The inaugural Third Thursdays in Reservoir HIll event was a warm, creative evening

Even when you see someone frequently, and you think you have fixed them in your personal landscape, you don’t always know what’s really deep inside them.  At last night’s inaugural Third Thursdays in Reservoir Hill gathering there were some revelations.

Every Third Thursday we will hold a café style gathering where neighbors and friends can mingle and meet new people over good food and entertainment.  Each month we will feature Central West Baltimore artists and businesses.  This time, Baltimore Poets’ Society held a Poetry Slam, and Liam Flynn’s Alehouse and The Open Plough Project provided the food.

Anthony Pressley, president of the Baltimore Poets’ Society and Director of Community Resources at Druid Heights CDC was Master of Ceremonies, as well as one of the published poets who read that night.  There were many fine offerings, but for all you Reservoir Hill residents and supporters, there were two people you may have seen around a lot, but probably never knew they were poets.

Carl Williams works at John Eager Howard Recreation Center.  If you go in and out of the recreation center much you’ve seen him. We here in the RHIC office certainly have.  But his powerful poem gave us a privileged peek at a part of himself we never knew about.

 

The same can be said of Chelsea Monet from New Lens.  We always knew Chelsea was creative, but her depth as a young poet came to us as completely new side of her.

Then there was this amazing young man. Nine year old Amir Brown read his own poem on a lesson “drawn” from his own crayons, that everyone is needed to draw a full picture of the world we live in and want to create.

 

Anthony Pressley and Karen Griner-Smith (also a published poet who read that night, and grandmother to Amir), accompanied by Roger Murray on keyboards, concluded the evening by leading everyone in a group singing of Lean on Me.

Ernest Hemingway referred to the “iceberg theory,” that is to say that the crux of a story rests below the surface. The part we see is only the tip of the iceberg.  Somewhere in the swirling waters of life below what we see moves a much larger story, hidden from view, and only hinted at in fleeting moments.   All these folks gave us a look at some of what lies beneath the surface part we see of them, and for that we thank them all.

Also, thanks to Liam Flynn’s Alehouse and The Open Plough Project for providing the delicious vegan Potato-Leek Soup and vegan Butternut Squash soup.  Check out Central West Baltimore’s own Irish pub at 22 West North Avenue.

Thanks to the Baltimore Poets’ Society for running a great show.

As always, thank you to John Eager Howard Recreation Center for the welcoming space and providing the drinks and utensils for dinner.

And thanks to partners in producing this series: Baltimore Community Foundation, Beth Am Synagogue, Child First at John Eager Howard School, Healthy Neighborhoods, and New Lens.

NEXT

THIRD THURSDAY IN RESERVOIR HILL

15 May – John Eager Howard Recreation Center, 2100 Brookfield Avenue

Watch for the Notices! – (But the Poetry Slam returns a part of the evening)