Haiku

5 Things About The Poetry Cafe

1. Last night I went to an open-mic poetry night in Covent Garden to hear my cousin George perform some of his works. Poetry is not my favourite artistic medium, but I am always happy to see people I love doing what they love. I'm also quite keen on listening to George say stuff. He has a beautiful voice and I never tire of hearing him. It could be a shopping list and I'd still listen raptly.

2. It actually was really cool! Possibly the four beers helped, but I found most of it entertaining, much of it interesting and very little of it dull or pretentious. There were 19 poets performing everything from odes to a greasy spoon cafe, love poems, political tirades and the obligatory awkward girl doing a piece about periods.

3. The Poetry Cafe is not at all as I expected. It's tiny and George, his friend Paul and I had to cram into a sofa about two foot away from the mic at the front. It was a very intimate setting though, which made you root for all the poets and feel like you probably knew them all from somewhere and ought to be nice.

4. George was definitely the most animated! He is an actor first and a writer second I think, and he leapt about, gesticulating and shouting. He was brilliant. I particularly liked his Fire in Soho poem which was completely different from everything else performed during the evening. I think George is hugely talented at expressing himself, even though I sometimes disagree with what he says, I find myself envious of his ability to put across a point. And I'm hardly inarticulate. Am I?

5. I particularly enjoyed a poem which was really an ode to words. It was clever and funny and made me think about my relationship with those strange little noises and shapes. I love words and realised what an unsual experience it was for me to be in a room full of people all of whom cared about words as much as I do. Quite exciting in a way (is that weird?) and it made me want to read and write more, hence two blog entries within one week! Whatever next?