Poetry by Hailey Leithauser and Chad Davidson at Café Muse

      We came in from the dark and cold for Café Muse again on Monday, November 4^th.  Friendship Heights Village Center hosted Hailey Leithauser and Chad Davidson for Word Works' monthly poetry reading.

     The evening started with our guest pianist David Uffelman playing fun, popular songs such as “Yesterday” by the Beatles and “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables.

                Next up was our first featured reader, Hailey Leithauser. Her poetry discussed pieces of life that were quite accessible for everyone, such as a Halloween ghost story and the cycle of seasons. The elegance combined with the simplicity in her poetry felt warmly familiar, as it nodded toward what poetry used to be and often is not anymore. She used remarkably sweet-sounding phrases such as “sea of peonies” as well as clever palindromes like “Naomi I moan.”

                Our second featured reader was Chad Davidson. His poetry took ordinary, everyday experiences such as shopping for “my impulse buys” at Target and turned them into glorious occasions and/or commentaries on the commercialized state of America. He also switched from different times and places in one of his works, creating an intriguing perspective with Star Wars references interwoven throughout. His dry humor and charismatic expressions made his reading quite enjoyable.

                After the featured readings, several other people read poetry for the open mic segment of the program. We had several pieces written in unique structures for workshops and a variety of topics.

                Many thanks to our featured readers and the others who read! We enjoyed the pleasant tone of the night at the start of another week. Be sure to come out for our December Café Muse event on Monday, December 2^nd at 7:00 PM to hear poetry by Mary-Sherman Willis and pieces of works by novelist Halvor Aakhus!