If You Can …
I was feeling yesterday’s poetry vibe, so I decided to break this one out of the vault for you.
One of my favorite stories about this piece was when I performed it at a rare open mic night in Lambertville, NJ, at Full Moon Cafe. I had just moved back from Hawaii, where all the poetry I’d seen performed was slam style. This was a rather conservative writer’s group, who had invited me. Their poetry was more traditional; short, succinct, none had their pieces memorized.
When I stood up at the podium, from behind the mic, I made eye contact with each candlelit face as I recited my bit. They hung on each word, mostly because my style was so different, I imagine. Still I borrowed their energy and fed off their focus; it was like church up in there for a minute.
Afterward several people came up to me offering kind words, but there was one woman in particular whom I’ll never forget. She–Dorris I think it was–was small and made her way from the back of the crowd with a limp. At first she didn’t say anything, she just hugged me and squeezed me tight–a little long for a stranger, but I welcomed it from the likes of Dorris.
She admitted that she hadn’t heard everything. At her age, her hearing isn’t much and I talked a little fast, she said. She had stayed till the end only to meet me and let me know that she had been moved to tears.
Dorris lived in a nursing home and struggled making time for her painting that she loved. She said that she was so inspired by my poem that she was going to make sure she found time for her passion. She wasn’t getting any younger, she said laughing.
We were interrupted; I turned to talk to someone for a moment and just like that she was gone. I was so moved by her being moved that Dorris was all I could talk about for the rest of the night.
She was a sweet little angel gracing me with her presence and illuminating my path to ignite passion in others.
I needed her message just as much as she needed mine.
If you can, you must … if you can’t, TRUST.
I leave you with this: Looking back, can you think of a time you may have been visited by a guardian angel or messenger? What message did he/she/they have for you? Did you listen?
#Onward in TRUST
Much Love,
kat
the year of magical dreaming 
One Response to “If You Can …”
[…] Slam poetry has been an amazing form of expression for me over the years. I love the stage and the immediate feedback from the audience, not something a writer typically experiences. Although, admittedly, it’s been over two years since I’ve written a full-length piece, I got into it for the fun, for the energy, for the community, all things I miss and am looking forward to re-igniting one day (soon). […]
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