(This is a repost from my personal blog Daily Dose ‘o Donna, but I figured it fit here as well.)
I did it. I did an open mic night. I guess that means I’ve officially performed.
I had originally planned to just attend the open mic night at Barnes & Noble in downtown Wilkes-Barre this past Tuesday, just to be there to support other people in the Wilkes University MA and MFA in Creative Writing program who were reading. I won’t lie- I was kinda having a rough, stressful week. As the work day went on, I decided that reading may be a nice end to the week.
After work, I ran home and printed out a chapter from my in-progress memoir and did a little cutting of it– for those non-writers, a cutting is basically chopping down a scene/chapter to fit the time allotted for the reading. I had five minutes, so I chopped quite a bit from the chapter, leaving two scenes from when I first meet my future step-dad (who becomes my arch nemesis in the book), which includes a funny ‘poop’ scene and I’ll leave it at that– but it got lots of laughter when I read it during my reading at Wilkes last semester. Figured it’d be a good piece to use for my first open mic ever…
… except for the cursing. I hadn’t read the fine print on the sign-up sheet about keeping things ‘clean,’ so I accidentally said a few bad words. Technically, it wasn’t me who said the bad words. (The arch nemesis did, and I was merely quoting him.) Did I get a little heat? Yes. But, at least I was memorable! And, at least I got laughs. I’d definitely do the open mic again. I think it will really help me with my presentation skills and help me get better at delivery and confidence, because as a writer, you’ve got to be ready to read to small crowds, hopefully even large crowds. (My writer friend gave me this advice via Twitter: If they have a kid’s section, switch it to effing. If they sell alcohol, fuck it.)
TALENT IN THE WYOMING VALLEY
First of all, my fellow Wilkes students did a great job- Brian, Julia and Anne. And, I cannot say enough about poet Jim Warner, who is a fellow Wilkes alum, and now the assistant director of the creative writing program at Wilkes. He’s not just an incredible poet, but a killer performer. He captivates the crowd with his spot-on delivery- and between poems, banters with the audience like a stand-up comic. This guy is amazing.
Then, we move on to the people I don’t know. There were lots of musicians there- ukulele, acoustic guitar, electric guitar and a Capella singing. There were other poets and even a woman who did a thing with a hand puppet. But, there were three people who are now sober who read– not sure if they were there together or not… but the one read a very funny story with a surprise ending– and read it with such passion and a really good delivery. Another one read a poem that gave me chills. Finally, there was Rico. I cried. I absolutely cried. Jim went over to him afterward and told him about the readings at Paper Kite Press so we could hear more of his stuff.
Rico walked up to the mic and said, “I woke up one day and realized I be sober, so I wrote about my life.” He told this emotional story with such detail of darkness…. it was incredibly moving. When Jim got back from giving Rico accolades, I mentioned that I’d like to do my MFA teaching internship as a memoir workshop at a local prison. Hearing his talent made me realize that there are so many stories that need to be told.
The open mic night for me was so inspiring. It gave me an outlet to try out my story on a new audience– it got the same laughs, so that makes me happy. It gave me more confidence that I can read in front of a crowd. It allowed me to sit back and soak in the talent that is hiding in the Wyoming Valley.