Valerie Berry, who is part of the Sixteen Rivers Collective in the Bay Area and who helped to judge the competition, opened the program ad read a series of poems about the moon. She writes one poem a month - related to the lunation.
Jeanne Lohmann, who the competition is named after, also read a handful of poems. Jeanne is 85 years old. She read a poem about Gregory Orr which was also an homage to Edna St. Vincent Millay. I had never heard Ms. Lohmann's work before, but it was deeply moving and carefully crafted.
Seattle poet and percussionist David Rizzi followed. David is doing a gig at the Hugo House in July with John Burgess and several Pacific NW poets.
I read for about 14 minutes and then Sean Brendan Brown, a retired marine who resides in Olympia, wrapped up the program with a strong set and a fabulous poem about survivors of the Hiroshima bombing.
I had a lovely time - possibly the most relaxed that I've ever felt at a reading for an audience of strangers. We had a great turnout - 30 to 40 people at the Traditions Fair Trade Cafe where everyone sits together with strangers family style due to the seating layout. And the MC, Juniper, gives unorthodox introductions of her readers which breaks down that distance between presenter and audience, making everyone human. I had a great time chatting with audience members afterwards and felt that my work was heard on a really deep level - Olympia seems like a fairly crunchy, activist-oriented place - which I also felt on my trip out to Evergreen College last year - a very relaxed but engaged vibe that provided for a great audience. Also, people bought books! A city definitely worth re-exploring in the near future...
