14 people.

3 won’t reveal vote.

7 Bush.

3 Kerry.

1 Green.

I left the Youth Slam tonight at the beginning of the second round; which means I never got to see Sage’s feature, although we did speak briefly and I apologized to him before I left.

I did see him last month, so I don’t feel too bad.

I am finding slams more and more difficult to sit through. My heckling, which is usually gentle and fairly and equitably delivered (I think), felt really edgy to me tonight. I knew I had to go. I was on the verge of embarrassing myself.

I am losing my taste for the entire scene.

More and more, I just want to hear good poems read well to a crowd that can appreciate and reward good work as is merited, while still being respectful of the voices of those who need to speak without being great poets.

I don’t feel that in slams anymore.

Maybe I’m just getting old and jaded. Maybe I’m just old.

I know I have moved beyond this. And I hate that, at least for tonight.

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More thought has revealed to me a more succinct description of what I miss in slams, and what I want more of these days: a sense of sacred space.

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As for election news:

— Only vote if you have a clue what you’re doing. I’m not a person who believes you should exercise a privilege you don’t earn by preparing yourself.

— I hope my sense of dread is just indigestion.

— For the record, I voted already as an absentee voter. And I voted Green.