Part 1 - Mark Smith-Soto reading

I briefly met Mark Smith-Soto three years ago after a presentation by Richard Gilbert at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I recall that we talked about haiku, free verse poetry (for I was beginning to write longer poems), and a reading that Luis Rodriguez did at the Carolina Theatre the previous year. I walked away from our conversation with a feeling that I had been nurtured by a kind and gentle teacher. I immediately went home and ordered Mark's book Our Lives are Rivers, a wonderful volume of poetry that has accompanied me on many of my travels.

I received word several days ago that Mark would be reading from Waiting Room, a new book of his poems, at a beautiful little book shop in Greensboro, NC. Armed with a camcorder and a love for poetry, I attended the reading last Saturday.

And now, for your viewing and listening pleasure, I present to you Mark Smith-Soto:


Subsequent installments of the reading will be posted over the next few days or weeks.

I highly recommend Waiting Room; copies can be purchased at Glenwood Community Book Shop, Al Brilliant, proprietor. Contact information is located at the end of the video.