zirconium

Joanne tells the audience about polar bears.

Mary, Joanne, and I presented some of our poems at the downtown branch of the Nashville Public Library yesterday morning, in the beautiful West Reading Room. The room is also where the monthly Shakespeare Allowed gatherings take place, so between that and March Madness, it would have been foolish to start with anything other than "Practicing Jump Shots with Shakespeare."

The rest of my set (all from Measured Extravagance):

Playing Duets with Heisenberg's Ghost
Schrodinger's Top Hat
The Language of Waiting
Devotion
Deep and Crisp and Even
Hymn

I'm now kind of kicking myself for not including "Proportions" and "Shehechianu," but truth be told, I found myself powering through an (atypical) attack of nerves, so ending the set at ten minutes (instead of fifteen) seemed the more prudent course of action while I was at the podium.

I'm enormously grateful to the friends who attended the event -- thank you all so much for making time for it, amid so many other choices! It was also thrilling to discover that we'd caught the interest of strangers: we were a Critics' Pick in this week's Nashville Scene, and Liz mentioned being asked about the reading while riding the bus.

Joanne's posted some photos and notes as well.

Mary read primarily from The Scientific Method, and offered "My Mother Was a Mad Scientist" cards:

Other pleasures of the weekend have included:

* Time with Mary and her sister. We walked to Little Hollywood and back, tried a vanilla marshmallow at Provence (said mallows are huge -- one was sufficient for three people), admired the felt vines at Retropolitan ...

* A Friday night gathering with Joanne's household. She brought potato salad and spinach salad; the BYM picked up pork shoulder and cornbread from Jack's; I made two pitchers of sangria, a plate of devilled eggs, and a bowl of blue cheese slaw. Good eats and good times.

* A note from Houseboat -- they'll be publishing two of poems this week.

...and, there's more to share, but it's time to head to church. Here's wishing each of you a happy start to your week.