went reasonably well. It was a joint reading by about a dozen members of the poetry society, in a delightful bookstore in a northern suburb. We read in alphabetical order, two rounds of 2-3 poems each. The audience was small, mostly the members themselves along with a few family members/friends who had come to be supportive.

Afterward W, a retired woman who is the most dedicated poet among us, proposed that she, two other women (S1 & S2), & I form a sort of poetry team, decide on a name for it, & start doing readings together. It’s a cool idea! I have to mull it over, though, because we aren’t necessarily the best match from my perspective.

Was going to leave it at that, but I need to process this a bit. S1 & S2 both love Mary Oliver & seek to write like her, & both are susceptible to the pitfalls of “nature writing with moral lessons.” W is wildly productive & all over the map in terms of subject matter. She occasionally does political poetry, which is one of my main efforts these days. I just wonder whether my Latin America-focused political poetry would be jarring/weird among these rather sedate “white” midwestern voices. Even my more personal poems are more intense than theirs tend to be.

I think I should probably hold off on making a commitment. There are women in my ongoing poetry workshop that would be more compatible as teammates.

But I love the idea!