Event Recap and Photos from our Untitled Open Mic ft Paul Marion | 7.20.22

The open reading got started a little late because people were still filtering in and Ricky was doing his usual walk thru to encourage people to sign up on the open mic. He did a good job because we had a couple of returning homies get up on the mic (like Mason who read three short poems from his journal and Connor Phillion who read an oldie but goodie from his Louder Than A Bomb days), as well as some new voices doing the teaching thing, giving us unusual vocabulary like concupiscence or retelling of the Greek myth of Hephaestus. Stephen Anstey wetted our appetite for Paul’s feature by talking about his experiences at the Crazy Horse monument in South Dakota and then reading a poem dedicated to Paul and his wife, Rosemary.

And then Paul did his thing, teaching and telling like the storyteller professor he is, willing to accede to Stephan’s wish and read the Crazy Horse poem before doing what he had planned and offering us a whole series of poems about Lowell, followed by a number of pieces set in Dracut. It was an invocation of the diversity of Lowell (hearing Greek, Khmer, and Portuguese) and the rural nature of Dracut (“odors of grass feed and animals”), reminding us of Paul’s deep roots here. 

view from the stage of the venue

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