More poetry all the time, all day, all night

Holy smokes I think I'm going to burst. Friday was another day of poem after poem after poem after poem after poem. But first I caught up on some sleep, grabbing a couple of extra hours down time after Fi left for school.

We began with the Women's Showcase. The little Cafe Exotico de Brasil was completely all-the-way full. I co-hosted with Karen Garrabran, poet and slam organizer from Decatur, Georgia. We were scheduled from 2-3pm but ended up going for 90 minutes of poems because we let everyone read who wanted to read (including Karen and me - it felt good to perform a poem at the festival). It was like magic - the talent and intensity of the performers and their work glued us all together into one roomful of laughing, cheering and crying poets and friends. I will always remember it.

I caught part of the Anything Goes Slam next. I missed the first poet, who took off all of his clothes and performed naked in the glass front window of the coffee shop. I did catch some good group and prop pieces (not allowed in the official tournaments, but often more creative and entertaining).

In the evening I was back at Rime Restaurant where I worked as venue coordinator during the competition. This warm, wonderful place was a perfect venue with obliging staff and a great setup for performance. I will return for more of the delectable Turkish food that they serve there. Night two of Preliminary competition was good. The poets performed their 2 and 3 minute poems (the each perform a 1, 2, 3, and 4 minute poem during the course of the competition). After the competition, we had a late night show, the 21st Century Campfire (stories and music). I stayed for part of it, and pretty much laughed my head off at some of the stories which I cannot repeat in this blog, partly because it is a G-rated blog, and partly because I could never do them justice. I stumbled in the door at home after 2:30am.

Now I'm getting ready to pick up trophies for the winners. Finals is tonight at the Rio Theatre. I'm going to help set up, then come home and sleep for a couple of hours. It's going to be an almost all-nighter tonight. The top 12 poets will compete for the title, then there's a party that begins around midnight.

I'll be sad when this is over, but totally satisfied with how well it went. I have fulfilled my plan to meet people, enjoy new experiences and have fun - more so than I even imagined.

question: what just happened?

mompoet - stunned and smiling