This is the quiet before the stampede. On Monday I'll be working in Portland all day. Then, on Wednesday, I fly to Los Angeles, where I'll be staffing the CavanKerry Press table at the AWP bookfair. I have not been to LA for 30 years, and I'll be spending the bulk of this visit inside a convention center. Nonetheless, it seems likely that I'll take in a few bursts of California warmth, or even glance at a flowering tree now and again.

I wonder what book I should bring along to read.

Last year, when I was at AWP in Minneapolis, a nice young woman very seriously asked if Tom and I were a power couple.

Um, no.

My bird feeder, however, seems to be loaded with power couples--mostly goldfinches. They spend a lot of time making threatening beak faces and pushing each other off perches.