Would You Suggest Writing as a Career? Summary

Acclaimed poet Henry Chinasky waits in an airport bar for his flight to Seattle, where he will give a reading at a college. He notes the physical attributes of all the women he sees and continues to drink as he fantasizes about having sex with one of the flight attendants while the airplane crashes.

Once he arrives in Seattle, a student named Belford greets him and drives him through the countryside to a bar where Chinasky drinks until he must go to the college for his reading. At the college, he takes a pint of scotch from his bag and reads his poems with no preamble or fanfare. The students applaud enthusiastically, to his surprise. After the reading, Chinasky and Belford attend a party at the home of a literature professor...