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Why would the Steiny Road Poet go to the
AWP Seattle Book Fair in 2023?
Steiny
lives
on
the
East
Coast.
The
trip
on
a
direct
flight
is
six
plus
hours
to
Seattle
from
the
other
Washington
and
the
fares,
while
not
expensive
going,
seem
unreasonably
high
and
hard
to
book
for
return.
Covid
is
still
out
there
infecting
lots
of
people
and
wearing
a
mask
on
the
plane,
not
to
mention
how
little
space
a
traveler
has
in
coach,
is
uncomfortable.
Well,
Steiny
did
wear
a
mask
on
the
plane
but
not
on
the
floor
of
the
Seattle
Convention
Center
because
her
love
of
selling
beautiful
books
of
poetry
to
book
buyers
prevailed,
cancelled
fear
of
contagion.
Who
can
persuade
anyone
to
buy
poetry
if
your
words
are
muffled
into
a
vocal
fry
with
a
mask?
In
the
past,
Steiny
has
written
about
her
selling
strategy
which
is
merely
to
approach
anyone
passing
her
publishing
table
and
say
most
exuberantly,
"Poetry!"
Those
interested
then
stop
to
take
her
tour
of
new
poetry
books.
This
year
her
running
commentary
went
like
this:
"The
Word
Works
has
been
publishing
eye-catching
books
of
remarkable
poetry
since
1975 and
you are looking at the first poet published by The Word
Works [yup, Wandering on the Outside by Karren
Alenier, a.k.a. Steiny]…I was the second president and
over there is Nancy White who is the third president.
Furthermore, there is my latest publishing project."
Here Steiny pointed to From the Belly: Poets Respond
to Gertrude Stein's Tender Buttons. "This is how it
works," she says as she reaches for the book and shows
them how Stein's poem is on the left page and the response poem is on the
right.
Then she asks what interests them, do they write poetry and maybe have a
manuscript? She hands them the new Word Works brochure with Five
Ways to Publish with Us and done up royally in the same colors as From
the Belly—oh, her designers are so generous, so talented! One fragment of
scintillating information leads to another and the customer and Steiny end
up laughing. It's pure joy to talk about poetry with those who love writing
and reading.
This year was especially unique because Nancy White enlisted her Seattle
-based cousin to create a pussywillow and flower arch that sent a gloriously
fresh perfume into the air. While many AWP convention goers wear
costumes to attract attention, The Word Works created a garden.  Hey,
anyway Word Works had their own Gorilla—our
2019 Tenth Gate Prize-winning book by Christine
Hamm. In the sterile environment of a convention
center the flower arch—this natural work of
art—attracted people who might not have
otherwise ventured down their aisle. If the person
standing before Steiny said, "I already bought too
many books; my suitcase is full" or "I spent all my
money" or "This is my first pass, I'll come back
later" Steiny said, moving them closer to the floral
arch, "Breathe, we have created a sacred space for our books and
customers." Someone suggested that couples could get married at The
Word Works table!
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