What I'd Missed About DC

Late Saturday--after a somewhat exhausting week of prepping and sending my poetry manuscript off to my editor (fingers crossed), finishing grades for Lenoir-Rhyne University and returning portfolios, and packing up my office and the guest house--I hit the road. To be honest, I am still in panic mode in terms of a few key projects. But it is profoundly good to be home. In no particular order, ten things I had missed about DC:

-Greens by the half-pound--whether mysteriously spicy, or edibly floral--at the Dupont Circle Farmer's Market. Sampling slices of tomatoes, eyeing the ramps. Digging down for my last quarter to buy a crisp apple.

-Sitting in the Phillips Collection's Rothko Room. 

-Politics & Prose! I'm overdue to splurge on a book, and/or a bowl of soup at Modern Times. Summer readings include Ru Freeman (May 20) and Lionel Shriver (June 11). They are also debuting the District Lines anthology with a reading on June 15. 

-The Sunday morning concert of the carillon's bells at the National Cathedral. 

-Driving the curves of Rock Creek Parkway, feeling like you've found the secret & scenic underbelly of the city.  

-Quality peacock time in the open-air aviary of the National Zoo. 

-Sharing Murasaki's signature sushi roll, followed by a spirited (& okay, long-winded) discussion of DC's art scene--from influence to mentorship--at a little pop-up gallery space on Wisconsin Avenue up by AU, for a series run by Jack Rasmussen. 

-Trekking out to the suburbs of Virginia to have a glass of wine with my mother. 

-Catching a Nats game with my dad. 

-The O.B. Hardison Series, hosted at the Folger Shakespeare Theater, with the PEN/Faulkner Series a newly discovered close second. Seriously, who else emails me and says "You wanna hear Paul Muldoon on Monday?" (Or something to that effect.) And there is no better setting for readings than a historical theater's embellished stage.

Before I forget, there is a chance to attend One Last Reading for the season this Friday, May 17, at 6 PM. Adam Mansbach--yes, the guy who wrote Go the F**k to Sleep, but he's also the author of two distinguished novels--will read from Rage is Back, alongside readings by poets Joseph Ross (author of Meeting Bone Man) and Clint Smith. The themes of the night will be graffiti, including poems on Cool Disco Dan, and father and son relationships. Free! Because that's how DC rolls. 

Oh, and a bonus: when I went to 2Amys to get take-out for a Mother's Day meal with my family, the manager taking orders said, "Sandra Beasley! We went to elementary school together." And sure enough, I remembered him--a much redder-haired little kid version of him circa 20 years ago. Because that's what happens when you stay.