An Afternoon with Walter Mosley

A couple of years ago I wrote a "Dear Walter" post to Walter Mosley.  In it I said that if I were to ever see him on the streets of New York I'd probably run up on him and slap his ass or wrap my legs around his waist.  It was right after I read his book Killing Johnny Fry and I just realized that Walter Mosley was a cross-genre writer par excel lance who has written an excellent piece of erotica...

Well on this past Sunday as I was leaving the Brooklyn Public Library auditorium after listening to Walter Mosley in conversation I walk directly to Walter.  And what did I do...

I smiled.

I looked up at him with the biggest 2 row, possibly some upper gum, smile.  I refused to speak because I knew my voice would betray me.  I'd speak with unnecessary vibrato and I would probably babble...

In my head, during the question and answer period, I was imagining this post with a pic of me and Mr. Mosley smiling it up.  But as I walked past him, I knew this post would not look anything like my imagination.  I figure not only should I anticipate my pics and posts but my conversations too!  Nevertheless I had a wonderful time listening to him speak of how he created his characters, how he writes daily (even while on tour) and his many inspirations.  I listened as he read from his latest Leonid McGill series "When The Thrill is Gone" and how he read his work with the rhythm of a poet.  If he was not wearing his uniformed black fedora, I would have envisioned us in a dark smoky theater, him wearing a black beret and after his reading all of us would give our reactionary hand claps and finger snaps.

He's nothing how I imagined he would be... he's witty and funny and he's what my mother calls "quick with it"... that means he has the right answer for every question and it comes right on time.

I don't regret walking past Mr. Mosley without asking for a photo... I guess because when I looked up and smiled at him, in passing, he gave me a big ole, wide ole gap-toothed smile right back...