No Name Reading Series

The graduate students in English at the University of Nebraska Lincoln put on what they call the "no name" reading series, which is a venue for their creative writing students to do public readings. It is held in a bar, which mutes the classroom atmosphere created by the patiently listening undergraduates, who are required to be there. One of the stated aims of the series is to promote the creative writing talent "throughout the greater Lincoln community," although evidently this must be tempered with the students' need to go out on a Friday night, as they have the readings at 4:00 every other Friday, a time when most of the greater Lincoln community is still at work.

My wife and I go often, and I am pretty sure we are the only members of the greater Lincoln community who ever show up, which is too bad, as the readings – mostly poetry – are pretty good, and sometimes very good.

The 2009-2010 series closed with two poetry readings, by Jennie Case and Monica Rentfrow. It occurs to me that if I were them, I would be very interested in a neutral, third-party reaction to my work, so here it is:

Jennie Case: A judicious use of pathos, good detail selection, a fine speaking voice – these I-narrators are precisely competent, and bespeak of a comfortable career awaiting her in poetry. I think she is perhaps also capable of innovation, and could really shine once she masters that. She is a strong poet, and I enjoyed her work, all the more so because her subject matter – mostly behavior in a group home – is something I am familiar with.

Of what I could hear, Monica Rentfrow had very interesting turns of phrase and a sometimes mordant wit, but I missed at least ten percent of the words, which is a pretty important part in poetry. For a moment I was like a New Yorker cartoon caption, leaning to my wife, asking “Did she say the sandwiches are slowly fading?” I wish I could have heard more, as I am very curious as to what’s on this woman’s mind. I see her creative writing thesis is on line, and I will put that on my reading list.

Although, as of this writing, these is no podcast of these two women reading, the no name series occasionally posts podcasts at: http://nonamereadingseries.mypodcast.com/. And thank you for reading.