“Kim was solemn and neo-classical and condescending”
I had forgotten these words, in this order, in context.
Here’s the thing: Peter Klappert was usually right about me. Damn him.
I am too solemn when I write. (But not in life: I have a laugh big enough to fill an Irish pub, and I quip with the best of them.) But on the page, I drop, dead weight, into melancholy.
Jesus, neo-classical? Seriously? Just when I wanted to be avant-garde, there was his grinning satyr face telling me my porticos were sagging and the columns sprawled out of line. (Though I do wonder why he hyphenated neo from classical. He rarely erred.)
Condescending.
Con
des
cend
ing
Yep
I hated that workshop, and it showed.
We had a falling out. Bitchiness on both sides, and a tendency to hold a grudge on mine. The truth: I missed Diva-him the minute we stopped talking. Before the grudge eased, I found a new lover, crashed and burned out of the MFA program, married my lover and
Peter said, “For some women,” <raised-eyebrow glance at me> “marriage is toxic to writing. Doesn’t matter if it is a happy one or not. It gets in the way.” (My paraphrase: he probably used better words, with dubious hyphenation.)
I would like to say he was wrong, but Peter Klappert rarely erred.
365/radical elements 
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at that workshop. It sounds like the experience could form the basis of an HBO series that would quickly attract a cult following. (And I love the bit about the sagging porticos and sprawling columns.)
Are you still married?
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Yes. 30 years in December.
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Oh, I love this, especially “dubious hyphenation” and that last line. And “grinning satyr face.”
And of course, now I want to meet you in an Irish pub.
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I would love to read about a poetry workshop that ended in a chainsaw massacre.
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Mali: You DO want to meet her in an Irish pub. Kim: You know he’ll find you now. (But I don’t know if he’ll be mad at me for sharing comments.) Also, certainly he’s older enough than we are that the hyphenated neo-classical was still acceptable style.
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No, he’ll be mad that you just called him “older enough than we are.”
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True. In my defense, even in the 1980s, those style issues were house dependent… (am I digging out OK?). Even now, there are places where one has to fight for closures!
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