Reading w/ Cortland on 11/19 Recap

What a beautiful night! There were fifteen of us who responded to Cortland's call to participate in his outgoing celebration for his term as Chapel Hill's poet laureate. Omaria Sanchez Pratt (who I read with last summer) and I were the only ones who read fiction. Omaria read a flash piece that really resonated. The poetry offerings were inspiring and varied–some were even dedicated to Cortland, like CJ Suitt's who read a memorable ode that brought the house down. Matt G also had some thoughtful things to share both in his poetry and in the dedication he gave before he read his piece. I can't remember everyone's names but I enjoyed hearing all of the poets' and writers' work. I remember I saw some folks that I ran into at the 9:19 Cypher celebrating the memory of my good friend Josh Rowsey a.k.a. J Rowdy who was one of the original organizers of that musical event at the Durham bull statue. Some of these same folks, who I watched freestyle and give Josh the kind of celebration that I knew he was smiling down on, approached me and told me they enjoyed the novel excerpt I read to the audience gathered to celebrate Cortland's tenure as poet laureate. Writing and editing TOKEN has been a labor of love. At first it was about telling the best story I could. Then it became about giving the characters justice. Now it's about getting it into the right hands.

What a privilege to be able to share another excerpt with a captivated audience. It was also fun to read with Johnny Lee Chapman, Brian Howe, and Caitlyn Swett performing a live ambient soundtrack in the background. At my most well attended reading prior to this one, there was standing room only. On the nineteenth at The Cave, there were people standing and sitting on the floor. I read a new section of the novel near the end because I felt like it was fitting, given that Cortland's term is coming to an end. It got a rousing round of applause. I was surprised because I chose a passage from the novel that doesn't necessarily contain a conflict and resolution. There's not an arc or an easy message. I chose it because of the subject matter, as I mentioned before the passage is about death and endings, and because I thought its poetic nature would blend in with what the rest of the readers were performing. But I was nervous because it was very clearly not poetry. Just poetic fiction, something I've learned to embrace where appropriate. Still, I feel like people listened intently and got something out of it. I remember Cortland saying "I want to read more," as I climbed back into my seat with Elisha near the bar. I hope you do, and I hope the audience members do too. We closed the night with a poem from Cortland's sweetheart AP who I met for the first time before reading. Elisha commented on their beautiful love story and I feel honored to have witnessed not only how writing connected the two of them that night, but how it brought all of us together to tell our stories.