Thin Matter Book Launch & Signing, December 3

A packed house in The Cheese Traveler to celebrate Alifair Skebe’s new book & to hear her read a selection of her poems. If one is to have a poetry reading, better to have it in a small space as opposed to some huge stadium, better to say “the place was packed” than “there were a lot of empty seats.”

I had already been enjoying the book, having ordered my copy directly from Foothills Publishing. She began with poems from 2 other chapbooks, “Poppies” from Love Letters: Les Cartes Portales/Post Card: Les Lettres d’Armour (Basilisk Press, 2004), a maddeningly laid-out flip book, & “Kiva” from El Agua Es la Sangre de la Tierra (Finishing Line Press, 2008).

She then read from Thin Matter what she called “a labyrinth of poems,” suggesting we let her reading wash over us, mixing her metaphors, & beginning with the poem “Halo.” The poem “Desire” was originally a broadside & she said the poem could be read differently each time, which gave sense to the page-layout in the book. Others read included a dream-like “Spinning Paper,” another that was a piece of a multi-part poem, & the almost obligatory “Hudson.” I’m continuing to read through these intriguing, sensuous poems, enjoying the wash of images & ideas.

The advantage of having this reading at The Cheese Traveler, 540 Delaware Ave., Albany, NY is the fine selection of refreshments served before & after the poems, the cheese, olives & wine that were as poetic as Alifair's words.