The Opening Night Reading "Written on Water" was held in The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers, which peered over a very foggy Hudson River last night. The lights from New Jersey seemed brighter than usual.
As water rippled outside against the docks, a giant screen with projected water lapped behind the stage. Water on plasma, noted the Nicaraguan poet Gioconda Belli.
Belli had perhaps the best interpretation of the "Written on Water" theme that all writers were asked to respond to in their fashion. "My name will be written in lights," Belli read, from a series of poems that discussed the ephemeral nature of each individual life.