The attendance was great.
The room was full.
How soon can we do this again?
You could tell it was going to be an SRO night about a quarter before the scheduled start as the reception was drawing toward a close, and all but a few seats were claimed.
Wow. Standing room only for poetry!
And the applause, right from the start. Anyone who said anything from the podium got a hand.
Each of the four poets were applauded after their introductions -- just for existing.
Did anybody take names, pass a sign-up sheet through the audience? Can we get all these people back?
And the applause came after each poem. Usually listeners wait until a poet has finished his whole reading before applauding.
So while this was -- or so we readers thought -- an event about our readings, it was, actually, just as much about the town. People sitting in those library seats were happy to be part of something that represented their town. The spirit of the place.
And, hopefully, the quality of the event.
Plymouth was celebrating Plymouth, sensing a strong pulse, and feeling good about that.
Even the hors d'oeuvres at the reception were top flight. I was almost sorry I was going to be reading because otherwise I would have spent the time grazing. It's rare that I can't find time to spare on blue cheese and paper-thin sliced Italian meats. But believing it isn't a good idea to put much in my stomach before I go on stage, I restricted myself to a free glass of wine -- and didn't feel any effect at all. Nerves.
The five-member panel sitting up front.
So, one always wonders, and worries a bit -- how did I do? Since a live reading is by nature a kind of 'performance.'
Well, in all humble candor, everybody who spoke to me said it was great. Of course most of the people who spoke to me and gave me this impression are the people who normally talk to me, that is my friends and acquaintances.
Know what? I'll just take their word for it.
From my end, I doubt that I could do much better.
My thanks to Plymouth Public Library director Jennifer Harris and the other members of the panel who organized and hosted this event: Stephen Cole of the Plymouth Foundation, restaurateur Heather Casey, Old Colony Memorial reporter David Kindy, and Amy Naples of the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce.
