Song of a Reformed Headhunter

This hybrid memoir offers many pleasures and insights, but I will return to it for poetic prose passages such as this one about migration:  "I had once thought life here would be divided into before and after. It's not like that at all. Rather, it is what is now and what is yet going to happen. Whatever is "now" includes the so-called past, no matter across which border. Forgive me—it turned out that I like being an emigree, just as like the 30th of a long month: it seems to be over, but look, there is still the 31st."

The Roger Smith Annual Poetry Dinner is held at the Roger Smith Hotel in Midtown East in the spirit of Scottish-American cultural exchange and in honor of a Scottish poet. The poet is usually returning from the Poetry Festival in Nicaragua, as I learned last night from the honored poet Gerrie Fellows. After the opening remarks by organizer Danika Druttman, Gerrie began the dinner by reading her lovely poems. The phrase "the grit and oil of matter" stayed with me. As the dinner continued, every guest read a poem he or she brought. It was to be expected that the Scottish connection would be strong. One of the best poems of the evening was a witty parody of a Scottish ballad. More surprising was the international flavor of the evening. Two poets of Indian heritage read, as well as a woman from Mexico and a man from Peru, the latter two reading in Spanish. There was also a poet of African heritage; she did not say what part of Africa. Sitting across from me, as I discovered lat...