Who We Want to Read Our Work
Last week I had a conversation with David, an old friend,
who has just finished his poetry collection and talked about
Who He Wants To Read His Work. He is a very intelligent
person, serious reader himself, and he knows many of the
Important Publications of our time: he does not feel, for example,
that every single article in the New York Review of Books
is too long. I told David that a while ago when I published
a small book of poems called God is a Tree I thought I’d like
to give the books away at Slater’s Supermarket (no longer there)
where we went to buy our food in Cairo, New York.
The Cairo public library readers would be good readers too.
My idea was to teach a writing class, the requirement being
that you had to be a shopper at Slater’s Supermarket. In exchange
for taking the class you’d get a book of poems. Bud Slater,
a complicated genial guy was open to the idea of writing and free
books and Slater’s would mention my class and free books
in their regular supermarket announcements. Eleven people
came and they were Everyone and I loved them and some of them
even loved writing a little and after four weeks I gave them my book
and a few of them wrote me notes saying they liked this poem
or that one and I was happy with my readers and they are the
very same readers I’m hoping for now.