Sphere at West Chester
 

Great to see so many Spherians at WC this year, and it was wonderful to see Alex honored for his tireless service to us all.

It is always a pleasure to get to see so many people at West Chester that I know from the Sphere, just as it is a frustration not to get to talk to many of them as much as I would like. The time goes so fast. It was great to see Alex in person after so many years of his being the invisible angel behind the Sphere.

Susan

As soon as you travelers have recovered your energy, do please give the rest of us detailed reports! I for one would especially like to hear about the Able Muse event, and I think others would too.

Anna Evans has promised to blog about the Mezzo Cammin Timeline, and I'm waiting eagerly for that as well.

I was glad to be able to tell Alex in person that the Sphere had just changed my life. What a delightful man he is. So good to see him honored for all his work.

Maryann, where can one read Anna's blog?

Janice, it's Dreaming in Iambic Pentameter

Dummy me. Thanks Maryann.

Actually, Anna`s blog (for now) ends on June 7.

I`ve posted some information on the Eratosphere blogs (at the bottom of the main page) for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

The Able Muse Panel was wonderful. Of course, I`d met Alex on Wednesday at the first books panel, but there were many people in the audience who had never met Alex before. Leslie Monsour, Julie Kane and Alicia Stallings all treated us with their stories of how they first became acquainted with Able Muse, way back in 2000, and how they were first published there; also their Eratosphere interactions. Kevin Durkin also participated and interviewed Alex for us. Alex spoke about how he came to the decision to begin Able Muse and Eratosphere, and how they have evolved over the years, including going from online to adding print journals, anthologies, and poetry books. Alex also announced that the next step will be poetry available on Kindle and other such media.

Each speaker read a poem of his-her own, as well as a poem by another poet published in Able Muse over the years, such as a poem by Alan Sullivan and Rose Kelleher. There were others, though I just can`t recall them right now (I`m on my lunch break at a school and my notes are at home).

Suffice it to say that the panel had an excellent turnout and Alex charmed us all!

Cathy

I'd be pretty hard pressed to name anyone who's done more for poetry than Alex, possible exception, Mike Peich. Those two guys have worked so hard at the Eratosphere, Able Muse, the Aralia Press, the West Chester Conference. They've brought all of us together, and their reward will be in Heaven. God bless them.

Dear Maryann,

Alas, I took no notes, and I spent much of the hour shushing young James, who was having a heck of a time in the back of the room playing on the theatre seats and generally committing the kinds of mayhem only a six-year-old can devise. So this report is going to bear about as much relation to reality as a Hunter Thompson book bears to a motorcycle race! ;)

Leslie went first, and did the introductions. She talked about the early days, I think she was one of the first features? She had some good tales of those times, but I'll have to let someone else fill in the details, as James was opening about six fortune cookies he'd somehow secreted during his brief visit upstairs. Each time, he wanted me to read the writerly fortunes from the cookies: "Write as if your life depended on it," "I see a book in your near future," etc.

Next was Julie, and she really stole the show. She was comfortable, chatty, lucid, and very witty. It's no exaggeration to say laughter filled the room as she recounted Alex's advice about how to make a good cassette recording, including a detailed description of how to stretch old pantyhose over a microphone to act as a pop filter! We reveled in her descriptions of seeing literature through the keyhole of a 28.8 modem. I know this because Kate had gotten James involved in an intriguing game of hangman, along with a subsequent full page of tic-tac-toe.

Then it was Alicia's turn, and she discussed finding the Able Muse site while she was in Greece, and how much it meant to her. She also talked at length about Eratosphere, most of which I caught, although James kept saying "I miss Jason" and "Can we go to the pool?"

Last came Kevin Durkin. He began by reminiscing about how he met Leslie one rainy evening in L.A., having previously felt isolated, and then told stories of the early Able Muse days. This didn't go on long, as most of his time was spent interviewing Alex. They started on some biographical details, place of origin, Electrical Engineering vs. poetry, silicon valley in the 90's, etc, and then got on to the founding of Able Muse, the early days, the hiatus, the reincarnation, and the new developments. Alex was charming, a little shy, a little self-deprecating, with an excellent turn of phrase and a wry sense of humor. I know this because by then James, having burned up quite a bit of energy, was sleeping, or trying to sleep, across the row of seats right in front of Jane Satterfield, Ned Balbo, and April Lindner, none of whom complained about his previous riotous behavior, for which they have my eternal gratitude!

So that's pretty much how it was, a pleasant hour spent with a few engaging speakers, with only minimal disturbances emanating from the back corner! ;)

Thanks,

Bill