nichepoetryandprose

Why do you go to poetry readings? Is it because you are supporting a writing friend? Because you love poetry? Or because you search for the perfect poetic experience — the memorable reading of an unforgettable poem, expressive words you know you will always be able to summon. Have you ever left a poetry reading feeling renewed, animated, believing in the impossible?

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I attend a lot of readings. I go to support my writing friends. I go because I love words and poetry. I also go because I long for the memorable. Occasionally, I will hear words, phrases, poems to thrill me for the rest of my life.

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I have had many such experiences. I have been privileged to hear Roo Borson read her poem Grey Glove. I have heard Roger Moore read poems from his book Monkey Temple with his stirring Welsh accent.  Years ago I heard a young Irish poet read her poem about a kettle boiling on the stove, and I have never forgotten her words even though I have forgotten her name.

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after the poetry reading

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Bailey Drive is a steep incline

for an out-of-shape heart

a pause returns the thud in ears

to chest where it needs to be, a moment

to see maples on the Aitken House lawn

animated by wind, as metaphor for adrenaline rush

of words

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as trees send Tesla coil sparks into blue sky

from trunks constrained by building

and sidewalks, to branches and twigs

unfettered, plasma filaments bloom

on fractal paths

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another pulse, trunk to bud-tips

and another, signals up and outward

heart slows and holds in place

lightning throb in continuum of space

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All my best,

Jane