Why Tour With Poetry?
Poetry is for life. And at Tweetspeak, we’re committed to help that happen more and more, in a framework that includes 5 vital arenas. The idea of a traveling Mischief Café is part of the “bring poetry home” effort listed among the full five, each of which we’re interested in highlighting and cultivating over time.
The 11-Day Mischief Café Tour Begins in Seattle
Surprise will be one of the defining qualities of the Seattle Mischief Cafés, and it begins at the Thrifty Rental Car counter, with Laura Zimmerman. Laura is warm and welcoming, with a deep voice and large dark eyes, her thick hair straightened and shaped in such a way that it accents her easy smile. She and I are probably similar in age, I think as we talk, and her helpfulness gives me a confidence that I can navigate this city and its outlying regions alone.
Starting out at this counter, though, I get the sense I am not quite alone. Laura asks me why I am in Seattle, wants to know more, ends up with the Mischief Café book in her hands and reads aloud a portion of Anne M. Doe Overstreet’s Resolutions.
“Ohhhh, ” she says with a jazz-like smoothness. “I like that.” We get to talking about poetry, music, daughters, and this experience becomes far more than a commercial exchange (my dollars for the Dodge Ram). So I read aloud to her, Whispered, and she likes that too. “So many lines, ” the poem ends, and we nod together in a knowing way. I leave her with a red feather, and she tucks it to her heart with another smile.
The lines go deep in me, whether we’re talking about life experiences, connections with others, or about poetry itself. In the next ten days I will be privileged to forge more lines, share more of them, be treated to more of them, like the way Jonathan brought a Neruda poem out of his pocket, at the Arlington café (I will be tickled by “I am tired of chickens. We never know what they think..” and the lines will remind me of Matthew Kreider).
I will regret not crossing lines with Luci Shaw, who fell ill with bronchitis, and our author David K. Wheeler, who the Seattle traffic (a phenomenon of its own!) will send back home before he even gets to the café. There are things that won’t happen, lines that won’t get drawn, wishes that will evaporate. I can let them make ruin, or I can focus on the many shining moments, including Anne’s soft steady voice reading “Resolutions” (the same poem Laura read, and yet so differently).
The mix of lines beautifully drawn and lines never realized is the reality of a complex trip like the 11-day Mischief Café tour, and it is a reality of life. Which do we let color our hearts, etch themselves deeply into us like initials into wood?
which… which to let color, which to let etch, I choose the chickens, because they make me smile and they remind me of a good writer friend. I choose the golden light of Washington on tall autumn trees and dark evergreens, cinnamon toast and stories of how grandmothers made it, monk’s tea, Darlene’s poem that brought me here, a cut apple to take along into Seattle traffic. I choose Sarah’s yarn being made into comfortable things, an unopened bottle of wine that sits like a promise at the worn wooden table, Craig reading a poem aloud for the first time, and the peace of Kathleen’s back yard with its swing and displaced windows hanging beneath trellises.
So many lines.
From Arlington, it’s on to Renton. I feel momentarily alone again, which I technically am, but then I have an overwhelming sense of togetherness, as I think, “I’m going to Jody’s house!” It occurs to me that I can travel this whole big country of ours, which I still do not know, and yet I would know so many people in almost every single state. The thought is strange and wonderful, and it gives me visions of future travels to all the states through which my lines have yet to trace. It makes me almost as happy as Jody’s phone call while I’m en route, to let me know Kimberlee Conway Ireton will indeed be coming to the café this night.
In Renton, there will be plenty of poetry, and there will be hilarity. Kimberlee will be partly responsible.
I will show up early despite the heavy traffic and, says Jody, “butter the toast very liberally.” We will chat in her kitchen “as if we’d been doing it all our lives…a blessed surprise.”
The story of Donna’s gift of golden teaspoons will be told, and the gifts, gold, and surprises won’t end there. Says Jody,
I was surprised to be intrigued rather than repelled (as I was on my first read) by the form and sound of a sestina. As L.L. read, I found myself listening to the words as they looped through the air, trailing each other in conjoined phrases, like links in a chain holding a golden key at the end. I felt like the puzzle of the form had been unlocked as I listened. I was left feeling I might actually try to write one soon. See what fun reading out loud and cinnamon toast with tea can get you? Inspiration!
Inspiration went around the table, as we shared writing and publishing stories, discussed our muses (or our struggles with them), and dreamed of future cafés (Jody has hopes to take them to Spokane, and spread the gifts and inspiration across Washington State). Laura and Jennifer especially felt renewed, and Jennifer (a Dverse poet participant) offers this poem along with her note, “The Mischief Cafe was just the creative encouragement I needed. Did my heart good!”
white feather boa mischief café
once upon a night
of intricacy and simplicity
there were
sestinas,
cinnamon swirls
toast
-y warm
and butter
-y
and
butter
-fly nets
to catch
curls, wisps
from candle wicks
white boa feathers,
tea,
cranberries,
cream cheese
‘twas a night
to ravel rays from
ravished dreams
Featured photo by Omer Unlu, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post and post photos by L.L. Barkat.
