Cliterati Open Mic at Charis Books & More
July Open Mic Reading at Charis Books & More
On a hot summer evening in July, two dozen chairs were setup in front of a simple black podium and mic at Charis Books & More. Billed as the south’s oldest independent feminist bookstore, Charis Books & More had a stage room in the back that boasted large bay windows through which a clear blue sky and vibrant green trees created a lush backdrop to the literary event. Rainless days had become rare in the stormy summer of Atlanta, and sporadic showers plagued the city that Thursday. But there in Decatur, clouds floated lazily in a humid blue sky, and people were out enjoying the late evening weather.
The host, Karen Garrabrat, started Charis Books & More’s Cliterati Open Mic with an apology. The featured guest, Theri Pickens, would not be in attendance that day. Despite the disappointment in the room, Karen assured the eager audience that the evening would be a night to remember. Starting the ball rolling, she read several poems, and then called up the first of seven speakers, the night’s only male participant.
Next up was a woman who’d lost her partner of several decades in a car crash last year. She tearfully recalled all of the little moments she missed about her closest and most intimate friend, and asked any who might be interested to meet with her at a nearby coffee shop the coming Saturday. This was her way of trying to escape the depths of loneliness she’d been plunged into because of the previous year tragedy.
The poems of the next readers were equally personal and powerfully rendered. One woman, 71 years old, spoke of a job in sanitation she worked decades ago. At the time, she was the only female amongst dozens of men in a facility the size of two airport hangers. The men she worked with had taped obscene images of women in various sexual poses on their toolboxes. When she complained to the boss, she was told the men could put on their workstations what they chose, so that afternoon she went home, cut out images of penises of various shapes and colors from pornographic magazines, and decorated her workstation with them the following morning. The manager was forced to finally understand how it felt to be on the receiving end of unwanted sexually derogatory content, and all inappropriate images in the sanitation facility were ordered removed.
Two sisters read next. The first, who has autism, dedicated a poem to her sister whose birthday was that very day. The next poem she read, as well as a guitar solo she performed, were dedicated to their recently departed mother. Her sister, up next, read poetry about the many homes they’d lived in over the years and how, now that they’d found a house that they had believed they could stay in forever, were being forced to move once more by the landlords.
The night closed with a spoken word poet who amused the crowd with an ode to her hometown, which had roaming coyotes, and how different her rural birthplace was from the big city she lived in now.
At Cliterati Open Mic, there was tragedy, there was comedy, and to all who attended, there was a good time shared amongst lovers of the written word. Charis Books & More next open mic is August 21st, and will feature Alina Stefanescu in celebration of My Heresies. Running from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., it promises to be another enthralling evening of literary exploration amongst local Atlanta writers.
