It was a pretty full house, or rather, full basement, for the reading on Sunday. It’s always such a diversity of voices and styles. Amanda with her series spinning off from her Eleanor of Aquitaine series, Grant with his set of gohawk haiku, Max with his verbal disconnects that slip into new arrangements to refuse conventions of logic and everyday sense, Martin with his bored-voice sniping all of old, fat, straight married people and loose women, and at least half a dozen others read.
Pictured is Claudia at Sasquatch with host Lynne, and a couple of the other people who would take the open mic, Jackie and Sharon.
In the open set, Claudia read poems written from the bath to her little buddha rubber duckie and how Robbie Burns would have loved to have had a duckie too. The mullings got into how solids are an illusion and we all all liquid, constantly exchanging molocules with the air, things, people (and rubber duckies), each becoming the other until she is moon-duck-woman-winter.
Breaktime the room swells with conversation, such as this with feature reader Michelle Desbarats, a member of the CAA [her name?], Barbara Myers and Lynne.
After the break, the feature reader began. Her radiant laughter, imaginative poems and her presentation of ideas and phrasings… Michelle is always a treat to hear. She read excerpts from Chaudiere‘s Decalogue and Broken Jaw‘s Speak and some pieces from her manuscript — all good to hold one over until it is in print.
Her poems always ask questions and take perspectives one would never expect, such as her poem on the vantage point of time and space one would have as a wee child. Enchanting. Or what if the aliens come and are dumber than us? What if they come in a ship that is made from lumber like we made when we were 7 years old, nails coming out, only dreams of metal orbs. What if they only want a picnic, and not to probe us?
People were talking about that poem after and about her poem on her “2nd dad” the man who visited seasonally through her childhood from the pages of the catalogue, aging until one season, in the gap, something happened and he didn’t come back. It sparks a widening of mind. One can relate and yet it’s not common and through long polishing, she completes the ideas, not just presents a good concept but phrase after phrase, pings marvelous expressions through the flow.
It was, perhaps, not surprisingly, a good turnout for the last reading of the season. Next time, September 9th. Also among the announcements is that one of the regulars is going to have an open mic for poetry at her nuptials this fall and if you know her, come on out the wedding.
Until then, there’s a lot going on. Mike has started a new reading series called The Muses. The first will be Friday, July 20th at Rasputins. The features will be Michelle and Amanda.
Ah, thanks. 🙂
Oh wow… that looks like fun.