Dispatch from Dodge, Saturday September 30, part 2

I have been taking photographs since Thursday afternoon, but neglected to bring the cable that attaches the camera to the PC, so I will have to edit in photos later.

The books I purchased here thus far:

"Here, Bullet," by Brian Turner
"Fooling with Words," Bill Moyers (came out of 1998 Dodge)
"The Last Uncle," by Linda Pastan
"Donkey Gospel," by Tony Hoagland

In the weeks that follow, I will try to post review of these books, as well as the CDs I purchased of Glen Valez and Lori Cotler.


This evening, in the main tent, we were treated to 21 poets reading over the course of 3 hours, loosely organized around a theme of 'How is the truth to be said."

The truth of living in the world, the truth of war, the truth of loss and death, of beauty and laughter. Each poet's view and version of truth moved me.

I didn't open my notebook once, just let myself listen without trying to capture anything more than the moment in the moment.

During a break, I walked outside in the chilly air and found Rus Bowden and again experienced that peculiar familiar/unfamiliar feeling when you meet someone you have only had a correspondence with. Funny that we meet for the first time in New Jersey, when we both live in the Boston area.

I had a lovely conversation with him, then we stood in the back of the (SRO) tent to listen to the last of the evening's poets, including Andrew Motion, Billy Collins, Mark Doty, Gerald Stern, and Ko Un.

The Paul Winter Consort took us home with a beautiful set, including whale songs and a communal wolf howl.

I cannot believe that it ends tomorrow.