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13
WEDNESDAY
Some artists find that grief saps their creativity, but poet Mark Doty channels his sorrow into writing. From 1991-94, as his lover Wally Roberts suffered from AIDS, Doty composed his poetry collection Atlantis; when Roberts died, Doty began keeping his meditative journal Heaven’s Coast: A Memoir. Survivors’ tales crowd bookshelves today, and Heaven’s Coast belongs to that genre; it proves to be more coping mechanism than eulogy, and readers get to know the author much better than the deceased. Yet Doty’s command of language and especially the fond stories of his and Roberts’ 12-year partnership keep his prose from seeming too self-indulgent. The author reads from both works at 7 p.m. at Chapters, 1512 K St. NW. FREE. (202) 347-5495. CP