Two nights in a private bed and bath hostel room in Lincoln Park. Reasonable distance from Red Line. Other things to do if I don’t find the conference too interesting. Two days off from teaching.

I had thought there was some sore of “alternate AWP” thing that often goes on outside of the “real” AWP (check out my dick fingers! ” “) but I was slightly confused. In Atlanta in 2006, there was “Other Poets Gathering” that I missed out on, and I hope there is something similar going on in Chicago during Feb. 12-14.

There’s an interesting anthology of experimental Chicago poets, The City Visible, that’s totally worth checking out. Chicago is the home of Eric Elshtain, Beard of Bees and Gnoetry.

If anyone hears of an “alternative” readings/events by poets outside the mainstream AWP mold going on during the conference, I’d love to know about it.