Keegan Lester : Notes from the Field : Greetings From My Apartment

Most of my life, all I’ve ever wanted is to be a performer. I've been lucky enough to accomplish this through poetry.

 
Through poetry, I've traveled much of the US.  Corners I'd never been nor dreamed of going to.

The only time I've ever been in Alabama was to read in a gay bar in Tuscaloosa. It was this unbelievably diverse and beautiful reading that was jam-packed. Those people and those hours are how I like to think of that place.

I've now read in Akron, Ohio, twice, and both times the turnout was fantastic and passionate and fun. Both times someone told me they drove an hour to get there. The first time I read in Akron was the first time I'd read outside of New York City or West Virginia. I feel like I take each one of those people with me as I continue to grow. I didn't know anything then about Ohio. Now I know how deeply entrenched and passionate the music, art and literary scenes are there.

I once read in Athens, Georgia, at a friend's house. She was finishing her Ph.D. in creative writing. She's still one of my literary heroes. She introduced me to the work of Muriel Rukeyser, who I can't believe I managed to get out of Undergrad and Grad school, having never read. After the reading, folks came out and talked about books and presses. They wanted to show me their favorite speakeasies and restaurants in Athens. That kind of community is what I've always thrived on.

Now, I've gotten to listen to people all over the country read their work to me in their hometowns and the towns and cities they've made their home. I've gotten to go to places like New Orleans and Provincetown and Chattanooga Tennessee and experience people in a way that I would never have had the chance had I believed that all the best writing or the full spectrum of American writing was happening only in Brooklyn, or Manhattan or Chicago.

I met one of my favorite literary people of all time (and now friend) in Dallas, Texas, which seemed like the most unlikely place to meet one of the greatest queer Asian poets of our generation. But there we were at a reading series in Deep Elum, reading our work together. 

Great art is happening everywhere. I think it's important that all of you know that your writing and art matters, regardless of where you live. That the community you build is essential, and that at the end of the day community is really why most of us came to reading and writing in the first place.

I've been so lucky to fall in love over and over with so many people's hometowns.  Every time I go somewhere, someone wants to show me all of their favorite places. So through writing, I've gotten to experience so many people's favorite places. So many town's secret spots. I've seen some of the best nooks and crannies of America.

One of the benefits of traveling so much has been discovering that what we think traditionally as the US hotbeds for literary scenes, really aren't the only ones. That in every state, there are multiple literary and art scenes happening, often in conflict with each other over the slightest of disagreements about what writing is or isn’t. And sometimes I just want to say: Great. This feud is hilarious, but great. Be passionate. Just because the New Yorker isn't writing about this doesn't mean it's not important. 

People in the writing world for a long time have put their trust in institutions over people. Now, I believe we are starting to see that erode a little. It's exciting. So, if you love your home and are inspired there and feel safe there, please never leave. You don't have to leave home to be an artist or find community. The people around you that you find interesting, probably are. Those stories need to be told. So work to build the community you dream of there. People will flock to it. I've seen it.

I first started touring throughout West Virginia with friends in a multi-genre literary, music and art installation show called The Travel’n Appalachian Revue. Some nights we performed in large auditoriums and other nights in small community spaces or book stores. Because it was a variety show, there was a much larger net of people we could draw in, compared to that of a classic poetry reading. There were times where on a random Tuesday, in a town we'd never been to before, almost the entire town would come out for the show. I believe people thirst for community and the arts, especially in places where it's harder to come by. I think we need to work more to put writers in spaces with musicians and comedians and other artists and find more diverse ways to make artistic communities multi-genre, so more people can be included. Every town has talented people just waiting for their opportunity.  It does not matter where you are, community always shows up for community. 

The hardest part of Covid-19 for me, thus far, has been trying to find ways to imitate that community when most of us can't continue to be present physically. Before COVID hit, I had decided to take an 8-month break from traveling, to heal myself mentally and physically. I've been on the road almost two weeks of every month for the last three years. I needed to catch up on writing my next books. I needed to be in one place. I needed time to decompress. I was just getting ready for six upcoming engagements across three weeks this spring when COVID hit.

I can tell you that what I miss most right now is meeting new people. Discovering new places. Getting to explore these places with people who are passionate about the place they live and the art they love.

I have a book coming out in the fall of 2021, and I've had to think a bunch about how one goes about promoting a book in a post COVID world.  As a performer, I don't know if I'll still get to tour the way I once had. This is the only way I know how to sell a book. It was how I found my community of writers.

So I want to list some books, mostly newer books. Written mainly by folks that I've met on the road or have read with. Books I think that you all will love and I hope you might consider investing in, not just the art but the people and places the art comes from as well.  Each one of these books is spectacular and means a great deal to me. I hope you consider inviting them into your homes:

WWJD AND OTHER POEMS  by Savannah Sipple—

Sleepovers: Stories Ashleigh Bryant Phillips

Helen or My Hunger  by Gale Marie Thompson

Potted Meat by Stephen Dunn

All the Gay Saints Kayleb Rae Candrilli  

Scott McClanahan The Collected Works of Scott McClanahan Vol. 1 & Crapalachia 

Thank Your Lucky Stars Sherrie Flick

When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities  by Chen Chen

Threat Come Close by Aaron Coleman

Guillotine Eduardo C. Corral

Witch by Philip Matthews

In This Quiet Church of Night, I Say Amen by Devin Kelly

The Prettiest Star Carter Sickels

I Can’t Talk About the Trees Without the Blood by Tiana Clark

All the Great Territories Matthew Wimberley

Deed Justin Wymer

Sugar Run Mesha Maren  

Radical Hope by Kevin M. Gannon

Keegan Lester is the author of the poetry collection this shouldn't be beautiful but it was and it was all i had so i drew it (Slope Editions 2017). His memoir It's Believed Dionsours Once Cooed Like Doves is forthcoming from West Virginia University Press in the Fall of 2021. His work has been published in Ploughshares, The Academy of American Poets, Cutbank, and Adroit among others.