Last night, the president of the writers’ club and I went to Maxine’s for the Wednesday night poetry reading, just to get the lay of the land before our 20-minute program, scheduled for November 19. I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t what I experienced. She was pleasantly surprised, too; I think she felt relieved by what she saw and heard last night.
The room was rather small and the crowd was suited to the space…maybe sixty seats or so, plus a fairly good sized stage. The place was dimly lit, but had adequate light on stage for the poets and performers to read, etc.
After we sat down, an old guy who said his name is Charlie walked up and struck up a conversation. Years and years of heavy beer drinking (and my guess is the drinking continued until just moments before we met), I guess, tends to make one gregarious. It does not make one coherent, nor does it make one a musician, despite having a guitar. That’s OK; he was pleasant and extremely talkative. Later, when he got on stage, he forgot most of the songs he started to play and did a pretty horrible job of the ones he remembered, but the crowd allowed him his moments on stage and showed appreciation. It was a good, supportive crowd.
A real mixed group of people took advantage of the open mike: Charles, two two-person rap artists, six or eight poets, and another guitarist/singer. I was impressed by several of the poets; good stuff, read quite well…or, I should say, performed quite well. This was not just a “reading.” It was an emotional expression in the form of poetry. I was delighted by it!
My idea of what and how I would do my twenty-minute feature next month changed radically while participating in last night’s program. Now, I’m looking forward to reading several poems…no, I am looking forward to expressing several poems. I need to practice my delivery, both voice and face/body expression. I am confident it will be at least tolerated, if not well-received.
As of this moment, I’m looking forward to it. This could be a hell of a lot of fun! Anyone who wants to travel to Hot Springs on November 19 to witness history is welcome!
Nice!