Hello everyone! For our 9th anniversary celebration, we have invited a special host for today. He is the co-founder of our poetry community, Brian Miller.

The moment you kissed your spouse at the end of your wedding. Walking through the door of the hospital with your newborn child. Standing in front of your business, with scissors halfway through the ribbon, on opening day. A child holding a shell up, as the surf pools beneath them. Gramma, as a young girl in her poodle skirt. A woman slipping a flower into the rifle barrel of a soldier. A person crying, after being rescued from certain harm. A body discarded. A fallen statue.

The list could go on and on, but chances are, as you read those brief descriptions you thought of moments very personal to you. Perhaps you thought of specific moments captured in photographs.

As my boys were growing up, they loved to pull an old cardboard box out of the closet, and dig through the pile photographs. They would pull one out and hand it to one of us, eager to hear the story of us. Why these moments were important. What our shared history was. Each picture captured a moment, but just the moment. Nothing that came before, nothing that came after.

I started thinking about this recently with the protests here in America. My son watched a video, and was quite angry with what he saw. It was moments clipped together that advanced the narrative of the person that made it. I talked with him about how by just viewing the moment, we did not know what came before or after that provoked the moment. We have to be careful in our interpretation of moments, when we were not there to understand the context.

These moments can evoke a lot of emotion. They stir our own memories. They tell stories. They invite us to add our own story. Think of all the poetry prompts that you did that involved writing to a picture, and how different each of us interpreted what we saw.

Today is not a picture prompt, per se. Today, I want you to capture a moment in your verse. Clearly describe to us what is in that moment. Paint a picture for us with your words that will evoke our own emotions and experiences. If you need to, find a picture and write about it. Maybe you have a favorite photograph you want to share. If not, write us the picture, so we can see it, taste it, smell it.

While I have a chance, let me thank you. The pub is 9 years old. That is hard for me to fathom. It’s been several years since I stepped away due to the busyness of life, but the pubtenders, all the patrons…you have kept it a beautiful place. There are a lot of memories in this scarred bar top. Thank you for keeping the pub vibrant, alive and safe place for people to gather and express themselves. I can still remember the moment the doors opened, and the energy that flowed in along with the poets.

Pull up a barstool. Share a verse. And if you need something to keep your muse wet, all you gotta do is ask.

Hello,  my name is Brian Miller. You are loved. I wanted to say that because it is probably the most important thing I can say.  Really that any of us can say.  I can tell you I am a husband,  a father,  a mathematics teacher, a soccer coach,  a missionary and relief worker in Asia. I could tell you a lot of things.  But what are they really,  without love? We are who we are,  not what we do. So that’s me.  

To join us for Poetics: