Poetry, Music Combine for First Annual Beatstock

Greeted at the Common Man Inn last Friday by soft jazz, low lighting and the murmur of voices, Plymouth State’s Poets and Writers created an atmosphere indicative of a night of poetry, which they playfully entitled Beatstock: First Annual Poetry and Spoken-Word Festival. Rob Masse introduced the featured readers; Cara Losier, Pat Armstrong, Crystal Lavoie, Paul Rogalus, Liz Ahl and Scott Coykendall, all amazed the crowd with funny, poignant, and heart-warming pieces. As the readers prepared to entertain and enlighten, a jazz trio consisting of Nick Antolini fingering the saxophone, John Barnes plucking his bass guitar, and Conal Ryan creating smooth rhythms on the drums, set the mood for the night with a spontaneous stream of musical expression that lent itself well to the rhythms and beats of the poetry.Finely dressed waiters and waitresses mingled about the crowd of over eighty, tempting the eager listeners with finger foods before the festival took place. Scallops wrapped in bacon, stuffed mushrooms and mini slices of pizza, elegantly presented, all were devoured and helped to create a contented feeling as the night began. Losier led off the night with both heart-touching and comical pieces filled with metaphors that brought her words off the page and into the audience. In a piece titled, “Alphabetically Speaking,” Losier stirred the crowd with a face-paced rhythm and witty phrasing. She ended her session at the podium, from the poem “Subtext,” with “What I said, was/ ‘I don’t understand.’/ What I meant, was/ ‘I don’t understand you.'”The two student readers were interposed by Pat Armstrong, who planned to read only a few poems but was encouraged by the audience to continue reading. With a melodic and deep voice, Armstrong read “The Plagiarist,” with a straight face as the listeners cracked up. “Oh, Renee, you are so blossoming, / so quick to smile, to toss / your hair, to pout. I do not want / to tell you that I know you / plucked “Ophelia’s Love” from the web.” Riddled with literature references that sent the other readers into fits, Armstrong, in true entertainer style, didn’t even hint at a smirk.His voice carried a different feel as he read “Bad Things,” and “Turkish Ney,” creating a thoughtful and attentive audience.In good style, Crystal Lavoie and Paul Rogalus picked up the humor that Pat started. Many of Lavoie’s pieces talked about childhood with her mother, who listened in the audience, and bowel movements, which sent the crowd into fits of laughter. Rogalus read a piece from his book, Meat Sculptures. The tale is of a couple of smart-aleck teens tempting the “biggest woman in the world” at a carnival. In disbelief, one teen made the comment that the implements being shoved into her nose were stage props. Being asked to examine the objects led the teen to unsuccessfully jam an ice-pick up his nose, causing him to bleed profusely. The final readers of the night, Liz Ahl and Scott Coykendall, read together in a round-robin style, taking turns amazing their audience with magnificent poetry. Ahl’s poetry told stories, allowing the audience to see into her world. The story of the wonder of a girl on an airplane made everyone’s eyes big and round, seeing again the joy of a newly discovered world; and how the girl’s mother did not get impatient with the seemingly endless questions.Coykendall’s pieces were poignant pulled at the heartstrings. Two pieces that hit home with the spectators, “Explaining the Accident to Richard,” and “Penny,” let everyone in to Coykendall’s world. In “Penny,” he described spanking his child for the first time, “Three savage blows to the diaper from my right: Love! / Love! Live! Just like that, The End lay wet and winking / on the floor and my little girl, wailing her fear of me, fled / to her anxious mother and would not look at me.” To end the piece, his knees hit the floor and he wanted nothing more than to have the love of his daughter, wanting not to destroy what makes her alive.For all who attended the night was the epitome of a night of poetry. A classy evening, riddled with great poetry, a jazz trio, and towards the end, a raffle for prizes. Coykendall’s own pigtailed daughter selected the names to everyone’s enjoyment. The event was rounded off by the entire crowd singing “Happy Birthday” to Chris Gentry, a friend of Poets and Writers, and Paris Landry, President of Poets and Writers.