You're right, Ryoma.  In fact, if I have any beef about this conference (in advance!), it's that so many of the panels are concurrent.  I am interested in 2-3 in each of Friday's sessions, but will have to pick one...

And, again, you're right about the timing of my panel -- I can get my part over with and enjoy the rest of the conference without stressing about that.  : ) 

Thanks for the well-wishes!

Thanks, Jessica.  : )  I wish this event had overlapped with your food-infused trip to NYC somehow, but no such luck...  Next time!

. . . though I may end up at one of the others in that same time slot.  (See my note to Ryoma above!)  But if I get to this one, it will be nice to know that I now have only 2 (fuzzy, internet) degrees of separation from the filmmakers.  : )

There is more Canadian goodness on the schedule, you know -- Sina Queyras (who has lived all over Canada, it seems, but is now in Montreal and is, like you, a Coach House Books author) is presenting, and Lisa Robertson (whose most recent book -- also from Coach House -- Lisa Robertson's Magenta Soul Whip, rocks as much as the title would suggest, at least so far as I've gotten) will be one of the poets discussed in a different panel.  Yay for Canadian poetry!

Anne Waldman is fabulousness personified.  I'm so jealous (in a good way) of your time at Naropa...  : )   Thanks for writing, John.

I am familiar with Dionne Brand -- she's amazing!  I read No Language is Neutral back in grad school and have been an admirer since.  I'm halfway through her latest (Inventory), and only wish I had time right now to finish it . . .

When I was in grad school, I was fortunate enough to study with George Elliott Clarke, who introduced me to a number of Canadian poets, and I've been keeping my eyes open ever since.  I'm also a big fan of Christian B Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 ök's books: Eunoia and Crystallography.  There's a lot more that I haven't read, of course; I'm no expert.  But l'm interested.  : )

for the part of the conference I attended!  Thursday's events were terrific, if a little overwhelming.  There was a lot on the schedule and a standing-room-only crowd and so much to be said that everything was soon running fairly behind schedule.  But I definitely enjoyed soaking it up and being a part of it myself.  A highlight for me was the keynote talk by Erica Hunt, a poet I greatly admire, talking about the way the feminist struggle works in cycles, with each generation having to figure out what the previous generation was fighting for and where it (the then-current generation) will carry the baton after it is passed.  Whether in poetics or the world at large, struggles to make spaces freer, more inclusive, more engaged are never over, but have to be understood as a part of the fabric (the "meaning," if you will -- though this is not Hunt's term) of life, for those of us who want to see such spaces exist and proliferate.  The talk was a great antidote to resignation, in other words!

The sad thing is that, having run myself a bit ragged all week getting ready for the conference in addition to keeping up with all my other responsibilities, I didn't feel well enough to attend on Friday.  Huge bummer!  But I was really glad to have seen and heard all I did on the first day -- and I hope I've learned my lesson, as well, about overextending myself...

I've always loved that poem, including its quirky title!  I'm jealous that you've got it mostly by heart (something I find nearly impossible to do) and I hope you won't mind if I reproduce it in Millay's exact words:

First Fig

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends --
It gives a lovely light!

You remembered it much more generously -- and optimistically -- than she wrote it!  : )   So lovely to be reminded of it this morning!  Thanks, John!

. . . are pretty fabulous.  : )  Have you read Millay's biography, Savage Beauty?  A real page-turner, I must say!

Thanks for checking back in, Ryoma!