One of the great things about the Miami Book Fair International is meeting new friends like January Gill O’Neil. Well, January isn’t exactly a “new” friend.
January and I have known each other’s work through Rethabile Masilo’s blog, Poefrika, but this was the first time that we’d met each other face-to-face. We greeted each other like old friends and started a conversation that grew too include Susan Rich, one of the poets, which included Kevin Pilkington and Mark Statman, with whom January was reading.
We attended each other’s readings and I was riveted when she read “How to Make Crab Cake,” a poem that is more about transformation of “experience into a narrative of becoming” than mastering the preparation of a culinary delight. I’d first read the poem on Poefrika, and I was pleased to hear her read. But it was even better to know that we had made our acquaintance through Poefrika.
So thank you, January, for a wonderful reading from Underlife, and here’s to you, Rethabile, for introducing me her poetry.
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7 comments:
I'm beaming right now, even though Paris's weather is on the gloomy side.
I still hope to meet both of you on my next trip to the US.
Thanks for the wonderful poetry.
:-)
Weirdness abounds in how the net trawls and catches people at once connected and disconnected. But then also how strange and enlivening that Poefrika is a node for all this. I know Susan Rich - met her many years ago when she was a visitor at the University of Cape Town.
It was such a true pleasure to meet you! Thanks for including me in your conversation. January and I rushed down to buy your book after our signing. What gorgeous poetry -- I look forward to spending Thanksgiving with it.
Hello Rustum,
Lovely to run into you again. I am at the moment in a Cajun restaurant in the Dallas airport hoping like crazy to get back to Seattle tonight before the snow storm closes the city down.This is where I find you!
Looks like we're having a party here: January, Susan, Rethabile, Rustum...2 poem minimum!
So nice to meet you, Geoffrey. Meeting you made my trip!
Be well, my friend.
Same here, January. Same here.
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