Bits & Pieces of This & That

Busy weekend! Saturday was Girl Talk: A Reading in Celebration of Women's History Month. I've been running this event for five years now. It was intended to be a one-shot deal, but everyone enjoyed it and wanted more. So more they got. We had 27 women poets each read one woman-related poem. It was a joy to read for a packed room of approximately 80 people, mostly women but some men. The poems were wonderful and the spirit in the room was palpable. The reading was followed by a Reception with lots of homemade cookies. One of our poets, Teresa Carson, who does promotion work for CavanKerry Press, recently posed 3 questions to me about this event. She then posted this brief interview at the CK blog.

Half of the Room

Then yesterday I went to Julie Maloney's Meet the Author event in Bernardsville. Her guest was Molly Birnbaum, author of the memoir, Season to Taste. Julie has interviewing refined to an art. Her questions elicited wonderful responses from Molly as she told us about her experience of losing her sense of smell as well as her sense of taste. Shortly before she was to leave for the Culinary Institute of America to pursue her dream of being a chef, she was hit by a car. She crashed headfirst into the front windshield of the car. Her memoir details the changes that accident meant in her life and how she went about recovering her lost senses and understanding what they really mean to us. As a poet interested in the senses and imagery, I found both the book and the in-person interview fascinating.

 Julie Maloney and Molly Birnbaum

Another member of the audience yesterday was the Human Resources Director at the company where my daughter works. Back in 2008 they'd invited me to give a poetry reading for one of their Women's History Month programs. Then last year they invited me back to read one poem as part of a program defined as a Collage of Women. Half a dozen women employees each chose a woman they admired and then spoke about her. It was absolutely wonderful, so much so that they're repeating the program this year. Now as a result of yesterday's chance meeting, I'm invited back again and am now trying to choose a poem. I love it when one thing you do leads to another.

Also in the Good News Department is this new interview with poet Michael T. Young, posted at The Inner Music. The interview is followed by Michael's review of my book, Temptation by Water. I feel very fortunate to have had this attention for my book. And very grateful!