New Poetry at storySouth, and remembering Steinbeck's Letters.

A friend asked me to give him something I'd written down. I said, Do I have to write something new, or can it be some words from a while back? My friend just shrugged and was very easy and patient about it. When I hunted through all my scraps of paper, though, nothing seemed right. And then I wrote down a new thing, which had in it ballet and Mary, the circus elephant who was tragically hung in Tennessee, and the baffling psychology of infidelity.

You can read my new thing, "Choreography for Brief Flight," over here but do wander around. There are stunners in this issue of storySouth.

I was riffing a little earlier off of one of Steinbeck's Letters to Pascal "Pat" Covici, the one included in East of Eden (although The Journal of a Novel is the collection of those letters). Sometimes I think that the best way to write--and maybe, for me, the only way--is in response to someone's request for it. But there's a lot of hubris in that. Who can ever expect to be asked? But I was this time. Thank you, Terry. 

One of Steinbeck's letters to his friend and editor, Pat.

Latino Book Club Reading at Pomegranate Books, Feb 28th

Happily scheduled to give a reading this coming weekend in Wilmington. The event is hosted by the Latino Book Club and will be held at Pomegranate Books. So, on Saturday, February 28th from 3-4pm, come support Latino/a writers and browse a local bookstore and say hi to me, too, while you're at it.

Thanks to Dr. Amrita Das for the invitation and to Kathleen Jewell for providing the space (again!). Also, I'm pretty sure their new coffee shop is open.

The Latino Book Club fosters literacy and the increased representation of Latino culture in the U.S. You can be a part of that effort! The readings are in English.

I'm grateful to the North Carolina Writers' Network for keeping us "the writingest state." Become a member to keep up on readings in NC and to bolster the outstanding group of writers who call this state home. Let's fight the good fight against the creeps who are trying to run us all aground.

 

Reading at Georgia Southern

Later this week, I'm thrilled to be heading further south to give a reading at Georgia Southern! Grateful to the Department of Writing and Linguistics and to the Committee for College Life Enrichment for bringing me. And my favorite part of all this: EMMA BOLDEN LIVES AND WRITES AND TEACHES AND SOMETIMES CROCHETS MANATEES THERE.

So, if you're loafing around Statesboro, whistling at the sky, and wondering what to do, come say hello.

And even if you won't be nearby, would you just look at this poster? Because it is maybe the best poster of all time. It is pink and THE TAPE IS ALL FLOWERS. That's so Bolden, right there.


In the mail...

Contributor copies of Carolina Quarterly. Thank you to Matt Hoffman, Lee Norton, and the rest of the team for publishing me. The other pieces in here are beautiful, as is the cover, and you can get yourself a copy here.

The Carolina Quarterly Volume 63.3

The Carolina Quarterly Volume 63.3