Open Mic Poetry Reading in Vancouver WA

 

An Open Mic Poetry Reading was held from 3-5 pm at the downtown central library of the Fort Vancouver Regional Library System. We met in the spacious and attractive Columbia Room in the library.

Around 25 people attended this poetry reading. Library staff welcomed the attendees and briefly covered the ground rules for appropriate readings in a public libary setting. Refreshments were provided.

The current poet-laureate for Clark County, Susan Dingle, shared some of her poems from her Master’s Thesis. She gave the name of each person before they read their poems. I did not remember the names of so many readers.

Three people shared haiku or short poems. Most read longer poems from their cell phones. One man had memorized his poem, and beautifully acted it out for us. Women and men shared their compositions.

This was the first time I had ever read one of my poems to an audience. But, I did not mention this to the audience. I was calm and confident. I read my poem titled: A Fork in the Crypto Road.

Many poems were of a confessional nature about the poet’s addictions, mental illness, losses, sadness, Striking images and metaphors were prevalent. Most were free verse compositions. A couple of poems were accounts of travel experiences and thoughts

I enjoyed myself. I sat next to a young college student, Kameron, a history major at WSU Vancouver, and we chatted a good deal. Her father had just retired and moved to Kalama WA for fishing. Her poem was about her dad.

I met Jacob Seltzer, a Master Level haiku and tanka poet. I also met my new online Zoom poetry teacher, Christopher Luna. I spoke briefly with Sarah Hooker, a Haiku poet.

At the Edges of the West
Highway 101 and 1

25 Steps and Beyond: The Collected Works
By Mike Garofalo