225: AWP, Day 3

Top to bottom: Carolyn Forche + Nick Flynn, Nick Flynn, Carolyn Forche, Donald Hall, Honor Moore

Switching Hats: When Poets Write Memoir. (Alison Granucci, Nick Flynn, Carolyn Forché, Honor Moore, Donald Hall) These renowned writers traverse both in the genre of poetry and creative nonfiction. When poets write memoirs, with voices both similar and different to those in their poems, they go deeper into the narrative thread, remembering and telling, using the memoir as different mode of travel through the creative terrain. Please join us on a journey through faith and sexuality, race and addiction, and testimonies from war prisoners in this celebration of courage and versatility.

Top to Bottom: Rachel Zucker, Carl Phillips, Erin Belieu

Beyond The Song of Oneself: The Intersection of the Personal and the Public in Poetry. (D. A. Powell, Erin Belieu, Rachel Zucker, Carl Phillips, Josh Bell) "...how can anyone be more amusing than oneself/how can anyone fail to be"—Frank O'Hara. One of the chief difficulties in writing personal lyric poetry is the construction of a self who acts as speaker, participant, and/or eye of the poem. How does the intensely personal exist in a public space, and what are the strategies for translating the personal into the universal? How does the poet invite the reader to inhabit or share the consciousness of the self presented in the poem, whether through first-person or through some other version of a self. Is poetry by nature a solipsistic art, regardless of pronouns—and, if so, is there a set of methods by which that emphasis upon the poet's life is mitigated, challenged or out-maneuvered? Five contemporary poets of various aesthetics read from their work and discuss the ways in which they grapple with the problematic relationship between the consciousness of the poem and the mind of the poet.

Top to Bottom: Tony Hoagland, Sophie Cabot Black, Tree Swenson, Elise Paschen, Victoria Redel, Marie Howe

Tribute to Jason Shinder. (Tony Hoagland, Marie Howe, Sophie Cabot Black, Victoria Redel, Tree Swenson, Elise Paschen) Jason Shinder was a tremendous force for poetry, through his own deeply-felt art and his passionate support for the art of others. This reading by Jason's friends and fellow poets pays tribute to his humor, to his poetry, to his enduring spirit, and to his life.

Again, so much over-stimulation, but I knew it would happen. I tried to limit myself to three panels today, but still, my brain bubbles over: poets whose work I obviously need to explore, considering the self within a work of poetry, and the giddy high of meeting some fabulous writers (Donald Hall!) and being called "my Molly" by Carolyn Forche and told I need to send her some poems (eep).

Each night I've been here, my mind pin-balls through all kinds of thoughts: the cleaning of our backyard, missing the pups and Ryan, points brought up in the panels, getting my books to my car, paying for the hotel, reading student essays, reading books for the class I'm teaching, reading the books for the classes I'm taking, writing my literary journalism piece (on Alzheimer's, I have decided), the people I've met, the emails I need to send, the poems I want to read, the poems I want to write.

And yes, more images here.

224: AWP, Day 2

Top: Paul Muldoon + Major Jackson; Bottom: Marie Ponsot

The Duty of a Writer. (Jackson Taylor, Marie Ponsot, Paul Muldoon, Sapphire, Major Jackson) In America, we legitimize a creative writer by noting commercial success—but what is often left unnoticed is that the creative writer performs a very important job in society—the recording of truth as he or she sees it. With truth, the writer hopes to engage the conscience of people—and perhaps get them to ask their own questions. William Blake weighed out that without contraries there is no progression—and one of the duties a writer performs is to present contraries—questioning authority in order to discern that which is ethical and legitimate. This panel will explore the duty of the writer, particularly from the perspective of a student, discuss the potential for literature to affect social change, ask if literature is an alternative to consumer culture, and explore why so many writers find their way into exile.

Top: Valzhyna Mort; Bottom: Kwame Dawes

Poetry of Resilience. (Alison Granucci, Kwame Dawes, Katja Esson, Valzhyna Mort, Brian Turner) From prison life to the war in Iraq to global acts of violence and suppression against human beings, poetry has been used to speak out and to help transform traumatic events. Through their poems and narratives these extraordinary poets take us to the hearts of these events—a young Belarusian challenges a forbidden language, the ghosts of American soldiers in Balad still speak, and we are allowed a glimpse of the inner lives of inmates. With their verse they unveil the sublimation in poetry. With their unflinching accounts they remind us how frail the human spirit is, and how astounding.

