Impromptu Poetry

Impromptu poetry is just what it sounds like: poetry written on the spur of the moment. We tried going to some open-mic poetry readings without preparing anything beforehand. We signed up to read, then madly scribbled things on paper napkins until it was our turn. The resultant poetry might not be called "good" by most critics, but the enforced immediacy lends it a certain flavor which is difficult to achieve any other way.

In addition, we usually tried to make it a group effort in some way, perhaps by writing on a common theme or by actually passing half-finished poems back and forth across the table. This added to the confusion.

The poems here all happened back in 1995 at San Rafael's "Jazzed", a coffee house and jazz venue which is now sadly closed (we didn't have anything to do with it, honestly).

March: Unrelated Poems

April: works on a single theme

May: interleaved poems

June: round table poems

There has been some recent talk about doing something like this again. Keep your eye out for Fancushion at your local coffee house.

Fancushion regular Dave has an ongoing project in which he writes (usually) humorous lyric poems: The Poem of the Week. It's nothing like what you see here, honest.

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