Porter Square Books: Reading with Susan Rich

Porter Square Books
Susan Rich and January O'Neil
Wednesday, November 17
25 White St, Cambridge, MA, 7 p.m.

I am beyond excited that Susan Rich has flown out from Seattle to read at Porter Square Books with me! She is the author of three collections of poetry: The Cartographer’s Tongue, Cures Include Travel, and her newest work, The Alchemist’s Kitchen. She has received awards from PEN USA, The Times Literary Supplement, and Peace Corps Writers. Her fellowships include an Artists Trust Fellowship from Washington State and a Fulbright Fellowship in South Africa.

Read more about Susan in this interview with me.

Here's one of her poems, originally published in Times Literary Supplement:



Different Places to Pray

Everywhere, everywhere she wrote; something is falling –
a ring of keys slips out of her pocket into the ravine below;

nickels and dimes and to do lists; duck feathers from a gold pillow.
Everywhere someone is losing a favorite sock or a clock stops

circling the day; everywhere she goes she follows the ghost
of her heart; jettisons everything but the shepherd moon, the hopeless cause.

This is the way a life unfolds: decoding messages from profiteroles,
the weight of mature plums in late autumn. She’d prefer a compass

rose, a star chart, text support messages delivered from the net,
even the local pet shop – as long as some god rolls away the gloss

and grime of our gutted days, our global positioning crimes.
Tell me, where do you go to pray – a river valley, a pastry tray?



Meet the alchemist herself tonight at Porter Square Books! Woo hoo!