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Blog Entry 142 of 194 Dial 'T' for Tabitha
I'm a bicycling poet who lived in Parker for several years and worked at YourHub.com, covering Parker and Franktown for two years.

I am studying poetry at CSU in the Master of Fine Arts program ...

I hope you can post a comment or two and that you will enjoy my blogs.

Who posts something online without wanting a response?

... Thanks for the read.

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Blog Url: http://denver.yourhub.com/~MusingsOfTabithaDial

Stories on Stage: 220 people and one nervous poet

Contributed by: Tabitha Dial, YourHub.com   on 2/11/2007

Words of Art was going to be unlike anything I've seen before: art displayed on a big screen at the back of a stage and actors spilling the words of 14 writers into a lone microphone for an audience of -- well, I didn't know how many people might come, but I think I saw 200 or more in the audience (220 is the final count).

For poetry readings in Denver, I think a turnout of 80 people is outstanding and more than that is stellar. Before Stories on Stagepresented Words of Art on Feb. 10, the biggest audiences I have joined for literary events in Denver, following Maya Angelou's appearance at the Metro State College of Denverin 2005 were book signingsat Tattered Coveror annual poetry readings at the Denver Woman's Press Club.

I began to get nervous about the event about 45 minutes before curtain. I wasn't reading my poem, inspired by a piece of artwork called The Hotness, by Colin Livingston, but people were paying $12 a ticket to hear it and the works of 13 other writers.

I remained nervous until about half way through Jeffrey Nickelson's reading of A Hard Place, by Denver Post theater writer John Moore, the piece performed right after my modest 24-line poem. This was by far the largest group ever to hear my work and no, the spotlight wasn't going to turn on me at any point in the evening. But my leg was shaking.

Even as I listened to amazing writing, I remained nervous. I adored Futility, a piece performed by Nickelson and written by Will Guthrie, of Littleton. He wrote about Icarus, who died when he flew too close to the sun, using the wings his father had made for him (I don't think you can go wrong with mythology and poetry). I clinged to every mythological reference, every allusion to flight; Nickelson'sphenomenal voice.

Then theaudiencelaughed again and again atthe humor of The Racial Hygiene of Ashtanga Yoga, read by Jason Henning and writen by Tim Roessler. Roessler's narrator finds love on a yoga mat, struggling with yoga positions and the fact that "(his) attraction violated every principal he held" since he was young. He had such a difficult time approaching the woman he lusted after that he "willed rather than spoke his invitation."

Love in the Time of Cognitive Neuorscience, written by Emily Sinclair, inspired by Evan Colbert's Fear Factorand read by Mercedes Perez, was full of details of a struggling relationship and current events and was generously sprinkled with humor, as well. Beautiful words, too: "We are enamored with each other and death belongs to other people," Sinclair wrote, when her characters fell in love around the time that Christopher Reeve died.

"Sometimes the worst place to be is at home," Sinclair wrote when she addressed news of Hurricane Katrina. I really loved that she referred to news item after news item and shared her poignant observations.

Then Tierra Bonser read my poetry. Bonser read it almost exactly as I would have, and I loved her voice. She is a junior at Pueblo High School and she won the Stories on Stage's Take Five high school competition. To make her even cooler (how could she be?), she also plays lacrosse.

I loved the evening and thank my brother and my parents for coming up to see Words of Art and have dinner with myself and Alex. I'm ready to keepsubmitting my work and hope others are inspired to pursue their creative spirits, too. Maybe an actor will be reading your writing on a stage near you soon ... maybe you are the artist who will inspire an event like Words of Art.

Thanks for the read.


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Showing 1-10 of 13 comments
Submitted By: Tabitha Dial
posted on 2/16/2007 @ 5:18:59 AM
Rated Blog Entry
I'm blushing. Thank you, Laura and Erin.
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Submitted By: Erin Feese
posted on 2/15/2007 @ 3:54:51 PM
Rated Blog Entry
Yay, Tabitha!
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Submitted By: Laura Mayo
posted on 2/15/2007 @ 2:04:40 PM
Rated Blog Entry
It sounded exciting!
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Submitted By: Tabitha Dial
posted on 2/15/2007 @ 6:48:51 AM
Rated Blog Entry
Thank you, Stephanie!
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Submitted By: Stephanie Blake
posted on 2/13/2007 @ 4:59:53 PM
Rated Blog Entry
COngrats on your appearance. I wish I would have been there.
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Submitted By: Tabitha Dial
posted on 2/13/2007 @ 10:57:07 AM
Rated Blog Entry
I look forward to talking to you. Glad you're excited about getting your blog going.
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Submitted By: Linda Shaw
posted on 2/13/2007 @ 5:56:25 AM
Rated Blog Entry
Hey Tabitha, Thanks for talking back. I noticed I had not rated your piece,it was written very well. I will try to contact you today. I see my blog is active and rhat surprised me, so I've got some work to do. ( - : Talk to you later and have an excellent day. Linda
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Submitted By: Tabitha Dial
posted on 2/13/2007 @ 5:42:35 AM
Rated Blog Entry
Thank you, Linda, for stopping by. Hope to see you soon and I hope you will share your stories at YourHub.com, too. I'm happy to help. You can call me at 303-954-2362 or e-mail me at dialt@yourhub.com.
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Submitted By: Linda Shaw
posted on 2/12/2007 @ 4:28:26 PM
Rated Blog Entry
Hello Tabitha, what a wonderful account of the evening. I am so sorry that I missed it, however, your story had me wanting more. I look forward to the opportunity to meet you, to learn more about this blog, and share my stories with you as well. Great Job and Congratulations! Linsa C. Shaw
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Submitted By: Tabitha Dial
posted on 2/12/2007 @ 12:18:59 PM
Rated Blog Entry
Tim, Thank you so much for your nice comment. Your story really had the audience howling. Thanks for helping create a great evening.
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Showing 1-10 of 13 comments
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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Tabitha Dial

Denver , CO

Tabitha Dial has posted 194 blog entries and 816 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. Tabitha Dial's average blog rating is 4.96.
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