Niroism

The Poetry Place cafe

Not too long ago Susie aka the raw food hypocrite invited me and Louis to a poetry open mic night at a venue called The Poetry Place. Susie being a poet herself had been up on the stage numerous times at the Poetry Place and recommended it as a really good place to listen to some quality poetry and maybe just maybe if I had the courage, to go up on stage and recite my own poems. So me and Louis took her up on the offer and have to say, I really enjoyed the night so much so that I have now been there numerous times on my own.

The Poetry Place is tucked away in a side street in Covent Garden which is the Mecca for creative people of all sorts from artists, to writers, entertainers, poets e.t.c. As soon as you walk in to the cafe, you can sense the quaint atmosphere where regulars sit with their capuccionos and brownies either pondering or scribbling on pieces of paper. Everyone at the cafe are very friendly and it reminds me of the TV show “Cheers” based around a Boston bar with the catchphrase “where everybody knows your name”.

The cafe tends to get busy in the evening as they tend to have poetry readings almost every evening of the week. Each event that takes place in the basement of the cafe tends to attract a particular type of audience varying from amateurs to well established poets. Poetry Unplugged is an open mic session where people like me who have never read a poem in public can do so for the first time, it can be very nerve wracking but apart from this one regular heckler who is pretty funny the audience is very supportive. The cafe also hosts a series called In Town Tonight which showcases work by famous poets who happen to be in the city. Be warned though, the space in the basement is limited, so the earlier you make your way to an event the more likely a chance you will be able to get in.

The Poetry Place is an ideal place to take your date on a romantic night out, a bit cliche maybe, but true romance always is I guess.

So the question still remains, have I recited my poetry on stage yet…..well the answer is No. Mainly because I feel my poetry is nowhere near as good as anything that I have heard at the Poetry Place. I am working on improving my writing style and hopefully one day I will be confident enough in my attempt at poetry to share it on stage. I will keep you all updated when I do