We had an open mic night
And it was fabulous.
When you’re trying to do the first of something, it can be incredibly nerve-racking. Before heading out to the first installment of the revived Exeter open mic night, my wife asked me “are you nervous?“ I said that I was only nervous that nobody would show up.
Well, you showed up. Standing-room-only showed up. Need-to-find-some-more-chairs showed up. Sixteen readers of poems, memoirs, epic political fantasies, and excerpts of surfer-romance-novels-in-progress showed up.
Writers who hadn’t read aloud in public for years, writers who were there to break up with bad habits, writers who were on a mission to revive the word “apricity,” writers descended from the first black restauranteurs and midwives in the state, all showed up. They sat and listened, stood and delivered, and gave themselves to each other for a couple hours on a chilly Thursday night.
They came out to see our distinguished featured reader, Portsmouth Poet Laureate Lauren WB Vermette, who regaled the crowd with her usual blend of heart, wit, and grace. Huge thanks to her for kicking off this series with us.
I don’t say all this to toot my own promotional horn. Honestly, I’m not exactly sure how it happened. My online social circle is rather small, so I can only assume that the good folks at Water Street Books, and many of my friends and colleagues did the yeoman‘s work of telling the world about it.
Thank you to all who read, all who listened, all who supported us but couldn’t make it. Come and see us next month: April 16 at 7pm!
❤️
Adam
I will TRY for April 16!