"Poetry Reading Tonight"

The sign read "Poetry Reading Tonight"

 

So I took down the address

 

Scratched it onto a piece of paper

 

Slipped it into my purse

 

It would be my first poetry reading

 

I was nervous about going

 

So my daughter accompanied me

 

We drove down Collingwood Blvd

 

It was a dark night sky

 

A partial moon and many stars

 

The building wasn't too hard to find

 

It was an old church which looked like a castle

 

A haunted one at that

 

In the drive way was a truck decked out with dolls

 

Of all kinds, sizes and shapes

 

The driver of the truck an umkempt strange fellow

 

We had seen him many times before

 

Frequenting coffee shops here in town

 

He was quite scary too

 

Perhaps we should have stayed home

 

My daughter really wanted to leave

 

But we stayed anyway

 

As we approached the building

 

The truck driver asked us

 

If we were attending the poetry reading

 

Of course we said yes

 

We proceeded to go inside

 

There was a long corridor which lead to another

 

Which we were directed to an old classroom

 

Featuring slate blackboards and a piano

 

There were only three poets there

 

They were a strange lot

 

We thought perhaps we should go

 

But we stayed

 

Eventually others drifted in

 

I don't know what we had expected

 

But the reading turned out quite well

 

We were torn between laughter and tears

 

As the poetry filled the room

 

It was grand

 

There were monologues

 

Rap, poetry and prose

 

A guitar player songwriter

 

Who sang his poetry while he played

 

It was quite an interesting night

 

We stayed after hours

 

Had sandwiches and coffee

 

I read five of my own poems

 

I was still nervous and the papers shook

 

But I kept on reading anyway

 

When I was done

 

My audience clapped

 

It was awesome

 

Reviews

[barricade]

sure seems like a great time! poetry reading session! that must've been some experience...sharing poetry in its truest sense...adding that perfect personal touch...defining it with the genuine "you-ness"!!! thank you for sharing your experience through this lovely piece...a great read!

regards
barricade...

[barricade]

sure seems like a great time! poetry reading session! that must've been some experience...sharing poetry in its truest sense...adding that perfect personal touch...defining it with the genuine "you-ness"!!! thank you for sharing your experience through this lovely piece...a great read!

regards
barricade...

[Spoken]

sounds like a great time! Glad you got to share your pieces and read them as you intended them to be heard... that's a wonderful experience for a poet and ppl should hear what you have to say b/c you have great words!

[Ralphy]

This was a wonderful read, I can only imagine what it would feel like to read my poems in front of bunch of people...thanks for the wonder write.

[Pax Analog]

Your poem about a poetry reading ends up being a tribute to the simple courage to persist with new, initially off-putting experiences to find the kernel of value, to triumph over anxiety, and to be duly rewarded by appreciations for one's efforts.

Good work.

[Pax Analog]

Your poem about a poetry reading ends up being a tribute to the simple courage to persist with new, initially off-putting experiences to find the kernel of value, to triumph over anxiety, and to be duly rewarded by appreciations for one's efforts.

Good work.

[AK]

Sounds like a great evening out! I'm not sure I would be bold enough to read anything I had written in public again. I read one piece aloud once to open a play I wrote for Christmas.
Sorry, there I go talking about me again.
This was a great read. Congratulations!

[bluessadmood]

yes its quite a story ,first i thought it was going to be nasty and some horrid things to occur but ,reading poetry under the wings of night and hearing some its quite nice ,must be a lovely evening..
wonderful write..

[Wildecat]

This is a wonderful poem, I really enjoyed reading this. Thanks for sharing.