Make your own Mischief Café? Bring poetry home (or to a surprising place near you).
Monica Sharman says
Yowza! I want to go to Kathleen’s back yard!
L. L. Barkat says
That’s just one of the spaces. There was also a fire pit with furniture around it and a swing area. Inspired, to be sure.
Jody Collins says
Laura, you captured everything so beautifully. What a fun visit!
L. L. Barkat says
You inspired *me,* Jody. The warmth, the welcome, the whole evening. I loved how poetry brought us all together, how we laughed together and learned together and dreamed together. 🙂
Laurie Klein says
Laura, what a fabulous enterprise! I wish I could have partaken of tea and toast and beautiful words.
Jody, I am casting my vote that you feel impressed follow up on that notion to bring this to Spokane!
Anne M Doe Overstreet says
So much fun and warmth. Tea with bread and honey and Laura! I would happily slog through that traffic again and again to be there in that welcoming home.
L. L. Barkat says
Anne, it was such a treat to have you by my side and to hear you read what I have never heard you read before. And to talk writing process. I’m always fascinated by how people go at things in different ways, at different speeds, with different results in the end.
Maybe some day in New York? I would love that, too. 🙂
Donna says
Thank you for taking us all on your excursion! From the Thrifty counter to the White Feather Boa and all the beautiful mischief in between. I felt like I was right there… beautiful. What a wonderful idea you have hatched… 🙂
L. L. Barkat says
I do believe you helped hatch it. Starting in April, with the simple joy of meeting you. Right on through to the first social media conversation where so many of these details were dreamed up!
Donna says
🙂 Ahhh April. I’m smiling right now.
Marcy says
This just makes me “Smile.” Excitement running all over the place, what a great idea to be, to share, to enjoy. Memories and tea. Now I’ll keep my Dodge Ram if you please, even let you spill tea in my truck, here in the country, curves, hills, lots of stuff. Bronchitis, just got over that and had to change the date of my “Fall Brewing” three times. Tomorrow, brunch with two gal’s in the country, looking forward to tea and reading my poems. Other than your fun days, can it get any better than this?
L. L. Barkat says
You are so right, Marcy. It doesn’t get much better than this. Simple things, shared across tables. I could do this for a long, long time and not tire of it 🙂
Marcy says
Brunch today was so much fun with two of my country gal’s. One in her 20’s the other in her 30’s. I made homemade orange/cranberry scones and took a pot of Crème Earl Gray Tea. One friend has dogs, the other has cats like me, so I took my favorite little poetry book “I Could Pee on This.” So with the book and a few of my favorite poems we had a delightful brunch and laughter abounded. If you ever make it to Texas then you must come to Tennessee. Like Glenn Campbell sings, “Where the door is always open” in his song, “Gentle on my mind.” The UPS man just delivered my two books, one for each hand, can’t wait to read. Billy Collins “Aimless Love” and “Rumors of water” by L.L. barkat
L. L. Barkat says
What fun. I’m so glad you are making some of your own poetry mischief, Marcy.
We’ll see where I get and when. I would love to travel the whole U.S.! 🙂
Poet Laundry says
It was a delight to meet and spend time with you Laura–and Jody and Kimberlee and Laura! You all are such lovely, warm and inspiring ladies. And I enjoyed the wonderful poetry and inspiration for the muse shared in the Mischief Cafe book as well. Thank you again! 🙂
L. L. Barkat says
There was a great spirit of mirth and depth. And I am so looking forward to hearing more of your poetry, Jennifer. That muse of yours is back to work. 🙂
Poet Laundry says
Thanks, Laura, I am looking forward to more of yours (your books are on my Christmas list!). I am in love with the line “it is time to ravel rays from ravished dreams, red and unremembered” as well as your whole sestina, “Petit a Petit L’Oiseau Fait Son Nid” in the book. Thank you for letting me borrow from it for the closing stanza of the feather boa poem…it was one of my fav reads of the night! 🙂
Megan Willome says
This makes me so happy!
L. L. Barkat says
Perfect. (I would love to see you create some of this same kind of happiness in Texas! 🙂 )
Matthew Kreider says
Everything about this feels right. And so buttery. 🙂
L. L. Barkat says
There is something special about sharing poetry across a table, everyone together and no one on a stage (even if one person is a facilitator). Each one of these has its own flavor, but butter is definitely there every time! 😉
Speaking of buttery, wait until we get to San Francisco. (To come, soon. Promise.)
SimplyDarlene says
Lines – blurred, signed,
Etched
By wrinkles in
Plans, weather, time –
Hands, together
Tight like window
Panes.
Poets chew through
Doors like butter
Heavy toast, crumbs
Rim teacups, some
Cry –
Over spilled lines.
Elizabeth Marshall says
In this world, at this time, people hunger more and more for all that poetry offers. Butter on toast, in community, with tea, at the table, always non-negotiable. Poetry feeds the soul.