Roots benefit reading at
The Grind & Gallery.
Was unexpectedly put on first. Read (among other pieces) my quasi-bitter "Going on first" poem about how people who play nice and show up on time are penalized by being put on before the audience fills out and they miss performing for the people they want to be seen by.
Fittingly enough, 20 minutes after my set ends three friends show up.
Manage to offload 50 copies of the Columbia Journal, to acquire a copy of Think Magazine and the lastest issue of the Drippytown Gazette. Learn that hot chocolate (no matter how appropriate to performed materials) and ginger beer just don't mix with a belly full of cheese.
After all is said and done, much more is said than done. Am drawn into conversation with someone who objected to one of my poems. I resolve to be more controversial because this actually allows us to converse, while exchanges with people who like and agree with my work are always limited to "I liked your poem." "Thanks!" (and perhaps a thumbs up gesture to cement the deal...)
Nothing new cranked out so far; perhaps for my radio appearance on Tuesday. Am finding many of my spontaneous, hastily-cranked-out pieces more meritorious (or at least enjoyed by a larger median slice of the audience) than the well-pondered, much-edited and thoroughly-revised finished products. Curious.
Today was a good Everything day.