I'm still in a slump. A couple of folks came by the Resource Center today to chat. This pushed a couple of things back. I did get some mail out.
I spoke with a number of people about the upcoming exhibit. I expect a nice size turnout for the Sunday opening.

I made note of my son's basketball games in my schedule book. Gonzaga's summer league begins on Friday. I'll only miss a few games so that's not too bad. My daughter is still looking for an apartment. She was lucky to find a job one week after graduating from Boston University.

I received a nice little book from Traci Currie (Department of African American Studies at Ohio University). It's a book about SPOKEN WORD IN THE 21st CENTURY that she edited. It has a few essays I might share with my students. Currie has been looking at Spoken Word as an art form, communication tool and language.

So another day slips out of my hands. Maybe I'm just missing the sun.
It's a slump and I'm doing nothing but hitting fouls like washing the clothes and putting out the trash. I just came in from working in the backyard.

I did read some Bennington material and work by Danticat. If I had cable I could chill with the Lakers tonight.

My son should be coming home in a few hours from his basketball tournament in Albany. It was his last AAU games. Friday and Saturday of this week are the first summer games for Gonzaga. It's my son's senior year...a city championship would be nice.

Not too bad a week starting tomorrow. It's best for me to stay away from the outside pitches; lately I've been swinging at everything. Later.

I watched a little of the French Open. I'm not a big tennis fan. Where do they get those folks who call the tennis games? You can hear them just waiting for Venus and Serena to lose. Must every Black person be Jackie Robinson?

So I'm taking a break from my Bennington packets. I started packing and getting ready for the June residency. It starts next week. I'll read some more stuff by Danticat tonight.

I'm still excited about the upcoming Smithsonian exhibit. I hope folks come to see it, especially young people.

Getting ready for the morning jog. Will come back and read the New York Times and Washington Post. Most of the day will be spent reading my final Bennington packets. In the evening I'll return to preparing for my television interview with Danticat. I'm almost finished reading AFTER THE DANCE which was published in 2002. This book is about her trip to Jacmel, Haiti. She talks about carnival but reveals some good personal information such as her love for masks. I might begin the interview talking about this book. Her exchange of ideas with the artist Ronald Mews is memorable. He is quoted as saying in the book, "In Haiti we take surrealism for granted." Hmmm...sounds like this is beginning to apply to the rest of the world. I look in the mirror and I see Andre Breton.

Baseball news. I had a chance to watch Ichiro play on television yesterday. Seattle against Boston. Ich went 2 for 5. 25th multiple hit game this season. Most in baseball.

I need to go hit a few poems. Later.

I purchased THE RIDE by Los Lobos. A chance to relax for a day. Subway was packed with folks in town for the WW II celebration. House to myself...

Wow!!!
This morning I took a peek at the Smithsonian exhibit I'm curating. "All The Stories Are True" is going to be a ground breaking exhibit. It's an awesome show. It's amazing to see things that were outlined on paper turned into such a beautiful experience. I think people are going to be talking about this show from June until December. If you have plans to visit D.C. this summer get your butt over to the Anacostia Museum. Here is the address: 1901 Fort Place, SE. The show highlights the work of Valerie Boyd, Octavia Butler, Kenneth Carroll, Edwidge Danticat, Samuel R. Delany, Eloise Greenfield, Charles Johnson, Dolores Kendrick and Walter Dean Myers.

My friend Michon sent me Ariel Dorfman's essay "The Day I Failed To Be Che Guevara." Over the years Dorfman's work has been a steady influence on my own. My introduction to Chile was over the bridge of his friendship.

I received a nice note in the mail from Donald Hall. He liked my prose poem "The Fifth Inning." I had sent him a copy of Crux magazine a few weeks ago.

Received a couple of CDs from my friend Julia:
Ricki Lee Jones, Joni Mitchell, Deanna Kirk and some YoYoMa.

Also in the mail was the latest issue of Callaloo (Vol. 27, No.2). It contains a memorium for Reetika Vazirani and Jehan Vazirani Komunyakaa.
Contributors include Rita Dove, Renee Shea, Paula Span, Kyle Darga and Daniel Wideman.

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."
- Philip K. Dick

Ichiro News: Yesterday he made his first error in 96 games. The guy has won 3 straight Gold Gloves since coming to the US.

In other news...Austria has just passed a very tough Animal Rights Law. It takes affect in January. Pet owners won't be able crop their dogs ears or tails. Farmers will have to uncage chickens. The law will prevent the use of wild animals in circuses and make it illegal to restrain dogs with chains.

Even though this is Memorial Day weekend it's important to monitor the proposed spending cuts the White House will be making. Cuts coming to veteran programs? :-(
After all the parades, ribbons and flag waving it's still important to care for young soldiers who have no legs, arms, or are blind. Respect the dead but show more love and concern for the living; especially the wounded. I keep thinking about soldiers in Walter Reed Hospital, three blocks from my house. I've been trying to write a poem but the words are still crying.

This evening I went to the Museum of African Art with my friend Bev.
We saw Shyam Benegal's film "The Making of the Mahatma." It a good account of Gandhi's 21 years in South Africa. The film captures Gandhi's transformation into a world leader. I loved watching the relationship between him and his wife. Some of Gandhi's actions were painful to family members; still the film is filled with humor and warmth. I would highly recommend this film to anyone wanting to know more about Mahatma Gandhi.

this is a form letter
I send to almost everybody, but
I hope you take it
personally

- Charles Bukowski

The best baseball player today is Ichiro Suzuki. Yesterday he had 4 hits and raised his average to .332. The guy reached base safely in every game during the month of May and in 24 straight over all.

I begin each morning checking his stats. This is something I did when I was growing up in the Bronx. I would follow one or two players for an entire season. The ups and downs of baseball mirrors life. Look at the terrible slump Jeter is in. It reminds me of Bush.

I pulled my Edwidge Danticat file in the Resource Center. I'll start preparing for my television interview with E. The taping will take place on June 7th.

I sent Doreen Baingana a blurb for her forthcoiming book, TROPICAL FISH.
Doreen is already picking up awards for her writing. I see her fiction placing Uganda back on the map.

I exchanged some emails with my friend Carin in Wisconsin. She is working with the Jail Library Group. They provide books for people in prison. I plan to pack and ship some boxes of books out to her this summer. If someone wants to contact the organizaton here is their email address: jailbooks@studentorg.wisc.edu
The Jail Library Group has been around since 1992.

Today I received in the mail an issue of Blueline: A Literary Magazine dedicated to the spirit of the Adirondacks.
Catherine Griffiths has work in it. Catherine is in the Bennington program.

I'm still reading SEARCH FOR PHILIP DICK 1928-1982.

I watched the movie PAYCHECK last night. Not bad. Philip Dick's work is getting more attention because of the world we live in. In Founders Library this morning I pulled from a shelf a copy of the book Anne Dick wrote:
SEARCH FOR PHILIP K. DICK 1928-1982, A MEMOIR AND BIOGRAPHY OF THE SCIENCE FICTION WRITER.

I met with two students. One is interested in applying to a creative writing program. We will continue our conversation tomorrow.

Jumpa Lahiri at the King Library this evening. I plan to go see her.

Many thanks to Don Mee for sending me articles from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about the new Seattle Public Library. What a cool place. I have to get back to Seattle.

I received a note from Kadija in London. Her Sable magazine has a new website: www.sablelitmag.org
In the latest issue I have an essay on June Jordan.

I had a long conversation with a reporter writing a feature article for the Washington Post on poetry in DC. Look for the story to appear in the June 18th, Weekend Section of the newspaper.
I talked about how things have changed over the last several years.
A key factor is economic development; more places for poets to read. I also talked about Poet Lore magazine.

If you get a chance read Susan Sontag's "The Photographs Are Us" in today's New York Times Magazine. This is a powerful essay about language and pictures. Sontag provides an excellent analysis of the photographs coming out of Iraq:

"If there is something comparable to what these pictures show it would be some of the photographs of black victims of lynching taken between 1880s and 1930s, which show Americans grinning beneath the naked mutilated body of a black man or woman hanging behind them from a tree. The lynching photographs were souvenirs of a collective action whose participants felt perfectly justified in what they had done. So are the pictures from Abu Ghraib."

Also in the NY Times today is Frank Rich's review of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Look for this film to have a possible impact on the upcoming election.

I met with Melissa Tuckey at Cosi around 9A.M. I gave her feedback on her stack of poems. Today it was good to be out just like the sun. Around 11A.M I walked over to the Provisions Library where I did some Bennington work.
Afterwards I stopped at Kramer Afterwords and purchased two books:

Elizabeth Bishop's THE COMPLETE POEMS 1927-1979
Jumpa Lahiri's INTERPRETER OF MALADIES

I had the house to myself this afternoon. I cleaned a number of rooms and then went and purchased some Chinese food on Georgia Avenue.

The rest of the day I read Lahiri's book.

I might just watch some baseball tonight. I don't have cable so I'll miss the Lakers this weekend. :-(

Good sporting news: Ichiro hitting 332. This guy could hit 400. Ted Williams isn't God.

I went to the Second Annual DC Area Writing Project Awards Reception. It was held at the National Press Club. Ishmael Reed was honored this year.
Last year it was me. I spoke and made brief remarks about Reed's contribution to American literature and how he was supportive of the careers of so many writers. This includes women writers such as Terry McMillan.

It was good to see Reed (who was visiting DC with his daughter). I think its been more than a decade since I've last spoke with him.

BTW a must read in The New Yorker is the story "Hell-Heaven" by Jhumpa Lahiri. Lahiri's INTERPRETER OF MALADIES was selected this year for the DC We Read Program. She will be here on Tuesday afternoon for a reading and signing of her book at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.

I have one more Bennington packet to do. TGIF
This morning I'll meet with Joyce Hackett at Cosi.

I need to discard some old files in the Resource Center today; clean off the back tables.

Ishmael Reed is in town. I'll go see him at the National Press Club this evening. I haven't seen Ish in many years. He is a person who is very supportive of writers. I've always been deeply grateful for the blurb he wrote for my book FIRST LIGHT back in 1994.

Before my morning run I'm going to look at a video tape of Louise Gluck reading her poems.

I started reading Brett Miller's biography of Elizabeth Bishop.

