the message my brother left me this afternoon said, “i heard you got voted the coolest poet ever by a gaggle of hippies.” not exactly true, sadly. i did win first prize though at the yearly swarthmore poetry contest. i’d never entered before but winning certainly made me think i should have tried. first place! $500! i’ve never won anything before. swat brought a poet in from the outside to judge the contest: beth ann fennely. she spoke with a cute southern accent and gave a reading for about half an hour after announcing the winners. her poetry is energetic and engaging, and even more so outloud. my class was supposed to buy her book. now i suppose i certainly should.
it was tremendously encouraging, and it meant i didn’t have to be depressed going into our final dress rehearsal. the leading article in the paper about the show gets several key details wrong. nothing too awful though and nothing that would discourage people from coming (thurs – sat, 8 8 8, free!).
buoyed by my energy maybe, or just because, the dress actually went smoothly. various individuals who were sitting in laughed. you forget how crucial laughter is to a comedy when you prepare it — in rehearsals, you don’t have that luxury.
tonight, everyone looked good under the lights, no one fell off the stage … who could ask for anything more? i gave notes and everything but really, it doesn’t have to be any better than it was tonight. if we manage stasis, i’ll be thrilled.