Major Jackson at the Booksmith

Last Friday Trevor and I decided to check out Major Jackson's reading at the Brookline Booksmith. My friend Meghan has been talking up the Brookline Poetry Series, but I never had the chance to go. Gail Mazur was the first person to tell me about Major Jackson's poems, so had checked out Leaving Saturn and really dug it.

When I got to the Booksmith, I hadn't realized there was an open-mike component following the featured readers. I apologized to Trevor is advance and told him that we could try to sneak out if he wanted. Normally I have a horror of open-mikes. I have to say, though, the open mike turned out to be great, a real gem. I can see why Meghan tries to make it every month.

The funny thing that Trevor and I both noticed was that there weren't that many people our age in the crowd. It was mostly Boomers. Still, it seems like such a great group of people that I think we may try to become regulars.

Major Jackson was really good, too. His blend of hip hop sensibility and erudition really appealed to me, so I picked up his latest book, Hoops.