maydaze

May promises to be a busy month. There’s an element of spring fever that bulks up the attendance at readings. On Tuesday I forewent Ron Silliman at Birkbeck to go instead to the Shearsman reading featuring Anne Blonstein, Wendy Salomon and Tim Allen (above), whose singular book Settings was well worth a journey into London. The reading was well attended despite its coincidence with the Birkbeck gig. Speaking to some who went there and noting entries on the UK Poetry site, I detected a mild lack of enthusiasm with just a faint hint of exhaustion. Harry Gilonis, asked for his response, gnomically reworked the Crystals’ ‘Da Doo Ron Ron’. Elizabeth James was measured. Some noted just how big the book (The Alphabet) was. In my own case I figured that I could always watch clips of Silliman’s readings, like those on Openned or the ones from last week’s readings up in Bury, on Geof Huth’s site.

Last night in the Crossing the Line series, two younger poets, Richard Parker and Gareth Farmer (below), were on the menu. I missed the end of this as I so often have to do, but what I heard was worth it.