Last night was the first of weekly Tuesday nights of 'Poetic Peace' at the 567. Poetic Peace met previously at the Jazz Plex, downtown. When in closed earlier this year, Poetic Peace found a temporary home in Warner Robins. Y.O. and I met a week or so ago to talk about bringing the open mic night back to downtown Macon - and we did. So - not having any idea what to expect - here's the good, the bad, and the ugly:The Good - lots of good, original poetry. A packed house - standing room only. Almost every attendee was NOT white - a great opportunity to meet and interact with a lot of people that we otherwise likely would not. In our first night I heard a couple of conversations between people surprised by a church supporting the arts.
The Bad - against Y.O.'s instructions the headliner used some pretty horrible language. Y.O. and I talked about it afterword - in fact I even talked to the headliner about it as well. Y.O. apologized several times. We'll try it again next week with the understanding that the language MUST be cleaned up or the 567 is out.
The Ugly - the headliner's poetry was filled with religious discourse - most from an ugly Christian past that included a pastor's lifestyle of alcohol and womanizing, a 9 year old boy's rape by a deacon, and a complete lack of true Gospel Christianity. All of his church stories were reported as true.
So - we'll try it again next week and see what happens.
