Reading Last Thursday, Saturday Adventures

Much poetry (OK, 5) read, went to Doors Open Minneapolis.

Thursday I was on the roster at a student reading put on by The Loft, one of ten. Readers, that is, not readings. We went in alphabetical order, which was mildly surprising to me; not the ordering, but where I fell in it. Having changed my name fairly recently. I also felt out of place because the first two had first names and last names that started with the same letters: Ailene Ashikana, Betty Benson. I felt awkward for breaking the pattern.

Anyway, I was third in the lineup. Most of us read poetry (one essayist, one digital artist). I read five poems (so, so hard to choose):

• Living Next to the Klan

• Gravity Makes the Heart Grow Heavy (one of my series of same-named sonnets, à la Terrance Hayes, whose brilliant book American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin is one of my favorites)

• The Library Where We Keep Our Hearts

• Pattern Recognition

• So Many Questions

They were well received. We had two reading sessions, and a 10-minute intermission, and some snacks. (Crackers, cheese, some kind o…