6AM email exchange with Charles Rowell, editor of Callaloo.

I've been completing work on my Bennington packets. Hopefully everything will be done by Friday or Saturday.

I talked to a couple of students who visited the African American Resource Center. The campus is empty; not that many students taking summer classes.

I called Yvonne Seon and gave her feedback on her manuscript

I received a nice note from Lora Jablonski a student at Lake Braddock High School. She enjoyed the reading I gave at her school on the 13th of May.

I returned my letter and contract to the F.Scott Fizgerald Literary Conference, Inc. I will be coordinating a workshop on memoir writing in Rockville on the 23rd of October at 3 P.M.

In the mail I received the latest issue of Transition magazine. It features a couple of articles about Nigerian film. Transition magazine is one of the few quality black intellectual publications coming out today.

Evening dinner with my friends Dorothy Phaire and Pat Thomas. We went to
Sala Thai Restaurant in Bethesda, Maryland. It's a very nice spot with good food. I give it an A.

OK back to work. I have to compile a mailing list for my upcoming exhibit ALL THE STORIES ARE TRUE. The opening is going to be on Sunday, June 6th. If you want an invite please email your name and address.

Late dinner and a political discussion with my daughter. I just don't see Kerry taking the White House in the Fall. The battle is beyond Bush.
What are we voting for? A new direction in the Middle East? Protection of our civil liberites? A new military? It seems as if we are stepping backwards into the 21st century. We need new and bold leadership in various countries around the globe. When are we going to have a new policy toward Cuba? When will Africa become a priority? What is going to be the role of the UN in future conflicts?

Some of the best journalism right now is being done by Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker. See "The Gray Zone" in the May 24th issue.

Breakfast with Yael in Adams Morgan. I also saw Naomi on 18th Street. I walked over to Howard on Georgia Avenue. It's a way of observing first hand how DC neighborhoods are changing by race, and income.

I received a letter/contract from Joanne Gabbin for the Furious Flower Poetry Festival in September at James Madison University.
I'll be reading my poetry at 8PM on the 23rd of September.

Hi, remember me? So you thought I was missing in action -right? Well, the good news is that I was in Boston watching my daughter graduate from Boston University. She majored in Journalism and graduated Magna Cum Laude. It was a wonderful family moment. It was something my mother (who battled bad health last year) wanted to really see. She was so proud. I spent the day pushing her around in a wheelchair. You get to see your life from so many different angles at once. You realize how old your mom as well as your daughter have become.
The weather could have been better. It rain during the entire morning ceremony. :-( However the joy of the occasion created its own flood of emotions.

Coming back on the plane to BWI I ran into Jyotika (Reetika's sister)
in the airport. That was also a special moment...

My daughter drove my son and I back from BWI to our house. When did she learn to drive? :-)

I took an evening break and went to Mayorga Coffee Factory with my friend Buddy Bev. I didn't know it was poetry night. I walked into the cafe and folks were excited to see me. I felt so old. I guess I'm old school. :-)

Oh, one more note. There was a great review of my book HOW WE SLEEP ON THE NIGHTS WE DON'T MAKE LOVE in the Dallas Morning News last Friday. It was written by David Walton. If you want a copy justlet me know.

A day reading manuscripts, and keeping the mail going. I sent copies of Crux magazine to photographer Roland Freeman, and my Bennington leader Liam Rector. I received the new magazine David Harbilas is putting out.
The first issue of FOUR CORNERS looks good. It includes a few of my fellow Bennington students: David Levi, Sally Ashton and Leah Souffrant.
There are a two good poems in the issue by Peter Davis and a short sweet interview with Charles Simic. Here is info on Four Corners:
211 Concord Street, Haverhill, MA 01830.

The writer Hayes Brown sent me his new novel BOOGA. Hayes lives in nearby Silver Spring. We might try and get together for a chat in June.

Friday evening and I'm listening to Maria Callas.

Whew. There was no E-Note yesterday. Why? Did you see the baseketball game? Lakers baby! What a game. I watched it with my son and we just went crazy in the living room. I thought the game was over after Bryant hit his shot. Duncan will never make another shot like the one he did. Did you see those guys jumping around at their bench? Where was the leader to remind them there was still time on the clock? That's the first thing you do, especially in a championship game. You have to play every second. You don't celebrate until the game is over. Basic rule.

So yesterday I went to Lake Braddock High School. It's one of my favorite places to give a reading. Mike Mariani is the teacher who invites me into his classroom every year. This guy is one of the best high school teachers in the area. What a dear generous soul. He knows I like baseball, so the class gave me a beautiful picture of Roberto Clemente.

I have a huge pile of manuscripts and things to read on my desk. Let me get back to work.

Oh, did everyone see the excellent piece on Walt Whitman in Washington DC that was published in the Washington Times? It was good to see reference to the work Kim Roberts has been doing. Her Whitman work can be found at the following site: http://washingtonart.com/beltway/whitman.html

Here is the information to access the The Walt Whitman Archive: www.whitmanarchive.org

I met Rosemary Winslow at Cosi this morning. She gave me copies of Crux magazine. Crux is the literary journal of Catholic University. Here is their website: http://cuacrux.com
The latest issue features "Fifth Inning" which is a prose poem I wrote a few weeks ago. I've received excellent feedback on it. Liam Rector suggested that I send a copy of the poem to Donald Hall. I did that this afternoon. Included in Crux is also my friend and fellow poet Judith Harris. This latest issue of Crux comes with a CD.

I had a number of visitors at the Resource Center today. I didn't get any of the things I wanted to get done. :-(

I did receive a copy of A. Van Jordan's new collection of poems in the mail. Look for M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A which was just published by Norton to be nominated for a couple of literary awards. Jordan has produced a book of exceptional work. I was happy to write a blurb for this book. The back cover contains endorsements from Michael Collier and Edward Hirsch.

I have to do some serious work tonight. Tomorrow I have to give a talk/reading at Lake Braddock High School in Northern Virginia.

My friend Bev picked me up from Howard and we went to our favorite cafe in Silver Spring. We had want was a late lunch for both of us. Afterwards Bev ran some errands and I went along for the ride. It was fun just cooling out.

In the evening I went out to the basketball courts with my son. I watched a couple of games and shot some free throws.

I'll spend the rest of the night completing work on a couple of Bennington packets.

I walked from Howard over to the Humanities Council office on U Street for a 12:30PM Activities Committee Meeting. We talked about Regrants, Soul of the City Program, Art of Association, and the DCTV programs.

Good news. The bamboo plant that Heea (Reetika's mom) gave me was not doing well indoors. It's now has a new home in the front yard and is growing. So important to acknowledge life during dark times.

Words of wisdom by Richard Cohen in today's Washington Post:

"If we have learned anything from the Holocaust, it is that ordinary people are capable of extraordinary evil."

The is usually the best week of the year at Howard. It's the week after graduation and the weather is warm. The campus has no students. Workers are taking down the graduation stands.

I walked over to the campus this morning from Adams Morgan. I had breakfast with my friend Yael. She's a local writer and activist that I've known for several years.

I cleaned the front area of the African American Resource Center. I've been discarding more things over the years and being more selective in what I save.
While putting things away I discovered a copy of The Langston Hughes Review (Winter 1997, Vol. 15, No. 2). Inside was a copy of my interview with Gwendolyn Brooks. I never knew it was in print. I remember Brooks commenting it was one of the best interviews anyone did with her.

Today I received an envelope from Julia Galbus. She was given a grant by the University of Southern Indiana to travel to D.C. this summer. She will be doing research on Dr. Stephen Henderson and the Institute for the Arts & Humanities.
Galbus will be in town from July 26 - August 7th.

This evening I have to attend a Poet Lore meeting at the Writer's Center. I have a few more pages of the Molly Peacock book to read.

They just changed the Blog format. Why? Oh, boy. Everything is constantly changing. Let me get use to this. I just typed something and it didn't post. :-(

I spent the afternoon with my family in Silver Spring. We had lunch at the Red Lobster. I ran into a number of people I hadn't seen in years.
Silver Spring is really developing into a good place to spend time relaxing. More development coming soon. After leaving Silver Spring, I took my family to the movies. They wanted to see KILL BILL 2. I guess this is a mother's day flick. Anyway, there must have been less than twenty-five people in the theater. I enjoyed the film. If you look pass the violence the humor is well done. I did miss the Crazy 88 from KILL BILL 1. I'm certain somewhere in America there's a street gang with this name. :-(

Well, back to work. Glad the Lakers won today.

Board meeting at the Writer's Center this morning. We have new interim director, Linda Sullivan.
I remember her from the old WPA days downtown.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms I know.

Morning run and a trip to the bank. I went down to Cosi and read the Washington Post and NY Times.

What I was telling folks about the treatment of prisoners in "general" appeared in the Times. Where do you think folks get their training from? US prisons of course. See NY Times article "Mistreatment of Prisoners Is Called Routine in US." We have to begin watching the various private contracts we hand over to people outside the military. The issues are always going to be proper training and supervision. We saw the problem with the private construction of prisons in the US. One has the feeling that things are going to get worst in Iraq. I worry about any female US soldier who might be captured during the next few weeks. Some person is going to be made an example of and another family is going to suffer. Look for a war of images to take place during the next two weeks in the media. Positive images of soldiers helping the people of Iraq will be shown to counter the bad news. The only problem might be new prison pictures. If they contain images of women and children being tortured then Bush will have to make changes in his administration. On the otherside of the coin this administration might have to begin pulling Israel "back" from some of its conservative plans. It's the only way to mend the bridges in the Arab world. I can imagine Powell getting tired of trying to put these fires out. Look for Rice to maybe push the door open for the secretary of defense to leave. Folks are running a war and trying to win an election.

Well, I'm still reading poetry books. I went back and started reading (again) Molly Peacock's HOW TO READ A POEM.

I returned home around Noon and got together with Angela and my Goddaughter, Little Lady C. We went to Mayorga Coffee Factory and had lunch. I treated Angela for Mother's Day which is tomorrow.

Later I watched the Orioles beat the Indians on television. Baltimore has a good squad this year. I think they might make it to the playoffs if the pitching remains effective. So far they are getting help from their bullpen.

