AWP Report: Political Poetry

Mary Doty luxuriates and examines the psychological boot camp

How Oliver de la Paz Ruined My AWP Experience

Best thing overheard yesterday:
“I don’t really know what they do here, but I know they all look like they are in pain. I think they are all writers.”
–Convention Center person answering question from a participant of the Auto Show next door

Adam Rubenstein gets dramatic.

The Colorado Convention Center does not believe in hydrating its guests. You will find no water available in the halls — unlike previous AWPs — because this convention center wants you to buy expensive bottles of water from the various cafes inside the hall. And you need water in Denver since it’s so dry there.

On the good side, I would be happy to have the conference in this space every year for the rest of my life. Although Denver proves to be a haul from DC, we had space to breathe and move. In 2003, all the panels took place in the main hotel where the majority of the people stayed. The elevators could not keep up with demand. People tried using the stairwells and got trapped if they were not guests with passcards. A Big Mess.

AWP outdid themselves choosing this space. Live and learn, I suppose. The panels mostly took place in the convention center, which left the hotels less crowded than they would otherwise be.

The MFA@UFL reunion was this afternoon. My fellow MFAers from the 1800s showed up. One person publishes a book every time I change my clothes. He’s one of the most productive people I know. A few of the current grad students arrived. I’d met with them about their poetry just the week before at The University of Florida in Gainesville (not Tallahassee, folks).

At some point, I attended the Craig Arnold tribute. I had some serious trouble deciding which panel to attend. It seemed the panels I most wanted to attend took place in the same slot. Other times, there was absolutely no panel that piqued my interest.

Husband attended several panels. I will be reviewing his notes.

Which panel was I most sad to miss? The Donald Revell/Tony Hoagland panel. Thankfully, January O’Neill took notes.

The breakfast at the Magnolia included a choice of eggs, sausage, oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, and cereal.

This year, 32 Poems did not have a table. That meant I could move around as I pleased. I surfed the bookfair and ran into lovely people such as Greg Fraser, Skip Horack, Erika Meitner, Roger Lathbury, Oliver de la Paz, and more and more. Should I use initials? I don’t know.

One Conversation:

OTHER PERSON: What is your involvement here?
ME: I am self involved.
OTHER PERSON: Ha, me too.

A Second Conversation:
OTHER PERSON: I can’t do anymore small talk.
ME: I can’t either.
BOTH: Deep sighs of relief.

On the plane, I ran into a friend (not associated with the Association W.P.) and the two hours passed quickly. We shared a taxi to the Palmer House, and her business paid. Thanks!

Then, I found out my reservation was not at the Palmer House. Lesson Learned: Chicago has two Hiltons within a few blocks of each other. At least, I was not the only one to make this mistake.

Another taxi ride later, I was inside the Chicago Hilton and eagerly wanting my room and a comfy bed. I’d been up since 0600.

The next morning, I worked the 32 Poems table and chatted with my table neighbors from New Sin Press. Jake Ricafrente showed up in the afternoon to help out.

After the day came to a close, I met some friends for dinner at a local bar. I had to get away from the mob of writers, so we went a secret location no one else seemed to know about. One friend regaled us with hilarious stories, and I had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard. My other friend and I continued the conversation in her room for another hour or so and then met one of her friends from California in the Palmer House lobby.

The lobby is gorgeous, no? They just re-did all the gold.

When my room produced near-Arctic temperatures, I thought it was just me. By the next day, I realized that the room temperature was NOT normal and dialed magic 5-0 (no, not the police) for help. An engineer confirmed the heater’s fan was broken. He said they’d see if a room change was possible. This took about 40 minutes to resolve and time was ticking. I had a party I wanted to attend, and I worked hard not to be cranky.

The room change was possible. I then lugged my heavy-as-heck luggage up to the 23rd floor.

Reaching the 23rd floor required going from floor 9 to floor 8 and then switching to an elevator that took me to 23. I wish I had a video to show you how silly it all was. You can’t switch at certain floors. Bizarre.

For freezing to death the night before, I was rewarded with lake views and a view of Grant Park and Q-tips and a phone in the bathroom. Ah, heavenly.

See the room.

I then headed off to a poet’s birthday party — having to take three elevators to reach the proper floor — and bumped into many poets I wanted to see. I drank bourbon and talked poetry. Good times.

32 Poems Table Visitors: Rebecca Wee, Kathleen Winter, Cheri Peters from Sewanee, Moira Egan, Traci O’Dea, Randall Mann (I heard they sold out of his book!), Reb Livingston, Judy Kerman, and many others. I visited some people I know from a poetry listserv and also some DC-area writers. It was great to meet some of these people in person after all these years!

If you’re attending the AWP Conference, be sure to look for the 32 Poems table. We’re giving away a free issue of 32 Poems. Free is good.

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Are you going to the AWP Conference in Chicago next week? DC authors will be well represented there–show your support!

DC involvement includes the following (not a complete list!):

Book Fair Displays:
American University
Barrelhouse
Gival Press
National Endowment for the Arts
Orchises Press
Phoebe
Poet Lore
Potomac Review
Split This Rock Poetry Festival
So To Speak
32 Poems!
University of Maryland
The Word Works, Inc.

