Heat

Just came back from the poetry reading at beautiful Cafe Centrala,  just across the Vltava river.  It is practically line of sight from this neighborhood to that, but getting there is a bit more complex.
The readings there are always very informal, that’s like the theme, that’s something that very much sets it apart from other open mike nights.  I kind of like it.  I’m not saying all open mikes should be like that, but it makes a welcome change.
We were sitting around the cow, a plaster statue of a cow that sits in the lawn across the street from the pub, some on chairs and some on crates, and the night’s topic (that’s another thing with this particular poetry reading.  It gives you a prompt) was ‘Heat’ and I’d written a piece about the sun and hoped the reading would begin while it was still visible so I could point at it for dramatic effect.  That worked out fine although it   did  start very late.
And it wasn’t super well attended.  There were 7, maybe 8 people there, even at the peak.
But, some interesting poetry was presented, and people talked with each other after each was over, about pigeons, about summers in India, about bad acid trips, about Shakespeare and Lana Del Rey.  I really like it that we talk about the poems.  It shows somebody is listening.  Apparently, a lot of people listen closer than I do.  I feel a bit guilty about that sometimes.
Also, despite there being fewer than 10 people present, there was a definite international flavor.  We had poems in Czech, and Turkish, and Hindi in addition to English.
By the time I left it was just getting dark.  I’d taken the tram there, which was kind of frustrating Change at Palmovka means getting off and walking back, to a different stop.  Then it inched across the bridge, I’m not sure why but that does not inspire confidence.  So, I decided to walk back and it was lovely.  Along between some luxury flats in the river.  The river, in the lowering light.  Around the driving range, and through the big, grass field which will someday, no doubt, be more office buildings but, for now, you can just stand still and look at the sky, and there you are back to Invalidovna.