Last Friday night I went to The Buffalo Readings to celebrate poet Kate Levin’s birthday. It was my first time at the reading series, and everyone was encouraging and inviting, making me feel like part of the group. It was a real laid-back sort of evening, very far east in the East Village. A hot and rainy night, where we crowded together on metal folding chairs, listening to different poets read from iphones and sheets of tattered paper stapled together. Musicians jammed on various instruments, while the poets read.
One of the prose writers told me a hilarious story about working at a camp with Gregory Corso, saying the Beat poet hated all the kids.
I also spent some time chatting with Steve Cannon, the founder of The Gathering of the Tribes. We talked for quite some time about the business of poetry and the arts, but we also talked about life … about where we were from and what we’re doing with our lives. I walked away feeling so blessed when he said, “you’re my type of person.”
Here are a few photos poet RA Araya — who is probably one of the most encouraging people I’ve ever met; the type of person who is the glue that holds everyone together — took. The first two are of me promoting Burning Furiously Beautiful (since it was my first time there, I wanted to hear everyone else and didn’t read, but I happened to have a few postcards for the book in my bag, which I was more than happy to share), and the last two are of me with Steve Cannon.
If you’re in the New York City area, you may want to check out this Charlie Parker Festival.
Stephanie Nikolopoulos 
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