by daithí

There's flowers now on Linn Street 
And the new moon just above
They tore down all the houses
Where we used to make love
But, they'd been long abandoned
When we went there, anyway
And I can still smell the lilacs
In the corner of The Dream Cafe.

(Dream Cafe by Greg Brown)

Some days, I walk out into the world and it is not already made up. There is a protean quality about the day.

Take last Friday, for instance, when I thought that I would check out “Lunch with the Poets” at the Innovation Cafe on Lakeside Avenue in Burlington.

In the distance a brick smokestack announced that I was within the vicinity of the old industrial building that once made ammunition but has since been made over into a hive of positive social activities: from a Social Security office to a Health Spa to the Innovation Cafe. Although the outside brickwork feels worn and fatigued, the inside has been given a facelift with lighter painted plaster walls, hung with tapestries of Art. I felt that I was in a hive of thriving beings.

After eating some tasty quesadillas at the cafe, I settled down into a cozy lounge chair and encountered 3 other poets who had decided to show up that day. Displaced, transformed, and dispatched, the three poets manifested what poetry can bring to any table with ears.

First, there was Tony the Beat, who had glommed onto Ginsberg and other beatniks in his writing. He felt he could use their outrage to discharge some of his sadness over the death of an uncle and other friends. He said that he had taken up poetry in the last two years. His mother was visiting from Florida and was our audience–along with my wife.

Then, there was Barry Lampke, who wrote about the loss of his father. In fact, Barry went so far as to set up a mailbox for his deceased father, where he could write to him. (See the Seven Day’s Article on June 10, 2020.) The mailbox was set up in Geprags Community Park, in Hinesburg, anonymously by him, until someone grassed him out in the press. Other bereaved people adopted the new ritual. Not surprisingly, the newspaper article was shared with the public in 2020–just when Covid was isolating so many of us from others.

Lastly, I met Stephen Kastner, the founder of the Green Mountain Writers Group, established in September of 2021, and the initiator of “Lunch with the Poets.” As a facilitator, he was welcoming, respectful, and comfortable in his person. One of his poems was about a lost love and the other encouraged us to venture beyond our televised/techno-boxed existence.

He generously shared Poetry & Performance :Volume 1, a publication by the Green Mountain Writers Group, copyright 2023. On the back of the book, they declare: “As a community of writers, we believe that everyone’s voice deserves to be heard, and our new leadership model (by consensus) ensures that every member has an equal say in group discussions.”

Stephen mentioned to me that he was eager to have poets meet again face-to-face. The Green Mountain Writers offer on-line workshops, but it is not the same as meeting together in person. And he felt it was time that some of us pick up what has almost become a lost tradition.

I couldn’t agree more. My trip to the Innovation Cafe turned out to be an unexpected and very pleasant experience. I would encourage others to give “Lunch with the Poets” a try on any Friday. (https://greenmountainwriters.com/poetry/lunch-with-poets-burlington-vermont/ )