Read-In

When I was an undergrad long, long ago, I was a featured poet at a poetry reading sponsored by the UWF English club. I read with (I think four) other poets. I think I read three or four poems, mostly love poems. One of them was something like this (I'm trying to remember it--I'm paraphrasing it wrong. There was more art to it... another stanza, I think, so I'm NOT doing it justice).

Long ago,
our love
sat up once, sighed,
and died.
And nobody noticed
until summer came
and it started
to smell.

It got quite a laugh at the event, but it was true, too. Kind of Dorothy Parker wit-like. (I don't claim to be as GOOD as Dot, but I tried.)

It had a little bit more to it. It was written in response to the high school boyfriend tormenting me that I never wrote any "happy" poems. So I wrote a funny one, making fun of him. :) Revenge.

Anyway. Today, I spent the afternoon working on the Black Literature Read in I'm sponsoring/organizing on my campus. I had auditions and got three great students to read during what should be the busiest time, a time on our campus called "Common Hour" when all students have no classes so they can be on campus for events like this one.

I made a cool flyer with the students on it, and posted about fifty of them around campus. I happened to run into one of the students by the elevator where I had just posted his picture. He was looking at it, thinking "Hmmmm. I know that guy."

Last week, someone I don't know who, took down a bunch of my flyers. They had to go out of their way to do so. It annoys me. If you're no into the idea, don't come to the event, but don't ruin it for everyone else!

But I still have the flyer from long ago and far away with my little old name on it. It meant a lot to me, even though, at this date, it's the only reading of my own work I've done. (Someday. When I grow extra hours in the day).

I think it's going to be fun. A bunch of students are really excited, and I hope it works. Since minority American lit is one of my many, many specialties (the "many" is an exaggeration) I figure I'm the main person who is going to organize this kind of thing around here.

It would be awesome to have more things like this, though. We have student events like "foam parties" but I don't think there are enough cultural ones-- there just never are, and it really does take up a lot of time & energy & thought.

So that's been my thing this week. How are you doing?