rob + Steve in the UK

Westminster Abbey: Part of what we did before the reading was wander through Westminster Abbey, Stephen, Ian & I. Hard to believe the sheer amount of bodies buried in the place, including hundreds of years worth of royalty; Brockwell bowed down before the monument to Ben Johnson, & nearly crawled inside the tomb of Geoffrey Chaucer. Ian & I did the Python sketch (from one of the albums) about "The Death of Mary Queen of Scots." Shameful.

Crossing the Line: The reading, lovingly hosted by poet David Miller, was a very fine event, where Stephen & I got to meet a good number of people, including Canadian expats frances kruk, Kim Morrissey & John Stiles, as well as local poets Jeff Hilson, Frances Presley, Sean Bonney (who does some very fine publications I'll post more on when I get home), & saw Richard Rathwell, another expat, originally from Ottawa (long, long ago). The more publications I see from Shearsman & Reality Street, the more I want. How might that happen?

Writers Forum: Pretty cool to be hanging around an informal workshop originally started over fifty years ago by the late Bob Cobbing; his widow, Jenny, was there, as was organizer Lawrence Upton (who is a fine upstanding man), & younger poets (that blew Stephen & I away), Matt Martin & Jamie Wilkes. I am looking forward to seeing more from both of these boys; even picked up a few Writers Forum publications, including one by Peter Ganick. Upton is pretty interesting; we wanted to go to World's End, but found it too loud with too many young people; ended up eventually at the Halfway House. Because the tubes were tied (apparently its normal for them to always be under construction), it took bloody forever to get up there.

Where is she now? Just because this is a city of millions of people, doesn't mean I can't just accidentally run into Sabrina Mandell, a girl I went to high school with. I know she's here somewhere; why haven't I seen her yet?