A poem by Alberto Rios

The silence of the video above unnerved me, but it is fitting for the poem being read. I need to make friends with silence.

Today I have a meeting to attend at 1-3 and will get some stuff organized before attending the reading AWP offsite reading with Tim Hernandez, Michael Medrano and Lee Herrick this evening.

It snowed last night here in Denver, so if you are here for the AWP conference, I hope you brought layers as advised by B.R. ;) It is likely to melt by tomorrow or even this afternoon, but you never know with the Colorado weather.

I'm not sure which panels and events I will attend, but knowing me, I'll show up Thursday afternoon to attend some panels. I'm interested in some Writers in the Schools panels. There is one this afternoon, but I have a group meeting that I must attend.

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Charles Simic reading three poems

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I need to do some reading this morning and am feeling a bit scatter-brained when it comes to settling down and reading. I am almost done with the novel THE SCOUNDREL AND THE OPTIMIST by Maceo Montoya and will write a review of it soon and send it to EPT. Yes, I am a slow reader these days, but I am enjoying the book still.
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I am still going to read a poem about trauma, sexual abuse and healing at the ONE POEM FESTIVAL on Friday evening and will nervously attend the Con Tinta celebration. Again the poem is about healing more than anything else.

I am happy to see Alicia Gaspar de Alba receive an award and Lalo Delgado honored at the Con Tina pachanga. Interestingly, Lalo Delgado taught at Metro State before I taught there.

I can't believe I've been in CO 7 years. So, who knows what will happen. I may stay here, and I may go home to focus on writing and worry less about having a "career" to make money. The U.S. government needs to help create jobs if they want their money back from people like me. I mean really, thank God my family will have me. But I am hoping to get a second interview for the job in Denver. We'll see. I'm not sure where I am meant to be, really.