Poetry Reading

On October 23rd I attended a poetry reading at The Black Dog Coffee and Wine Bar. I had never been there before but it was quite nice inside. The fact that the reading to place at a coffee and wine bar was cliche and something that I pictured when I envisioned what a reading would be like. There was a small stage set aside for multiple poets and many small tables for people to listen and observe what was going on. Almost everyone there for the reading had a notepad. In class, we had watched a video of a poet and the crowd would go wild after almost every line she read. That wasn't the case at the one I went to. Everyone would just listen and then clap after the poet was done speaking. My favorite poem that night was spoken by Hawona Sullivan Janzen (not just because of her name). It was about herself as a fourteen year old and how her parents didn't 'get' her and how no one understood what she was going through. I thought it was a poem that was one most people could relate to and since I was only fourteen two years ago, I really understood the feelings and messages transferred through the poem. Overall, it was a better experience than I thought it was going to be and the poets were very interesting to listen to.