Another graduation at Howard. I remember the first one I saw back in 1969. I sat on the steps of Cook Hall watching cars filled with students and their parents driving up to the campus. It was my introduction to the black middle class. I'll always be marginal to this world.

In the late afternoon I sat in Cosi ( DuPont Circle). I read the latest issue of HUMANTIES magazine published by NEH. The focus is on Helen Vendler. She just gave the 2004 Jefferson Lecture. In the issue Henri Cole has an essay of appreciation.

I had a conversation with Susan S, a woman I met after Reetika's death. We sat in Cosi talking about the Middle East and other things. I returned a book to her and she gave me a Xerox copy of an interview with Michael Lerner that appeared in The Sun magazine (April 2004).
Lerner represents progressive Judaism; he affirms the rights of the Palestinian people. Here is a link to his Tikkun publication: www.tikkun.org.


A few lines in the interview hit a chord in my head:

"An occupation turns ordinary civilians into terrorists."

"The growth of fundamentalism in the world's religions is in part a distorted response to the distorted reality of globalization. Global capital is not only an economic system; it is a militant religion engaged in a crusade to remake every country in its image."

Tonight I received a call from the poet Alice Lovelace in Atlanta. She is sending me her new CD of poetry and jazz. If you want more info about it then drop me an email.

I wrote a new poem "The Genesis of Torture" while cooking my dinner. I'll place it on my website in a few days.

I had a morning meeting with Patricia Thomas over at Georgetown University. She is the Senior Associate director of Athletics. Pat gave me a tour of the campus and answered my many questions. She plans to come see my son play basketball this summer.

On the Metro bus to Howard I completed the reading of the manuscript the University Press of America sent to me. I can't recommend it for publication. I emailed my comments to the company office.

Received emails from Ai, Winston Napier and a few other friends this afternoon.

Tomorrow I plan to clean the front desk of the Resource Center; discard some items. The end of another semester. Graduation is Saturday. August Wilson will be receiving an honorary degree. That's good news from the front.

Early breakfast with Naomi Ayala. I gave her some Mark Strand books for her Bennington work.
She gave me a copy of Espada's POETRY LIKE BREAD anthology. Later in the day I gave it to an exchange student from MIT who did a semester at Howard. Everyone should have poetry in their lives.

I spent the day reading the work in my bag and getting correspondence out. I talked with a couple of students. Folks have been dropping by for advice and career ideas.

I went into the Founders Library stacks and found some copies of books by Frederick Busch. He is going to be an associate faculty member at Bennington in June. I read his short story "The Settlement of Mars" which can be found in THE LATE AMERICAN BOYHOOD BLUES. I liked the father/son relationship and how the small boy discovers the joy of reading comics.

My son called me at work and invited me to join him on the basketball court around 6PM. I hadn't been out on the court for several months. My legs feel good from running every day. I helped my son get his practice in. We played one game of 10. He watched me make nine baskets before he decided to really play. I lost the game. He scored 10 quick baskets against me. I went home and cooked dinner. My catfish is better than my game.

I looked at a short three minute sample reel filmmaker Joel Katz sent me. He is doing a documentary on whiteness. The title is WHITE:A STUDY IN COLOR.
I'll email my comments back to him tonight or tomorrow.

I just read Sam Hamod's comments on the Iraq situation. Sam's always on the case. It seems like only yesterday we were leaving Howard to go pick-up my children from the Owl School.
My kids are older and the world is...

I wrote my parent statement for my son's college packet. I wanted to slip a poem in...

Yesterday evening on the way home from Howard I saw my friend Roy McKay. I got in his car and we drove to Silver Spring and had dinner at Vicino Ristorante Italiano (located at 959 Sligo Avenue). We met Roy's friend Tina there. Vicino is a nice place. It's an Italian restaurant run by a guy from Ghana. Go figure. Anyway the food is very good. Roy is always finding places to eat on side streets.

I watched Alicia Keys on the Leno show last night. Why did I have to suffer through Rosie Perez? Ugh. Where's Mookie?
Talking about Mookie, the Black Camera newsletter published by the Indiana University Department of African American and African Disaspora Studies has an interview with Spike Lee. Visit the Black Film Center at:
http://www.indiana.edu/~bfca


I completed my essay for Peter Davis (The Barnwood Press Project) on the books I think are essential to my development as a writer.

Breakfast downtown with Suheir Hammad at the Hilton Garden Hotel on 14th Street. A pleasant surprise was that AJ was there too. He had just met Suheir the day before. AJ is a young man who works for DC Council member Fenty of Ward 4.
I met AJ when he was participating in Operation Understanding. That's the organization that brings young African Americans and Jewish people together. My daughter participated one year. AJ is a graduate of Williams College. About four years ago he was a student there and invited me to give a lecture.

It was good to see Suheir. Beau Sia another member of the cast of Def Poetry Jam was wandering around looking for food.
The buffet wasn't bad. Suheir, AJ and I talked about DC water, local politics and cultural stuff. I gave Suheir a Washington Post review of the Diego Rivera exhibit at the National Gallery of Art. I also handed her a copy of the latest issue of Poet Lore.

Rain. Cool temperature. I took the Metro to Howard. Graduation is almost here. Chairs being placed on the main campus, tents going up. I heard that August Wilson is receving an honorary degree. Congrats to him. Wilson is my favorite writer.
The last play of his I saw was Jitney when I was in Dayton, Ohio. Was that last year? Whew...time goes by so fast.

I talked with Naomi this afteroon. I'm checking out of the HU Library, for her, a few Mark Strand books. The HU library has a really good collection of books by (and about) contemporary poets.

I spent the early morning watching BIG FISH on my computer. It reminded me of the Achebe's statement which shapes the exhibit I'm working on. ALL THE STORIES ARE TRUE. It's difficult to determine what is and isn't true. We become the stories we wish to live.

Morning visit with poet Naomi Ayala. She's one of the few DC writers I see on a regular basis. We talked about writing and Bennington.

I walked from Naomi's apartment in Adams Morgan to DuPont Circle. The WPFW Book Club selected my new collection of poems for discussion. The program was held at the Provisions Library. Josephine Reed conducted the interview with me, requested that I read a few poems, and then took questions from the audience. We had a good turnout. One person who walked in and surprised me was George Haley. He came with his wife.
George is Alex Haley's brother and a former US Ambassador. It was good to see him again. I think the last time we talked was back in 1997 when I placed 12 African American writers on postage stamps issued by Ghana and Uganda. Haley was very supportive of the project.

I came home in time to watch the Lakers lose to the Spurs. :-( Well, it's just one game. Gary Payton needs to tie his sneakers and find his game. The key to this series is going to be Parker's play at point guard. He might just take it to the Lakers. Payton is beginning to show his age.

I went up to Kinko's and got some new business cards made. I'm getting ready for the second half of the year.

Friday. I left for New York for my book party at the Bowery Poetry Club. I had company on the train.
My buddy Bev had a meeting in New York. so we coordinated our schedules. Bev slept until we reached Philadelphia. I read Doreen Baingana's manuscript. She's a new writer making a good name for herself. Her first book will be coming out soon. Doreen's stories are set in Uganda, which is where she is from. I'm working on a blurb.
When I arrived in New York, I took Bev downtown for lunch with my mom. It was good to see her again. She's doing well after difficult times last year. My mom loves company and Bev loves to talk and laugh. It was a nice afternoon. After Bev left for her midtown business meeting I got dressed for my book party.

The evening weather was nice so I stood in front of the Bowery Poetry Club talking with Anastasios Kozaitis about fatherhood.We were soon joined by Liam Rector, my "leader" and director of the Bennington Writing Seminars. Other folks who arrived for the book party were my sister, several cousins from Brooklyn, poets Steve Cannon, and David Henderson. Susann Thomas my dearest friend arrived as did her sister Judy. Susann had every book I wrote in her purse. My book SEASON OF HUNGER/CRY OF RAIN was dedicated to her.

Also attending the book party was the visual artist Elana Gutmann. We first met at the Washington Arts Club, where she had an exhibit. Thanks for Bob Holman for putting this event together with Curbstone Press. I shared the evening with devorah majors whose work is also published by Curbstone Press.

After the reading I had dinner with Adrienne Ingrum and Elana. Ingrum is always working on several literary projects...as usual we argued about literature. The food at the Cuban restaurant saved the evening. Well, maybe this is what you're suppose to do in Greenwich Village...discuss art and eat. I went home to my mom's before the night ended.


This morning I had breakfast with Elana. We met at a small cafe near Prince and Mott Streets.
The food was excellent. Elana and I then walked around looking in store windows. We found a nice park and sat down to talk for about an hour.

Around Noon I went back to my mom's house and said good-bye...caught the Amtrak back to D.C. Yes, I'm still reading the Clarence Major novel.

When I arrived home there was a copy of a new anthology that includes my work. The title is SHEETS FOR MEN ONLY/INTERNATIONAL ANTHOLOGY OF POETRY AND PROSE edited by Lois Claire Kincannon. The book features the work 25 men from 14 different countries. You can obtain more information about the book by going to Kincannon's website: www.clairekincannon.com.


Tomorrow I'll be meeting with the WPFW book club at the Provisions Library at 2PM. They will be discussing my new book of poems. Maybe I'll say something...

I did a morning radio program on WPFW with Jo Reed. She's a good interviewer, one of the best on local radio. She's always well prepared and asks excellent questions. I discussed HOW WE SLEEP ON THE NIGHTS WE DON'T MAKE LOVE. I read about three of the poems in the back of the book which deal with the theme of violence. These are poems I often don't read on the air or at public readings. Since I was on the radio earlier this month I decided to do something different. Jo wanted me to read an Omar poem but I didn't want too. I have another Omar poem which needs editing and additional work.

I gave Catherine Griffith a call and had a fun conversation with her. She found my comments on her fiction to be helpful.

The afternoon was spent in a thesis meeting with Gina Lewis. She is doing graduate work in HU's Art Department. Her work is really reaching upwards. I'm happy to be working with her.
Before our meeting the artist Edgar Sorrells-Adewale and I walked across campus and took a look at the old Wonder Bread Tower. The Wonder Bread plant is gone but the tower is still standing. Someone said it's a historical landmark. I think the thing should be turned into a piece of artwork.
Maybe paint or "wrap" it and build a small urban park around it. Well just an idea, one of the many I try to develop each day.

