Poetry reading at Bowery Poetry, New York 23 Apr 2017

We arrived in New York in the afternoon, later than anticipated. After a restorative bath and meal we headed down to Bowery Poetry at 7:45pm. I signed to take part in the open mic and the show kicked off at 8.30pm. Everyone sits with everyone else it's a really friendly atmosphere. Mason Granger hosted the night beautifully, introducing each open mic poet. At the end of the first half, Mason introduced Safia Elhillo the featured poet of the night. Poised, still, strong, Sofia's first poem affected me the most. It was what I needed to hear and sometimes God puts you in front of what you need. In the interval I bought Safia's book The January Children. Then I was the first poet to perform in the second half, I read my poem The Fifth Circle Of Hell, which will be in my third collection.

That night I heard some amazing poetry. And in the car on my way home, the first song on the radio was Eddie Cochran C'mon Everbody started playing, which captured the evening perfectly.