Easter Monday and a reflection

I am back to my usual self, full of energy. This gorgeous weather and sparkling sun does help. It seems that in that week I was in the states every flower in Germany decided to burst forth. My allergies aren't as bad as one might expect, but we'll see how long that lasts. I'm trying to stay away from the meds and see how well this acupuncture therapy has been working for me.

So I left out the story of the book tour with Day 4: Quail Ridge Books. What a treat! I read with Lenard D. Moore and DeLana Dameron. Great, great friends came out like Troy and Leanna, peeps I hadn't seen in almost two years. They were my last stop before I began the drive to Vegas nearly two years ago. What a spiral to see them both at different stages: Troy is now a full fledged poet himself and Leanna just finished her novel draft. Amazing. There I also met Gideon and Celeste, two CAAWC members of the new generation. I'm really looking forward to reading more of their work.

At Quail Ridge, this was the set list:
Voz: Sweet Child pg. 13
Lesson p. 16
Addict p. 22
Lost ones p. 29
Wolf Rock School
The Pistol's Confession
To see the sister

Great reading!

After Quail Ridge, D and I were on our way to Busboys and Poets in DC, leaving the incredibly warm hospitality of Teresa and Louis in Durham. We went to stay with D's friend, Zemar, who was another lovely host. Funny and giving, just a great person to welcome us into the area. After he got off work, he took us out to dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant on U Street and then on for drinks at Marvin's before the reading.

At the Busboys and Poets reading, I had the great joy of seeing my Penn State mentor from freshman year, Thereze, in addition to poets, Derrick Brown, Tony Medina, Alan King, Fred Joiner and others. To see so many beautiful faces, it just filled me with an outpouring love, which I believe showed in the reading.

Set list:
Believe p. 46
Sonku for God's girl p. 57
Lost ones (excerpt) p. 29
NY Tunnels
Bop: (Extinguish) the flame
Scenes in the life of a lesser angel p. 83
Portrait of a landscape
Dear Johnson
Quotilla (after Joel Dias Porter)

The bookstore bought one book to sell with the rest having been sold to customers. Great to hear that I essentially sold out at that location.

Fred gave D and I a ride back to Zemar's. I was asleep within 5 minutes.

The next day it was a short stop in B-more before heading to Green Line Cafe in Philadelphia. There I ran into Lovella who I hadn't seen in years in addition to seeing old friends and new ones, some there just for the reading/discussion.

I ended up reading Addict, Believe, Sonku for god's girl and To see the sister, all before departing for the dinner of my life. BTW, at Green Line, I sold out of all my books. Awesome feeling, and I'm totally going to bring more books next time.

Luke D. took over the kitchen of one of his TFA friends and cooked a feast for about 7 people. It was so amazing that I found myself knocked out. I was still holding in my hands a paper I had been editing for Luke. 45 minutes I woke up with a start.

I was that happy that I just eased into sleep.

After the dinner, I went to Bourban Blue Bar and Lounge in Manayunk to have drinks with Brendan, Brian, Juddie, Driene and Rahat. We just chilled and celebrated my birthday in a really happening place and the next day, I was off again. Stopped at Driene's house to see her parents and had a super sweet cake and song from my dad at my house for the birthday before zipping off to pick up D, drive to Newark to drop her off, then to the airport and then the flight to London and then Frankfurt. At Frankfurt, there was the 3 hour train ride where I saw Germany waving her banners for my return. I slept a few hours, before going over to a friend's house who was having a hard time on Easter Sunday. Next thing you know, I was laughing with her and another friend over a superb dinner and various types of wine.

Beautiful life I live. Can't wait to share more of it with my friends in the states and my students and friends here. :)