Full Circles and Circles

Mikaela says:
So it appears I'm in the poetry scene again. You might say, of course, look how hard you worked for the National Poetry Slam event in Albuquerque in August! And you'd be right. The amount I was willing to pour into that event does indicate my dedication to poetry in general and performance poetry in Albuquerque in particular.

But I still felt like an outsider. A visitor dropping in from the past.

But this week an old poetry friend from the time of my first forays into performance poetry was the visitor dropping in from MY past. He's probably the only person in the world who remembers being witness to the first and only time I slammed. He even remembers the poems I used and one of the lines in particular -- a slutty line, he concedes -- but a great line nonetheless.

Sitting in the Frontier with old and new poetry friends, I was struck with an overwhelming realization: I am one of them. Maybe not a performer, but a poet. A thinker. An appreciator of their art. And a friend.

All of a sudden, I'm seeing more poetry -- living more poetry -- than I have in a long, long time.

And it feels right for my life. That I've been away a long time and now have something more to offer.

We're starting to talk about yearly events -- large-scale events -- that I will help coordinate. How exciting! An end to my academic career, and the start of a life balancing work in neighborhood communities with work in the poetry community.

Do you see? Do you see how grace allows us to see the plans in the chaos of our lives?

Welcome to the circle.