I'm washing clothes and packing...looking forward to the trip to New York.

Pearline picked me up from Howard and took me to the Anacostia Museum. I ran into Michon and crew from the Humanities Council. They were there to see James Early the new director of the museum.

I spent the time getting my picture taken for the exhibit. I reviewed some of the recorded interviews with Danticat, Butler, Boyd and Johnson. Great stuff. Ken Carroll was the person I interviewed today.
Glad he could still do it. Ken lost his mom last week. :-( She was his number one fan. So wonderful to see parents supporting the artistic dreams of their children.

Later in the day I read one of Catherine Griffiths stories. She is a student at Bennington. I'll try and get comments back to her this evening.

I helped a HU student improve his resume. Folks are making that move into the real world.
They need as much help as possible. Hey...if anyone knows about job leads for my daughter send them this way. She graduates in a few weeks. Her interest is women health issues...law school is next on her agenda.


Yes, I was on the bus this evening still reading that Clarence Major novel. That was me sitting by the window in the back...right in front of the sister from Ethiopia who kept singing what must be a top ten song somewhere in the Horn of Africa. She couldn't sing and I didn't have the courage to inquire about the CD.

Morning reading and a must read is "OLD BOYS, OLD GIRLS by Edward P. Jones. It's in the latest issue of The New Yorker (May 3, 2004). Jones is at his best when he is writing about D.C. and the people who live here. This latest story takes one to the old Lorton Prison that was located in Virginia. Jones story is about Caesar who is given 7 years. This short story will have you thinking about God, family and death. The ending is haunting and well done. Hats off to Jones again. This guy is writing fiction the way the old Lakers and Celtics played the game. Nothing but pure execution. Jones passes his words to the reader without them every hitting the floor. The guy is writing the way Magic Johnson made a ball disappear in THE KNOWN WORLD.

I was able to complete work on a bunch of things I had in my bag. A number of folders are now empty.
My upstairs desk at home is clean.

I gave Bob Stokes a call this morning. Bob is one of the major reasons I write poetry. He was my first mentor. My second was Stephen Henderson. It was fun laughing and joking with Bob.

I had lunch in the HU Faculty cafeteria with Deidre Cross. She's an old friend; we met when she was doing an internship at the Smithsonian many years ago. Now we sit around and talk about our children. Deirdre gave me a ride to the Humanities Council and I spoke with Michon Boston. Michon producers my television show. She gave me the footage of my Suheir Hammad interview. I think we might have to do some serious editing because of the sound quality.

I started working on the essay I promised Peter Davis. I have to select 5-10 books that have been essential to my development as a writer and write about them. Here are my five books:
THE PRICE OF THE TICKET by James Baldwin
THINGS I DO IN THE DARK by June Jordan
THE BIG SEA by Langston Hughes
YOU DON'T MISS YOUR WATER by Cornelius Eady
THE COUNTRY BETWEEN US by Carolyn Forche

Davis says the book will be published by The Barnwood Press.

I have to finish reading an awful manuscript the University Press of America sent me to review.

This evening I have a Poets Lore meeting at the house. Let me go see what my fellow editors Rick and Jody want on their pizza...

I gave a poetry reading at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Maryland. Good to see Evanthia Lambrakopoulos. She is one of the best poetry teachers in the area. She really encourages students to write and read poetry. It was my third time visiting her school. The last time however was many years ago.

I did a taping for Lisa Bass's television show- Sidebar with Lisa Bass. We talked about poetry and politics.

I completed my travel plans for Israel. I have my ticket.

A quiet Sunday. A morning run and visit to the new CVS drugstore that just opened on Georgia Avenue. Inside the store I ran into Jonetta Barras. She is completing work on another book. Her daughter Afrika has been very active in the local poetry circles. Guess she is taking after her mom.

My son had to return his tuxedo to a downtown store, so we took the bus to Connecticut Avenue and K Street. Its been a long time since we spent two days in a row doing something together. Funny how quickly one's relationship with children change. The guy will be going off to college next year.

I spoke with my daughter on the phone. I gave her feedback on an essay she was writing about graduating from college.

The rest of the day was spent watching the Lakers defeat the Houston Rockets. Kobe can still put teams away. Malone had a big game. Steve Francis lacks playoff experience and needs to learn how to excute down the stretch. Yao has a nice shot and might be two-three years away from being where Shaq is now. Look for Houston's season to end this week.

I'll finish reading the newspaper this evening and maybe DANCING ON MAIN STREET by Lorenzo Thomas.

I had a good evening conversation with one of my Bennington students. I need to talk to a couple of the others.

I'm still cleaning my upstairs office. Whew...I need help. So many things to file away. I guess I need a full-time assistant. Is anyone out there? :-)

One of our editors forgot about the Poet Lore meeting this morning. We are all doing too much.
We will have to have our meeting this week, probably at my house.
I changed my morning plans. My son and I went to the bank and then had breakfast downtown.
We bumped into the visual artist Winston Kennedy. Nice to see him again.

My son took the train back home to get ready for a prom this evening. I sat at Cosi (DuPont Circle) and tried to read a few things in my bag. Around Noon I took the subway over to the City Museum to catch Bijan Bayne's talk on black sports in DC. The guy is an "internet" of information.

Returned home around 4PM and did some chores...washed clothes and made a trip to the cleaners.

I watched a little of the baseball bird battle: Orioles against the BlueJays. Look for Baltimore to surprise folks this year. They have a good team. I pick them to finish above New York. Yeah...folks can cheer for Boston in April and cry for them in September.

I'm upstairs in my office now cleaning and discarding old stuff. I'm getting ready for the scholar Julia Galbus who is going to visit this summer. She is doing research on Stephen Henderson and the Institute for the Arts and Humanities. She has a grant from her college in Indiana.

I received a package this afternoon from the DC Public Library. They sent brochures for the One Book/One City celebration. Last year they selected my memoir FATHERING WORDS. This year our city will be reading INTERPRETER OF MALADIES by Jhumpa Lahiri. Lahiri will read and sign copies of her book on May 25th at 6:30 PM, King Library, Room A-5.
For more info: www.dclibrary.org

Musicology by Prince. What can one say? Nothing but good old school stuff. Keep the Party Movin...

Morning meeting with Joyce Hackett. She's the new Jenny Mckean Moore writer-in-residence at George Washington University for 2004-2005. She will bring energy to the DC community. I gave Joyce a list of contacts and suggestions of things to do.

Today I will be giving the 18th Annual B. Christopher Bothe Memorial Lecture at McDaniel College in Maryland. The Bothe Lecture is an annual poetry reading created to honor the memory of Chris Bothe. His stepmother, Judge Elsbeth Bothe, endowed the lecture. Elsbeth and I serve on the board of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS).

The poets who have given the Bothe Memorial Lecture the last few years have included: Stephen Dunn, Stanley Plumly, Michael Collier, Jean Valentine and Philip Levine.

I found two Delany quotes I can use for the exhibit. I'll call folks at the Smithsonian before heading out to do a reading tomorrow evening at McDaniel College in Maryland.

I spent time at Howard talking with a couple of students. Much of my time is spent mentoring and giving folks life exercises and direction.

Dentist today. What would folks do without insurance?? A cleaning and X-rays was $200.
It's a good thing I was given some floss and a new toothbrush.

In the late afternoon I went over to the Wesley Theological Seminary. It's located on Massachusetts Avenue near American University. My friend Sally Avignone wanted me to see her art work. She is the artist-in-residence. Years ago I curated a show at The Dadian Gallery.
Here is the website: www.luceartsandreligion.org/dadian

Sally has work in the chapel at the Seminary. It's exceptional and a must see for anyone visiting the campus.

While cleaning my downstairs desk I finally read an article I had pulled from the New York Times on April 10th. "When U.S. Aided Insurgents, Did It Breed Future Terrorists?" by Hugh Eakin.
This article is really a review of Mahmood Mamdani's book GOOD MUSLIM, BAD MUSLIM: AMERICA, THE COLD WAR AND THE ROOTS OF TERROR (Pantheon).

Mamdani seems to have some fresh ideas. I'm always looking for some. Mamdani claims that terrorism is the last phase of the cold war. The problem we face is not Islam but rather non-state violence...

I received a nice note yesterday from poet Terrence Winch. He is having a book party on Friday, April 23rd at 7PM. The location is the Warehouse NextDoor located at 1017 7th Street, NW
I can't make it but he said Michael Lally is going to be there. Lally was a cool poet I met during the early 1970s. Back then all the literary action was around DuPont Circle and the Mass Transit Readings. Winch, Lally, Ed Cox and others were putting out books on Some of Us Press (SOUP).
Those were the days.

Novelist Marita Golden was in the New York Times today. It was a profile and mention of her new book. The title is DON'T PLAY IN THE SUN. It's about the issue of color in the black community. OK let me look at myself in the mirror again.

I listened to student reports from seniors in the African American Studies Department. Howard's graduation is in a few weeks. The stands are being erected on main campus. Another year...my own daughter graduating at the top of her class from Boston University. Tomorrow is her birthday. Happy Birthday, Baby.

I sent info on Octavia Butler to the Smithsonian for the exhibit. I need to find something this evening that I can use from Samuel Delany.

I read another packet of submissions for Poet Lore. I have two more to do before the Saturday meeting.

I received a nice email from Suheir.

The highlight of the day was a meeting in the late afternoon with Carrie Addington. She's a young writer on the AWP staff. We met in Chicago at the conference. We had pizza at a new restaurant in DuPont Circle. We laughed and talked about poetry.

In the mail I received PEN America journal. This is a cool little journal for PEN AMERICAN CENTER members. It's always rich with essays and poems. The latest issue is # 5. The topic is Silences.
I read the opening nonfiction essay by Grace Paley. It was about her being in the Women's House of Detention (in Greenwich Village) for six days. I remember that place. Women inmates yelling out the small windows to friends outside. Later the place became a library, yet some stories never made it to the shelf.

The program with Suheir Hammad went very well. We had an excellent turnout at the Provision Library.

I interviewed Suheir for about and hour, took questions from the audience and then we both read poems. Books were sold. Suheir's work can be found in RUSSELL SIMMONS DEF POETRY JAM ON BROADWAY...AND MORE. The show is coming to DC soon.

