I want to start this post with a few words about reading at Bookends in Pontotoc, Mississipp last Saturday, my last reading of September. It was a busy month with the Mississippi Book Festival and another trip to Jackson to meet a class at Millsaps and read to the MUW Alumni Association. Read on to hear what it’s like to read in a small-town Mississippi Bookstore and learn more about my next reading in Vicksburg on Oct. 4.
It was a beautiful fall day, which meant I had a lovely drive through back roads of Mississippi to get from Columbus to Pontotoc. Alt 45 from West Point, up Hwy 245 to Ocolona, then 41 through Troy to the west side of Pontotoc, if you want to know my route. There were goldenrod blooming in the ditches and fields. The leaves haven’t started to turn (this is the South, after all), but the sun was golden and the sky was a clear blue.
I got to town a little early, not wanting to cut it too close since I haven’t been to Bookends before. That gave me a chance to drive by Pontotoc’s lovely farmer’s market that was just about to close up shop. I didn’t stop to look for anything, since I’d already shopped the Hitching Lot Farmer’s Market in Columbus and anything I got would have to sit in a hot car for a couple of hours. I parked by the store and even had enough time to walk down Main street a bit, where I saw a couple of antique stores, boutiques, restaurants, and the Pontotoc Community Theatre. It would be worth going back to explore when I have a little more time.
Bookends is a lovely little bookstore with two levels of books. I didn’t get a chance to explore all that much, since my signing was set to start at 11 when they opened, but I did see their display of local and Mississippi authors featuring my book, Gerry Wilson, and Robert Busby.
They had me set up at a table with a table cloth made out of pages cut from a book. A little boy ,who came to the store with his mother, asked if those were pages from my book, but I assured him they weren’t. His mother had seen me at Possumtown Book Fest and came by to say hi and to get her copy of Attached to the Living World signed. I’d already signed Tree Fall with Birdsong for her back in August. She and her son and daughter didn’t stay for the reading, though I imagine that would have been a challenge for the youngsters. Maybe next time, when we’re all a little older!
There was a small crowd for the reading: a local woman who’s working on a book of fiction or nonfiction, another local woman (I think) who said she saw my post on Instagram that morning, a young guy who was maybe in college or just out of collete, one of the owners and her husband and the young woman behind the cash register.
This was about what I expected, and in fact, I was pretty pleased to have that many people come out on a Saturday morning in a town of about 5,000 to listen to a poet they don’t know. We had a good conversation both before and after the reading.
The woman writing a book wanted to talk about her book and her writing process, which was fine. She’s doing many of the right things, like interviewing women from her church to get more background on the stories she wants to tell. I suggested she might want to give them copies of what she wrote down, so they would have those stories for their families if they want them. She’ll likely not use the actual stories, but draw on elements from several of them and combine them in new ways to create a fictional past that is reflective of the actual past. It seems like she has a lot to work with, both from her own history and the ones she’s researching.
We also talked a fair amount about working with lines in poetry and what I’m trying to do in the poems I read. And there was interest in The W’s low-residency MFA program, so I was glad I brought along a few brochures.
You never know where a small and intimate reading like this might lead, whether that is someone who gets interested in your writing program, or who thinks about buying one of your other books, or who tells someone else about the reading, maybe shares a poem or gets another copy for someone as a gift. The point, as I said on Saturday, is to get the poems out in the air where they can live and breathe, and where they can take on a life of their own.
I’ll also be happy if these folks become customers of Bookends and maybe send some of their friends that way. I do readings, not just to sell books, but to support local bookstores and develop community, which is one of the reasons the two sisters who opened Bookends decided to open up their store. Both were having a bit of a rough week, with some health issues for a family member, so they couldn’t both be there. I’m sorry about that and hope things will be getting better for them soon!
Next Saturday, October 4, I’ll be in Vicksburg for a reading at 1pm at the Old Courthouse Museum. I have a feeling that’s a pretty big space, so I hope we get a few more people to come out, though I’m always happy to read, whether there is 1 or 100 in the audience. I’m happier if there’s more than one, but I’ve done a reading when it was essentially the bookstore owner, one friend, and some of my own family who were in the room, so I’m not lying when I say I’ll read no matter the size of the crowd! Thanks to Lorelei Books of Vicksburg who helped to organize this. There’s a Bicentennial Flea Market going on that day, so hopefully that will draw plenty of people and a few will be curious enough to see what a poet has to say!
I’m only sorry that I won’t be reading at the bookstore, though reading at the museum is a much better choice for this day. Lorelei Books has a wonderful space for readings and they are such gracious hosts. I still fonly remember my reading there when Barrier Island Suite came out, so I’m very glad I get to go back. I will definitely stop by the store at some point next Saturday to see how it looks these days, though Lorelei will also have a booth at the Flea Market, so I’ll spend some time there, as well. Stop by and see me at the booth, and if you can stick around for the reading at 1, that would be wonderful!
And if I don’t see you in Vicksburg, maybe I’ll see you at the Eudora Welty Writers’ Symposium or at another bookstore near you!
Kendall Dunkelberg 