The evening began with Michael Davis's graceful guitar performance, setting the tone for a thoughtful night.
Our first featured reader was Richard Harteis. His poetry discussed the "slow progress" of his grieving over the late William Meredith, mixing ordinary details of life with profound grief and questions. It also focused on his late dog, Daisy, his young students' reactions to the Newtown massacre, and several other topics. It was human, accessible, and quite sincere.
Our second featured reader was Mary-Sherman Willis. Her poetry focused on her relationship with her son as he entered adolescence, with all the worries and paradoxes that time of life brought. It discussed her journey of following her son's graffiti tags, the significance of his name: "your name we gave you to be a part of us and apart from us," and phenomenology or object-hood as she explored the significance of his graffiti. She also creatively incorporated calculus into her musings. It was clever, touching, and insightful.
After the featured readers, many people participated in the open mic segment. Thanks to our featured readers, everyone else who read their poetry, and everyone who came out for our "holiday edition" Café Muse!
Be sure to come out for the first Café Muse of the new year on January 6th, featuring poets Leslie Harrison and Rebekah Remington!
