Saturday, May 6, 2017
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts
681 Venice Blvd.
Venice, CA 90291
4:00 p.m.
Laurel Ann Bogen, Eileen Aaronson Ireland, and Richard Modiano on the front steps of Beyond Baroque; Saturday, May 6, 2017, after Eileen’s reading.
Early Saturday afternoon, I picked up Eileen at the Cadillac Hotel, on Dudley in Venice, where she had spent the night after arriving at Union Station the day before. We drove around Ocean Park, where both of us had lived for many years. Unbeknownst to me, she resided at an apartment building just north of Ocean Park Blvd. I tended to walk on the south side of OP Blvd., so it’s more likely that Kita Shantiris (who also lived just north of OPB, too) might have crossed paths with Eileen in those days. Considering that it was her first public reading, Eileen read superbly, and I am looking forward to hearing her again tomorrow. Thanks again to Susan Hansell, editor of Spot Lit Magazine for her unwavering support of Eileen’s poetry.
Sunday, May 7, 2017
Eileen gave an even stronger reading at Gatsby Books on Sunday than she did the day before at Beyond Baroque. Among other poems, she reprised “Sharpeville” and “Jerusalem Duet.” A small but attentive audience of about 15 people showed up on a rainy afternoon, and each of them received a free copy of a back issue of SPOT LIT magazine that contained some of her poetry. I wish to thank Susan Hansell for her generosity in providing these back issues for this event and to Sean for hosting the reading at Gatsby. Afterwards, as a small gesture of appreciation for her kindness in making this long journey from New Mexico to read in Los Angeles, I took Eileen out to dinner at La Paraloccia in Long Beach. The next day, she caught a train back home.
About Bill Mohr