This is not a photo of Ithaca . . .

. . . because I forgot to take my camera. Too bad, because it's a beautiful city, even in the rain, or maybe especially in the rain, with mist and fog hanging in the gorges, veiling the waterfalls, all the shale buildings and bridges glistening. Before heading for home, we drove up between Cayuga and Seneca Lakes, which are yes shaped like slender fingers, up to Taughannock Falls. Those three vowel sounds all say it best: awe.

Josh reports on the reading here. We laughed that Ryan & Kira & I hadn't met before despite overlapping in NYC for at least 7 years. How's that possible? Oh, you know poets. Cool to hear R's poems from Down with the Ship aloud, put a voice to them. He also read a few newer ones from some loose sheets, and then the poems in the new chapbook (with letterpressed cover) Poems for the American Revolution. (He read for only 12 minutes tho--we coulda stood a few more!)

The State of the Art gallery is a really swank space to read in, surrounded by sculptures and white walls and rows of friendly faces, including Emily of Cahiers de Corey internet stardom, Jennifer Brown, and Roger Gilbert from Cornell. (Thank you all for coming out in the rain!) We had a lovely dinner afterward, featuring some of the local Red Meck cheese[*] (we think) and some local beers. Yum. We talked ink jet printers, dissertations, famously generous poets' ill-tempered outbursts & all the things one can successfully deep fry.

Here's a shot of the gorgeous broadside and trifold Aaron made of our poems:



*[This post has not been modified, but I have since gone vegan. Yeah, I miss cheese, but this book has made it nearly painless!]