Last night I went to hear Paul Nelson and Jim McCrary read at Subtext's Chapel Space at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford. I did not know Jim McCrary, but I wound up sitting behind him and his partner. His new book was under his chair, under the floor, and I kept staring at it. I got to thinking about how attractive poetry book covers are and that this one was especially attractive. That's when I started thinking I might buy the book. I normally don't buy books at poetry readings. I usually don't bring enough money with me. And sometimes the poetry is dull. But I liked McCrary's poetry. It was distinctly Western, for one thing, and droll and... More > goodhumored and meditative, with those nice disjunctive shifts you get in Creeley's poetry. Then, during the reading, Jim mentioned that he lived in Lawrence, Kansas. I wondered if he knew you. Later, when I went to buy the book, I asked him, and he produced a picture I had already seen, one you sent me taken many years ago, of you and Jim standing in front of some sort of kiosk or store. I had always assumed that was your husband. So there you have a story.
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