I got a little obsessed, if there is such a thing, with just the concept of putting these compelling elements together: Anna Nicole Smith (who needs no qualifying adjective) and poet Grace Cavalieri (who needs one simply to distinguish from the other things she does). About a week ago I got an email about a staged reading that night of Anna Nicole, the play Cavalieri recently wrote, and I was wishing I could go, but no child care. Then I saw Rose Solari was reading the part of Anna Nicole, and I thought, dag, I wonder if I could ask her to read her poems at Artomatic. But she's probably busy/traveling/etc., and I had no idea how to get in touch with her. The last time I'd seen her was at a John Cale concert about five years ago, which I remembered because the concert was killer, there were about a dozen people at the Ram's Head in Annapolis, everyone sane hiding at home to avoid icy roads, and so BAker and I were lucky enough to sit within arm's reach of the king of the big dark brooders. My.So the same afternoon I got the notice about Anna Nicole, I was leaving work and walking to my car, and I saw Rose walking down the street. I asked her if she'd read, and she said sure. My, my. She's up on the 19th, 9 p.m.
This is what she's been up to, besides the play: She's a popular teacher at The Writer's Center, and does this two-week workshop called A Poem a Day, kind of a boot camp. It starts up again next week; maybe there's a slot for you that has fortuitously opened up. Her latest book is Orpheus in the Park; you can take a look at some of her poems and find out more here.
If you're doing anything poetry related at Artomatic, shoot me an email and I'll write about it in this here temporary installation blog. Fortune smiles.
