Twitter Food

As a side note to my last Wednesday post, I can't help but note an evening 2 Wednesdays ago. It was one that really popped!





I'm very lucky in the sense that I have a mentor. Her name is Gabrielle Calvocoressi. Teacher. Poet. Genius. Friend. L.A. Woman. Tweet extraordinaire. I mention twitter because it is through the medium that Dana (owner of the incredible SF restaurant Woodward's Garden) discovered the gift of Gaby, as it is through her poetry - one realizes - that she takes you on a journey. Along the way, you get to listen to the beautiful song that is her lyric sensibility. Gaby is evocative in this way, because she goes (and we are visitors, along for the ride) to a place that is full of humor, tragedy, loss and love. Needless to say, she reels you in, which is why Dana offered to host the San Francisco leg of Gaby's Paperback tour, promoting her incredible book Apocalyptic Swing.

She read with poet Matthew Dickman who perfectly described Gaby as a true 'advocate for poetry.' I could not agree more, in the sense that when I hear Gaby read her poems, or even during a conversation we share, I believe in the power of poetry - not just as a connector of words and ideas, but as a way to connect people, in ways that are both surprising and necessary.

Since the reading took place at Woodward's Garden, there would be a feast. I wasn't sure what kind of feast, but I caught on pretty early. From the moment I walked through the doors I had champagne in one hand and a crostini topped with fava bean puree in the other. And of course, Gaby greeted me right away. Because she's Southern California and I'm Northern we don't get to see each other as much as I'd like, so spending quality time with her at Woodward's Garden was special to me. I mentioned her call as an advocate for poetry, and I must add that since the moment I met her in the fall of '06 at Starbucks for our very first mentor meeting, she's been an advocate for me.









Like I said, I'm very lucky. It was a perfect night that united food and poetry, poets and friends, blogs and twitter. Oh, yes, the topic of the connective powers of twitter came up once or twice. Considering the story of how Dana discovered Gaby, it would only make sense that throughout the night I met many people who knew how to connect. Oh, yes, I'd call the evening a twitter feed in its own right. I spoke with so many people who blog and tweet, and for quite interesting reasons I might add. I was quite taken by the concept that twitter is a way to exercise your right of free speech.

I never thought of it that way, but it helps to hear different reasons for why people follow certain trends- and of course now it's less of a trend and more of a unique form of expression (few words, lots to say - hmm, sounds a bit like a poem). I thought on it for a while and then realized it was through twitter that Dana found Gaby. It's because of this that I'm having this amazing and inspirational evening. So cool! So I said, why not, and joined. And there you have it. PoemSweetMeg finally tweets...I had to see how to sing this song. And that was the power of the night.