Blazing Dynamite

I'm excited.


Attending poetry-oriented things
always gets me especially jazzed 
about this thing I am most 
passionate about.


And this reading,
it was small and quiet
and good. 
And while I was 
nearly the youngest one there,
it was not weird.
It wasn't strange,
and I did not feel out of place.


The poets,
these humble little beings,
who publish in humble ways,
their anthologies, and books,
and essays and stories.
Who get their poems read 
on the radio.
Who are generous enough
to read their poems to people
like me.
(I found it funny, they say they still 
get nervous about reading to an audience,
even after years and years)


And it's always so grand to 
hear poetry.
Hear it read by the person who 
knows it best. 
To be able to distinguish the 
sounds, how it blends together
and makes sense with the actual words,
the formatting of the whole piece.


I love listening to poetry
nearly as much as I love reading it.


And so they read, and it was great.
Six poets, this little group called
"House of Toast", working out of Columbus.
(They're lovely, check them out!)
And then they sold their books
and talked with everyone.


And so I chatted with this poet,
and they were all such genuinely nice people.
And I was awkward and cliche and asked him
"Do you have any advice for an aspiring poet?"


And he did, and then another poet came and we 
all had a lovely little conversation on poetry,
and advice, and things.


I really love that they were nice
and not at all strange or distant,
they were so relatable.
So helpful.
And I am so very happy that I went
to this little reading.


And I'm very excited to give it another go
on Thursday,
reading my own work.


Sometimes I find it an accurate statement to
say:


"Poetry defines me"