I returned last night from a nice trip to Dallas. I went primarily to read at UTA at Chris Murray's request and at the request of UTA's Writing Center. It was good to finally meet Chris, a poet I have known for at least a year or two through e-mail. Chris wrote a nice piece on her blog about our visit.

Ray Bianchi and I read to mostly UTA students on Thursday, and on Friday we had an informal question answer session about poetry. It was nice seeing students interested in poetry and living poets, especially since both Ray and I tend to work on the experimental end of poetry.

After the reading we were asked to record a podcast, and that was a fun experience. I've done podcast recordings before with MiPo, but this recording session was different in that we recorded it all at once together.

I also finally met both Joe Ahearn and Shin Yu Pai, both writers I respect greatly. (Here are some links to Joe's work: 1, 2, 3. Here is some information on Shin Yu: 1, 2, 3, 4.) I very much enjoyed talking to Joe at a bar after dinner, and Shin Yu was nice enough to take Chris and I on a tour of Southside late Friday night. (At dinner I also met Paul Sampson, but I did not get to spend a lot of time getting to know him.)

On Saturday, after a nice morning hike at the Dallas Nature Center, I met up with the musician Chris Perry. We recorded music all afternoon and then spent the evening with his family, all of whom I liked immensely.

During my trip, I also managed quick trips to the Kimball Art Museum, the Amon Carter Museum, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Dallas Museum of Art, and the Nasher Sculpture Center.

All and all, it was good to visit Dallas again (I went to school in Dallas) and see that it has a thriving literary community.

Comments

Popular Posts