I just returned from one of my favorite poetry readings. York, Pa. They call it Poetry Brew.
Poetry Brew is hosted by Rich Hemmings, by far one of the best promoters of poetry and poets that I’ve ever seen. He’s like the Ed Sullivan of poetry. Real classy guy.
Tonight’s venue was billed as a themed event, “Increase The Peace: A Stand Against Teenage Gang Violence”. Rich had asked me to be one of several featured readers, but I couldn’t commit, unfortunately, and was not a featured reader. But the slate of those who were was a fabulous band of poetic talent from the South Central area of Pennsylvania and Baltimore, Md. Among the talent included:
- Rebecca Gonzalez (I wrote about her last night)
- Karen Atlas
- Snow
- Le Hinton
- Bedlam
- Carol Clark Williams
- Native Son (1/2 of Native Son and the Drifish)
- Rich Burrill
- Debberae Streett
- the Drifish (the other half of Native Son and the Drifish)
- and Rich Hemmings
While I was not among those featured, I did get to read during the open mic portion of the event. I read my poem “20 Acres”. My grandson, spending the weekend with us, was in attendance and after the reading (because the poem is about him), came up to me and gave me a big hug (while I was on stage, of course, and preparing to read a second poem). He’s 5 now; was 3 at the time of the poem being written and I had been home from Iraq for about two months. That was amazing; the little guy never ceases to amaze me.
But the evening was topped off with an unexpected treat when Native Son and the Drifish took the stage as a duo. I’d seen them before and they are awesome. They are true performance poets, not the type of performance poet you’ll see at the slam event. They’re better. They perform with perfect harmony and clarity and it’s absolutely indescribable. They’ll be back in York on June 28 to promote a new album and I can hardly wait to see them again. That is an event worth putting on the calendar.