A drove of one

A little late in posting about my last day in New York....

Beautiful snowfall in the morning, and I had to get up really early to meet Fagin for breakfast at 8:30 a.m., worried I wouldn't get across town in time and knowing he's a busy guy who shouldn't have to wait. So got to the East Village on time, and Fagin showed up shortly thereafter. We talked poetry -- well, he did most of the talking -- for an hour and a half, then headed off to St. Mark's and browsed together. It's a great learning experience spending time with LF, but I figure I don't have a lot to offer him. He was generous with his time, though, and shared a lot of clever, outrageous, and smart insights with me.

Then it was 10 blocks north to meet up with Padgett for lunch. He was warm, friendly, curious. We talked only a bit about poetry -- mostly about the Koch launch -- but also about more regular-life stuff, like grandchildren, cheap lunches, and rural retreats. If felt good to have this visit: wasn't attached to a literary event, so was relaxed. Having lunch with your favourite poet couldn't be any better. Grilled cheese for me, tuna sandwich for RP.

The flight home was good. I was feeling good. And pretty much as soon as I walked in my door back home, I had to get ready to head out again: end-of-the-year party at Dana's gallery. Had a great time: lots of neat people there, and it didn't feel at all like the kind of art events I'm used to: it was relaxed, like a rec-room party.

A weekend mostly frittered away followed, but some nice time with Dana, and a visit with my friend Mary. This afternoon I dropped by This Ain't the Rosedale Library's gallery, the last day for Dan Bazuin, bill bissett, and Sandra Alland's show. John Laughlin also set up a book and painting table for today. Bought a book art book from him, plus a painting and a framed visual poem from bill. I really liked that Dana spent some time talking with bill, who was in excellent form. What a dear, dear man. In 48 hours, I spent time with two great poets who are excellent models for how to be in one's sixties.

A little residual fallout came late last night from the Lexiconjury "wars" in the form of personal email from John Barlow. That, and my still unpleasant feelings about the moralizing there, moved me to unsubscribe, at least for a while. It interested me that the mods were suggesting that people were leaving the list in droves during the recent bitch-fest, but in fact the membership numbers shifted over that week from 101 to 100.

Over and out.