As I mentioned here, local contributor Chandra Mayor asked me and Sharon Caseburg to 'open for her.'
I arrived at the Millenium Library at 7:10 to a locked and dark room, which made my stomach clench, but no more than the fact that I hadn't yet rehearsed my material.
(I know, I know, but it's been that kind of week and that kind of month and that kind of season...)
Once the door was opened and M was installed next to Marj, I stalked the stacks, specifically the English as a Second Language audio books section.
I kept on having to switch aisles, chased away by a loud woman muttering "You understand that? Really?" (I think she was referencing Cyrillic text) while looking for a specific tape for her companion, who kept on giving me "Sorry about this..." looks.
So, after having read the poems in my best sotto voce and reassured myself that I had some fluency with the texts, I returned to the Carol Shields Auditorium.
This was my first facebooked event but a wet grey day trumps a push button confirmation every time.
It was also the first time that I didn't spam friends and family with an event notice....so I wasn't sure how many fond and/or unfamiliar faces I'd be looking out over tonight, my 5-7 minutes of material on the podium in front of me.
But it was a good audience. A wonderful audience. And I told bad bad jokes. And smiled when the 17-month-old in the audience cooed in response to something in the room, maybe even me and my poems....
And Sharon read her pregnancy and mothering poems, which elicited those small moans of pleasure you hope for as a poet. And Chandra read an excerpt of her essay about the time her daughter got a potty training seat stuck on her head. People cocked their heads and laughed.
A good evening.
11 comments:
It was a very fun launch and a terrific turn-out! I came away wearing someone else's perfume, which is always a bonus. I loved your poems, and Sharon's as well. Looking forward to your launch next :-)
I too thought it was a fun evening, as did Bronwen and our little six-month-old. I hope now that that she understands better what her parents are going through, having heard you three ladies read your eloquent musings on motherhood.
Best line: Ariel's "Fuck. You just woke up."
This comment will have a new name from my other lost postings, and for once it is not coming months after the fact! Ariel, I have also linked to you on my blog....
David
P.S. Further mystery: why Ariel chooses to perform her writing "sotto voce" when in her normal speaking voice she prefers "fortissimo"... :)
Though that is the kind of thing that your-voice-in-my-head would say, I can only snort and say, in MY best trying-to-be-patient-with-smart-ass -boys voice:
"David, I only REHEARSED in sotto voce..."
Thanks Anita...whose perfume was it? Or is that a euphemism for something?
Yes, okay, very good factual point. HOWEVER, I am sure my-voice-inside-your-head would still say: you project more when speaking than when performing... I think you should turn that big voice on for your poetry!
Interesting suggestion, David's-voice -in-my-head. Not being a natural performer, I am still feeling my way into being-me on stage.
Hey, maybe instead of going for coffee one day we can grab some of our writing and test out our performance-level voices at an outdoor stage. There's a good one at BonnyCastle Park. It would be good practice and there would not be many people around at this time of year. I did Henry V there ages ago and it didn't have the greatest acoustics... all the volume you hoped to have, you had generate yourself, without going hoarse because you had to be ready to do it again the next night. Just a thought.
P.S. If I get to have the majority number of comments on a blog post, do I get to say "pwned" to would-be posters like Perry and Polly? Isn't that a Web 2.0-type verb meaning I WIN ...?
Apparently, 'pwn'is a typo from old-school video games for 'owned'...
(But I had to look that up, so that tells you how up-to-date I am...)
I'll only outdoor-stage with you if you promise to re-enact your turn as a giant penis...
The perfume had to be either yours or Chandra's, as I wasn't wearing any, and you two are the only two I hugged. Sure smelled purty!
Today I smell like paint. And I'm coloured blue...metaphorically and literally. I am a messy painter missing time to work on my story.
Except I've turned paint mad...I've done the bathroom, several kitchen cupboards, and am now eying doors, entrances, and a hall.
Well, that's one mystery solved...it was Chandra.
I don't wear perfume, as a former boss was scent-sensitive and I got out of the habit of putting it on, even when not at work.
Yeah, I'm the same way--a choose-not-to-wearer, that is. My mother is sensitive, and plodes into chain-link sneezes every time she sniffs one thing or another. I do like the stuff, though. It makes me feel all swoony :-) It was my husband's scent when we first met that won me over. He smells differently now...
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