Soirée

I meet with a group of truly brilliant people most Thursdays here in town. A distinguished professor (I mean someone holding that title, but who is also distinguished in the true sense of the word), a small handful of amazing poets and scholars, one the former poet-laureate of the state, one the de facto laureate of the university, an extraordinary translator of the classics, and a few others of not lesser category. I am the only one from my department in this group. Although we don't only talk "poetry shop," I find it extremely valuable to be a part of this group of about eight people, which often turns into an informal seminar of sorts. Nobody is trying to impress anyone else, because we have mutual respect for one another and nobody has anything to prove. On a particular day the conversation might seem relatively banal, but it forms part of my scholarly base.