After a meeting at Busboys and Poets to hear about DC Poets Against the War from Sarah Browning, Esther Iverem, Joseph Ross, and Melissa Tuckey and discussing how to continue the work of the festival, we reconvened at George Washington University at noon for a reading by Naomi Ayala subbing for Sharon Olds who was sick, followed by Galway Kinnell, who before getting to his own poems, read one by Walt Whitman and another by his friend Richard Bly, substituting Iraq for Vietnam.
Steve had gone to Easter service, so he joined us late and we walked in silence for the five blocks to Lafayette Park, across from the White House, where we compiled a Cento consisting of 12 words read by each poet.
Afterwards, Len, Steve and I got together for coffee and an impromtu reading, after we were joined by two others from the festival who I beckoned in as they walked by. Since the Starbucks was closing, we actually read part of our poems at a table outside.
I drove out to Springfield and visited Mom and spent the night. Carol was also visiting.
