Poetry Walked

The reading was good -- that Berkeley Rep has a nice sound system, except, that is, for the inevitable but unplanned-for tango with the microphone stand. This poet is tall, that poet is short. But is there anybody adjusting the mic for the difference? And, since there isn't anybody to do it for them, do the poets figure out how to do it themselves? Or do they stand on tiptoe, fumble the mic loose from its grip, or hunch over? Yeah. Well.

Not every poet scheduled was able to make it. The man who wrote "Puff, the Magic Dragon", Lenny Lipton, was supposed to croon the song in the first part of the evening but came late. When he did get up on stage he brought along the lyrics. "I wrote this 41 years ago," he said. Most the audience knew the words. Oddly, I got teary. And that song has always annoyed me. It's a death sentence for the imagination.

I gave copies of Hogtown Creek Review to Robert Hass, Lyn Hejinian, and Judy Grahn. Hass brightened when I went up to him, he's such a nice man, quickly introducing his wife, Brenda (Hillman, also a poet), and I gave my name saving Bob from having to remember it. (Like I would blame him for that!) Lyn recognized one of the names on the cover (Niloufar) and when I said I wondered why they chose to put Niloufar on the cover when she was just the translator, Lyn shrugged, "The translator so often doesn't even get a credit." Judy Grahn was at a table in the lobby when I was shuffling out through the crowd. I thrust the anthology under her nose for autograph. The woman seated next to Judy was saying how much she enjoyed Grahn's Another Mother Tongue, a work of historiography on gay roles. I said, "Ms. Grahn, I read Another Mother Tongue at a time in my life when it was very important to me." Judy paused, touched, and took my hand.

Lucy Day, who has sent poems for HCR to my PO Box, said hi, and I thanked her for sending poems and said I wasn't sure if there would be another issue. I'd let her know. Hope springs eternal, eh?

I've started Lyn's number of Best American Poetry, not out long.