Second Time's the Charm

I read at the poetry open mic again last night. I was introduced as a second time reader, which prompted me to muse, "So, I should know exactly what I'm doing now, right?" I felt a little more comfortable this time around, though, perhaps because I was starting with "For Whom the Recess Bell Tolls," a poem that was a labor of love to write and is a piece of cake to share. The other two pieces were actually found digging around some old stuff, in this blog and my perpetual poetry Word doc. I got big laughs with "Where the Luck Goes," but I hesitate to post it because it contains a bit of profanity, and I've made a personal pledge to keep my blogs clean in case a kid from work looks me up. (I can always e-mail it if you're really interested.) It's interesting to hear the hums of acknowledgment at a well written or poignant line, or the shuffling in the seats when a poem might go for too long. I like it, though, since the guys hosting the thing are very humble and oftentimes hilarious -- it adds levity to something that could end up direly serious, or "emo," as the kids call it. Makes me want to keep writing despite the forecast of a dry spell. I have three or four poems kicking around right now, in fact, and a few other things I really want to purge. I think autumn just does that.

So, the set list: "For Whom the Recess Bell Tolls," "Where the Luck Goes," and "Worm Hole."

In other self-indulgent news, A Comic A Day was recently linked in Steven Grant's "Permanent Damage" column because I won his weekly comics cover challenge, which I swear I've tried to win for years, at least in my head. Two weeks ago I realized he posts every Wednesday, so I tried to be the first to e-mail a solution, obviously with great results just my second time around. Another second. Makes sense, as we measure life by them.

Next week, Halloween. Means plenty of things I'll want to write, with little time to do it. Can't I go as a blogger for Halloween?