Author and Inspired Writer

In the two weeks prior to the Cafe and this week following, I’ve been able to do no writing. Zero. Understandable, I guess. There were hundreds of details to manage in putting the Cafe together, and that’s time consuming, as you may well imagine. But it wasn’t the fact that I had no time to write, but that I had no time to quiet down to get into a state where I could write. “Going quiet” is a very important part of my writing process. If I can’t quiet the inner chatter of my mind, I can’t let in the other voices who so desperately want to speak, who want to tell their story, or have me tell it for them.

So today, I’m going to get caught up on my accounts (months in arrears!) and tomorrow, I’m doing actual housework (months and months in arrears! I know, I deserve a swift kick in arrears!). Then it’s church on Sunday, and starting Monday I’m sliding down the rabbit hole. Incommunicado. Can’t be reached. In hiding. Locked in a room to converse with creatures of my own imagination. That last one sounds a tad mentally ill, but hey I’m a writer. That’s sort of my job description. And I’m hoping my up-to-date accounts and clean house will provide some evidence of mental health.

Dontcha think?

Two events really stand out from the Poetry Cafe on Saturday, I suppose because I have a personal connection with both.

The first concerns a lovely lady from my choir I have invited numerous times to attend my poetry readings, but for one reason or another has never been available to attend.  A few days before the Cafe, I gave her an invitation and I could see by the look in her eyes she had made other plans for that Saturday.  Remarkably, she turned up at the Cafe, husband in tow.  The next day at church she told me how much she had enjoyed the reading (her first) and then told me that she did indeed have a previous engagement for that Saturday, her annual  teacher’s sorority dinner.  But she called up her president and said, “A dear friend of mine has invited me to her poetry reading on Saturday, and I’ve always had to refuse before this.  So this time I’ll pay for my dinner, but I’m going to her reading.”  Wow!  I was just speechless when she told me this!  And believe me, that rarely happens.  Just ask my husband.

The second story concerns another close friend of mine who has been travelling a hard road lately having undergone three surgeries for breast cancer in the last two months, the third a radical mastectomy.  She’s staring at weeks of chemo and radiation, and after that the removal of her other breast.  I usually close my readings with St. Agatha, the saint who underwent the removal of her breasts during torture.  (I posted that particular poem on my web site under “Learn more about the book.”)  But on Saturday, out of sensitivity to what my friend is going through, I substituted St. Teresa instead as my closer, only to find out later that she had been looking forward to hearing Agatha, as that is her favourite poem!  Oy veh!  So much for trying to be sensitive…

One last snippet – I was explaining to my audience how the Catholic Church used to dismember the bodies of its saints for relics, and I said I wasn’t sure if that were still the practice but I hoped it wasn’t, when my wag of a publisher piped up, “You’ll never need to worry about that.”  Which garnered the biggest laugh of the afternoon.

Mercy!  What an experience last Saturday was!

A blustery fall day turned into a warm and joyous afternoon with seven poets reading to a packed hall.  It was simply ahhh-some!

Let’s start with the hall, shall we?  Two women from my church, Debra and Nancy, took it upon themselves to transform our little church hall into a beautiful venue for poetry complete with gorgeous tablecloths, centrepieces, potted mums, silk flowers, and an artificial tree for behind the podium.  The colours as you walked into the hall were just breathtaking!  They did an extraordinary job.  And by some sort of magic, all the bags that had been strewn around the hall, filled with stuff for our rummage sale in two weeks, mysteriously disappeared – I’m not sure where exactly, but I was instructed, for the love of God! not to look behind the stage curtain.  I didn’t.  Some things I don’t need to know.

Lucille, my domestic angel, handled all the kitchen duties, arranging all the food people brought in, getting coffee and tea ready, and even suggested a better configuration for the tables – which worked splendidly!  I truly would have been lost without her!

As the poets arrived, everyone of them commented on the beautiful space.  We’re used to giving readings in dark corners of bookstores or crammed into small restaurants, so St. Andrew’s with it’s space and light seemed sheer luxury!  Then the people started filling up the tables – six chairs at eight tables – and not a single free seat anywhere.  A very impressive crowd for a poetry reading on a chilly Saturday afternoon!  The crowd was warm and responsive and not only listened appreciatively, but bought books too, bless them!  In fact, I sold more books on Saturday than I have ever sold at any one time (not counting my launch)!  And this in a market already saturated with my books.  I simply couldn’t believe it!

On Sunday I was beseiged with pleas, most significantly from my minister, to put together another cafe.  “Well, I said, “give me half a mo to recover from this one first, s’OK?”  But I have a feeling something’s been put into motion here, and that “big wheel gonna keep on turnin’,” whether I’m ready or not, so I’d better recover fast.

I have a couple of stories from the cafe I’ll post tomorrow, so stay tuned!

St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church will be hosting a poetry cafe this Saturday, Oct. 15th, at 2:00 pm., 129 Simcoe St., Amherstburg. We’re calling it “An Afternoon with Black Moss Press and Friends,” and featured readers will include Marty Gervais, Mary Ann Mulhern, Carlinda D’Alimonte, Robert Earl Stewart, John White, Vanessa Shields and yours ever faithfully. Now folks, that’s enough talent to light up the Burg for a month, so you don’t want to miss it! Admission is free. Refreshments are free. Books will be for sale. Great opportunity to get a jump on your Christmas shopping. C’mon in, grab a cuppa, and settle in for some wonderful poetry. You’ll be so glad you did!