denise's reading

her reading at the New School was just fab. spotted old friends there like Omar, Dorothy, Page, Stephen, Stavros, and Johnny. saw new friends like Brice Brown, who is an awesome visual artist. amy lemmon brought her students from FIT, yes, she teaches at the fashion institute of technology and these fashionistas got to hear some great poetry. after the reading the director robert polito and core faculty members david lehman and deborah landau (author of Orchidelirium) took us to dinner at their local hangout on 13th st, cafe loup. excellent french bistro and fine martinis. david's wife stacie and friend christine also joined us. by the time we had dessert the new school poetry workshops had finished for the night and more faculty came by to say hi and have drinks. mathew zapruder (author of American Linden) and mark bibbins (author of Sky Lounge) and the venerable poet paul violi chatted away while we sipped our cappuchinos. it was nice to hang with the new school/kgb bar poetry power house. i would seriously argue that they may have the best and most dynamic mfa program in nyc.