I saw Kit Robinson read at Bridge Street Books this evening. Besides Bridge Street not really being well suited to this kind of event (like a lot of places in DC, it is very narrow and that is not terribly conducive to cramming 20+ people inside to listen someone recite poetry).

But it is a great bookstore. Like Skylight Books, what sets it apart is not the size of its collection, but the quality. Makes you want to work there just to participate in their book selection process.

Robinson is associated with the magazine L-A-N-G-U-A-G-E and with Language Poetry.

I’m batting 50-50 when it comes to the Language Poets. Ron Silliman‘s work (with its frequent, an Oulipo-like forms) just confuses me. Lyn Hejinian I just can’t get into.  But Kay Ryan (who at least some people associate with Language Poetry and who I saw her at the Library of Congress after she appointed Poet Laureate), I very much enjoy, along with the evening’s star, Kit Robinson.

I found the latter two reasonably accessible and the first two not so much, so maybe this is simply a failure on my part.

But on to the night’s reading.

Robinson is a tall man with carefully trimmed white hair who appears much younger than he actually. Very wiry, outgoing, and energetic, he is the exact opposite of the tormented, melancholy, and Byronic artist. His poems are playful and very fun to listen to (and to read).

He read from his most recent book, Determination, though I brought my copy of an earlier book, Messianic Trees. He was all business when it came to reading. Though he took a little time to respond to audience reactions, but basically, he got up there and read poems for about thirty minutes.

Not bad, eh? Poetry – pure and simple.

Though let me take another moment to talk about how awesome Bridge Street Books. They have an amazing poetry section (with at least twice as many books as your neighborhood, big box, chain bookstore) and their political section is just chock full of fantastic (mostly left leaning) titles. I happened to pick a chair next to the politics shelf and while waiting for the reading to start, I flipped through about half a dozen books that I desperately wanted to purchase (but didn’t, because, you know – I’m poor).