Panels:
Many former and current authors from DC participating. Look for panels featuring: Kim Addonizio, Rosellen Brown, Carole Burns, Regie Cabico, Cornelius Eady, Carolyn Forche, JoAnne Growney, David Kipen, Toni Asante Lightfoot, Haki R. Madhubuti, Mark McMorris, Honor Moore, Lisa C. Moore, Valzhyna Mort, Linda Pastan, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Carly Sachs, Ravi Shankar, Susan Richards Shreve, Joshua Weiner, Mary Kay Zuravleff.

Readings:
February 12 at 1:30 pm, “Another World Instead: Readings from The Early Poems of William Stafford, 1937-1947.” (Fred Marchant, Linda Pastan, Kim Stafford, Jennifer Barber, Kevin Bowen, Mary Szybist)

February 12 at 7:00 pm (off-site)
“From Chocolate to Chi: DC Poets in Chicago”: Poetry reading by Kim Roberts, Sarah Browning, Regie Cabico, Sage Morgan Hubbard, John Murillo, and Melissa Tuckey
Insight Arts, 1545 W. Morse Ave., Roger’s Park neighborhood, Chicago, IL (773) 973-1521. Half a block from the Morse station on the Red Line. Free.

February 12 at 7:30 (off-site)
TinFish Press & friends with Tom Orange, Craig Santos Perez, Ric Royer, Tyrone Williams, Meg Withers
Links Hall, 3435 N. Sheffield Ave., near the Belmont station on the Red and Brown lines. $5 admission.

February 13 at 4:30 pm, West Chester University Poetry Conference 15th Anniversary Reading. (David Yezzi, Molly Peacock, David Mason, Kim Addonizio, Andrew Hudgins)

February 13 at 4:30 pm, Pitt Poetry Series Reading. (Ed Ochester, Stephanie Brown, Nancy Krygowski, Jeffrey McDaniel, Afaa Michael Weaver)

February 13 at 4:30 pm, “The Country They Come From: Polish-American Writers Read about the Midwest and Poland.” (John Guzlowski, Anthony Bukoski, Linda Foster, John Minczeski, Leslie Pietrzyk)

February 13 at 8:00 pm (off-site)
Red Rover Series “Experiment #26: A Small Press Showcase” with Action Books, Effing Press, Flood Editions, Futurepoem books, Les Figues Press, Slack Buddha Press, Switchback Books, Ugly Duckling Presse. Readings by: Jessica Bozek, Amina Cain, Marcella Durand, Gloria Frym, Bill Fuller, Kim Hyesoon, Alta Ifland, Nancy Kuhl, Dan Machlin, Don Mee, Hoa Nguyen, Mel Nichols, Kathleen Rooney, Susan Schultz, John Tipton, Ronaldo V. Wilson
Links Hall, 3435 N. Sheffield Ave., near the Belmont station on the Red and Brown lines. $5 admission.

February 14 at Noon, “WritersCorps: A Reading from a New City Lights Anthology Celebrating 15 Years.” (Chad Sweeney, Jeffrey McDaniel, Thomas Centolella, Elissa Perry, Ishle Yi Park)

Book Signings:
February 12 at 10:30 am
Sarah Browning signs Whiskey in the Garden of Eden at the Word Works table (#792)

February 12 at 11:30 am
Patricia Gray signs Rupture at the Red Hen Press tables (#522-526)

February 13 at 10:00 am
Elizabeth Oness signs her novel set in DC, Twelve Rivers of the Body at the Gival Press table (#514)

February 13 at 1:00 pm
J.D. Smith signs Settling for Beauty at the Word Works table (#792)

February 13 at 3:00 pm
JoAnne Growney signs Strange Attractors: Poems of Love and Mathematics at the Word Works table (#792)

February 13 at 4:00 pm
Patricia Gray signs Rupture at the Red Hen Press tables (#522-526)

February 14 at 10:00 am
Gregg Shapiro signs Protection (poems set in Chicago, Boston, and DC) at the Gival Press table (#514)

February 14 at 10:00 am
Karren L. Alenier signs Winners, A Retrospective of the Washington Prize at the Word Works table (#792)

February 14 at 10:30 am
Kim Roberts signs The Kimnama at the Split This Rock table (#309).

Poet Lore, celebrating its 120th year in print, invites all poets published in the magazine to stop by Book Fair Table #238 to sign issues for their archives. They will be serving birthday cake, too.

Worried how you’ll cram all the books you plan to buy into the one suitcase you’ll be forced to drag on board the plane? Of course, you could check your suitcase if you haven’t flown Southwest and want to spend an extra $15 to $25 per bag.

We thought we’d help you out this year. We thought we’d lighten the load. We’re offering you a digital copy of our most recent issue in PDF format. We’ll email it to you after your arrival home. You have no additional weight to carry! No more hard decisions in the hotel room as you attempt to re-pack your bag, which is filled to the brim with books.

Stop by SW Hall 684 at the Hilton and sign up to receive your free issue!