Funny Ted Berrigan/Marvin Bell Story

From a comment by Michael Lally over at Silliman's Blog yesterday: "...Ted was too popular for Bell's taste and his approach to poetry too original for Bell's goals, so Bell pushed for Ted to be not asked back, and he wasn't. Then Bell had the nerve to ask Ted to read with him just before Ted was scheduled to leave. Ted knew, as many of us did, that Bell had helped push him out, but Ted accepted and then graciously offered to read first. The reading was packed, standing room only, a lot of it for Ted. He wowed the crowd as only he could do, but he didn't stop where he normally would, and instead just kept going. It seemed like he ended up reading everything he'd ever written. By the time Bell got up to read, it seemed like hours later. Ted was smiling and acting like nothing unusual had happened, as Bell took to the podium and read to a handful of his students, everyone else, long since gone."