Poetry Hour on KOPN
Thanks to Anne and the gang at the Columbia Downtown Poetry Club, I got to read poetry on the local radio! I also got to meet a few poets from Jeff City (Gumbo Bottoms Single Pot Still Poetry Society), and one of them gave me a collection of the society’s poems, which was very exciting. There were musicians performing, too: Billy Haring, Dylan McCord and Kind Kurt.
This was a lot of fun. Except for the mics and headsets, the radio station didn’t look anything like Frasier. The lights were dim and there were perennial Christmas lights on the ceiling. Everyone was super nice and supportive and chill.
The first poem is at 53:15, and it’s called “Hate.” Tactful as ever, I upset the host. Sorry Mike! He handled it like a pro, though. Next time this peculiar situation arises, I’ll try to remember to read a life-affirming poem instead of a hate-affirming one.
No, of course I wasn’t nervous! …Okay, yes, I was nervous. I don’t know how I get stage fright reading in front of six people and a mic. Heck, sometimes I get stage fright just reading whatever I last wrote to two or three people at the Columbia Poetry Club. I’m getting stage fright right now, thinking about it. But it’s good for me. As I recall, it was a lot easier reading things aloud that were written by other people. There’s an extra layer of vulnerability, when you are the one who wrote it.
The second poem is called “Caught” and it’s at 1:41:36.
You should listen to the whole episode, though, because there’s lots of really good stuff in there!
And donate to your local radio station. Better yet, donate to mine! Imagine how boring radio would be without these good people mixing it up out there.
Until next time! ❤︎
