CPP does New York City

Elinor Nauen and Lee Byrd
Union Square, May 2010

Independent publishing, although fraught with all sorts of uncertainties, can be miraculous and it also can distribute little gifts along the way. Some gifts we receive every year--our annual visits to New York City for Sales Conference where we meet with the Consortium sales team and the independent reps who are out in the world selling our books. When we're there, of course, we spend time wandering around the city before and after. And we get to visit with friends, many of whom are also authors that we publish. Elinor Nauen is a poet we met through our good friend the poet Eileen Myles. Elinor submitted a manuscript to us, The ABCs of Marriage, which we will be publishing in the spring, 2010. It's a New York funky celebration of her marriage in poetry to Johnny Stanton who we got to meet at a dinner shortly after this photograph was taken. Of course, we were enjoying ourselves so much at the dinner that I forgot to take a picture of Johnny. I did run into Johnny again, however. At the St. Mark's Bookshop in the East Village, one of the great independent bookstores, I bought a copy of Ron Padgett's memoir of the late great Ted Berrigan, simply called TED, a great book for subway reading if you're a poet or a fan of poetry. But that's where I saw Johnny Stanton again, riff #91, playing the game TRUTH with Ron and Ted. That made me happy. I like it when life starts connecting all the dots.

One day Lee and I went down to Chinatown to see the work of a folk artist, a Chinese man who makes little sculptures from grass. Then we ate and wandered around, coming eventually to Columbus Park. Lee, of course, is President of Cinco Puntos Press, Incorporated. That's okay. She still knows how to dance.

--Bobby Byrd