A circle shot of the poets gathered for Thursday's event. Photo by Tracy Chan.
...While some habits are nasty, the Stairwell Readings are something that Kalamakua hopes to make a…slightly less nasty habit. It all began when the editorial staff got an abstract poetry submission by Christian Miller and began reading it aloud, alternating lines and having fun with dramatizing the words. Then, because people in the newsroom were giving us funny looks, we decided to take it outside and find a place where the sound could really do something. “Hey, what about that stairwell in Kuykendall we were messing around in the other day?” I suggested, and with the aid of a digital pocket recorder, the idea for the Stairwell Readings was born.
Dave Woo, Matt McVickar, and Ryan Maurice, three poets who read at the event. Photo by Tracy Chan.
Our first event was a success, with about 15 people showing up on Thursday the 20th. Various styles of literature and poetry, including sonnets, dada, free verse, short stories, and a random excerpt from Dostoevsky were read. Dylan Little brought his guitar, and graced us with a few songs as well.
Loraine, Kalamakua's boss-lady, reading one of her poems. Photo by Dylan Little.
For the grand finale, we moved the whole group, including video camera, indoors to the stairwell, where all those gathered were posted spaced apart on the stairwell. Everyone came up with an on-the-spot line of poetry, to be read one after the other. How did it sound? Check out the audio player.
Mahalo to all the poets who showed up, and to Jessica Hamamoto, for videotaping the whole thing. Let’s do it again soon!
Photo by Tracy Chan.
If you are interested in participating in the next Stairwell Reading, please email us at kalamakua.org+literature@gmail.com, or visit the event's facebook page.
Photo by Matt McVickar.
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