Second Saturdays are for Open Mic Reading

Celebration time! It's the second Saturday of the month, and in Lawton that means it's time for the Open Mic reading at the Unitarian Universalist Church.

Unitarian Universalist Church

@ 701 B Ave.

Saturday night at 6:30

Come celebrate writing with members of the Lawton area writing community. Share a poem, novel chapter, story, or plan for world domination. Everyone is welcome.

There will be coffee. There may be cookies; cookies often happen at the readings.

Last month saw poems, stories, news events, and musical/poetical collaboration.

Among the work I've read recently is micro fiction--stories told in 25 words. This form is gaining a lot of popularity on line, especially Twitter. I share my stories with several people, who also write some solid micro stories. I plan to read more of these at the readings. Here are three of my recent micro stories (or vss, very short stories).

"Momma, are we poor?" Georgie asked. Her mother smiled & touched Georgie's cheek. "Yes, we are." Georgie giggled and kissed her mom's hand.

The band you had come to see did not show. Their replacement was called The Sappy Trees. The singer had orange hair. You swayed slightly.

One day, George understood that he was in trouble, about to enter a downward spiral. He had lost his enthusiasm for birds.

(These stories by Aaron Rudolph appear on Twitter.)

Come gather round people, wherever you roam!

Guess what time it is?

It's open mic night time is what.




Come to the

Unitarian Universalist Church

@ 701 B Ave.

Saturday night at 6:30

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the last reading, but the famous Terry Gresham was there, and he made a post featuring two of the poems read that night, by Monty May.

Here is one of them:

MUSIC

Sing and play,
Cast a ray,
Draw from the wealth within you;
Dance, direct-
Use your own dialect,
The Muses are waiting to guide you.

Day raining dreams,
Sky reigning themes;
Circling motions of wonder-
Rising within, rising without,
Ringing like carols of thunder!

You can read the other at Terry's awesome blog, Toenail Moon, where he also keeps his poetry, links to interesting things, and musings about Frenchmen, Woodchucks, hipsters and werewolves.

I hope both Terry and Monty will be back tomorrow night, and I hope to see you there, too!

Highlights from the Last Open Mic

Things We Know and Love

Peanut Princesses
Lawton Municipal "Airport."
William Butler Yeats

Things We Didn't Expect

Steamy, sexy slash
Three very surprised giraffes
Stars fallen to ash.

LOCAL MONTHLY OPEN-MIC READINGS IN LAWTON

Every second Saturday of the month, writers from Lawton and surrounding towns come together at the Universalist Unitarian church. This ragtag bunch reads new work, old work, tells stories, and shares the poems and stories of writers they admire.

For the most part, the readers become familiar, as may people read regularly. A new face or two, though, arrives each time to share a new perspective, a new voice. At the last reading, Amit Bashyal, a first-year student at Cameron walked in with his laptop, ready to read. Amit is from Kathmandu, Nepal. He is studying the sciences at CU, but he is most certainly a writer.

I first met Amit in my Comp class; he was my student, adjusting to college life a long, long distance from home. Amit and I are now friends and several times he has shared his new work with me. On his facebook page, he's listed quite a few titles under his "favorite books." But the list is not a wish list. It's the list of book he's read in the last two years and includes many of the most celebrated English-language books. Recently, he was turned on to the Beat writers. How he likes these writers, I hope to find out soon.

Anyway, here's a poem by Amit. Also, I wrote about Amit for the January issue of Okie Magazine--"From Nepal to Oklahoma, Amit Bashyal Discovers His Other Life."

Spaces Around Me

by Amit Bashyal

Vacant spaces around me
There I try to fit myself
Far left in the corner
I put my anger
In front of my eyes
Lies my world of ties
Above my head
Is the large round space
There is my world full of mess
My left hand points a place
Lies the challenges I have to face
My right hand facing the vacancy
Lies my dreams full of dreams and fancy
In my back lies an eternal room
All my memories are doomed
All around me are the spaces
Where I try to fit myself!