Bruce Whealton: Existential Writing

It was so embarrassing. I wanted this to happen. I wanted to have a poetry event (and music event). So, I thought I’d have to make it happen. That’s crazy! I’m not a person to host events. I’m profoundly shy. Oh, I know… I’m just saying that. If you were there this Sat. evening you wouldn’t doubt it. You wouldn’t for one second doubt that I was profoundly shy. There were 3 of us that were into poetry. There was my friend from church and I was waiting for another person. I actually was just delaying… saying I was waiting for another person who would do music.

I didn’t know how I was going to do this. I started telling my friend, “oh, I hate being the host for this… no, I wish that I was not the one that was responsible for making this happen.” I don’t know what to do, I told her. Others were saying that I had to tell them to turn off the music they had going as we were going to have our own music and such. “Ok, I’ll have to do that in a moment.” I will have to do that, won’t I?

Through some profound miracle, this event happened. People had a good time. People enjoyed the music. I read at the microphone. I was told by one person, two days later, that I read a bit fast. I’m amazed that anyone heard and enjoyed a word I said.

Shyness is something about which I need to write more. Maybe there are other sufferers… I don’t think others even remotely understand.

You can find my poetry by me at: http://brucewhealton.us