Open Mic Night at The Mercury Cafe

image from blogs.artvoice.com

   Last night at Open Mic Night at The Mercury Cafe in downtown Denver!
   One night a month they invite people to read flash fiction. There is a featured reader and the rest of the evening they open up to anyone who wants to read their work. You sign up when you arrive and read in the order of the signup.
   I used to write poetry and do readings both in performance and open mic settings. But that was many years ago. Many years ago. I always enjoyed reading for an audience, so when my daughter asked if I wanted to go with her to The Mercury Cafe for their flash fiction reading, I . . .
(Okay, here is where my writer self kicks in. Did I "jump at the chance" or "embraced the opportunity" or "eagerly accept?")
    . . . I asked when and where. I'd never heard of The Mercury Cafe. Then, armed with that information, I called my husband to see if he could hold the fort (cliches are my life) while I went into Denver for the evening.
   All those many years ago, one of the first things my then-to-be husband did with me was go to poetry readings and take pictures. To be honest, I think he was relieved that he would have to stay home with my dad.

image from heritagepioneer.com

   This is the room where we read. This picture was obviously taken in the daytime. The readings started at 7:30, well after dark. The stage was reasonably well-lit, but the rest of the room was pretty dark.

   The curtains behind the stage are not blue. They're red. Like I said, I'd never been there before so naturally I wore red. I'm sure I blended into the background beautifully. With my brilliant white hair, I probably looked like a talking head.

   I've read from a stage many times, but never to a darkened room. I've always been able to see the audience. I like seeing the audience. I read to people not to the dark. The picture at the top of this blog post was pretty much like what I was seeing as I read. A bright spotlight, a microphone, and darkness. As a sci-fi writer and reader you'd think vast, empty darkness would suit me just fine. But what interests me about outer space are people in outer space. 

   And then, and then. The emcee announced that the theme for the evening was The Weird. Hmmm. I brought "Dammit Jason" to read. It's from a blog post back in October of last year. You can read it here. Not my idea of weird. Still, if few people in the audience are familiar with the rural South, it could seem weird. And The Mercury Cafe is in Denver, Colorado -- not rural or Southern. Plus most of the  audience are somehow connected to university life, either as professors or students, so . . . .

   So I read it into the darkness, in the face of that spotlight. And they laughed and applauded. It was good. And I'm going to do it again.

   But I won't wear red.