AWP= agoraphobia. But afterwards, I was pleased to go to University of Georgia and read with the always charming Major Jackson and Natasha Trethewey. It seems like the phD program has gone through some rapid changes but the people there are like-mindedly fabulous--Ed Pavlic and Jed Rasula in the faculty, for instance. And poets Danielle Pafunda, Sabrina Mark and Lara Glenum, who all have books out through Soft Skull Press, Saturnalia, and Action Books. They're the kind of women who I would have wanted to be in a band with, at some point, in my early twenties or grad school. Athens was nice--although I missed the magnolias, that in bloom, are supposed to be as "big as dinner plates."

Also Susie Ibarra performed. After a week of words, words, words, it was a relief to sit back and listen to her perform. I've been hearing about Susie Ibarra for quite some time--she was voted best drummer by the Village Voice and collaborated with John Zorn, Thurston Moore, and many many others. Actually I think she also plays with a violinist, Jennifer Choi, who I went to college with. Anyway, she rocks.