Poetry Thursday and Poet January

After a long hiatus, I came back to "Poetry Thursday" for a visit. And (wow!), have things changed. New website, new interface, new content, new organization. The site looks terrific.

And one of the new columnists for Poetry Thursday is January O'Neill of Poetmom. She and I both live in Massachusetts, but we've only 'met' in cyberspace. (We were both at Dodge, but didn't know it--in fact, she's actually in one of the photos I took there--completely by accident!)

Last night I got a chance to meet January at a reading she gave not far from where I live. It was a wonderful event (even though I was 30 minutes late--parking in Arlington center is a *nightmare*) and the reception afterwards was in a lovely indie bookstore.

I find it interesting--this intersection of one of the oldest human traditions--poetry--with one of the newest--the internet. It is likely I never would have met January in the normal course of my life. We live about 20 miles apart (which doesn't sound like a lot unless you've tried to get to and from Boston's north shore) and my life is fairly closely tied to my husband and children and my part time physical therapy practice.

Truth of the matter is I don't get out much. :) Certainly not on weeknights and certainly not without my family as entourage. It was a treat to spend an evening with fellow writers, to hear the music of beautiful poetry, and to meet January.