Learning to read my poems to small crowds again. Small groups of friends who care about the words more than they do the laughter.

I have enjoyed Broadway. Still believe it is important. Half the people who come to see those shows would never see a person like me in the mainstream. The show is still very important for so many reasons.

On that note. I have to say
that the venues at Pratt
and the Ulta Violet and Bar 13 are equally important.

So I am reading my poems in small rooms. Like the one I sleep in. To people who care about them. Even if they are not loud or angry or fierce. I am reading to old lovers and hands that hold me now, and friends and sometimes, I read to myself. To remind me. That I am trying to be a writer. Not a rockstar. Not a celebrity. Not a person who people reconize and say hi to on the A train. I am one of millions of people who are just trying to save the world.

So here's to the poems that never make it to Broadway. To the poets who will always read in the cafes and the bars and such. I love you. I need yopu to keep reading in those bars, Those venues. So that when I need to believe in more than these poems I say every night in front of a jiggy audience, I can come hear poet's like Eric and Roger and AB Lugo Read and know that the world is not about Lincoln Town car service and press and events with career opportunities informing what I say.

In love and these battered words that refuse to let me rest.

Staceyann