Thursday at Falkirk

Tonight my eldest (now going by N.) went to hear my friend Jodi and four other poets read at the Marin Poetry Center in Falkirk. The reading was good, and I especially enjoyed Jodi’s ekphrastic poems and the Blodeuwedd poem she dedicated to me. 

The last reader, Sara Berkeley Tolchin, was a real find as well. I bought her latest book  - and then, when N. and I had gotten into the car to leave, and I was kicking myself for not having asked the poet to sign the book, N. empowered me by grabbing the book and running over to the Sara, two cars away in the lot, before Sara could drive off. My child is not an introvert. 

After an awkward chat about the urge that we apparently both get to duck out of poetry readings as soon as they're finished – so many people! – she signed her book with the great inscription: “To Rebecca. I’m glad you asked!” and added the date. 

I like the idea of adding a date, or place, or both, when an author signs a book. It helps seal the moment in history, even if the book ends up in the hands, someday, of a total stranger. Not that I plan to part with her book – it’s just that I’ve come into several autographed books whose (to me) slightly cryptic inscriptions always inspire me to think of a narrative. It’s a habit, that making up a back story based on snippets of information....