Homage to Jay Meek, Part Three, by Yahya Frederickson
Yahya Frederickson The third installment of the notes from the 2015 AWP memorial panel honoring the late poet, novelist, teacher and editor, Jay Meek. The panel included brief talks by Jay's daughter, the poet, musician and scholar Anna Meek, Thom Tammaro, Jane Varley, myself and Yahya Frederickson, with a special contribution by Jay's wife, the poet and scholar Martha Meek. This installment of the panel's highlights comes from Yahya Frederickson. Yahya is a poet, co-translator of Arabic poetry, former Fulbright Scholar, and former Peace Corps volunteer. He is the author of five poetry collections including The Gold Shop of Ba-'Ali , T he Birds of al-Merjeh Square , and Returning to Water . He serves on the faculty at Minnesota University - Moorhead. * * * In 1989, I was a budding poet, fresh with an MFA from University of Montana, trying to find homes for my poems. I’d heard about a journal published near my hometown—a journal called the