The Brad Watson Reading

Overall, I suppose the event was a success. We did, after all, hear a literary reading by a short story writer. But the small things do add up. I liked the author's literary style. His almost plain linguistics were somehow molded into a very articulate model of how literature should be written. He was very plain, very controlled, not at all what I was expecting from the author of a book titled "Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives." My complaints would all be geared toward the way the event was held. The chairs were small, hard and uncomfortable. I'm sure that the author was less than pleased to have his reading interspersed with squeaks and creaks from chairs as his uncomfortable listeners shifted. Also, with the sun beating down from just behind where he was standing, the audience was forced to sit blinded in the heat. This is twice now that the facilities of Burkes Books have proven less than adequate. They really do need a larger store.
On a separate note, dinner at Celtic Crossing was a treat. The food could have been better, but the company couldn't. I thoroughly enjoyed eating, drinking, and discussing poetry with my intellectual peers. I think my favorite part of the night was getting to show my professor something on a poem he had chosen for us to elucidate. It's not often the student gets to do the teaching.