AWP21 Recap Part 1

  AWP 21 has come and gone.  It will likely be remembered as the Pandemic Conference. The conference that was to be in Kansas City, Missouri, and for me it was, but not in the way I had hoped or wanted. I did the conference from my living room on my laptop virtually.  I would like to tell you it sucked, but it didn't. I would tell you it was great, but that too would be incorrect. 

In the end, I benefited from it. It was cheap with no hotel or air flights.  No meals out. No Uber rides to off site location. 

It was in some respects a lonely event.  It was harder to connect directly with friends and meet new people, although I was able on a very small scell to do so.  There was no swag. There were no hugs. I did enjoy some readings and a couple of the panels i felt were very beneficial to me. There were quite a few instances where my mind seemed to be challenged in my thoughts about literature in various genre, not just my own.  I also feel the conference suggested to me that I should try to move beyond to poetry in some ways. Memoir and essay  most came to mind. But these thoughts were more like giving me permission to try, to explore a bit, not driving me to abandon poetry or  even implying that  I should follow such efforts seriously.  I

I of course ordered books and they have started to trickle in. I missed not bring a suitcase full of new books home and promptly unpacking them and exploring them right away. 

So far I have received the following: 

1. Plunder by Dorsey Craft. Published by Bauhan Publishing.  Dorsey was new to me and I was so impressed with her on one of the panels and from poems I heard her read that I considered this new connection a a big plus from the conference. 
2. Come the Slumberless to the Land of Nod by Traci Brimhall  - Copper Canyon Press  I already knew of Traci. 
3. Our Lady of the Ruins by Traci Brimhall - Copper Canyon Press
4. The Whimsical Muse by Darnell Jones - two sylvias press (one of my favorite small presses)
5. All Transparent Things Need Thundershirts by Dana Roeser - two sylvias press
6. The Inspired Poet - Writing Exercises to Spark New Work - by Susan Landgraf - two sylvias press
7. Deathbed Sext by Christopher Salerno - two sylvias press

 I've got more on the way... I will update you on me new library editions as a result of AWP21 as they come. in. 

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