Wichita's Best Kept Literary Secret- Day 12 of the Reading & Writing Challenge

I decided to take Monday off.  This is one of the benefits of being self-employed, and although the first of the week is usually a day of hard work and playing catch up, I decided to take go ahead and treat myself to a literary vacation day.

After breakfast and a walk around the neighborhood with Maddie, I reread an old copy of The Georgia Review given to me by local poet and professor Albert Goldbarth.  I had first read the issue awhile back, but wanted to refresh my memory in case he quizzed me at the lunch meeting we had scheduled in the afternoon.  The volume contained several lovely photographs taken by his wife, an extremely creative interview with himself containing questions from fellow poets and answers of his both excerpted from poems, a brief critical essay and several recent poems, my favorite of which are entitled "Miles" and "Wrigley's Gum," which makes a reference to local junk food joint and hipster hangout The Donut Whole.

For lunch, we met at the recently reopened Tanya's Soup Kitchen, where I enjoyed a wonderful cup of Bayou Shrimp Stew and the delectable Cuban-style "Julie" sandwich.  He brought with him his stack of mail from the past two days, which was a formidable pile of literary journals, handwritten letters and postcards (along with the obligatory glossy Firestone Oil & Tire Change junk mail), which he graciously let me open and leaf through in his company, letting me play the role of unpaid intern and admirer for the hour.  I had the privilege of thumbing through a congratulatory submissions acceptance from a Puschart Prize winning story, a postcard from noted poetry bookseller and comrade Jett Whitehead and an incredibly witty and gorgeously handwritten letter from noted editor of Parnassus and W.C.W. scholar (and upcoming biographer- October 25th, 2011 release date of "Something Urgent I Have to Say to You": The Life and Works of William Carlos Williams) Herbert Leibowitz.  All in a day's mail. 

Albert is an inspiration in that he still hand writes EVERYTHING! before hand typing his final drafts for submission.  In fact, he claims that his virginal hands have yet to touch a computer keyboard.  It was refreshing and wonderful to see a man who was receiving a large stack of mail each and every day via the United States Postal Service.  I must admit that I was a bit jealous, as my last several trips to the mailbox yielded little more than a small stack of bills, a catalogue for a store I have never shopped at (nor do I plan to) and sales pitches for various credit cards and insurance policies.

We then proceeded to cross the street and enjoyed a lengthy conversation (about books, what else!?) over sinfully delicious donuts and coffee at the aforementioned Donut Whole, where he shared with me some of his more prized literary possessions, including an early Philip Levine chapbook (of whom he knew I was a huge fan), a 1954 copy of theTrinity Review with a signed Wallace Stevens poem and a handwritten letter signed by Conrad Aiken.  We also had a few hearty laughs thumbing through his collection of vintage Haldeman-Julius booklets, including the Missouri University Student Sex Questionnaire and the Memoirs of Casanova.  I returned the favor by handing over a couple of silly little volumes I figured he might enjoy over the summer. 

Finally, I finagled him into inscribing my prized copy of the February 2007 Valentine's Issue of "Poetry", in which Goldbarth contributed the title poem, "To Be Read in 500 Years."  Check this one out if you haven't had the pleasure yet, it is indeed an epic love poem.  All in all, it was an enjoyable and stimulating (intellectually, of course) afternoon for the ages. 

"For the best Strom in Andover! A pleasure to know you - if we're reading in 500 years, your loving efforts will have been instrumental.  Albert 6/2011."  But the best part is below the Van Morrison excerpt "She bring me love love love love, crazy love." where he affectionately inscribed "he's the shit" after our lengthy discussion of the merits of the Rolling Stones, Springsteen and Van the Man.

I am dedicating the remainder of the evening to continuing my writing practice, making a large dent in July, July and rereading the chapter in Carolyn See's Making a Literary Life about writing a letter to an author every day. 

If you are not yet familiar with Goldbarth's poetry, the best introduction will be his 1972-2007 collected anthology published by Greywolf Press and aptly titled The Kitchen Sink: New and Selected Poems.  Copies are available online or in person at Watermark Books.  The poem "Library" is worth the price of admission alone, and is sure to please bibliophiles of every ilk.  While Wichita is not the cultural and literary hotspot of say, Paris, New York City, or even perhaps Tulsa, it's still great to see a poet like Goldbarth, a restaurant like Tanya's, a joint like The Donut Whole and an independent bookstore like Watermark all thriving in this town.