AWP Part III: Panel on Poetry and the Body, Reading with Moon City Books, Coming Home, and All That Swag

 

AWP Part III: Panels, More Bookfair, Moon City Reading, and Going Home

Feeling pretty wiped out by Saturday, I wanted to go see more panels and readings, but it was a beautiful day, so Glenn and I went for a quick trip through the Lan Su Chinese Gardens, where magnolia, camellias, and cherry trees were in bloom. We admired the architecture and ran into some poets but didn’t have time to hit the tea house because I wanted to put in another hour at the bookfair before my panel.

This time I was mostly in my wheelchair, because my legs by then were not cooperating, but still got to visit lots of friends I hadn’t seen yet and finally, finally pick up some books and lit mags and t-shirts! I loved meeting one of the editors of the beautiful newish lit mag F(r)iction, and Kelly Link from Small Beer Press, an old friend from University of Cincinnati, and also got to see my friend Natasha Moni at her book signing at Two Sylvias. 

But I needed to get to my panel because afterwards I had promised to meet a Portland sci-fi writer friend (Hi Felicity Shoulders!) for coffee before my 6 PM Reading with Moon City Press. The other fellow on the panel had had to stay home because of a family emergency, and I was sitting in for Kelly Davio in London, so it was just me and Peter Gloviczki. I have some video I’ve put up on YouTube, that my husband took with his phone, just my “remarks” part of the panel and the Q&A afterwards and a bit of shaky cam, due to with technical difficulties. (It would be great if AWP streamed all the talks because I know a lot of people missed panels they wanted to see but couldn’t because of conflicts. Maybe next time, AWP?)  But in real life it seemed to go well (I talked for the first time in public about my disability, someone asked a question about the spirit so we talked Miyazaki and Christianity,) and talked to a lot of people afterwards. And my friend Joannie Stangeland was doing a panel right after us, so we got to do a “virtual” panel together!

I was late, but my friend was also running late, so we went back to the bookfair and just as it was closing, got to say goodbye to friends and meet my friend who got there just as the doors were closing. Now it was less than an hour til my reading. So we took my friend back to the hotel so we could catch up while I changed clothes again, has some hot tea, took a Benadryl (allergies really acted up on this trip – construction dust and other environmental stuff had resulted in some fun hives, so I was trying to get those to go away and not be so tired that I wouldn’t be able to read. By this time I wasn’t able to walk much and my hands were shaking.

I had to ask Mike Czyzniejewski, our host and editor of Moon City Press, once again, to read early, and I had to sit down to read and have Glenn hold my notebook as my hands were shaking too hard to do it. (MS can be a real bitch when you’re tired.) The bar (the White Owl Social Club) was full of rowdy drunken folks, so it was really loud, and I struggled to hold the mike close enough to be heard, which was tough. Not perfect circumstances, but it was great to meet other Moon City authors briefly and some of the staff of the press, before I went back to the hotel to back up, eat something for the first time that day, and get ready to drive home. In the old days I might have been up for an after-party, but this time I was just ready to get home to my own bed (did I mention the hotel bed was five feet off the ground and I needed a step to get onto it? I am not that short, hotels! The bed is too high!) 

Going Home and AWP Swag

We drove and got home at about 2:30 AM on Sunday. The daffodils had burst into bloom while we were gone. The next day I was walking (groggily) around my house and two quail popped out of the bushes. I followed them with my camera while cherry blossoms fell all around me. Then we saw the peacocks from the winery down the street.  I was never so happy to be home. And ready to read everything I brought home!  Tomorrow I’ll do a rundown of my overall impressions of AWP, what they could have done better (hint: read this in Publisher’s Weekly), and what I got out of it this year that I didn’t before.