AWP – The Gift That Keeps On Giving

So, apparently I picked up a hell of a stomach bug at AWP, which I have spent two days recovering from. I guess when you fly on an airplane twice, and shake the hands of about five thousand people, you are bound to pick up a germ or two. It was still worth it!

One of the things about AWP that I am always -weirdly – disappointed with is how surface-y everything stays. It’s neccessary because of the short amount of time you interact – the panels at an hour and fifteen can only go into things so deeply, they don’t have time – and if you’re talking to someone for five minutes, it’s unlikely you’re going to get much of their life story. But it makes me sad all the same. It’s like, you just get this glimmer of an interesting person or idea, then you’re onto the next thing. Kind of like speed dating.

But the best thing is coming home with a pile of memories of meeting new poets and new journals and books to read. It will take me a week to get through everything, I’m sure. And I came home to a couple of acceptances, always a nice surprise. And have lots of e-mails to send and respond to. I loved meeting people I only knew by internet before.

I wasn’t crazy about Atlanta – at least most of the parts I tooled around in – although I’m generally a fan of the South, having grown up in Tennessee – it wasn’t like Chicago, the city I fell in love with during AWP a couple of years ago. I’m looking forward to New York City, which I last visited in 2000. I loved it then, even though I only got to spend a couple of days at a time there for work with IBM. When I travel I imagine living in the city, where I’d go grocery shopping, how the women wear their hair, finding the parks with the best views of the city. I have a romantic addiction to moving every so many years, since I grew up doing that (my dad was in the academic career path when I was a kid, moving every couple of years to get a promotion or get tenure or chair.) I didn’t love Seattle when I first visited it, it was cold and grey in a February and the people were rude and the traffic terrible. It wasn’t until I visited the second time in August that I saw what people loved about the city. People in Seattle are much more gracious when the sun in shining, FYI.

I did find a decent, kind of affordable/hipster restaurant called Taurus, which was kind of in Midtown or Buckhead up on Peachtree street. If you get a chance next time you’re in Atlanta, check it out. The Louvre exhibition at the High was disappointing, but the permanent collection there was pretty decent. Didn’t get to the botanical garden, but it didn’t seem like much would have been blooming anyway – the trees, unlike here in Seattle, were still bare and bud-free, and only a few daffodils poking out of the mud let you know it was almost spring.

And last but not least, a little pic that may or may not disappear shortly: Dorianne Laux and me at AWP luring people to Pacific U’s MFA program booth.