“the price of kissing is your life” — part II
Holy non-sequitur! I was wondering why I was getting so much sudden traffic on the ol' blog visitor-counter. I thought it had something to do with this evening's stupendous performances at the Creole, but then I realized that (a) I hadn't posted anything yet; and (b) Lansing isn't one of those swingadeadcatandhitapoetblogger kind of towns (if you get my drift, unless there's folks out there holding out on me? Oi vey, people!) No, it turns out that my little contest reference page got some notice from the fab-oo likes of Jeffery Bahr … and the blogosphere ripples forward! I'm putting the final touches on a manuscript this week, so once I get some breathing room I'll keep updating the Contest page as I find new information.
Speaking of congratulations to one and all, The Dead Poet Reading - 2005 was a blast! We had a strong turn out, with over a dozen performers of all stripes and death dates and every single one gave great performances. Shelby snapped this photo and the only two poets missing from the line up were: Sappho and Anonymous.
Channeled poets:
upper row, left to right; Rumi1, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Allen Ginsberg, Shel Silverstein (as a Minimalist Ladybug), e.e. cummings, James Laughlin, Dylan Thomas and Jane Kenyon.
lower row, from left to right; Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, Hafiz and Rosalia de Castro.
I was a bit worried about performing Rumi since my only source of Rumi-ness comes direct from Mr. Coleman Barks and his Georgian "Ahh want ta kiss ya" drawl. To distance myself, I went down to the local Halloween super store and found a beard. A beard, ladies and gentlemen, that looked a bit like some of Joe Piscopo's chest hair and a bit like a very disgruntled Scottish Terrier. It sat on my face in a manner that would make whatever came out of my mouth garbled and very funny in a non-Sufi, non-mystical sort of way. In the end it was "clean-shaven, young Rumi" that went on. I read: "This we have now is not imagination," part of "Moses met a Shepherd," and all of "Like This."
- Or Professor Quirrel from the Harry Potter series, depending on which voice I use [back]