where poetry takes you

Maybe we just didn't want to watch all the post-game wrap ups one of the worse called Superbowls ever, maybe with all the driving we did this weekend we couldn't help but keep going, or maybe it was the lack of sleep, or me being a bit out of it after a weekend of kali seminar and classes, whatever it was, somehow for some reason we thought Eileen's reading at Cody's was the 5th and not the 12th.

When we left the house we had a bit of doubt but were too lazy to boot up the computers again to double check. So we headed to Cody's with this vague idea of what we might be heading to. When we got there, we found out that the reading was at 7:30, not 7 and that reading that evening were Tessa Rumsey and Geraldine Kim. At that point we could have turned back, but since we were there, we might as well stay.

The reading was quite delightful! Really enjoyed Geraldine's reading from her book, "Povel", a poetic novel, as she writes about the non-narrative of daily life, which includes a mug shot of Nick Nolte above the notes, and a bio of George W, complete with her picture pasted on a picture of the first couple. She said she tends to go on a whim then explain it later. As for the George W bio instead of her own, she commented it's more about the assertiveness in which something is stated.

Whenever I go to poetry readings, the more I enjoy the reading, the less I remember what the poet read, mostly because as they read it seems to trigger all these images and thoughts in my head and I find it hard to actually hear what they are saying as if my mind is playing poetic badminton. So here I am listening to Geradline read and I just cannot keep my mind on her words, because they seem to push me some place else. It's a bit of an out of body experience. Because indeed, I am engaged in the conversations she writes between her, her father, and her brother, how they talk but not really talk to or with each other. Then, I'm flashed back to some other experience of my own, or a completely fictionalized place, or a repeating phrase which I must remember to write down.

Also enjoyed Tessa Rumsey read from "The Return Message". The book is structured in a way that there is a poem on the right and left side of the page, both with the same title, used as call and response, reaction to each other. It had the size and format of a children'd book (hard cover and square), and I actually almost thought it was a children's book about the peacock and the crows, when I saw it before the reading. The pages mirror and reflect.

Afterwards we bought each of their books and got them signed. Geraldine asked if I was a writer and then asked me to write down any books where she could read my writing. I don't think anyone has ever asked me that at a reading where I myself wasn't reading. She was not only reading to the audience she was reaching into the audience.

I came away with a lot. Before the reading I was feeling a bit stuck on the starting blocks, but the reading sparked quite a bit of creative flow. Even though the year of the dog is only a few days old, it seems to be setting the trend for me of the breaking out of my normal channels, meeting new people, engaging in different things.

Poetry can take you places.