A Zen Moment of BlissOccasionally, in my life I had taken poetic license to describe certain events, but last night was the very first time I took myself to Poetic License at Zen Restaurant in Silver Lake. And I must admit, it was a perfect Zen moment of bliss.
Larry Jaffe has done it again: a perfect 10 for his choice of the featured poet for the night! As a matter of fact, the flyer announced two perfect features - Kamau Daaood and Lewis MacAdams. By some strange twist of fate, The Gentle Warrior didn't show up, but Mr. MacAdams (or should I say Mr. LA River) more than held up his end of the bargain. Still, before the evening ended in a crescendo in the form of Lewis MacAdams, open mic readers did their part quite successfully, too. It was a showcase of different poetic styles blending into a tasty poetic brew. Larry's co-host, Brandon Backhaus started us off. After that, Bruce Arnold made a bee-line for the mic to talk about bee sex life and to lament over loss of hair. He was followed by Neil Aitken who was "Restless" to take us on "Vacation." Then, LitRave's own Helen (that's me!) made her PL debut explaining what her "Nia (Purpose)" in life was and giving Larry second thoughts about visiting Belgrade with her poem "Lament Over My Nation." (No, Larry, you can really go now -- Milosevich is in jail!) Art Fisher followed with a sad love poem and another not-so-sad love poem. Nathalie Lawhead informed us that her life was not hers to live, and Sean sounded like a very mellow version of Ben Porter Lewis. Next up was Tanja Lawhead, followed by Anthony J. Maldonado. Then, another LitRaver took the stage: Frankie Drayus. She read two brand new poems - "Lullaby," inspired by Rielke and talk during sex (!) and "If I Opened My Mouth." And no, it's NOT what you think it's about!!! Thaine H. Allison, Jr. told us how he was "punished for lustful thoughts," and James welcomed us to the future and offered some interesting thoughts about dirt. Mia read an older piece titled "Forgotten Abacus," and Mike got us all thinking about the place of a human in the age of communication. Then, Philip Martin joined him to tell us about "American Avant-garde." Philip then proceeded solo to bring the house down with a hip-hop tinted insight in how "the spirit joins the flesh, so that all elements can positively mash." After Philip, VonEnemy took the stage (himself) with poems titled "Myself" and "3:00 AM." And then, (fanfare, please!) it was time for Lewis MacAdams. His "dissertation" on many faces of the Los Angeles River left us all in positive awe. I bet most of the poets present last night would agree with my statement: "I want to be like Lewis when I grow up!" And I'll never look at the LA River with the same eyes again. Although he lamented about "setting out to be a hero but becoming a lobbyist," one thing cannot be denied: Lewis is a bard par excellence. Thank you, Larry Jaffe, for the amazing feature!
Scoping out Lyricism in Silver Lake and Raving for Litrave,
Jelena aka Helen The Bashful Dragon
Poetic License
Tuesdays at 8pm
The Zen Restaurant
2609 Hyperion Ave.
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