Back from the Dodge Poetry Festival

It rained. I always seems to rain at The Dodge Festival. But that didn't dampen (sorry) the spirits of the 20,000 or so who savored everything they could. And there were Julie 'n me wandering about with Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate of England, and the nobel nominee from Korea, Ko Un and Lucille Clifton, Billy Collins, Kurtis Lamkin, Coleman Barks, Jerry Stern, Taha Muhammad Ali, Ekiwah Adler-Belendez, Robert Bly, Len Roberts, Anne Waldman, Mark Doty and on and on. And the joy of joys was that several Hope grads were there and we had such a great good time together. My reading went really well, didn't pass out. Got to read with Tina Chang and Laure-Anne Bosselaar. And the food!!!!!!!!!! And the setting!!!! And the music and and and. If you like poetry and being with those who also do, where the feeling is welcoming and warm and generous, go sometime. Lucky me.