Have you ever sat in a poetry reading after signing up to read and deciding mid-way through that you just didn’t feel like reading? That happened to me tonight. I don’t know why. It could have been the heat or it could have just been a fickle feeling of gloom. But I waited and waited and waited and the reading spirit didn’t urge. I finally did allow myself to read, however. I was the last reader in the open mic period and wouldn’t you know that after the reading I received the most sincere compliment from someone who had never heard me read before. And I had read two poems that I had never read in public before. Both were poems that are included in the book I am revising, Rumsfeld’s Sandbox (working title), all poems I wrote while in Iraq in 2005. It just goes to show that reading is not always for me.

On a side note, the featured reader was a friend of mine and a local poet I admire, Rebecca Gonzalez. Rebecca is promoting a new book, Sonata for Rain, which I will be reviewing, but for now I’d just like to sing a word of praise. Sonata for Rain is published by Iris G. Press, who introduced me to the work of Jeff Rath.

Becca is a Pushcart nominee, which is impressive on its own, but if you’ve heard her read a poem out loud, her sensitivity to language and rhythm are incredible. She is fluent in two languages and the beauty of her lyrics in both is astounding. I am looking forward to getting lost in Sonata for Rain and bringing it to my readers.