Allowing my assumptions to lead me, I walked in on the café side of Barnes & Noble looking for the poetry reading getting set to start. Therefore, when I could not find a gathering around a microphone my next assumption was to head towards a table of people reciting words from a books. Not my idea of or experience with poetry readings, but the only group of people that sounded and looked like poets. Yet, as I neared it was obvious that this group was reciting Shakespeare so I wondered round the bookstore making it to the corner of the kids section of books and under the mock up of Pooh’s forest was a gathering of poets.
This group still not fitting my image of poets was most definitely there to share their work. Share being the operative word. The group laughed and applauded when appropriate to the poets request. The flow of words from each poet eager to be heard was accented by discussions of Barnes & Noble’s customers , laughing children and an occasional cough or sneeze. Yet, the poets I witnessed were unphased by what I considered distractions.
With the audience and participant‘s age being well over 50, the group didn’t fit my mold of open mic audiences and participants. Used to a younger crowd of poets I compared the leisured and generous nature of this reading to the more formal and insular nature of readings I have attended in the past. The act of this reading being that of sharing while others I have attended seemed to be the act of an intellectual pairing off. Not the coffee house peacocking of ideas this open mic poetry reading really held true to the concept of open mic. The atmosphere was open, welcoming, and unaffected by the distractions of the business surrounding it. The poets were eager to give you their words. And, under the trees of Ashdown forest were people willing to listen supportively.
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