This is my first time to the Malony Room on the St. Eduard's University campus. A good friend was having a reading of her poetry there and I went to support her. I finally got a chance to hear some of her work. I arrived to the campus after panicking just a tiny bit that I would not make it in time. Afterall, it has been raining all day, the traffic was terrible, and I kind of forgot which street the campus was on. Once I called my dear friend, who I have a standing date night with every Thursday to watch Project Runway, to confirm she got my message and was able to confirm that St. Ed's was on S. Congress as I had thought (but doubted, yes, sometimes even I doubt myself ;) I noticed I was doing great on time, but needed to start focusing on getting a parking space.
I arrived on campus and made my way to the visitor parking lot. It's a good size, but it was full - crap. So I decided to give it some space and pretend I wasn't noticing when I did notice a young lady walking in that direction. Now, she could have been going to class from another part of campus, or going home or maybe even going to the reading, but a little voice inside told me she was a visitor that was leaving. I took a turn into another lot and made my way back - just in time, Ladies and Gentlemen - to get the exact parking space of the young lady exiting; one of the best spots on the lot. I asked two students walking by where the building was and they said "It's right there, you are so LUCKY!" How freaking cool. I love it. Then one of the students made me laugh because she said (over the wall that was lining the lot) "Oh, but you have to follow this wall 2 miles down that way to come over to this side" and pointed in the opposite direction HA! My kind of humor.
The reading was just wonderful. The man who introduced her wrote the most lovely intro and her words filled the space and hung in the air like the beautiful clouds of a Southwestern sunset. Some of the poems were yellow, some pink, some orange and some blue...
At times, and since she was up against a neutral background, and maybe it was the lights in there or something, but when my focus softened, I could see a bright light around her. Like in those Byzantine portraits of angels. Whenever I closed my eyes, I could see everyone's shape in light. I'm sure this is a natural occurence, especially for people who sit at a computer all day - or what if it's their aura? Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo......
I had to come home and load up the picture and write immediately. I was so pleased to be in that crowd. I enjoyed the sharing and appreciation of the creative gift that is often overlooked in this society where exterior wealth is often valued more. The seemingly simple action of putting the thoughts from our heads and hearts to paper or screen to illustrate what is going on in there and then, GASP, read it to other people, takes more courage than you think, my friends. If you don't believe me, try it. All kinds of shit you didn't think bothered you will come up right before you are about to go on just to see if you still have the guts to go through with it. Putting yourself on the line to - metaphorically speaking (and please pardon the pun) "throw a line out" - see who will grab the other end and listen to what is coming through the soup can and still be okay if they don't like it or (yes, you can GASP again) don't pick it up at all...
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