Off to See Just About 11,000 of My Closest Friends

Minneapolis AWP, 2015

As I look forward to boarding the plane for Minneapolis AWP and greeting old poet friends and meeting new ones, and roaming book aisles for select jewels to bring home, and panels and readings to attend, I'm happy to say that with this AWP conference I for once have my schedule down to a perfectly timed note. If it goes askew, it will only be because I've allowed it to do so. I'm sure I too will have photos and anecdotes from the conference of thousands of poets and writers to share. Certainly, there will be one or two stories that can't be disclosed, because in the retelling or the bright light of day, the facts themselves just somehow will seem, shall we say, less or possibly more than luminous. In fact, I'm also looking forward to returning home. An entire summer, albeit a desert one full of bright heat, waits patiently before me and I feel great promise in it. This is a summer to finish my next poetry collection which is so very close to being completed. This is the summer I read all the wonderful books I've collected these past months from glorious poets and writers and the books I will be picking up at the conference. This is the summer for household decisions, and the plotting for machinations required for roads accustomed to less usage. This is a baggage-less form of travel.