Adventure to Iowa City

As I've mentioned in an earlier blog post, I joined Alpha Nu, a literacy society that meets once a week.  Today, Alpha Nu went to a poetry reading celebrating the birthday of Elizabeth Bishop in Iowa City.  




I've been to Iowa City a few other times and I've always love the city.  It reminds me of a smaller version of Madison.  I feel that the University of Iowa is very similar to UW Madison, although on a smaller scale, as the city kind of becomes the campus.  That's a really neat feeling but not quite the right fit for me.  So I like going to cities like that and enjoying what it has to offer.  I still want to get down to Iowa City on a nicer day, it was freezing cold today, and just stroll downtown checking out all the unique shops.  


There were a total of four of us who went: me, Alison, Sally, and Emily.  Our first stop was Oasis, an awesome restaurant serving falafel.  What is falafel you might ask?  Well it's basically chickpeas that are soaked overnight and then ground with garlic, onion, and other spices.  Put that on pita bread and you've got something fantastic.  After filling ourselves up we walked a few blocks to Prairie Lights, the bookstore where the reading was being held.  Prairie Lights is a quaint little bookstore where I know I could spend a lot of time and potentially money.  There was a full house as other area authors read poetry and a smidgen of prose by Elizabeth Bishop.  After the reading, the four of us wandered around the store until it closed, showing each other funny books or writing down titles of books we wanted to read in the future.  Then it was back to Coe.  All in all a very successful trip.  


I've added the poem that really stood out to me at the reading.  It's about losing things and I for one have an extremely difficult time dealing with losing things.  If I lose something, I tend to freak out and frantically search for the item, sometimes in vain.  Maybe it's that reason or maybe something else entirely that drew me to this poem.         

One Art
by Elizabeth Bishop
The art of losing isn't hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster. Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. The art of losing isn't hard to master. Then practice losing farther, losing faster: places, and names, and where it was you meant to travel. None of these will bring disaster. I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or next-to-last, of three loved houses went. The art of losing isn't hard to master. I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster, some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent. I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster. Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident the art of losing's not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.