Chitlin Circuit Rules Writers Guild 2nd Thursday Spoken Word

Say what?  The announcement and over-all MC Tony Brewer defined it:  The Indiana Chitlin Circuit is based on the traditional Chitlin Circuit that sprouted in the period of Jim Crow segregation.  African American performers weren’t necessarily allowed to share a stage with white performers.  A network of live entertainment venues in the US emerged that catered  to black audiences and black entertainers.  And thus the circuit itself, guest-MC’d by current Indiana State Poet Laureate Curtis L. Crisler who, co-sharing featured reader honors with poet and essayist Ross Gay and the Writers Guild’s own Hiromi Yoshida, took over downtown Bloomington’s Backspace Gallery for November’s “Bloomington Writers Guild Second Thursday Spoken Word” (see October 11, et al.).

But first . . . well, Bloomington’s rare parking space situation delayed the guest of honor’s arrival, so half of the normally after-break open mic started the show, in which I was third of five readers with my poem “Bat Crazy,” introduced (as were several others) as having special relevance to last week’s election.  But then, all three “Featureds” now arrived (with no music this month to allow a third poet), came a program with a bit of a difference, opening with all three poets in a round robin, Ross Gay starting, with each poet in turn with a single poem taking off from the one preceding it.  Then, that completed, each poet got ten minutes to read their own work; and finally a poem read by all three poets, each in turn taking a line until all joined together for the final line.

That done, it was break time, with that then followed by five more walk-ons for open mic, part 2.