Poet Interviews I Saw this Week

 This week I watched several video interviews with two poets.  Actually multiple interviews with each one. 

The poets were Jorie Graham and Mary Karr. I have not read Graham for a while but my exposure to her in the past has been with fascination toward her work.  I did not know that she was raised outside the United States. 

The second poet I looked for interviews with was Mary Karr. There were several interviews a couple of short ones and two longer ones. My interest in Karr is twofold. As a poet and a memoir writer, I have developed an interest in this genre over the past three or 4 years. 

Karr is a captivating individual whose conversation is very easygoing and especially witty. If I got nothing else out of the interviews, the entertainment value alone would make it worth the time. 

But Karr's interest in biographical reading on writers is similar to that of my own. I suppose, like Kerr, that is what has given way to interest in memoirs. The fact that she considers herself foremost a poet in spite of successful books of prose on memoirs makes me feel it is okay to explore the possibilities.

Karr comes across as quite authentic and hysterically funny. The humor is what has convinced me that she is totally cool with herself talking in public. 

Jorie Graham

                                                                       

                                                                         Mary Karr

AWP 2023 From Home or SWAG in a Box

As my regular readers know I did not attend AWP in Seattle this year. Instead, I did the Virtual Conference.

The virtual conference for me this year was a flop. It was not worth the discounted price. 

I did this weekend receive a SWAG care package from my friend and poetry author Marianne Mersereall AKA Wild Honey Creations.  She knows how much I look forward to the swag at each conference, something that doesn't come with the virtual Conference, I have to thank Marianne for this kind deed. Not only a selection of Conference swag but some personal notes on recommended publishers for my work as well   Thank you so much!  (((big hug)))

My eye surgery has greatly improved my sight and cut down on eye strain and headaches.  Working during the day, generally on the computer quite a bit, and coming home it was hard to get back on for school work and writing as well. My good eye, which my doctor says will go the same was as my vision in the right eye was before it was corrected will be going the same way. We will do that one at the end of the month. 

I just want to say one more thing about the virtual conference. There was simply so much that was not available. I tuned into some streaming and pre-recorded conference panels. They were not the ones I wanted to see, and they were honestly not that impressive to me. Perhaps the subject matter had something to do with it, but again, I could just not get the panels I wanted. 

#AWP23