Open Mic Night

Last night I did it-- I actually got on stage at this cool spot here in D.C. called Busboys & Poets......and performed one of my favorite poems, Intertwined, in front of a live audience.

Exhilirating!

As I sat there, about to be called up (I was #6 in a line of about 21 poets), I started feeling the pounding in my chest; that sensation that you know is your Fight or Flight response.

Hell no I wasn't going to flee. I was going to fight!

I had several things going against me-- the fact that I was a newbie to the scene...........the fact that I had no supporters there (my friends bailed on me at the last minute, however, a nice poet named Maurice, AKA MoPoDC befriended me, and went so far as to record my performance, which was sweet as hell)..........and simply nerves.......All these things were going against me.

But up there I went, paper in hand (since most people were reading instead of reciting, so shit, I can read, too--don't want to look like an ass forgetting my poem). The minute I started reading, and partially reciting, I felt totally comfortable and at ease.

And I loved it!!

You know why I feel so proud?? Because it was just last week that I got this crazy idea in my head to write poems, and --gasp!-- to actually perform live. Not many people I know just decide  to do something somewhat crazy, totally unexpected, and then actually carry it out. And for my crew to cancel on me, as well as unsuccessfully scrambling to last-minute to find more company to go, I could have just canceled and said, "Shit, I'll just go some other time."

But no-- if I said I was going to do this, then fuck everyone else; I am going to do this.

And I did.

And I always do.

What was really nice was getting positive feedback from another poet that I ran into afterwards at a local pizza joint.

I can do this. I did. And I will. Again. Sometime soon.