Three More Valentine-Worthy Ladies

This evening, the third Sunday of the month, Esso Coffeehouse was the venue for its monthly Open Mic poetry event, hosted by my friend Russ Kazmierczak. I intended to participate as usual, and arrived early to ensure a good seat, but I was unsure what I ought to select for reading.

Then proprietor Sharon K stopped by my table to say hello, and asked me what I’d been up to, and I mentioned the Valentines I’d written this week, the latest one being a acrostic of my co-worker Kendra. (See my post of Valentine’s Day, February 14th.) Since I have the highest regard for Sharon, I decided to demonstrate that regard with an impromptu belated Valentine for her, thus:

S is for Solo Proprietorship

H is for Heaven in every sip

A is the Ambience we love so much

R is for Roasting and Revels and such

O is for OMG!! Esso’s The Bomb!

N is for Nice, thanks to Sharon’s aplomb

–Wellllll, ALMOST thus. My memory is fuzzy as far as exact words go. But the spirit and content are the same.

Here is a selfie of Sharon and me, taken after the event:

With five minutes to go before Open Mic started, I asked the lovely Julia F if I could have a go at doing her name too. She said, with just a slight frisson of dubiety, “Sure, have at it.” And just before “curtain time” I showed her the first (only) draft:

J is for Jaunty and stylish with flair

U is Undaunted — a fierce heart beats there

L is for Lissome, quite svelte & so slender

I is Iconoclast, other-road wender

A is Alluring, whatever your gender

She really is Alluring. See for yourself:

Soon it was my turn at the microphone. I wished everyone a belated Happy Valentine’s Day and told of the Valentines I wrote for the occasion, reciting Kendra’s and Julia’s. Then I looked across at the smiling face of novelist Roxanne Doty and said “You know, a real challenge would be to do one with an X in their name.” Then I did something akin to this:

R is Resplendent — a wildflower blossom

O is for Outings with Owl or Opossum

X is a Xeriscape for your enjoyment

A Academia — tenured employment

N is for Nature and what it has brought her

N is for Novelist Out Stealing Water

E is for Excellent Mother Earth’s Daughter

Some polite applause began, but I stepped on it with “Wait, there’s more!”

D is for Destiny: Best-Seller List

O is for Oscar, Best Screenplay: “RESIST!”

T is for Thankful this poem’s almost done

Y is for Youthful — eternally young

And here is evidence supporting that last line:

The featured poet of the event, David C, is an award-winning superstar of published poetry, and wowed the audience with eco-friendly journeys delivered with a rich Manchester-accented voice. His denunciation of Kit Carson and his clear-cutting of Arizona peach trees was particularly vivid.

After the event I bought one of David’s books, and he gave my copy this generous inscription: “Fellow spirit, fellow wordsmith, all the best. David C”

And Roxanne had this droll comment afterward about Academia: “Annihilating anything that is original.” Made me glad to have dodged the career-in-academia bullet. 🙂

What an evening!!