Sarah Browning

Although I have no idea what I'm doing, I've decided that the time is right for a blog: more frequent dispatches; what I'm reading; upcoming events; a minimum of gripes. Let me know if you can think of a catchier name.

So here's what I'm reading that I adore:

Declension in the Village of Chung Luong, by Bruce Weigl. Run out and buy this book (Ausable Press, 2006). I'm going to talk to Don Allen, the bookstore manager at Busboys & Poets, about ordering stacks of it. Read some sample poems here.

Weigl is a Vietnam vet and that war echoes with this bloody and senseless war, until the heart breaks. And yet, still the poems give hope that "the brain could be erased of its angry hurt."

Last week I went with my friend Kim Roberts to hear Adrienne Rich read at Georgetown University. Rich was so frail, but once she was seated, she proceeded to give an extraordinary, densely packed reading -- heady and emotional at the same time. I bought three copies of her latest collection, The School Among the Ruins, one each for Kathi Wolfe and Robert Giron, both of whom have been laid up recently. I have just started to read it, but was weeping on the treadmill, reading the title poem. You can read it here, on the website of Poets Against War. Kathi wrote a great review in The Washington Blade. (OK, so she had a copy of the book already; but she graciously said it was all dog-eared and coffee-stained...)


An upcoming event that I am hosting:

Sunday, May 21, 2006, 4 PM
Sunday Kind of Love: Poems of Place
Featuring D.C. poets whose work appears in Tigertail: A South Florida Poetry Annual, Vol. IV, edited by Richard Blanco (Tigertail Productions, 2006). Followed by an open mic. Readings of place poems encouraged!

Featured poets: Deborah Ager, Naomi Ayala, E. Louise Beach, Sarah Browning, Jody Bolz, Grace Cavalieri, Rose Solari, Jeneva Stone, Joshua Weiner

Busboys & Poets, 14th & V, NW, Washington, DC. U Street/Cardozo on the Green line. For more information: www.busboysandpoets.com, 202-387-POET or info@dcpaw.org, 202-577-6596.

From Richard Blanco's introduction to the volume: "More than mere travelogues or memoirs, these works examine the complex ways in which memory, landscape, and imagination collide and intersect to form a sense of place."

Hope to see local folks there!