Night of Poetry

The Get Lit! event tonight was incredible. I volunteered for the event as an usher. The evening opened with NW poet (and ex-nun) Madeline DeFrees reading four poems. She is a very, very tiny woman! Only her head was visible from behind the podium on stage. Next, was Bill Tremblay. Then....it was Robert Bly's turn to read. He recited poems from memory, gave quirky commentary between lines (even interrupting lines to insert his comic musings). An enchanted man, nearly 79 years old and who speaks with a Norwegian-Minnesota accent.

After intermission, it was then time for Rita Dove. She was mesmerizing (and even more gorgeous than her pictures). What a beautiful voice, velvetly and soft like a Spanish wine that I tried yesterday for the first time. The alliteration and smoothness of her language was really emphasized by her reading. All of the poems she read tonigher were from her newest book American Smooth.

After Dove's reading, there was a Q & A session, moderated by Chris Howell who was also the evening's MC. Dove and Bly sat on stools, and answered about 8 or so questions from various people in the audience. One question asked about how the love in their marriages have impacted their poetry, since both Dove and Bly often referred to that in their commentary between readings and Dove even read a poem specifically about her husband. They both gave beautiful, unique responses, after Bly first asked to clarify the question in reference to marriage, "Which one?"

Last night's MFA reading was also fun. I was one of the readers, and I was a bit more nervous than I expected. My man reminded me, "Deep Breaths / Read Slow, / Relax / Enjoy," and even wrote this on the page of my first poem that I was reading so I would remember this at the podium. I think nervousness is a good thing, it sharpens us for "performance" but it can also cause strange physical tension to occur in the body. For me, it's my voice. It tightens. For a poet reading aloud, my voice is what I have. It didn't help that I emptied my water bottle a few minutes before going up and didn't have a refill. And I was coughing on my spit (just a weird swallowing thing happened), two readers before my turn came. It also didn't help that the reading room was really dark, so that the audience was difficult to see from the podium. And the podium was very short, so that there was a large amount of space from the podium to the microphone, with no place to hide or relax your arms. And the light on the podium was ineffective if you held your poems higher to your eyes. So what to do, except keep the poems on the podium, stay focused and eyes down mostly to not lose my space. Take deep breaths, even if the sound went into the mic. (I was too nervous to drink from the cup of water at the podium, not sure if it was for me, or what...maybe it was gin and tonic, who knows?

Tomorrow is another busy MFA Poet Monday:
1. Finish reading Lillian Hellman's memoir, An Unfinished Woman
2. Continue revision on a poem I've been working on, and hopefully have a new version ready to share w/ Jonathan when I meet with him at 3:00
3. Meet with classmate at 4:00 regarding our Hellman/memoir presentation we're giving for NF theory class in a couple weeks
4. Be at the Masonic Temple at 6:00 to volunteer for the MFA Faculty Reading that is part of Get Lit!

And my really important goal tomorrow: find gas to purchase in Spokane that is less than $2.49/gallon!