My Favorite Poet Came to Corpus Christi!

When I was in middle school, I took one of those summer classes that are offered to smarty-pants kids with enough money to pay for them through Duke's TIP program.  I took the classes on the SMU campus in Dallas.  In the creative writing class I took, the teacher was a Dallas poet and he taught us some techniques using the poetry of Naomi Shihab Nye (most particularly her Little Brother Poem).  I fell immediately in love with her poetry and have stayed in love.

I went to Arts Magnet High School in Dallas and we had an amazing annual Writer's Workshop where writers came and did readings and workshops with us - it was crazy-wonderful.  Naomi Shihab Nye came two of the years.   So wonderful.

I have stories of other serendipitous stalker-fan encounters and very sweet rejection postcards from the Texas Observer (of which she is poetry editor) as well, but let's just say I Love Her.

Saturday night, she came and did a reading at the Art Museum of South Texas.  Jazz and the LSG and I went.  It was wonderful.  Wonderful.  My hero worship remains intact.

And she signed the copy of the book I bought!  Rather a lovely night.