I did this I did that in Chicago

Wednesday:

-Arrive at Midway around noon

-Check in to the Congress Plaza and then register

-Eat lunch at the Russian Tea Service & walk around in the rain

-Go to a reading sponsored by Action Books, Circumference, Drunken Boat, Jubilat, A Public Space & Words Without Borders. Saw Don Mee Choi & Kim Hyseoon, Daniel Borzutsky (read translations he is currently working on), Jennifer Scappettone (read translations of Amelia Rosselli), Annie Finch, Thom Ward, Suzanne Buffam, Srikanth Reddy, Arda Collins, Noah Eli Gordon, Ellen Dore Watson & Matthew Zapruder (read translations of Eugen Jebeleanu).

-Go to Myopic Books. Easily one of the finest poetry selections I have ever seen in a used bookstore, plus the hours are perfect for insomniacs (open until 130 am every night). I leave with Nina Cassian's Take My Word for It & Eric Basso's Accidental Monsters.

Thursday:

-First panel on aphorism. Fascinated by the translations of four Spanish aphorists translated by Steven Stewart.

-Second panel a reading from the collaborative project 7 Poets, 4 Days, 1 Book. Readings by Dean Young, Christopher Merrill & Marvin Bell.

-Bought the only issue of Circumference I was missing for five dollars!

-Third panel a discussion of oracular poetry. Intrigued particularly by Patricia Spears Jones comments on druidic and Irish poetic traditions.

-Fourth panel on Multiformalism: Postmodern Poetics of Form. Hank Lazer. Susan Schultz, K. Silem Mohammad & Annie Finch. Easily the most combative event.

-Fifth panel a tribute to Albert Goldbarth. Goldbarth read a piece right at the end, really great.

-Sixth panel on the anthology American Hybrid. Fascinating talks by all involved but Cole Swensen and Forest Gander's remarks really stood out for me.

-Eat italian food & fall asleep early.

Friday:

-Go to the bookfair where at a huge discount I purchase David Huerta's Before Saying Any of the Great Words, Affonso Romano De Sant Anna's A Man and His Shadow, Astrid Cabral's Cage. Tomaz Salamun's There's the Hand and There's the Arid Chair, With Everything We've Got: A Personal Anthology of Yiddish Poetry, Nicanor Parra's After-Dinner Declarations, Jordan Scott's blert, K. Silem Mohammad's Breathalyzer, Etel Adnan's Seasons, Dolores Dorantes sexoPUROsexoVELOZ and SEPTEMBRE, Valentina Saracini's Dreaming Escape, Samih Al-Qasim's Sadder Than Water, and a sampler of five Slovenian poets published by Ugly Duckling. The discounts on all of the books were so significant that all of these cost about one hundred dollars.

- Go to the Art Institute for a reading by Tomaz Salamun. Outstanding.

-Return to AWP for my first panel of the day. A reading from Yellow as Turmeric, Fragrant as Cloves.

-The next panel was really amazing. Tranlastions of works from Chile, Cuba and Mexico. The wonderful Mexican poet Laura Solozano kicked off the reading.

-Last panel of the day was a tribute celebrating Thomas James. Tracy Smith gave a fantastic presentation.

-At nine that night the Mandorla reading. Forest Gander read his translations of Bracho, Pura Lopez-Colome and a really great excerpt from an Uruguyan author whose name has unfortunately slipped my mind. Kent Johnson gave a great reading as well.

Saturday:

-The first panel of the day turned out well despite John Yau's absence. A discussion of ekphrastic poetry, Janee J. Baugher and Cole Swensen gave great presentations.

-The second panel a discussion on the difference between prose poetry & flash fiction. Justin Courter, author of one of the best novels I read the past year Skunk: A Love Story, had one of the funniest presentations.

-Third panel highlights were by far seeing John Bradley and George Kalamaras. They talked about the work of Gene Frumkin and Bert Meyers.

-The fourth panel I was mesmerized by Cass Dalglish's talk on cuneiform, especially her comments on Enheduanna who was the first poet in history to claim authorship of a text.

-The fifth panel consisted of more translators (Helene Cardona, Willis Barnstone, Martha Collins and Dennis Maloney). Maloney's reading of his translations of Japanese hermit Zen poets was really great.

-The last event of the day as a Tomaz Salamun reading. Although he read a few of the same pieces he'd read the day before at the Art Institute it was wonderful seeing him again.

Today:

- The Edvard Munch exhibit at the Art Institute which opened yesterday. Exceeded my expectations. As well as having an impressive number of his works I was finally able to see a few of my favorite artists-James Ensor and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

-Two issues of Banipal waiting for me when I arrived home.