Poetry as Drinking Game: Last Night at the Off Hours

Last night at the Off Hours was the first time I was ever encouraged to treat a poetry reading as a drinking game. 

And no, this was not inspired by friends of low character who were bored because they weren’t watching sports; the suggestion came from featured poet Matthew Nienow, himself.

Nienow (above) was concerned that because most of his poems were “downers,” he might spoil the beautiful summer evening (evident in the lovely light streaming in through the venue's large windows). So he suggested that, for each downer poem he introduced, we should take a drink. The crowd happily obliged.

That’s how it goes at the Off Hours, where emerging poets and writers give readings in an informal and friendly setting. If you have ever been reticent to attend a reading, because you felt it might be too stuffy, too boring or remind you too much of school, this is the event for you. 

Read more after the jump.

Last night was the seventh of the quarterly readings and held at Sole Repair in Capitol Hill.

Host Colleen O’Brien (above) did a great job preparing endearing remarks about each writer's work along the theme of "Sincere Praise," which was also playfully woven in with the motif of alcohol that would pervade the evening. Sole Repair sold specialty cocktails that were named after each of the readers.

Series founder and fiction writer, Lacey Jane Henson (above, left), was first up; she read several short, lovely prose pieces, warming up to the crowd as she got further into the works.

She was followed up by Nienow, whose "drinking game" certainly made it all go down easy. Not that it was needed: his poem about encountering a desk on I-90 in the center lane at 70MPH held our attention just fine. 

Writer Elissa Washuta (above) followed Nienow with a very funny yet painful excerpt from her memoir The Kindling Effect, which compared the guidance received from nuns at Catholic School with guidance found in a different venerable source, Cosmopolitan magazine. 

After a short break for socializing and refilling of cocktails, Ian Sherman delivered a few imagery-rich poems, one of which included the line: “Imagine what those tentacles could do to a face / some kind of Star Trek death”. 

Finally, Don Mee Choi read fascinating poems, which played with language and differing cultural viewpoints. 

A few more gracious remarks by O’Brien closed out the evening and we all proceeded to finish off the night in style, with, yes, more cocktails and a lot of mingling. I kept waiting for a game of quarters or flip-cup to break out, but alas.

For more information about the Off Hours Reading Series, e-mail Lacey Henson at laceyjaneh@yahoo.com, or join the group on Facebook.