[the Unibrow Tour] Sunday Afternoon Words & Music, July 19

I decided to join LisaAnn LoBasso on the the last leg of her "Unibrow Tour" of the great poetry venues of the Northeast after her appearance at the Poets in the Park. She had 2 more gigs, both in towns & venues I wanted to check out. The first stop was in Plymouth, MA, at a pleasant Sunday afternoon at Cafe Olio. The cafe was located in an upscale development called Pinehills just south of the city of Plymouth. Singer/songwriter Rick Clerici was entertaining the audience as we arrived. The host, Louisa, then did a pleasant love poem, "Found Again," with Rick accompanying her on guitar.

LisaAnn gave another spirited performance as the featured poet, beginning with "Another Love Poem" then on into the death of day in the heat. Her other poems were "Their Dissipation," "Granite Oaks," "My Lost Uncle," "Ojai Deliverance," "For Micca and Her Photograph in her House," "Lost Hills," "Sugarloaf," & ending as she does with "Melt."

The host, Louisa, announced there would be a 1 poem limit for the open mic, a rule that I too have for my open mic at the Third Thursday Poetry Night. But as the poets took the stage I was shocked at how many violated this rule. Maybe "violated" is not the correct word, maybe "ignored," or perhaps, given the maturity (i.e., age) of most readers "forgotten."

The first reader was Alex Woodbury who read a short excerpt from a novel & seemed to stay within the time limit. Elizabeth Hanson announced she had 2 pieces, "they are short" she said. The first was not short (rule of thumb: any poem that is more than 1 page is not "short"), describing a scene from a movie, the second piece "Night Train." Renee Sweezo (?) also read 2 poems but they were short, "A Mess," & "Far Far from Shangrila." Paul Stone knew the rules, read "Listen to the Wind" from his book, How to Train a Rock.

Alice Kociemba runs a poetry series in West Falmouth on Cape Cod; she had "3 short poems": one about the demise of a hardware store, "Morning Air," & one about kayaking on Cape Cod. I was raised a good Catholic boy (though that's long gone) & I know how to obey the rules, so I read one poem, "The Spa." Chris Robbins came close to reading 1 poem: he started with what he called an "Irish haiku" then read a tribute to the Cafe Olio, "Granola Parfait." Louisa ended the afternoon with a poem about her car breaking down, "Muddle Life" (saying she was addicted to Harry Potter books).

Not sure when this series will continue or where it will be next, but it this afternoon was fun at Cafe Olio, 3 Village Green North, Plymouth, MA (at Pinehills).