Reading series highlights women's work

Ian Mayer Arizona Daily Wildcat Local poet Charlotte Ocean Lowe reads Sunday afternoon at the Aroma Cafe as part of WomenSpeak.

So they decided to do something about it.

They created the WomanSpeak Prose and Poetry Reading Series, whose goal is "to encourage women to come out and read their poetry and get to know one another as writers," says White.

The second installation of WomanSpeak was held Sunday at the Aroma Cafe on Fourth Avenue. Local poets Pamela Uschuk and Charlotte Ocean Lowe were the featured readers and their performances were followed by an open-mic session.

Uschuk teaches poetry workshops on the Yaqui and Tohono O'odham reservations and at the Writing Center at the UA. Lowe has been published in several magazines including the Arizona Poetry Review. They are both seasoned and talented readers who write sensitive and thought-provoking work, featuring glimpses of life in and around Arizona.

So is it really bad to be separatists and declare a women-only reading? Yes and no.

One the one hand, no one can deny that there is a universal problem involving the lack of forums where women are able to speak for themselves, and efforts like this should be welcomed and supported.

On the other hand, "United we stand, divided we fall."

About five men allowed themselves to be seen in the cafe Sunday afternoon - two of them were the husbands of Uschuk and Lowe. Men aren't exactly discouraged from participating, but they're not encouraged either. Many a boy walked by the door to the cafe and looked in curiously.

There were about 30 women sitting in there, listening to other women talk about swimming in the Mexican ocean at night, domestic violence, bad marriages and javelinas. One boy gave us all the most interesting look, one that can only be classified as a disbelieving gawk.

White said after the reading that she wanted the series to serve as practice for female poets, so they can exercise their reading skills for the bigger slams and readings in town. Practice is always good, and to be in a comfortable setting, where you feel at one with your sisters, can be beneficial, if you're into that sort of thing.

Uschuk and Lowe both delivered wise and beautiful readings and a token few of the open mic-ers managed to get that special poetry-reading voice out clearly. You know, the ONE where they EMPHASIZE every few WORDS with breaths IN BETWEEN to MAKE it all SEEM like poetry.

WomanSpeak plans to hold readings the last Sunday of every month, December excluded. The next one is Nov. 30 from 4-6 p.m. at the Aroma Cafe. It will also have a open mic following the featured readers, so if you're brave, female and stuck in this too-small town for Thanksgiving weekend, grab those ratty pages of emotional outbursts and join the sisterhood.