Busboys and Poets Open Mic, 5th and K, Washington D.C., 11/12/2014

Last night I met Israfel Sivad of Ursprung Collective at Busboys and Poets on 5th and K, to talk about a new literary journal we're putting together called Dupont Review. Afterwards we decided to stay for the open mic. It was a very lively crowd, the room was packed and there were plenty of poets for the night.

I went on towards the end; our limit was two poems per poet, and I performed the following:

1. Untitled (from Rabbit Ears: Poems about Television, NYQ Books 2015)
2. Song for the Disowned (unpublished)

I was pleasantly surprised by the reactions I got from both poems. The crowd erupted in laughter at "Untitled" and seemed very touched by "Song for the Disowned".

At the end I traded a book for a CD by Christen B., the feature. Her voice being lovely as it is, I think I'd call that a profit. I think I may make this open mic part of my monthly schedule, along with SoHo and Guerrilla Poets!

Guerilla Poets' Insurgency Open Mic, 11/11/2014, Bossa, Washington D.C.

On last-minute notice, I provided some alternative entertainment as the Featured Poet here last night. Despite the fact that I (and the other poets) were competing with Bruce Springsteen and Metallica, we eventually drew an audience of two non-poets and five poets. 

I did two 10-minute sets, interspersed with a couple of mini-readings. I'll do my best to remember them: 

First Mini-Reading 
1. "Air" (from Ignore This Book: Songs of Discomfort) 
2. Goals (English only) 

First Ten-minute Set: 
1. Classified 1 (from Leaf Garden Issue 7) 
2. Classified 3 (from Classifieds) 
3. The Leopard Slug 
4. The Herd 
5. Addy 
6. Dream? (from The Round-up Writer's Zine Pride Edition) 
7. Seven Short Poems (from The Leopard Slug) 

Second Ten-Minute Set 
1. Unpublished translation
2. Reflection on Vincent Van Gogh's The Potato Eaters (from North Chicago Review Issue 1) 
3. Reflection on Salvador Dali's The Face of War (from Counterexample Poetics) 
4. Casual Friday (from Counterexample Poetics) 
5. Trivium #1 (from CP) 
6. Trivium #2 (from CP) 
7. Trivium #3 (from CP) 
8. Trivium #4 (from CP) 
9. nights 

Second Mini-Reading 
1. Classifieds (remix) 
2. Unpublished translation

 
(more pics coming) 

Final result: I sold three books, which was enough to cover my dinner and Coca-Cola. And people claim poetry isn't practical!