My association with the local literary and spoken word community goes back to 2002, when I received my first exposure to the scene by way of a "Tantric Valentine's Day" reading at Paperbacks Plus. This introduction was followed by a few visits to the open mics at Deep Ellum's Insomnia coffee house, which, upon their demise, led directly to the series at Bill's Records from 2002-2004. A sporadic series of readings back at Paperbacks Plus (some sponsored by WordSpace or The Writer's Garret) came next, and ultimately came Johnny O's Mad Swirl gatherings and my creation of the Open Mic Project. From inauspicious beginnings, my relationship with the poetry/literary community has morphed from little more than that of performer/spectator into a series of much more involved collaborations with purveyors of the spoken word. Continue reading "My association with the local literary and spoken word community"