The Brooklyn Rail

I met Cole on May 25, 2024, when we read together at the series curated by Evelyn Reilly and Michael Gottlieb at Familiar Trees in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Sadly, that unique and life-affirming bookstore is no longer. Cole and I were to read in the adjoining exhibition space, RA Gallery. Arriving at the bookstore/gallery, I met Cole, who told me she would like to respond to my reading. After I read, Cole greeted all in attendance, many by name, then said she would like to begin by reading from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “The Method of Nature.” It felt explicitly directed toward me and embraced my work in a way I hadn’t experienced before. Partly, we were both translators. There was a shared sense of dedication to another writer’s writing. After the reading, we went to eat in a nearby Japanese restaurant with James Sherry, Trace Peterson, and Michael. The conversation was nice, and I told Cole I’d like to stay in touch. I made a point of calling her not long after, and we had a great, rambling, one-hour phone call, mostly about poetry, and mostly about how we wrote poems. I’m so glad I had that conversation. On November 8 of the same year, Cole and Iris Cushing booked me to read at Pete’s Candy Store with Nada Gordon and James. Again, I felt seen and heard in Cole’s introduction. Though I didn’t know her long, it felt like we connected. I miss that a lot. I wish we’d had the chance for more conversations and encounters. “A Life Worth Living” is one of the poems I read at Pete’s that November night.