The Whole Wide World

After all that talk of mid-winter yesterday, I arrived at work today to a message in my inbox and the subject line was mid-winter dinner. The message was from my friend, Ed, over at Scott Base. Scott Base is the Antarctic home of our Kiwi neighbors. The message was an invitation to be Ed’s plus one to their mid-winter dinner. I said yes, but am a little concerned about what I will wear as the invitation said it is a formal event. I’m not sure what the Antarctic definition of formal is, but I am hoping it isn’t formal, formal. The dinner isn’t until June 23rd so I have some time to figure that detail out.

Circling back to this past Saturday’s Stall-a-palooza, as promised. My stall was called Bad Poetry. Over the weeks leading up to the event, I saved lots of the cardboard flat packs that the soda for the store is packaged in. I used a big fat sharpie and on the cardboard, I hand wrote lots of bad poems, which a quick Google search provided. I also included Lewis Carroll’s poem Jabberwocky in all its nonsense. I made custom stationery using blank computer paper and Antarctic themed rubber stamps and an ink pad. I took a handful or two of colored fine tip markers and the stack of stationery and set up a table and chair, with all of the cardboard decor taped to the wall behind me.

As the event started and people began coming through, I advised stall goers to pick their stationery, write a topic or a few keywords at the top, and to leave the paper in a stack, peruse the event and return shortly for their bad poem. In the very beginning, there was time to churn the poem out while they waited, but as things started to pick up, my stack grew taller and I had to advise people to circle back. I pretty much kept my head down and was writing nonstop for three full hours. The stall has a hit. Some of the poems were bad, some were decent and some were absolutely terrible. People have asked what my favorite poem was, but to be honest, I churned out so many, I can barely remember what I wrote.

I do wish that I had taken a break to wander around and look at all the other stalls, which I never got to see. It was a two-story event and so I only saw the four other stalls that were upstairs with mine, which included; a missed connections stall, tarot card reading stall, barbershop and bad advice stall, and a nail painting stall. To give you an idea of the general vibes…there was one style of haircut and that was a mullet. And for the nail stall, which was run by Chase, a lot of effort was put into a very nice sign that said Nailed by Chase. While the event was in a two story building, the center of the building is hollow, so we could hear the commotion downstairs and see bits and pieces from up there as well.

I honestly don’t know how many stalls there were, since I never made it downstairs, but probably at least ten. The first place prize went to the medical team’s stall. They used all kinds of medical equipment to facilitate giving shots/drinks out with. Second place went to a couple who made all kinds of carnival type games, but then they also put heaps of effort into the prizes they handed out, which were all beautiful Antarctic themed wire jewelry and must have taken them countless hours to make. I ended up leaving with third place, which was a nice surprise. More than that it’s been nice to hear all the positive feedback this week as people come through the store.

I am so glad I was reading Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg a month or so ago, as it was in that book that the inspiration to enter a stall came about. In the book, she suggested that to become a better writer one should sign up to have a booth at local fairs and bazaars etc. Her suggestion was a Poetry on Demand booth. My spin was the Bad Poetry and by putting the bad twist on it, it helped alleviate any pressure since the intent was really just bad poetry. It really was an enjoyable evening.

Eventually, I will get some pictures added to Instagram…I still owe photos from the silk screening event, as well. Coming Soon!