Rainy Night, Sparse Crowd at the Blackbird

(Portland artist Charles Lucas)

A disappointing crowd on a rainy First Wednesday at the Blackbird last night. Nevertheless, Charles Deemer, guest reader Portland artist Charles Lucas, and I read from the RBP canon for about 80 minutes.

Deemer's awful cold kept him muted as he read from In My Old Age, as well as from Bill Deemer's Variations. I felt bad for CD as I know he wanted to be at full-strength for this event. Understandably, he lacked his typical energy last night.

The small but sympathetic audience appreciated him toughing it out.

Alas, the flu season has arrived and brought its usual misery to many.

I thought Lucas handled Sam White's (Robert P. Thomas) "The Huncke Poems" from the Cold Eye anthology with grace and a fine tone.

I did my thing, reading a selection of prose and poetry along with selections from K.C. Bacon's Morandi's Bottles. You'd have to ask somebody else to describe how that went.

Here's a link to Deemer reading for the Lewis and Clark-sponsored Oregon Poetic Voices archive.


TS