Journal, Day 23

Northampton, MA / Kate Hall

We arrived at Smith College in Northampton at 5:30 yesterday. It was such a long drive from Montreal and, because we were running late, there weren't very many rest stops. All day, we'd been eating trail mix that we'd bought at gas stations. The first thing we did when we stepped off the bus was look around for somewhere to eat some real food. I've never been to Northampton or Amherst before. Smith College was beautiful and looked so typically New England. But after being on the bus for so long, we all scattered to various restaurants. Betsey, Monica Youn and I walked down the hill, away from Smith toward town, and found a great little Indian restaurant. Northampton is very small but pretty with lots of little shops. Other than the brief panic of misplacing my digital camera in a pharmacy, it was very relaxing to be wandering around. When we finally met up with everyone again, we were all looking better (food is a wondrous thing).

We were welcomed very warmly in Northampton. Lori Shine was there to meet us when we arrived and had arranged beds for all of us. Travis, Monica Fambrough and Matthew read at a bar called The Basement. The Basement was a very small but cozy college bar. The interior walls were brick. It was dim and lit with candles. There were couches in one corner. Typing Explosion opening the show and Sierra told me that it was interesting because, in comparison to Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, people were shy about participating in the performance. I think this was probably because of the layout. The bar was long and narrow and Typing Explosion was set up in a nook to the right of the bar closer to the back of the bar. Mutant Ballyhoo, a four person performance group from Northampton, performed a piece that took lines from the Sopranos and created a poem/script using only these lines. The readings by Travis, Monica and Matthew were incredible. All three poets have connections to Northampton and so were reading in front of a crowd of people whom they all knew. This created an interesting tension and so the readings were charged with a lot of energy and the surrounding atmosphere was warm and extremely friendly.

This morning we are waiting at UMass for the poetry bus to come and pick us up because we are going to read at Mount Holyoake and then again in the Amherst Commons. This is my last day with the bus and I am both sad to leave and ready to sleep again. It has been such an amazing experience that it is beyond words.