Poets in their natural habitat: bookstores! Here is the first of the video clips I’ve been able to edit from the Midtown Scholar bookstore. This event was later the same day as our Capitol readings in Harrisburg. After the stress of the professional camera, the meeting of the governor’s wife, who was very classy, smart and friendly, by the way, and the formal hullabaloo.
Hopefully the PCN cameras caught a bit of the crowd of kids who were a temporary audience, as they were in the Capitol building for the “Senator for a Day” program. That PCN airing is supposed to be this Saturday afternoon, by the way. I’ll dig up the info for you again later or you can check out the previous post if you care to try tuning in.
But as usual, I digress. This was the more casual atmosphere. Poets always feel more cozy in a bookstore or library it seems. But wow, what a bookstore! Multiple floors, halls and tunnels, two stages and a huge coffee bar. Hosted by the Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel, and encouraged by an awesome store owner, we had a great time. This first clip includes Jack Veassey with a poem about living near the new warning siren after the Three Mile Island incident, and Jerry Wemple reading “Awl Street,” about being a kid selling door-to-door in Sunbury, Pennsylvania.
There will be a few more videos to follow this one, but some parts had interference in the form of static on the camera, plus some moments were too quiet, and others full of distractions, people stepping in front of the camera, the tripod being knocked over when a kind gentleman, who was exceedingly apologetic, reached for his coffee cup, things like that. So the entire podcast can be heard by clicking right here.
Related articles
- Poetry at the Pennsylvania Capitol (dadpoet.wordpress.com)
- Capitol Poets’ Conclusion, Featuring Marjorie Maddox and Jerry Wemple (dadpoet.wordpress.com)
- Capitol Readings, the Midtown Scholar and Catching Up (dadpoet.wordpress.com)
- Pennsylvania Poets Gather to Read Poems at the State Capitol | witf.org (dadpoet.wordpress.com)
- David Reads at the Pennsylvania State Capitol (dadpoet.wordpress.com)
David J. Bauman 
Going over to the podcast for an hour, if I remember I’ll come back and leave a comment, but I never remember,,,
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Haha! Thanks! I am so scatter-brained; I understand. My part doesn’t start until about thirty minutes in, but it’s worth listening to all the stuff before hand too! 🙂
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I can wait another 20 minutes…. No TV night, so just listening into earphone ignoring the kids yelling and screaming in their room while they should be sleeping…
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Good. Jerry and Marjorie are worth listening to! I greatly admire them both. And Jack’s poem was great too.
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Whoever this second bloke is, is good….
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That would be Jerry Wemple, and I agree! He’s a soft spoken man who totally rocks. 🙂
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Wait it was Jerry first, I tuned out the MC prior so I thought it was a mini reading… Onto Buggy Ride at 16 with Marjorie now…
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Yes, Jack only read the one poem. And I had the pleasure of riding down with Marjorie in our car, and getting us lost on the way home afterward. Isn’t she wonderful?
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She is… I’m up to you now David…
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I’m glad jack could read with us that night. That was his poem from the Common Wealth anthology, edited by Jerry and Marjorie. I thought it was a great poem. It’s the first one on the video clip if you missed it in the podcast. It was an honor, and great fun to read with all of them.
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Jerry’s reminded me of bush poetry… Something close to my heart…
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I am not familiar with bush poetry, but now I intend to look it up. I’m up hours and hours past my “bed time.” It is late and early. Going to crash. I hope you enjoy the rest of the reading.
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Cheers, mate. G’night
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You did well yourself, mate.
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Thank you kindly, good sir! 🙂 It was a lot of build up to get there, but I was pumped and it was fun.
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Loved the video of the poets reading their work…fine snapshots of the world with which they interact.
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They are good poets, those guys. Thank you for watching! I will hopefully have a few more clips from that event to come.
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