For about ten minutes I was frustrated at myself.

What goes after swish, sway, swoosh?

After being away from the spoken word stage since…late July of 2007 (disappointing shake of the head) I went back up on the stage tonight and I KILLED IT!

I attended the Write On Stage Reading and Spoken Word event in Shreveport. It was a free event and I wanted to see what was going on in the poetry scene here. It was a great experience and I enjoyed it.

And of course, there was an open mic portion. So I texted my homeboy S to get his take on it.

“Step up. U’ll be different and a hit. Watch”

So during the first couple of poets, I strained to remember Latina, my signature. I have it committed to memory but since I hadn’t used it in a minute, I was petrified when I couldn’t recall a couple of lines as I was saying it to myself.

But eventually, it came back, and so did the cold feet and the dry mouth. Sorta. I got the cold feet once I was on stage and the dry mouth right before. The nerves came when I sat down. And of course, as what happens with nearly EVERY performance, the minute I start the poem, I blackout and don’t remember what I did. I remember saying hello, the start, and then I remember getting off stage.

Oh but the people loved it! And I got so many compliments. They were feeling me. And it felt good to be back on stage. Will I be going back to poetry? Not sure. But it’s nice to know I can go back to it if need be.