This man made my night. And he played some Jeff Buckley on top of it. I think my weekend has officially started on the right foot.
So I wasn’t having a good feeling about tonight, especially with another rejection letter, and I ended up going down to the Iowa by myself. I don’t like being at events alone, even if I know most of the people there. I’m such a hermit anyway, perpetuating the stereotype doesn’t help.
(By the way, I found out I have a feature next Thursday. 25 minutes all to myself! Opening for Josh Ellis!)
Things were made worse by the fact that in the first round, I happened to get the lowest score out of all five entrants. I really just wanted to leave after that.
During my Zen time in the bathroom during the break, I came to the conclusion that it was the time to pull out the big guns. I refreshed myself on if I was a frog while I washed my hands, did a little Eminem-8-Mile-psyching up.
And I waited. I was last to go for the second round.
I forget some of the poem, probably because I’m listening to the other poets instead. I try not to think about it. I get up there, just a little more than scared.
Two 10s anyone? The only ones of the night? Both the lowest and highest score? Can we say bipolar kids?
Being that there weren’t many people there, and we all paid up for registration fees and such, we all got automatic bids for Monday’s finals at Roma. And I learned a lot of things tonight alone, and know what my assignment for the weekend is: memorize at least 2 more poems, and get my haiku on or else I’m staying home the first week of August.
And to also get props from talented people helped too, though I’m still not comfortable. I don’t fish for compliments, and getting them, especially getting high scores at slams makes me want to just fucking hide. I’m not good at the whole celebrity thing, which prompted Bakeem to say, “You’re one of the best poets in town with the worst PR.”
I’ve never been good at selling myself, which is why I can’t talk to boys, really. I can be an egomaniac with my own site, and yet I can’t even talk about myself like that in real life.
I really do appreciate the good comments. I’m not used to it, so I never know how to take them. With today being so manic anyway, it was just nice to come home smiling.
