Open Mics and other things

I meant to write about the Tuesday night open mic yesterday, but time got away from me. So I will start there today. We had a small turnout which turned out to make for an amazing night. I spoke with one of the young men last night and he said how much he enjoyed it because it gave us time to really explore the poetry, the issues, and learn more about each other. It made for a very close group. We discussed everything from slavery, civil rights, Al Sharpton, Imus and the current sportscaster who used the word lynch and how it meant so much more to them. We discussed the election and the candidates, the importance of education, voting, how some things haven't changed since my youth in spite of all the promises made, and yes, all this came about through the poetry shared that night. Some of their insights inspired, educated and truly impressed me and I hope my views did the same for them. It was exciting to hear these intelligent young people voice their opinions intellectually and thoughtfully. There was so much respect for all our opinions whether we agreed, disagreed or met half way. The word amazing doesn't even cover how I felt about that night. So to Aaron Johnson, Daniel Driffen and Jamar White I say thank you for being so open, so honest, so not boring! and for hearing my side with grace and maturity.

Last night I attended a new open mic, at the Coffee Palace, hosted by Daniel Driffen. I think I had more fun as a reader than as host! A lot of familiar faces were there and some new ones. I met a fantastic woman who had two books of poetry published, her first when she was 61! I went to speak with her after and was so impressed with her I had to invite her to join in with us at the Spectrum for our next open mic. Daniel did a great job hosting and everyone enjoyed the night.

When I came out, of the Coffee Palace last night, it was sleeting and before I went to bed looked out and saw snow on top of our cars! Yea!!! I looked forward to the snow today! The weather man promised snow! Instead we got rain! Hard, cold, icy rain! I will give our local weatherman credit because he did apologize for disappointing all us kids who were looking forward to seeing snow today.