I was worried, though, because Rad had recently been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. He arrived at the church for his reading frail and shaky, hairless from chemo, obviously short of breath and in considerable pain. But he read with force and eloquence, and the audience gave him a standing ovation. Rad died in December, and I was honored to preside at his funeral. This became dramatically apparent to me on an evening when the room was particularly full of writers.
Writing is lonely work.
The idea for starting a reading series came to me in 1994 during Holy Week, the busiest week of the year in the life of an Episcopal rector. I'd been invited to the poetry reading of a dear friend at the Newton Free Library, and when I finished celebrating the Eucharist that evening, the spirit moved me to drive there. I know poets. I discussed the idea with friends and parishioners who caught my vision and agreed to help with the project. Among us, we knew many talented writers to invite for our first year of readings.