Loose Leaf Notes

For awhile it looked like we would be reading without a mic. “Sort of like going bra-less,” I said to my friend. “You know, like not having any support…for your voice.”

She did an inter-active piece, once the Café Del Sol staff got the sound system figured out. She passed out index cards and pens before reading her prose, and when she was finished, she asked listeners to suggest a good ending.

I was next. I read a few poems about death, and then, just to prove that I do have a sense of humor, I read “Indian Summer.” The neighborhood dogs…are sitting out October…like wallflowers in the corner…they’re over dressed in fur... I actually got a request. “Can you read the scrabble poem?” the man with the beard asked.

After the bearded man (who doesn’t like to be mentioned on the internet) read a few emotional narrative poems, a new reader from Blacksburg closed the set, but not before the owner of the café, a local blues singer, adlibbed her own impromptu poem.

When it was over, a young high school student approached me to thank me and to tell me that she plans to bring her own poems to read next month. That’s good because that’s the point. Unlike the readings we do (about 4 times a year) at Floyd’s Oddfellas Cantina that mainly feature our Writers’ Workshop Group, the open mic spoken word nights are meant to give people of all ages and ilks an opportunity to share their voices.

The next Open Mic at the Café Del Sol (pictured in the photo) will be November 18th at 7: PM.