Brooke Horvath/Pam Anderson
Poetry Reading at Last Exit Books in Kent, Ohio
I met Brooke Horvath in the early 90’s when I was working on my MA in English Literature. He was a professor at Kent State University who was asked to teach a class after the initially assigned prof bailed. On that first day of class—having already bought (and read) each all of the 12 assigned books for the class—I was dismayed to meet (1) a professor I did not know...who was (2) teaching something for which I had limited interest (post-modern fiction)...and who had (3) a long list of completely different books than those I had read.
It seemed that many of my classmates (about 15 of us) felt similarly. Who was this guy? What was this “post-modern” stuff? Why couldn’t we just go with the original class, albeit with a different teacher?
To say the least, it was an uphill battle for Brooke.
But...
I loved the class and was challenged by the books. He is a gifted teacher—tough but fair...serious but funny...smart but approachable.
Once the class ended, we became friends, and I soon realized that he also is a gifted poet and writer. I have many of his books (Consolation at Ground Zero (Eastern Washington University Press) is one of my all-time favorite poetry books).
When the idea of giving a poetry reading at Kent, Ohio’s Last Exit Books came up, I wondered if Brooke would be willing to read with me. I knew his new book At Times: new and selected poems (Seven Stories Press) had been recently released, and I had already purchased and read it. Of course, I loved the poems.
Taking a chance, I sent him an email and asked...and he agreed.
