Washington, DC

The reading in DC was very small, but it felt bigger because I was standing near the front door, and people shopping in the store stopped to listen, at least for a while, and some were rapt. All of that motion and intensity felt like reading under water – having the work listened to like that always gives me a kind of swimming feeling. Swimming in the ocean – buoyant, with currents, dangers, exertion, and exhileration. The store staff – especially Robert, who had praised the book so much in his staff pick -- were gracious and excited about the book. He asked beautiful questions and said he would condense his review to send to BookSense to try to get Venus of Chalk, to be one of their picks, which would help a lot. They asked me to read a poem and gave me the present of a book, Fat Girls and Lawn Chairs (haven't looked at it yet), and said what a good event it had been. It's rare for bookstore owners to be excited when there's a small crowd, but Robert said, "Your admirers are a small group, but we're dedicated." Who wouldn't love that?

I stayed with the wonderful, practical, down-to-earth V, and had a delicious time catching up with her. I rode with her to the conference after she got out of work the next day.

( Descriptions and links to art I saw that includes 19th century western landscape paintings, with all their imperialism, racism and beauty, and photos with profoundly respectful but graphic images of death by Sally Mann. )