I'm running on empty. I need some serious rest. Looks like this entry is not going to make it either...

Try and read Hillary Clinton's article on health care in the New York Times Magazine today. It's very good. They say she wrote it on her kitchen table and not in her office.

This excerpt seems directed to all DC residents:

"The data we have seen about lead and mercury contamination in our food and water suggest that the effects they have on the fetus and children may have contributed to the increasing number of children in special education with attention and learning disorders."

Should we let some folks out of prison because they drank DC water all their lives? Just something to ponder, just a finger to point.

After the Board meeting at the Writer's Center I went down to Cosi in DuPont Circle. Boy, the weather was awesome. I worked on questions for the Suheir program. I'm ready.

I also did some Bennington work before heading home.

I arrived home while my son was getting back from his AAU games. His team played two games today. The won the first and lost in the semifinals of the tournament. My son's coach said he played well.

I watched a little of the Kings/Mavs basketball game. No defense out there. These two clubs won't advance that far. I'm still going with the Lakers this year.

I didn't get home until 12:30AM. My son's AAU game started at 10:40 over at Georgetown University. His team won their second game. The score was 80-65. He played a very good aggressive game. He has games today but I will miss them. :-(

I'm heading out for my morning jog, then I have to attend a board meeting at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, Maryland. I was appointed to the board a few months ago. Right now we are trying to select a new executive director, so I don't want to miss any meetings.

This is going to be a busy day.

I had breakfast with my friend and fellow poet Naomi Ayala at the Diner in Adams Morgan. I always order the Greek Omelete. NA has to have her coffee. We talked about Bennington stuff. I'm glad she completed work on her second book of poems.

I did some reading for Poet Lore. I have 2 Bennington packets to get back to students this week.
One person was late again. We won't mention names in this public place. :-)

The mail came and so did the latest issue of Sojourners magazine. They published one of the poems I wrote for Reetika. A very beautiful layout. The poem is "Button Your Shirt Before You Go."
Here are the opening stanzas:

Dead woman loving him
from her grave.
Is this the end of love?

_________________

In the weeks after her funeral
he would lie across his bed like
a clean shirt that had fallen from
a hanger in the back of a closet.


I've written about four poems for RV. So much more to say...

It's 8:30PM and I just had Thai food with the family. We are heading back to Georgetown University for my son's second AAU game. His team (DC Warriors) won again. This time by 67-61. The second game is at 10:40 PM. I think there are 3 games tomorrow.
It's a golden opportunity for schools to see these kids. Several of the big programs are represented.


Well tonight and early morning I'll be putting my questions together for Monday's interview with Suheir. Sad to read the latest news coming out of the Middle East. This program with Suheir comes at an important time.

OK. The Yankees play the RedSox this evening. I'm back after a trip to Emory & Henry(Emory, VA). It was like going back home. When I departed from National Airport yesterday the fiction writer Richard Bausch was on the same flight to Atlanta. We had fun laughing and telling jokes. I love the guy. Both of us are no longer on the PEN/Faulkner Foundation Board. Those were the days...
On the plane I read a few chapters of Clarence Major's ONE FLESH. It's the last novel he published. It's a love story between an African American visual artist and a Chinese American woman. I've read better Major books...

I was met at the Tri-Cities by writer and scholar John Lang. Lang is editor of Iron Mountain Review and is an expert on Appalachia literature. We had lunch and talked the 45 minutes ride to the college. I stayed in the Alumni House.

I had about an hour to get ready for the dinner at The President's House. It was good to see Tom and Barbara-Lyn Morris. They invited a number of students and faculty member to the dinner in my honor. Emory & Henry seems to be doing well.
I did an evening reading at the Student Center. My friend Felicia Mitchell introduced me. She is so sweet and is an excellent scholar.Two years ago she edited HER WORDS: DIVERSE VOICES IN CONTEMPORARY APPALACHIAN WOMEN'S POETRY. I read some of my poems from what will be CIRCUS ANIMAL when it's completed. Since it's National Poetry Month I also read poems by other poets. I read work by Hal Sirowitz, Ahmos Zu-Bolton and Kwame Alexander.

Mitchell printed a lovely broadside of my poem "Rosa Parks dreams..." I have extra copies if anyone wants one. They are nice to frame.

Early Friday morning (around 5AM) I read the Louise de Salvo material Julia Galbus sent to me.
I might share some of the ideas with my Bennington students.

Robin Reid drove me back to the Tri Cities Airport this morning. We had a good conversation about politics as well as literature. It was like old times. Robin was the person who transported me back and forth from Emory & Henry and the airport when I was a DuPont Visiting Scholar at the college several years ago.

On the flight back to DC I completed the reading of Amy Gerstler's GHOST GIRL. Be sure to read the following poems:
"A Widow"
"Buddha Sonnet 3
"Falsetto"

In Amy's book is a line that will remain in my head for a long time. It's the first line of her poem "Listen, Listen, Listen":

MUST YOU PRAY SO LOUD? IS YOUR GOD HARD OF HEARING?

Whew...I must share this line with folks when I go overseas later this year.

Warm weather in DC this weekend. I'm heading over to Georgetown University tomorrow to watch my son play basketball. I also need to get ready for my program with Suheir on Monday.

But first let me get ready and watch the Yankees put a hurt on the Sox.

I got to work and completed the blurb for Rebecca Warner's new book NORTHWEST PASSAGE. Rebecca is one of my students from Bennington. She is doing very well working at Bucknell. Look to hear more from this woman.

I called a cab from Howard in an effort to get to the Anacostia Museum in SE. What a difficult task in the rain. Good thing I had a map for the cabdriver. I did several video shoots at the Museum for the upcoming exhibit. I recorded the statement I drafted that attempts to explain the purpose of the exhibit.

I read a packet of Poet Lore submissions. I try to do a packet almost everyday.

In my mail I received a video tape of The Writer's Tale Show I did at the University of Maryland (UMTV). I also received my Fulbright check,so now I can purchase my ticket to Israel.

Special thanks to my friend Julia Galbus for sending me a copy of chapter 7 from Louise de Salvo's WRITING AS A WAY OF HEALING. I'll slip it into my travel bag.

Thanks also to Suheir for the nice card. I'm looking forward to our program on Monday.

Today was my son's 17th birthday. Next year he will be going off to college. This weekend he has more AAU basketball games to play in. I just had a few slices of birthday cake. :-) Next week is my daughter's 22nd birthday. A few more weeks and she will be graduating from college.

A slow day. My old friend Donna Mungen was in town from L.A. Donna is a writer/journalist. She has done things for USA Today and NPR. She was at the AWP conference in Chicago. We had lunch at the HU faculty dinning hall. It's always funny eating there. It's a place I go maybe once every two months.

My focus tonight is on completing my Bennington work and reading a couple of manuscripts on my desk. I'll work until 3AM and then call it quits.

Tomorrow I'll pack for Emory & Henry. I'll use the travel time to do some reading.

Rain all day. Some parts of the city are nice and green. I'm just trying to reduce the pile on two desks. I completed exhibit work on Valerie Boyd. I also received an email from her. She will be the first writer folks will see when they visit the show. I'll have to do a couple more folks tomorrow.
I just have to write good short bio notes and find a couple of good quotes from each author.

I had fun talking with my friends who work at WHUT. They were in Founders Library this morning shooting an interview with Dr. Russell Adams. I told them I was excited about Jennifer Lawson taking charge of the station in a few months. She should be able to place the television station on the map. It's a place that has so much potential.

I had to make the trek to the Writer's Center in the late afternoon. I was appointed to the board a few months ago. A couple of us sat around talking with DeeDee Clendenning the managing editor of Poet Lore. By coincidence the new issue arrived. I helped unload the boxes. This is a nice issue. David Lehman (a contributing editor) did our "Poets Introducing Poets" section. He selected the work of Jay Leeming. If you want copies of the journal go to the Center website:
www.writer.org.

This issue contains a review of THE PORCELAIN APES OF MOSES MENDELSSOHN which was written by Jean Nordhaus. One of my former Bennington students (Leslie McGrath) has two reviews in this new issue. I think this magazine is looking better and better. We are publishing many good poets. One can measure a good poetry magazine by the number of new writers it discovers.

It takes so long for me to travel from the Center (Bethesda, Md) back to my house. I have to take a train and a bus. :-(

Two good things in the mail:
Poets & Writers has Percival Everett on the cover. Glad to know he has a couple of new books coming out. His ERASURE was one of the best books I've read in the last five years. I could relate to the main character who is a writer and lives on the same street I live here in DC. The main character also taught at Bennington. Yep...all the stories are true.

In the mail was a copy of GHOST GIRL by Amy Gerstler. Thanks Amy. I'm packing this book to take on my trip to Emory & Henry this week. Amy gave a fantastic reading at Bennington last year.

Well, I've been enjoying that new Eric Clapton CD. Nothing like the music of Robert Johnson when it's raining outside and your heart is dry.

I did a radio interview on WPFW this afternoon. I talked about HOW WE SLEEP ON THE NIGHTS WE DON'T MAKE LOVE. I mentioned the cover art work of Edgar H. Sorrells-Adewale. This is the second book that we've collaborated on. I also mentioned that this new book is dedicated to Zoe Anglesey and Reetika Vazirani. Both of them died last year. They were two of my best friends. I have a poem for Reetika coming out in the next issue of Sojourners magazine.

I left the WPFW studio (located in Adams Morgan) and walked down to DuPont Circle. I stopped at the music store and purchased a copy of Eric Clapton's ME AND MR. JOHNSON. This is cool CD. All the songs were written by Robert Johnson. It opens with "When You Got A Good Friend" and you can really get happy with "They're Red Hot."

I sat at a table in Cosi (DuPont Circle) and read submissions to Poet Lore. I have an editor's meeting on the 24th of April.

I just received a statement from T. J. Sallah for the Smithsonian exhibit. T. J. has written a biography of Chinua Achebe. Since the title of the Smithsonian exhibit is "All The Stories Are True" I wanted someone to expand on this statement by Achebe which can be found in his novel THINGS FALL APART. T.J. has done a good job.

