Last night

David Shapiro not telling anecdotes.

Star Black loosed a line about "Freilicher skies."

Bob Holman exploded Girls on the Run, warning he "didn't get Helen Vendler's approval to do this."

Deborah Landau read "Ignorance of the Law Is No Excuse" & then her own terrific "Human Frailties," a cut-up of Berlitz French for Tourists.

Pawel Marcinkiewicz: "I come from Poland to tell you we admire John Ashbery's poetry very much. And to prove it, I will now read 'Title Search.'"

Honor Moore was "honored to be here" & read "The Problem of Anxiety."

Ron Padgett read "Two Scenes" (after losing out to Ann Lauterbach over "A Blessing in Disguise") & then his own poem "Dead or Alive in Belgium":

Somebody you thought was dead is alive.
Somebody you thought was alive is dead.
Sometimes it's a happy surprise.

James Tate read "My Philosophy of Life," delighting the whole company.

David Shapiro:

"Kenneth Koch said to me that he was jealous even of John's dreams."

"Howard Nemerov asked me once 'But can you memorize his poems?' After walking halfway around the lake, I got it."

[& after a half-dozen other similar miniature anecdotes:]

"Yes, I've memorized pretty much everthing John's ever said to me. But I was asked not to tell anecdotes tonight, so I won't."

Then he read "How to Continue."

He totally stole the show.

I've got more notes & lots more pics. Maybe later. Gotta get back over there.