AWP 2015 was our first AWP. We wanted to savor each moment of our experiences. In the process, we also savored some of others’. Check out some of our favorites below –
1. “I didn’t expect to board the plane and see Tarfia Faizullah in the flesh.”
2. [on a panel] “Just imagine the love child of Elton John and Richard Simmons…”
3. “The entire staff of The Kenyon Review was on my flight.”
4. “It’s Don-ez.” “It’s Dan-eez. It’s definitely Dan-eez.”
5. [at an off-site reading] “I thought I’d end the night with a poem about masturbation…”
6. “I’m going to get some tattoos from the Poetry Foundation and apply them in the bathroom.”
7. “Sandra Beasley’s poetry just does things to me, you know?”
8. “Is hooking up with an editor still a thing?” “No, that’s so Seattle.”
9. “I’m not going to judge your poem on a scale of one to gay…”
10. “You can’t be in Better because you’re a man.”
11. [after a panel] “#Jarfia just killed that panel.”
12. “I’m 95% sure David Lynn was just in the stall next to me.”
13. “If you ever need to make a homemade tortilla…”
14. [at a reading] “I was going to read a poem about food allergies, but then I realized I’d rather read a poem about sex.”
15. [at same reading] “This next one is an evolution of sex poem… it’s called ‘Inner Flamingo.’”
16. “Richard Siken puts the ‘P’ in ‘poetry.’”
17. [on phone] “Do you have a job? Yeah, didn’t think so…”
18. “It’s always this moment every year, standing at the bathroom sink at AWP, that I think to myself: Do I even exist?”
19. [at coat check] “Are you from Colorado?” “No, I’m from New York.” “Good grief…”
20. [on a panel] “I learned nothing at grad school worth remembering—thanks, Iowa.”
21. [on a panel] “The worst that can happen is ALWAYS herpes.”
Here are my two favorite Overheard-@AWP2015’s:
(on the phone in line at Panera on Saturday morning) "No, just food. I think I’m still drunk."
(walking back from the Convention Center in a crowd of people) "There’s always a You somewhere in it; there’s always an I somewhere in it."
How true, how true.