I'll be giving a poetry reading this
Thursday, October 23, with my good friend Terry Adams at the Peninsula Ballet
Theatre in San Mateo (California). Being at the ballet theatre, we'll be the "Pas de deux."
Terry and I have become a rather popular
duo. They call us the "Joe and Terry Show." We trade poems, each
trying to harmonize or counterpoint or somehow riff on what the other has just
read.
We open with a few stretches and calisthenics because one should always
loosen up before a poetry workout. It's fun.
Terry and I both have spent our
lives in the construction trades, so we take a non-academic and somewhat
irreverent approach to poetry and if nobody stops me I have a tendency to break
into song at some point while Terry might break into bombastic psychedelic preaching
(briefly, both of us).
The theater
(they call it "theatre") apparently is plush and large, which will be
a new experience for us as we normally read to small audiences in the backrooms
of bookstores and our local pub. We'll be preceded by an art show reception and
followed by an open mic.
Actually we have no idea what sort of audience we'll
gather, if any. What works in a small room might seem utterly asinine in a
larger venue. So I'm a little
nervous, which is probably a good thing. If anybody can make it to San Mateo on
a Thursday night, I'd love your support. The Peninsula Ballet Theatre is at
1880 South Grant Street, San Mateo (just off Highways 101 and 92). The art
reception is at 6:30 pm, the reading starts at 7:00. Hey, bring a poem and read
at the open mic.
