And this could be another chapter from the Brief Annotated History of Aldon and the Hat -- This sign greeted me upon my arrival at the B&B where I was staying during my Austin TILTS.
Day two dawned bright and hot. Evie Shockley, Dante Micheaux, Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon and I had a leisurely poets' breakfast and sought the refuge of the shady front porch. (By the way, the highest concentration of people who drink Dr. Pepper is in the South, so I felt welcome.)Then it was back to campus for an afternoon roundtable on issues of form, audience, politics and anything else we thought to bring up, featuring GerShun Avilez, Keith Leonard, Roger Reeves, Lesley Wheeler and me. That evening the retiring Arnold Rampersad gave a keynote on the history of African American poetry.
On my way out of town I cast a last look at that notorious tower on the U.T. campus, choosing to see in it a post-9/11 beacon of education. Any place that could make this much room for the poetics of our time can surely find a way to survive governors and boards and flourish in the newish century.
On my way out of town I cast a last look at that notorious tower on the U.T. campus, choosing to see in it a post-9/11 beacon of education. Any place that could make this much room for the poetics of our time can surely find a way to survive governors and boards and flourish in the newish century.
1 comment:
Aldon, these are fantastic! Thanks for so much for ALL your contributions to TILTS, including these beautiful photos and words.
Lisa
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