Denver happened. I yelled about driving an Iroc-Z in New Mexico for a restaurant reading with Matt Bell, Elena Passarello, Kevin Sampsell, Matthew Simmons, and Rachel Yoder. I marveled at Molly Gaudry‘s perfect twin braids and she said it was the work of her training as an only child. Mary and I bought the biggest dreamcatcher we could find and I read with it in an elevator. Lindsay and I drank milk out of jugs while Patrick played the banjo and Zach slapped his thighs and sang along.
I just woke up from a dream I had about the breakfast place where I went with Sarah, Nick and Michael. There was a sizable Austin crowd and I felt at home in scenes fancy and non-fancy alike. I hugged Dollar Store tour friends and read with them, put faces to names/said hello again to Kyle Minor, Justin Taylor, Brian Evenson, Jim Ruland, Justin Sirois, Roxane Gay, J.A. Tyler, Dan Wickett, and Elisa Gabbert. I walked the bookfair floor with Adam Robinson and spent a chunk of cash.
excitement
I caught the shuttle and avoided making eye contact with a trio of lovely poet ladies from California who spent the trip to the airport talking about a panel they saw on poetry saving the world. The ladies were wrapped in golden shawls. I considered writing a story about chapped lips. I graded on the flight all the way home and navigated the damp community college campus to teach for three hours about the departmental exam. At the grocery store I bought turkey sausage, turkey breast, lean meatballs, and egg whites. I went home and made a glass of chocolate milk with extra egg whites. I unpacked my books and photographed them.
home.
