A Somewhat Jaundiced 2nd Thursday, Coming Eclipse Mark a Beautiful Night

Shirtsleeve weather on the 13th of March (though forecast to be not for many days more) and an impending total lunar eclipse may have made attendance a little bit low for the March 13th “Bloomington Writers Guild Second Thursday Spoken Word” (cf. February 14, et al.) at Bloomington’s downtown Backspace Gallery, but not by much by the time it was over. Singer-songwriter and sometime storyteller Nicholas Graham Hall led us off with song and guitar, followed by first featured reader Indiana spoken word artist and self-proclaimed Magpie Poet, co-founder of Keeping the Flame Alive Press and author of poetry books TALES FROM A BROKEN GIRL and WE’RE ALL STORIES IN THE END, Chris Dean offering an often downbeat view of the world and society, sometimes a bit personal, but also with a few rays of light, e.g. her final poem “I Came Out of the Dark.”

She in turn was followed by writer/musician A.S. Coomer, with books including BIRTH OF A MONSTER, MEMORABILIA,THE FLOCK UNSEEN, THE FETISHISTS, et al., as well as running Lost, Long Gone, Forgotten Records for recordings of poetry, with an also somewhat jaundiced view of contemporary life — this was not a happy group, all in all, though perhaps not entirely despairing either — although in a more rhythmic, declaiming style including (at least for me) occasional reminiscences of the 1950s “beat” era. Then with more music and a break, the “walk-ons” had their turn with me number three of six “Open Mic” poets with (having read a poem about eclipses the previous month) a paean of sorts to the color red, “Red, As In . . .,” as a tip of the hat to the night’s coming “Blood Moon.”