JU’s “Off The Shelf” open mic poetry event Tuesday, April 2!

Off the Shelf Open Mic Poetry event

When?  Tuesday, April 2, 2013 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Where?  Swisher Library Front Lawn

What if I get hungry?  A Picnic Lunch will be provided!

Will I feel like reading a poem even if I am not a poet?  Absolutely! We will have extra poems if you forget yours! 

(More details to come – be waiting for them!)

Here’s a preview for you…

EVERYTHING IS WAITING FOR YOU

Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice. You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you. 

– David Whyte  from “Everything is Waiting for You” ©2003 Many Rivers Press