I went down to Helios (the cafe/bar formerly known as The Mausoleum) tonight kinda expecting the same old crap . . . I have never been very impressed with the selection of poetry presented there. Some of it is great, most however has been crap.
Tonight however was very satisfying. I went expecting to listen, write, and just kinda chill . . . really not intending to read. I actually never, or rarely intend to read. But you know how it is, either it seems like a good idea after a few beers or the mike just seems to draw me in. Well I guess tonight was a bit of both. But anyway thats not what I’m going on about. The first poet up was amazing. I mean that girl really does have some talent. Pretty much everything was solid. And of course there were the obligatory “poets” I didn’t care too much for, but you will get those where ever you go. Over all though there was a lot of passion and verse and humor on the stage tonight.
The host was very laid back and friendly, very passionate about the promotion of poetry as an art form. Something I really admire. He is also apparently a friend of an old friend of mine, which was cool. I ran into my friend unexpectedly right as I arrived, which was nice, cause I had someone to sit with. I hate sitting at a table alone, and staying at the bar is too noisy & your seat gets stolen easily!
So eventually I read too! I selected As The Story Goes and It Could Have Been Different because I was trying to stay away from reading divorce poetry, or old love poetry. I really am more diverse (I think) than that, but generally what I have that I am 1/2 way satisfied with tends to lean towards those to topics. However tonight I focused on memories. I stuck with just 2 cause the 2nd is so long that it just can’t really be followed by anything else and still kept in a reasonable time frame. It was only the second time for me to read that one, and of course as always I blundered it, but not too noticeably I hope. I had a few people come up to me afterwards to tell me they liked it so I guess I did well. Doesn’t really matter . . . I like them so thats all that truly counts. Enough rambling for now . . . . .
Note to self- I need to up date my blogger with some new audio blogs & email Sir Melancholy
