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At a Pub Called Black Swan

Tonight I went to a poetry reading, which I've been wanting to do for the past year.

Finally!

As expected, half of it was inaccessible/difficult to grasp, and the other half was great. I jotted down some thoughts and notes and authors to check out.


Notable quotes from the evening:

host: (reading poet's published history) I can't say this!... My Gaelic fails me.
friend: (a disappointed aside) Oh. I thought it was going to be "nigger."

poet: (explaining obscure title reference) ...And that's pretty much it. Well, that's where it ends on Wikipedia.


After the reading, for an unknown reason, I brought up a song that three of us had heard at David's Tea on Tuesday night:

(for a clip of the original AND SUPER AWESOME vid, click here)

The line about a six-foot rabbit* moved us on to movies. Dannie Darko, which I have not seen, and Harvey, which none of the others have seen. Jimmy Stewart, folks! Pookas! Y'all should check it out. (note to self: watch Dannie Darko, if only to see what Jake Gyllenhaal was like as a youngun).

I'm not sure what the point is of this digression... but the point of the night is that it was good, and that it affirmed to me that my poetry doesn't suck. If these poems are published, then there is space in the literary world for mine. Not to knock tonight's poets - I did think they were good, and I have a renewed desire to go back to school. So thanks for that, Insomniac Press** poets!


And thanks to Katie V. for making it happen.





*TURNS OUT the line is not about a giant bunny. It is, according the interwebs,
I wish I had a rabbit in a hat with a bat
and a '64 Impala

** DANGNABBIT. I just looked at their website for submission guidelines, purely out of curiousity. Two problems: they encourage you to get published elsewhere first - isn't that always going to be what people want?? and their poetry plans are full "for the foreseeable future." Well, knocking on a hundred doors has to start somewhere.
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