the second monthly poetry slam at the southmore house tonight was just a little too real.  it was fine for awhile; all the poets were really excellent, the band outside was lovely (although a little loud and angst-ridden for my taste), and the three guys jumping on the trampoline in time with the violin were quite entertaining.

but.  remember how i said the band was way loud?  you should, it was only one sentence ago.  well, three now.  anyway, the people who live across the street from the southmore house called the cops, who came out with two police cruisers, which they parked in the middle of the street.  a few of the southmorians went outside to talk to them, and i can only imagine the looks on the policemen’s faces when they were told that they had come out to crack down on a poetry reading.  so we stopped the band and closed the front door and continued with our (sometimes angst-ridden) poetry.

but.  we were three readers into the finals when dave grabbed the microphone and asked that someone call the police because there was a man outside in the bushes with a knife.  we brought everyone inside from front yards and back, called the cops, closed the doors tight and continued with the slam.  the police showed back up and were outside with dave and mike for awhile, and i don’t know what happened after that.

except that when i went outside to leave after the slam was over, i discovered that the two police cruisers were again parked in the middle of the street, and they were blocking my car in.  i thought that just maybe i could squeeze my car through somehow, but it didn’t work, so i got out and smiled pointedly at one of the officers, who was standing around looking bored.  “you leaving?” he said, and i nodded yes.  “okay,” he replied, “just give us a few minutes.”  fine.

twenty minutes i waited in my car, engine running, headlights on, while the two cops stood there talking in an aimless and unhurried fashion to the guy who had called them initially about the noise.  if they could have just moved one of the cars for about twenty seconds, i could have backed my car out and left.  as such, it doesn’t really make much sense to me that i had to wait in my car in a knife-infested neighborhood, staring down a guy in a uniform, except for the fact that the knife-infestation was probably more important to them than the acura-blocking.  but still!