>May Day and Cooper Young Night Out

>May Day! I’m just getting this post in under the wire (before midnight) on May 1… and it will be mostly photos, as I don’t really have time to write much. I haven’t started packing and I leave for the airport at 7 am tomorrow! (to visit Jason in Denver)…. so…. Here it is. My peony in bloom…unfolding her softness for my lens and now for you, my readers. There are actually two of them blooming… with dozens more still in their buds. Maybe they’ll wait ’til I get back from Denver. Where the high tomorrow will be in the 40s! Brrrr.

So tonight was the second Cooper Young Night Out… with folks strolling up and down the sidewalks, music everywhere, and at Burke’s Books, an amazing reading by the poet, Beth Ann Fennelly. There was this great photo and article about her and her husband, Tom Franklin, in today’s Commercial Appeal. And I had fun with Fredric Koeppel on his blog today, arguing with him about Beth Ann’s poem, “First Warm Day in a College Town.” You can read my comments and his reply here. It was fun to meet him tonight at Burke’s Books.
Beth Ann’s reading was wonderful, as usual.

And it was great being with friends from the Yoknapatawpha writing group, like Herman, from Hernando… who used to live near the new location of Burke’s in Cooper Young. Here he is meeting Corey Mesler, owner of Burke’s.

and Sue and her husband John, and Cindy. And Katherine, who was at the summer workshop at Ole Miss last June when we first met Beth Ann.

I loved having Julie and Sally there, of course.

And what a treat that my daughter made it in time for dinner at Tsunami’s and got to meet Beth Ann’s who was dining at the table next to us. And yes, the sea bass was phenomenal.

Here are the two Beth Anns with me… I was so proud to be with both of them! Beth finished her first year of grad school in architecture today!

Okay, so I’m pretty tired and still need to pack, so I apologize for not posting anything literary tonight… maybe I’ll get inspired in Denver. See you all next week! (no more posts until next Monday or Tuesday)

Oh, and if you want Beth Ann’s latest book, Unmentionables, I recommend you get it at Burke’s Books if you’re in Memphis, Square Books in Oxford, or your local independent book seller.

Congratulations to Cooper Young for a great Night Out!
Hope to be back over there on June 5!