Inland, Dreaming of Waves

High on words

High on words

I just got back from a kick-ass poetry reading.

Now I’ve been to many readings, and most poetry readings do NOT kick ass. Much as I love reading and writing poetry, I must admit that.

Usually I zone out after 5 or 6 poems, but these poets kept my interest for 2 hours. That’s amazing.

Several of the readers were friends of mine I met in local workshops, but there were two young readers tonight who inspired me. One rapped for us, which made me want to go home and trying my hand at it, and one read his poem in the style of Audre Lorde—that is to say, with a delivery somewhere between speech and song. If you haven’t ever heard Lorde read, I suggest going online and trying to find a recording.

To find out about local poetry readings, go to http://geocities.com/coloradopoets/index.html and click on Colorado Poetry Events.

Another cool thing about this reading was that several people asked me if I was going to read. That's always a nice feeling.

***

Earlier today, when I was driving home, Bryan Adams’s song “Summer of 69” came on the radio. I’m a sucker for anthems to youth, I guess—“Those were the best days of my life” always remind me of the months I spent in England in college. It’s the only time in my life I can remember being content to be exactly where I was—the only time I wasn’t looking to the future or to some other place.

posted by Price of Silence @ 9:52 PM