One Good Thing

My best pal Miranda and I went to a poetry reading tonight in Madison at the Village Lights Bookstore. The poets were all students of Dr. Barbour's Fiction & Poetry Workshop at Hanover College. I took this same course ten years ago and it was one of the most influential I ever signed up for in my college career. From it came a lot of the material in my anthology SLIGHT DETAILS & RANDOM EVENTS. Dr. Barbour's encouragement was so important to my development as a writer.

The students tonight were very impressive and some were fearless. It's strange, especially in a small town, to be in a mostly heterosexual audience where the mention of gay sex isn't met with snickering and derision. Strange and refreshing. The feeling of nostalgia crept in fast over me and Miranda. There's something about college students, that hope in their eyes, that is so intoxicating. Most of us lose that look sometime in our mid to late twenties when that last bit of innocence is yanked away, either by circumstance or asshole.

We left without talking to Dr. Barbour. She didn't seem to recognize us. I tell myself it's the shaggy hair, because...well, I'm pretty damn memorable and the hair is the only thing it could be. Right? Right.