Cousins

My cousin L is nine months older than me and several inches taller, but we are very similar in many ways, including loving clothing in blues and purples, and books and reading. Phil obliged us with this photo, taken just before the luncheon at the Lanier Library's second Poetry Festival, at which Richard Blanco, who read his evocative poem "One Today" at President Obama's second inauguration, was the keynote speaker.

Blanco is a superb speaker, and read his inaugural poem and several others over the course of his presentation, in which he shared his personal story as a Cuban-American, openly gay poet. (He is also a civil engineer, which I found fascinating.)

I'm posting this a day late, after a full day in Asheville, North Carolina, enjoying several bookstores and a cousins' lunch with L, while Phil and B (L's husband) explored a couple of the city's excellent brew pubs. There is more to add about Richard Blanco and the other poets I heard during the festival, but it's late and this will have to do for now.

(P.S. The jacket I'm wearing above is the one I wrote about on April 10, from Betty Lou's Downtown Emporium.)