Poetry by the Light of the Moon

After our winter poetry evening, I commented to 90-year-old Florence that we should make this an annual affair. She quickly replied, “Maybe you should do it more frequently,” suggesting that she wasn’t sure how many more yearly readings should would be around for. I said maybe we could do it outside in the summertime, to which she commented, “Oh, yes, we could dance by the light of the moon!” When Florence had her stroke before Passover, I vowed that if she recovered, I would organize a summer outdoor poetry evening.

I consulted Rebecca about a place to hold such an event and was not encouraged when she said, “First of all poetry outdoors loses its subtlety which makes it difficult to hear. Second, nobody is going to want to come to this when it is hot and muggy and buggy in August.” My initial response was to say, “I’m sure Rebecca knows what she is talking about.” But then I decided that we would never know if it worked unless we tried it. As for the subtlety problem, I figured if we put people into small enough groups, there would be no problem with hearing each other. As for the bugs, people can just use bug spray. As for summer nights in DC, humidity is a fact of life!

We sent out an invitation today for a potluck dinner followed by poetry for August 20, the date of a full “sturgeon” moon. The initial response is mostly negative, but not because of a wimpy response to the weather and the bugs, but because people are legitimately out of town. I recall that the declines came in first in the winter also. David and I have already decided that if enough people can’t come, we will move it to September.

One way or the other, it’s time to start looking for some good new or old poems that I can read and hopefully no one else will pick!