This evening I'll continue reading Bennington manuscripts. I also want to read more of Doreen Baingana's collection of short stories. She is a writer from Uganda who recently won an AWP Award for new fiction. Her poetry can be found in my anthology BEYOND THE FRONTIER. Doreen's manuscript is TOPICAL FISH: STORIES OUT OF ENTEBBE. I hope to be able to get a blurb off to her by Wednesday. The book consists of 8 stories. At Danticat's reading last week at Vertigo I introduced Doreen to Renee Shea. Shea has been doing a number of excellent profiles of young women writers for POETS & WRITERS. Shea did P&W profile of Danticat as well as Vazirani. Maybe Doreen will be next. She is a writer to watch.

A day of African JumpBall. My son is playing in the Charlie Weber Easter HoopFest. The games are being held in a number of locations around town. Nyere's team (DC Warriors) played at Galluadet University. They won their first game 91-56, the second they won 62-44. There is going to be a third game tonight at 9:30 PM. If they win then they advance to another game tomorrow.
Nothing but scouts and coaches at these games. Representatives from Notre Dame, Clemson, and many schools along the east coast. Former NBA star Buck Williams was in the gym. This is a good opportunity for young people to make a name for themselves and maybe get a scholarship to college.

Around 2 PM I took a break from the games and had lunch with Denise at Union Station.

I'm glad I did some morning work on my Bennington packets; I need to return them to my students by Friday or Saturday.

Early morning conversation with Charles Johnson about Madame Rice. I've always been critical of Rice and her lack of knowledge of the Middle East. HomeGirl probably knows more about football than Islam. Anyway I went out for my morning run after a fun exchange with CJ.

I need to stop buying two chocolate donuts every morning. :-( Karen Washington (graduate of Howard) came by my office with her son who is interested in attending the Capstone. They are living in Ohio. Karen would like her son to follow in her footsteps. She was a sister who really had it together when I met her many years ago. Good to see folks having beautiful children. Her son is 17.
My son turns 17 next week. It's important to take timeout and talk to these young men...the job is getting them to talk. I'm trying to listen more.

I worked on pulling together material for the Smithsonian exhibit. I completed work on Eloise Greenfield and started on Charles Johnson. I selected some quotes from Johnson's last book TURNING THE WHEEL: ESSAYS ON BUDDHISM AND WRITING. One line that I want to place on the wall is the following:

The black experience in America, like the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, begins with suffering.

I think folks will be able to walk around the gallery come to this line and meditate on it.

Julia Galbus sent me the outline of her proposal that was accepted for the Furious Flower Conference in September. The title of her paper is "What Does The E Stand For? It will be an examination of my work and career. It's been great working with Julia the last two years.


I spent the afternoon being interviewed by Denni Wagner for a program that will be aired on DCTV.
Denni interviewed me on the topic of black men. I made reference to images in the media, historical images, as well as shared comments about my own son. Denni is a cool person. She works as the Management assistant at the State of Bavaria Liaison Office.

On the way home (on the S2 bus) I pulled a copy of ILLITERATE HEART by Meena Alexander from my bag. Outside the sun was out. Good Friday. Amen. Nothing but poetry in my hands.

A morning meeting with my friend Yael at Tryst in Adams Morgan. I reviewed an essay she had written and gave her comments. I dropped by the bank to cash a check and then headed to Howard.

I completed work on Danticat's copy for the Smithsonian exhibit. I pulled a few things on Charles Johnson. I think I can complete everything by the 15th.

I just noticed that I have about 7 manuscripts I need to read. I have a book to blurb and one to review and send comments back to the publisher; it will help them to decide whether they want to publish it or not.

The evening was the best part of the day. I laughed and joked with my friend Monica for a few hours.

OK...now let me read one of those manuscripts.

This evening I participated in the Claude Brown Writers & Readers Series. It was held at the SisterSpace & Books store on 1515 U Street, NW. The Series is an annual program for adult learners sponsored by the University of the District of Columbia, State Education Agency. The Series brings together writers of color with adult learners. The goal is to stimulate their interest in reading and writing. I was interviewed by Junette Pinkney about my memoir FATHERING WORDS. This lasted for about an hour, then we took questions from the audience. The second part of the program consisted of doing a writing exercise.

________________________________________________________________________________

I wrote the following letter to my sister yesterday. It contains many of the things that I've been feeling the last few days. I have a deep respect for human life. I also have a strong concern for the protection of my cultural values and beliefs. I find so little tolerance for difference in the world today. I see so little compassion for one's fellow human being.
I think Malcolm X was right about keeping one's religion private. I think we should all worship the way we want. All holy places should be protected. I hate when people decide they want to kill in the name of God or that God has blessed them to kill. Sometimes I read the newspapers and I think I'm living in the Middle Ages. Are there Christians, Jews and Muslims on Mars? Should women wear veils over their space helmets or under them?

Hi Marie,
I can't vote for Kerry right now. I might if he places Edwards on the ticket as his VP. I don't think he can get elected without serious help. I think the CIA and other agencies failed Bush. I've never been a fan of C. Rice. She really has no knowledge of how the world has changed since the end of the Cold War. Rice is an expert on Europe not the Middle East.
Many of these folks have no understanding of Islam. I serve as VP of the Board of the major progressive Think Tank in the country and they have no understanding of Islam. There is a real battle taking place in the world right now. There is an Islamic Revolution taking place and it fuels historical conflicts like the Palestinian struggle.The Bush push into Iraq has opened the door to the establishment of an Islamic nation. This will challenge this country more than Saddam. It also will force us to compromise on democracy. Did you see how we closed the Islamic newspaper in Iraq because we didn't like what it was saying? What if the people in Iraq vote and decide they want an Islamic form of government? What are we going to do then? Tell them no? We are also fighting against people who value death over life. No win situation. You can't stop suicide bombers. You also have a lost generation of Middle Eastern youth who have nothing to lose because they come out of Palestinian camps or they have lost loved ones, lack education (except the Koran) and are unemployed. You can expect a terrorist act against the US prior to the November elections. You have Right wing groups within the US who will do it because everyone around the world is against stable governments. We see this is Africa, Latin America, etc. The death of ideology (Socialism/Communism) means the only alternative to capitalism is organized crime and materialism. This is why little kids in Sierra Leone are walking around with guns willing to kill anyone and sell their services to some kingpin strongman. Examine any picture in the newspaper from overseas and all you see are young men running wild and chanting nonsense and holding guns above their heads and stones in their hands. This is a chapter right out of the novel LORD OF THE FLIES. These kids should be rounded up and locked in prisons and reintroduced to law and civilization. They have no respect for authority. This is how the door to facism opens. People become afraid and look for someone to protect them.
They will give up all their rights for protection. They will compromise history and decency.
You can't be president of the United States and have people hanging your dead citizens over poles and telephone wires. If it was my call I would quickly wipe out a town or two. It's sad but that's what it's going to take. The world is like a Clint Eastwood movie. If you don't draw a line in the sand folks will knock down your sand castles or World Trade Centers. After the dust settles I want to know who has God on their side.


Ethelbert

What a fun day. Remica Bingham dropped by the African American Resource Center around 10AM.
It gave us a chance to laugh and talk. Rem Rem is a wonderful Bennie. She graduates from the Bennington program in January 2005. We discussed all the projects she should be doing. One is interviewing African American male authors. So far she has interviewed Tim Siebles and myself. Next on her list is A. Van Jordan.

I told Remica to stay around and meet Eloise Greenfield and Ahmos Zu-Bolton. Eloise was on campus to be interviewed for my Smithsonian exhibit. Ahmos was in town looking for work and checking on his daughter Amber who attends Howard. It was good to see Ahmos and Eloise. So many years gone by. 30?

I thought my interview with Eloise went well. The film crew shot from about 2-3:30 PM. We had to wait for noise to stop outside the building as well as in the corridors. I asked Eloise questions about her workplace and specific questions about writing for children.

It was good introducing Ahmos to Remica. The guy is a walking anthology. Remica was also in town to do a reading at the Mt. Pleasant Public Library. The event was coordinated by Naomi Ayala.

Around 5PM my friend Bev arrived and we drove out to Vertigo to see Edwidge Danticat. We had dinner with Michon Boston, my television producer for Humanities Profiled. She shot some B roll for our upcoming interview with Danticat.

Edwidge read from her new book THE DEW BREAKER

While in the store I did some shopping. I picked up the following books:

WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED LOVE by Kim Addonizio.
ILLITERATE HEART by Meena Alexander
ONE FLESH by Clarence Major
RUSSELL SIMMONS DEF POETRY JAM ON BROADWAY AND MORE

I wanted to purchase Kim's book in Chicago at the AWP conference but all the copies were sold.
I needed the Def Poetry book in order to prepare for my upcoming program with Suheir Hammad

OK. I'll take a nap and get some reading done around 3AM.

It was cold today. I took the Metro to College Park and the University of Maryland. Judith Patterson interviewed me for her television show THE WRITER'S TALE. I read a few poems from HOW WE SLEEP ON THE NIGHTS WE DON'T LOVE and talked about how I spend my time as a writer. The writer being recorded before me was Patricia Sullivan. We met several years ago.
She teaches in the History and African American Studies department at the University of South Carolina. Her next book is going to be a history of the NAACP.

As soon as I returned to Howard I got a call from poet Ahmos Zu-Bolton. He is in town for a couple of days, exploring job opportunities. We laughed about being "old school" in the literary world. It will be good to see him tomorrow. Ahmos introduced me to the work of a number of writers including May Miller, Wanda Coleman, Ai and Yusef Komunyakaa. His Hoo-Doo magazine was an important small press magazine back in the seventies. The other two were Obsidian and Callaloo. It would be good for someone to do a RT with Alvin Aubert, Charles Rowell and Ahmos.

I worked on my interview questions for Eloise Greenfield. She will be coming to my office tomorrow afternoon. Her new children's book is IN THE LAND OF WORDS published by HarperCollins (Amistad).

Talking about books I received in the mail today a copy of Julie Fay's THE WOMAN BEHIND YOU.
She teaches at East Carolina University. It was good to see her on my recent trip there.

I got a check from ALA. Money from heaven. I forgot about my honorarium for doing the February PLA speech in Seattle.

OK. Game time. College championship tonight.

