Reply #1 on Oct 18, 2008, 5:30pm » | |
There's not much I can do but second everything Julie has
said. It was truly inspiring to be among such smart and
talented women, and I'm very grateful to Lesley for making
it happen, and to so many of you for making the anthology
happen, and for generating this sense of community that we
got to experience yet again yesterday, even as we tried to
describe it. The extra surprise of meeting Wendy Taylor
Carlisle and Margo Solod just heaped more fine fortune upon
us. And Julie, I can't believe you forgot to mention that
we got to hear two entire poems by Jean Anaport-Easton's
dog!
Thank you again, Lesley, and thank you all so much! I hope
that all the gatherings that grow from the wompology are as
warm and memorable as this one.
--Sally
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moira
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Karma: 3 | | Re: Letters reading in Lexington VA
« Reply #2 on Oct 18, 2008, 5:30pm » | |
Yes, the poem by Jean's dog, Rumi Noir, about his coral
prepuce was priceless. When Rumi Noir announces his
forthcoming collection, be the leader of the pack to
purchase it.
And at the other end of the emotional spectrum, I nearly
wept when Wendy Taylor Carlisle read her poem from the
anthology at the end.
Julie
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moira
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Karma: 3 | | Re: Letters reading in Lexington VA
« Reply #3 on Oct 18, 2008, 5:31pm » | |
Lesley is the kind of woman who is highly organized and can maintain her kindness, who stays in the background reading not even one poem, although she is a productive scholar on interesting topics and an interesting skilled poet. She’d have an ode to Herself if my poetry-writing dog had come.
Jean
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moira
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Karma: 3 | | Re: Letters reading in Lexington VA
« Reply #4 on Oct 18, 2008, 5:32pm » | |
Actually, Julie, his prepuce is furry; the coral part is
what slides out. Don't be embarrassed, I know you're a
sheltered young woman. But RN is dying to meet you and show
you how things work.
The glory of the whole event for me was the sense of
comraderie--meeting in person women I've corresponded with,
feeling that I really do belong to a larger whole. I keep
thinking of Lucille Clifton's poem "lost women." (see
below) We have what she wanted, except we drank wine. We
didn't have enough time for all the talk there was to do. I
left with vivid images of everyone and a wish to learn more,
share more--just one more gift from wompo. Annie Finch, are
you listening?
And Lesley--for your vision, hard work, generosity.
By the way, Wendy Taylor Carlisle, please email me so we can
discuss East Texas and West Virginia.
Jean
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moira
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Karma: 3 | | Re: Letters reading in Lexington VA
« Reply #5 on Oct 18, 2008, 5:32pm » | |
hi everyone,
I'm later to get back to my email but not behind you in
enthusiasm and thanks to Lesley! it was GREAT to be with
all of you in Lexington.
are any people in the Deep South interested in organizing a
reading?
take care, Ann
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