Top: Marilynne Robinson, Middle: Bharati Mukherjee, Bottom: Aleksandar Hemon

The National Book Critics Circle and the Chicago Tribune Celebrate NBCC Fiction Award Winners and Finalists. (Jane Ciabattari, Marilynne Robinson, Aleksandar Hemon, Bharati Mukherjee, Elizabeth Taylor) The National Book Critics Circle and the Chicago Tribune host a fiction reading by National Book Critics Circle Award Winners and Finalists Marilynne Robinson (Winner for Gilead), Bharati Mukherjee (Winner for The Middleman & Other Stories), and Aleksandar Hemon (finalist for Nowhere Man). Hosted by NBCC President Jane Ciabattari, welcome by Elizabeth Taylor, Literary Editor, Chicago Tribune.

Top to Bottom: Ada Limon, Wayne Miller, Alex Lemon, Eireann Lorsung, Melissa Kwasny

Milkweed Editions Poetry Reading. (Wayne Miller, Eireann Lorsung, Alex Lemon, Melissa Kwasny, Ada Limon, James Cihlar) This reading features new work by five distinctive poets—Ada Limon, Melissa Kwasny, Alex Lemon, Eireann Lorsung, and Wayne Miller—all recently published by Milkweed Editions, one of the largest literary nonprofit publishers in the country. Commemorating Milkweed's twenty-fifth anniversary as a book publisher, this event is an exciting opportunity to discover innovative work. Moderated by Wayne Miller, author of The Book of Props and editor of Pleaides.

More AWP here.

Still, so much, so overwhelmed. Spent too much time (and indeed, too much money) in the booths, more thick essays on poetry books. Went to four panels back-to-back and now I know what they meant, those giving advice to us first-years, about pacing and spacing and breathing. I'm thinking about what it means to really push in poetry, but also about self-confidence, and self-awareness, and giving yourself the freedom. (How is it that entrance into an MFA program has riddled me with so much self doubt?) Thinking about Marie Ponsot and how she said that noticing things is the cure for boredom. Thinking about cracking open language and all the slim volumes I have now, in translation, and especially of Valzhyna Mort's work. Thinking about a context for my own work, a context for myself, but mostly, right now, about sleep. Wishing I didn't have to read for school tonight.

223: AWP, Day 1

(Top: Dean Young; Bottom: Marvin Bell)

Union: A Conversation in Poetry. (Christopher Merrill, Marvin Bell, Tomaž Šalamun) This panel focuses on the creation of a book, Union, that was written together by seven poets from around the world. Four of those poets—Marvin Bell, Christopher Merrill, Tomaž Šalamun, and Dean Young—discuss the benefits and challenges of poetic collaborations and read selected poems from the book.

(Top: Ravi Shankar; Bottom: Tony Barnstone + Nathalie Handal)

Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East and Asia. (Nathalie Handal, Jill Bialosky, Kimiko Hahn, Ravi Shankar, Srikanth Reddy, Tina Chang) Language for a New Century brings the voices of some of the most exciting writers of our time. This unique and much anticipated collection by W.W. Norton is a landmark anthology, providing the most ambitious, far-reaching collection of contemporary Asian and Middle Eastern poetry available. This exciting panel features Norton editor, Jill Bialosky, poets and editors of the anthology, Nathalie Handal, Tina Chang, and Ravi Shankar, as well as contributors Kimiko Hahn and Srikanth Reddy for a reading and discussion on this book, which includes 400 unique voices from fifty-five countries writing in forty different languages, broadening our notion of contemporary literature.

(Above: Annie Finch)

Multiformalism: Postmodern Poetics of Form. (Susan M. Schultz, Hank Lazer, K. Silem Mohammad, Annie Finch) Language poetry meets new formalism at last, and the poems fly! Editors and contributors to a daring new multicultural, multiaesthetic anthology talk about where poetry is headed now.

(1: Cole Swensen 2: Cal Bedient 3: Forrest Gander 4: Cole Swensen 5: Brenda Hillman)

American Hybrid: The Meeting of Extremes. (Cole Swensen, Forrest Gander, Brenda Hillman, Cal Bedient, Lynn Emanuel, Mark McMorris) This panel will address the critical premise behind the 2009 Norton anthology American Hybrid: that the long-standing division in American poetry between tradition and experiment has given way to myriad hybrids informed by both extremes, bringing them into real conversation for the first time. The panelists chosen demonstrate the rich range of our poetic inheritances; their statements on this trend will be followed by a public discussion to explore its potentials and ramifications.

(Top: Brenda Hillman; Bottom: Forrest Gander)

Empty Bottle off site poetry reading. (We / being Colleen, Amanda, Bart, and Brian / only made it in time for the last two readers / I am disappointed in missing Alex Lemon, but I did go see him last March.)

More AWP images here. Not so much the wildfire I promised yesterday.

So, so much in my head right now, it all feels so very full. I will fall asleep easily tonight. And at some point, I promise, I will process this all, probably here. For now, sleep, because tomorrow is just as overwhelming.