I received a nice email this morning from Ai. It's always good to hear from her. I think her work should be required reading in creative writing classes. I hope she completes that novel she was working on.

I had to walk all the way to the post-office to pay my bills on a Sunday. Why? Because the Postal Service is removing mailboxes from the neighborhood. It's a dumb decision. It has nothing to do with Homeland Security. It seems someone is counting how many pieces of mail is in each box. Boxes that don't measure up are removed from the streets. This can make it very difficult for an elderly person to mail letters and bills. I could walk around the corner to mail a letter a week ago. Now, I have to almost take a bus. Soon everything will be done online.

I finally was able to clean my backyard. I did about two hours of work. Removing leaves and branches, pulling weeds, etc.

I watched the Lakers lose. :-(
I still think this is the team that's going to win another title.

I'll spend the evening washing clothes and cleaning my desk. I have a television interview tomorrow on the campus of the University of Maryland. I plan to read about 3 poems from HOW WE SLEEP ON THE NIGHTS WE DON'T MAKE LOVE. Right now it looks like I'll read one of my Omar poems and maybe "May 26, 2002" and "XandO."

This weeks looks busy. I'll have much to share in a moment.

I made it to the bank around 9AM. With a few dollars in my pocket I went to Union Station and met Tree Swenson (Executive Director of the Academy of American Poets). Her organization is the sponsor of National Poetry Month. We took the Metro to Gallery Place and walked across the street to the King Library. The street was closed for the Public Library poetry festival. I introduced Tree to members of the library staff. Poets Ken Carroll and DJ Renegade were already there waiting for things to kickoff. I introduced Delores Kendrick (poet laureate of Washington DC) and Tree to the earlybird audience.

The weather was cold. Folks sat outside and listened to poetry and kept warm. That's a good thing.

After lunch with Tree at a nearby Cosi I returned to the festival and read several of my Omar poems.They were well received. Since it was an outside reading (and cold) I decided to go with humor. I kept my reading short.

I sat around and listened to a few other poets. One was Afrika Abney. I remember her when she was in the womb of Jonetta Barras. Whew...we are all getting old.

Tree and I walked from the King Library down to the Mall. I forgot it was Cherry Blossom time. There were thousands and thousands of people out. This city is really beautiful. We walked to where we could see the Jefferson Memorial. For a few minutes we stopped and went inside the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Fighting the crowds we made it back down to the Metro and Union Station. It was good spending time talking with Tree. A long time ago we were the co-vice presidents of AWP.

Well, let me run downstairs and watch some Final Four basketball.

Morning meeting with Pearline Waldrop. She's the Visual Information Specialist for the Design Department of the Anacostia Museum (Smithsonian). She's the person at the center of the ALL THE STORIES ARE TRUE exhibit. I have to complete the text for the exhibit by April 15th. I gave her some copy of what I've been working on the last few days. We are going to have 9 writers in the show.
Since some writers never responded back to our calls we cut them from the list. The writers we will present in June are: Kenneth Carroll, Edwidge Danticat, Delores Kendrick, Octavia Butler, Eloise Greenfield,Walter Dean Myers, Charles Johnson, Valerie Boyd, and Samuel Delany. This is a serious playoff team. Pearline and I discussed floor plans and artifacts. I viewed the video interview that was done with Boyd.

I spent the afternoon meeting with Ada Babino. She is an African American filmmaker who graduated from Howard several years ago. She has been active representing independent filmmakers. We talked about having a film camp during the summer on the campus of Howard University. You can learn more about Ada from her site: www.Blackfilmmakers.net


Talking about film....I want to see "United States of Leland" which was just released. I try to see everything with Don Cheadle in it.

When I get some extra cash I'm buying a copy of Eric Clapton's Me and Mr. Johnson.

Well it's Friday and it was a long week. The DC Public Library Poetry Festival is tomorrow. Can anyone stop the rain? I have to meet Tree Swenson at Union Station in the morning.

Sunday I hope to relax and spend time with my friend Susan. I'm glad she kept talking about READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN. That's what I will continue reading this evening.

I took my early morning run. 10 AM Radio interview on WPFW with Josephine Reed. Her programs are always fun to do. I was there with librarian Ellie Dore. We talked about National Poetry Month and the upcoming festival being sponsored by the DC Public Library on Saturday. Ken Carroll and other poets were also on the program. I read a couple of my new poems: THE FIFTH INNING and THE HEALING QUILT.

A typical day at Howard University with phones ringing and students to help.

Two students from Catholic University came by to record me reading a couple of poems. I have work coming out in the next issue of CRUX. That's the literary magazine being published on that campus. The next issue will contain a CD.

I received in the mail a copy of Yvonne Bynoe's new book: STAND & DELIVER: Political Activism, Leadership and Hip Hop Culture. She listed me in her acknowledgements. I thought that was a kind gesture. Look for Bynoe to become one of our new public intellectuals.

I pulled my files on Suhier Hammad. We will be doing a program together at the Provisions Library on April 19th. It will be a dialogue/conversation with her. Suheir is one of the writers I really admire today. She seems to be walking in the footsteps left by June Jordan. What a beautiful person.

I had chance to go to a cafe after work with my good friend Buddy Bev. Good thing I'm not drinking beer or wine after a long day.

Tonight I have to complete work on my Smithsonian exhibit. The opening at the Anacostia Museum is just two months away.

March 29-31

MONDAY

I read Andrew Solomon's op-ed piece in the New York Times. The essay included a line I wrote down:

The opposite of depression is not happiness but vitality.

Solomon is the author of THE NOONDAY DEMON. It's one of the best books on depression. A couple of friends told me about it.

I read the newspaper while in National Airport and waiting for a flight to North Carolina. I spoke briefly with Johnetta Cole who was trying to catch a plane. She has done a remarkable job as a college president the last several years. I remember when she lived in Massachusetts. It was because of her I had a chance to visit Cuba back in 1976.

I was met in the Raleigh/Durham airport by Brett Hursey and Sharon Raynor. They both teach at Eastern North Carolina University. We had a fun ride to Greenville.


TUESDAY

Around Noon I was picked up from my hotel by my friend Julia Faye. I taught her class. Her students had been reading my book WHISPERS, SECRETS AND PROMISES. They had good questions and we laughed quite a bit.

Resa and Patrick Bizzarro escorted me to my afternoon lecture. I spoke about the development of the African American Resource Center at Howard as well as new directions for African American research.

After a nice dinner with students and faculty at Eastern North Carolina I did a poetry reading.
I read from HOW WE SLEEP ON THE NIGHTS WE DON'T MAKE LOVE and from CIRCUS ANIMAL which is a work-in-progress.

WEDNESDAY

Early departure back to Washington. In the airport I purchased a copy of READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN by Azar Nafisi. My friend Susan has been talking about it. Nafisi lives in DC. I hope to meet her.

In my mail was Elizabeth Alexander's new collection of essays, THE BLACK INTERIOR. So much to read.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day and a return to the "daily" blog. Later...

March 24-March 28
WEDNESDAY. Early morning flight from National to O'Hare. I arrived and checked into the Hilton Palmer Hotel. The grand lobby set the tone for all the writers who descended on the conference ground. 4000 this year. The first person I met was Ray Gonzalez. I love this quiet guy who is always putting out an anthology. He was walking around the hotel waiting for things to start. I spent the afternoon watching folks set-up their book displays at the book fair. This year folks were on two floors.

THURSDAY. I gave a presentation at 9:00 AM. My panel topic was "Poetry & History." It was coordinated by Aliki Barnstone. Also on the panel were Alan Michael Parker and Nicole Cooley.

Here is a short excerpt from my comments:

I think the poet does more than write about history. In many ways a poem is capable of placing the reader/listener inside of it. Inside of what Charles Simic calls its bloody mouth.
When the poet turns to history, he or she turns to research as well as reflection. The poet relies on fact as well as imagination and memory. The poem can become a document. We might even equate documentation with the telling of truth. With the telling of the truth we wrestle with the task and responsibility of not forgetting.


I had lunch with Ken Massey who lives in Chicago and is interested in attending Bennington.
Bennies were everywhere at the AWP Conference. Someone quoted Liam as saying "Bennington's goal is nothing less than world domination."

Two Bennies who graduated and are doing well are Rebecca Warner and William Pierce.
It was good to see both of them again. Pierce even had a cool business card which said Agni Magazine, Senior Editor.

In the afternoon I posed for the photographer Lynda Koolish. Lynda is the author of AFRICAN AMERICAN WRITERS: PORTRAITS AND VISIONS. The book was published in 2001 by the University Press of Mississippi.
Lynda provided Sable magazine with 2 photos of June Jordan. You can find them next to my essay on June in the Spring 2004 issue. Kadija Sesay was at the conference. She is the Publisher and Managing Editor of Sable which comes out of England. I think Kadija is a Queen. Every time I saw her I had to give her a hug.

I went to the Gwendolyn Brooks tribute. Patrick Oliver, Nora Brooks Blakely, Jacqueline Bryant and Kelly Norman Ellis did a nice job. Listening to Nora was like listening to Gwen Brooks.

Dana Gioia gave the conference keynote speech. His talk was as smooth as Bill Clinton or John Edwards. It was a good talk. It was personal as well as informative. ONe came away with some history of NEA and the vital role it must continue to play in our society.

FRIDAY. I had an early breakfast with my publisher Sandy Alexander of Curbstone Press. I went to a morning panel. The topic was "Step Mother Muse: Multilingual Poets Discuss Their Writing Processes. Meena Alexender, Marilyn Chin, Virgil Suarez, Nathalie Handal, Eugene Gloria and Khaled Mattawa participated. I sat next to David Mura.

I did a 10:30 AM book signing. Little did I know that all my books would be good before Saturday.

While walking around the AWP conference I had nice chats with Maxine Kumen, Eugene Redmond, Dinty Moore and Doug Unger. I saw old friends from the 1970s like Debbie Woods and Donna Mungen.

Friday afternoon I gave my second panel presentation. Topic: Like A Woman: Men & Poetry. This pane was organized by Jason Shinder. It was suppose to include Li-Young Lee. He was a no show so a few folks left to look for other stars.

