Wednesday, January 23, 2008

I am writing from Palm Beach Florida. I am the Palm Beach Poetry Festival! I'm taking a class with Kim Addonizio. Kim Addonizio! I jumped around and screamed when I heard I got accepted, and then I was so intimidated that I couldn't even look at her the first day of class, but now she just seems like a regular human, not an immortal. I actually spoke to her and stood not two feet away! She is extremely nice and not at all arrogant. Plus has pretty tattoos.

The class has been going great. I'm learning alot about rhythm and syntax, things which, as you might have noticed, are not really emphasized in my work. So I think the class will be very useful.

People in Florida are very friendly and no one walks. So when I walk around the neighborhood and take pictures (which I like to do to get a sense of a place when I'm visiting somewhere new) everyone want to talk to me, and/or give me rides to where I'm going. Also, I walked into a shop and asked if there was anywhere nearby with a public bathroom, and they let me use the employee one! I feel like I'm a different planet from NYC. Also, lush green humid tropical and bizarre birds and lizards. Water and sand seeping everywhere. It's fantastic! It's like I'm in an Elizabeth Bishop poem.

All my classmates are nice and knowledgeable, but I get the sense that I'm a little more published than most of them. I already have the reputation of being the group's Sylvia Plath! I wonder how that happened.

I've been coming up with a lot of drafts, but nothing that feels remotely finished yet.

6 comments:

Radish King said...

Did you bite someone on the cheek?

LORENZO said...

Glad to hear you're having a great time. Make sure you get a picture with her! It's always good to have and will look good on the blog. Enjoy the sunshine,freezing in NJ/NYC.

Talia Reed said...

Wow!

Christine E. Hamm, Poet Professor Painter said...

Radish -- I am trying, but people keep running away!

Hi Larry! Great to hear from you. I didn't get a pic with Kim. Hmmm.

Talia -- yipes!

Collin Kelley said...

Hope you had a great time at this. I had a good friend who attended last year, and I have several friends on the faculty.

Mathilde said...

The odds for this happening are possibly astronomical, but I, too was at that festival with Morling.

It was a great time... and I'd be interested to know how Kim's workshop went. It was a generative class, no?