Local restaurant hosts poetry reading

A cloudy sky sets the mood for a poetry reading on this cool, quiet evening in front of The Runcible Spoon. The reading is for an audience of a couple dozen people. The crowd is a bit more mature than the college crowd, but young people pepper the group.\nAs I sip my ginger jasmine tea with honey in this relaxed environment, Patricia Colemam, a poet, painter, and member of the Indiana Holistic Health Network, introduces herself and begins the evening.\nColeman was first inspired by the poet Etheridge Knight in the 80's. She is currently attending The Conference of the Great Mother, an annual meeting of like-minded poets in Wisconsin. She enjoys organizing this event, which she has done for two years, in order to hear the different voices in the community. \n"It's a gift," she said. "I seek the poets out myself and try to keep fresh faces at all times."\nBack in Bloomington, chirping birds fiercely compete with the poets for attention. The lineup of readers is very diverse, beginning with poems about nature and moving into anti-war poetry. This is David Keppell. One of his anti-war poems has even been published in the New York Times. Keppell is very active in the Bloomington community. \n"I consider the sharing of my poetry one facet of my activism," he said.\nNext comes Paul Swanson, an IU student earning his masters in education. His performance reminds me very much of HBO's Def Poetry. As this was a "Men's Poetry" themed evening he explained what he thought it meant to be a man, beginning with an awkward childhood poem, moving into a rebellious poem and ending with poems about falling in love and responsibility.\nIt's at this point that rain causes us to move inside, into the bowels of the Spoon. The poets are forced to be strong, pushing their words through the sound of the cook's music and the creaking of the stairs by the busy waitresses.\nLater comes John Isbell, former IU French professor. His poetry is a mixture of comedy and sentimentalism. The crowd really enjoys his readings.\nThe evening continues with poetry of a "revenge of nature theme" and poetry of eulogies.\nThe scheduled poets are then followed by the open-mic portion of the evening. Two men, one woman reading men's poems, Coleman and finally our waitress wrap up the enjoyably literate evening.\nThe Runcible Spoon Poetry Series continues on every fourth Friday. The Runcible Spoon is located at 412 East 6th Street.