Here are some comments I made:

When I first started writing poetry I remember a couple of people saying my work was soft. It didn't have the masculine militancy one associated with the new black poety of the late sixties and early seventies. I didn't really care about that since I soon discovered new models for my work. They were June Jordan, Alice Walker, and Ntozake Shange. During what I saw as the femminization of African American literature I tried to write work that would complement the new definition of womanhood I saw emerging around me. In 1977 when I edited a small feminist anthology with the title WOMEN SURVIVING MASSACRES AND MEN, I received a post card from Ishamael Reed inquiring if I were a massacre or a man.


After my last panel I spent much of my time in my hotel room. I'm not a drinker or dancer so when it gets dark I disappear. I don't care too much for the literary afterwards. I read Dana Gioia's excellent new book, TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICAN POETICS published by McGraw Hill.

SATURDAY

I was scheduled to do a second book signing but the second shipment of books never arrived.
I had the same problem when I left DC. I waited for the postal service to deliver a copy of the new NOCTURNE magazine edited by Giovanni Singleton.

At the Curbstone table I had a number of good talks with Angela Sherman, A. Van Jordan, Afaa Michael Weaver, Carolyne Wright, and Jan Beatty who I simply adore for her coolness.

Weaver, Van and Ken and I had a nice lunch and then we separated like the 4 Musketeers.


SUNDAY
I leave the hotel at 5:30AM for O'Hare. Nice chat with Patsy Sims in the airport. She runs the creative writing program at Goucher. On the plane was Stan Plumly. Stan just released his collection of essays ARGUMENT & SONG: SOURCES & SILENCES IN POETRY.

It was a nice sunny day in DC. The grass around the house needs cutting. Rebbe was out crying trying to get back in. I checked a couple of hundred emails and went out to the park with my son. It was crowded with guys shooting hoops. I hadn't been out on the court since about last summer. It felt good passing the ball to my son as he hit his shots. Later we watched Duke defeat Xavier.

I'm here getting ready for North Carolina and getting back into the swing of things.

I spent almost the entire day talking with Carolyn Pearson. What a wonderful person. She's the VP for Urban Accounts at Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. So good to see African American women in the publishing industry. I think of the important contributions made by Toni Morrison, Marie Brown and Adrienne Ingrum. These woman helped change our reading tastes. I think Carolyn will follow in their footsteps.

I checked the schedule for the AWP Conference again. I plan to attend sessions that will help with my creative writing teaching. I hope to look for titles at the book fair that might be of interest to my students.

For airplane and airport reading my bag is filled with goodies:
DREAMING ME by Jan Willis
JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM BY Lesley Hazleton. (Susan, thanks for loaning this to me)
DAVID MAMET AND FILM by Gay Brewer

Two magazines: The latest NEW YORKER and CREATIVE NONFICTION # 22

I have an 8AM flight out of National tomorrow. I don't plan to be around a computer while in Chicago. So look for the next E-note to be posted on Sunday evening. I'll try to list the highlights of the AWP conference...no gossip, just the good stuff. Later...

I started the day thinking about the new developments in the Middle East. The death of Sheik Ahmed Yassin is only going to open the door to a cycle of new violence. In the New York Times today there is a review of STILL LIFE WITH BOMBERS: ISRAEL IN THE AGE OF TERRORISM by David Horovitz. I need to read this book.

The White House program was a nice event to attend. It was the fourth in a series of White House Salutes to America's Authors. Today's program highlighted the work of Truman Capote, Flannery O'Connor and Eudora Welty.

Breakfast was at 9AM. I sat with Stephen Balch and his wife. Balch is head of the National Association of Scholars and is based at Princeton. After breakfast I walked around in the East Wing. I talked with members of Eudora Welty's family. With them was Suzanne Marrs who is working on a Welty biography. Marrs is the author of ONE WRITER'S IMAGINATION: THE FICTION OF EUDORA WELTY. We have a mutual friend in Dr. Jerry Ward.

The White House program opened with a muscial introduction. Muscian Eric Reed played Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin." This was followed by opening remarks by Laura Bush. The First Lady was looking very attractive. Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts served as moderator of the morning events. It consisted of dramatic reading of the work of Capote, Welty and O'Connor, a musical interlude and then remarks by writers Tom Wolfe, Elizabeth Spencer and Brett Lott.

The program was entertaining as well as informative. It lasted until about Noon. Leaving the White House I had a chance to briefly chat with Lynne Cheney. I thanked her for the support she gave to the Humanities Council of Washington during her tenure as head of NEH. I also spoke with NEH chair Bruce Cole. I had met with him in his office a few weeks after he took over from Bill Ferris.

About a block from the White House I bumped into David Fenza (AWP) who I always enjoy seeing. We stood on the corner laughing and talking about literary matters. I'll be seeing him on Wednesday in Chicago.

Well, let me get myself together for the trip.

A rest day. Newspaper reading. Meetings with two friends. I did start preparing a new biographical note for my website. I'll be adding some video from my TV program, Humanities Profiled.
New poem " The Healing Quilt" will be posted soon. OK. Let me get ready to see the First Lady.

I took a morning run. I've been doing that for the last two weeks. The morning was spent washing clothes and making a trip to the cleaners. I'm getting ready for my trip to the AWP Conference in Chicago. I also needed to pick-up clothes so that I'll have something to wear to the White House breakfast with Laura Bush on Monday.

Much of the day was spent in my first floor office reading magazines. Two good journals to read are:
Radical History Review, Fall 2003
It has a excellent interview of TransAfrica's Bill Fletcher, Jr by activist James Early.

The Bloomsbury Review, March/April 2004
Wonderful interview with Marilyn Chin

Last night I talked with Giovanni Singleton in California. She informed me that the latest issue of Nocturnes is out. This one riffs on the blues and comes with a CD. Giovanni is putting out one of the best new literary magazines in the country. If you're interested in getting a subscription write to her at: Inkwell33@earthlink.net.
I told G to send me the new issue at once. I want to promote it at the AWP Conference.

Well, I did get a chance to enjoy the nice weather. My best Buddy Bev and I went down to DuPont Circle and visited the Provision Library as well as Teaism. We ran into many people we both knew. Nothing like laughter and good company on a Saturday.

A woman from the State of Bavaria Liaison Office was going to interview me at Howard today.
She made it to the the floor where my office is but then a reference librarian gave her the wrong directions. I've been listening to Alicia Keys all evening: "You Don't Know My Name." Anyway one good thing happening here is the hiring of Jennifer Lawson to run the television station. Lawson is the former PBS programming chief.

Today I did paperwork to get my honorarium from PLA. Last month I gave a luncheon speech in Seattle. It was well received.

I read a couple of manuscripts by two writers living in the DC area: Anna Mwalagho and Yael Flusberg. I'll get my comments together this weekend and get back to them next week.

I sent a letter to Arts Commission chair Dorothy McSweeny asking her to consider developing more writer-in-residence positions in neighborhood libraries for poets.
I completed work on a speech for North Carolina on March 30th. My talk is about running the African American Resource Center at Howard.

I just read the essay "The Incredible Survival of Coyote" by Gary Snyder. You can find it in his book A PLACE IN SPACE. The coyote tales remind me that I'm BrerBert or maybe Eshu. Is that what the E stands for? Hmmm.

I had a late afternoon D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities meeting. Good things taking place in this town. The Pandamania Project will start in May. So look for those cute guys all around the city just like we had those political animals everywhere. Dolores Kendrick gave her Poet Laureate report. HomeGirl is getting an honorary degree from St. Bonaventure University in May. Next month one of her poems will be included in the Albert Paley sculpture that will be placed in front of the new PEPCO Building, located at 9th and G streets, NW. The dedication ceremony is April 19th at 2:00 P.M. At the meeting Kendrick circulated a copy of Joanne Gabbin's new anthology FURIOUS FLOWER. The book includes poems by Kendrick as well as me. We are in good company. Some of the writers I admire can be found here: Cornelius Eady, Elizabeth Alexander, Afaa Michael Weaver and Lucille Clifton.
Well it looks like a long night. I have to do my taxes. I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday. See you over the weekend.

Breakfast with Naomi Ayala this morning in Adams Morgan. Recommended reading is her book WILD ANIMALS ON THE MOON. It was published by Curbstone Press in 1997. Always good to talk poetry with her.
I picked up some music today:
THE VERY BEST OF CHARLES MINGUS
THE MAGIC HOUR - WYNTON MARSALIS QUARTET
I had a meeting with Del Hornbuckle. the director of the Provisions Library. We talked about doing a program for National Library Week in April. Checkout the website for Provisions:www.provisionslibrary.org. It's a very cool "third" place for artists and activists. I became a member a few weeks ago. You get a choice of books when you join. I selected DREAMING ME: FROM BAPTIST TO BUDDHIST, ONE WOMAN'S SPIRITUAL JOURNEY by Jan Willis.

A busy day. I've been following events in Spain. I wonder about our own upcoming election.
Sad to see the turn of events in Haiti. I'm reading Edwidge Danticat's new novel THE DEW BREAKER. I hope to see her during her book tour.
I spent the day trying to complete my travel plans for my Fulbright. I also worked on the upcoming museum exhibit that I'm curating for the Smithsonian. ALL THE STORIES ARE TRUE will open on June 6th. It will highlight writers in their workplace. Here are a few of the writers that I will highlight: Walter Dean Myers, Charles Johnson, Valerie Boyd, Samuel Delaney, Dolores Kendrick.Octavia Butler and Danticat.
I had a couple of things accepted for publication today. One was a poem I wrote for Reetika that will appear in the May issue of Sojourners magazine. The title of the poem is "Button Your Shirt Before You Go." Two poems sent to CRUX the magazine published at Catholic University. They will reprint one of my Omar poems from HOW WE SLEEP ON THE NIGHTS WE DON'T MAKE LOVE.
I also sent them "The Fifth Inning" which is a prose poem. I'm trying to keep pitching.

*-

Testing the Blog tonight. Let's see if we can post this baby.

Well this will be the start of my E-notes. I'm heading to Chicago today to give a talk and reading at Elgin Comunity College. I'll be talking about writing the memoir as well as reading from my new collection of poems. Yes, I have a new book out. The title is HOW WE SLEEP ON THE NIGHTS WE DON'T MAKE LOVE. There will be a book party in New York on April 30th. More about this later...let me catch that plane. Talk with you soon.