All You Need Is Love... Or At Least, A Mic And Dim Lights
Walking down the streets of Pomona after 9:00 PM, I'm thinking I'm on my premature way to Hell: hot, dark, no living soul in sight, and nowhere to get a glass of water to drink. Then, I stumble upon the Millennia Lounge. In the doorway stands Cory, glasses on the tip of his nose and a big smile on his face. We exchange hugs like relatives who haven't seen each other in years, and he invites me in. I decide to linger around a while longer, and next thing I know, it's after 10:30, and Cory has turned into Besskepp, and that notorious Friday night poetry reading is about to begin. And Besskepp ain't no Jill Scott, but you can feel the love, and the audience is giving him love, yo, and the poets are blessing the mic lovingly, and you can breathe love in the air. Love for poetry, love for spoken word, love for hip-hop, love for the grooves the DJ is spinning, love for God, love for other human beings... Some faces I know: Mark, Bridget, Rafi, Macho, Wayman, Mani, DeAngela. Others I see for the first time, but their words and songs are speaking to my soul. The lights are low, incense is burning, the mic is open, the host is awesome, and the love is flowing freely. Now, was Pomona by any chance on the way to Heaven? What?!? Did I say Hell first? To turn Hell into Heaven, all you need is love... or at least a mic and dim lights. My man Besskepp has the right idea.
Poeticizing in Pomona and Raving for LitRave,
Jelena aka Helen the Bashful Dragon
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