Philip Levine Inspires at The Great Write Off
by Jeremiah Chamberlin
Just after noon on Friday, the typewriters in Ann Arbor’s Espresso Royale quieted. It was Day Three of The Great Write Off, but the pause had nothing to do with fatigue. Philip Levine, former Poet Laureate of the United States, had just walked in the door! I don’t know who was smiling more as I rose from my table to greet him–him, me, or the students writing in the coffee shop. We’d been anticipating his arriving in Ann Arbor for The State of the Book the following day, but we hadn’t expected him to drop in on the write-at-thon itself. […]