Hendersonians have a chance to combine culture, charity and a fun night out Thursday at The Java House downtown.
A group led by lawyers Bernard Alston and Stella Jones is holding a poetry reading and wine tasting at the coffee shop at 119 S. Garnett St., starting at 7 p.m. and continuing well into the night. Admission is a donation of at least $10 to Habitat for Humanity.
Jones explained that the group has held wine tastings before and decided to combine the wine with something more this time. “We figured we might as well do a reading.”
She contacted Vance County’s Habitat chapter to see whether the group was interested in being the beneficiary, and Habitat leaders thought it was a good idea, she said.
Besides Jones and Alston, the organizers include Andre Robinson, Rock Powers and David Waters. They hope to have at least 80 people attend.
Java House owner Alan Norwood was happy to play host to the event and to join other local businesses in donating door prizes.
“We’ve gotten a wonderful response” from people who want to attend and people who want to read poems, Alston said.
“Hopefully it will be a free-flowing thing,” Jones said.
Alston, the City Council member and mayor pro tem, and H. Leslie Perry Memorial Library children’s librarian Claire Basney are among those planning to read poems Thursday night.
Alston, who has written poetry since he was 6 or 7 years old, said there should be an interesting variety in the types of poetry people present from the new stage at The Java House.
“Anyone who wants to come in and read is fine,” Alston said, although his preference is for people to read their original works rather than other poems that are special to them.
It will be an open-microphone setup, and Jones said there should be a signup near the door. Jones acknowledged that the words could flow more easily as the wine flows during the night.
Among the 10 to 15 people likely to read poetry Thursday night, Alston said he’s looking forward to hearing the def poetry of Northern Vance High School guidance counselor Kadeidra Carr, the student perspective of Tiffany Long and the powerful voice of Sheila Kingsberry-Burt.
He said he might not decide which poem of his own to recite until just before he takes the stage. Because he has experimented with all styles and lengths of poetry, a lot will depend on his mood that night.
Part of the problem with a reading is that poets don’t write for other people but for themselves, Alston said. On the other hand, it’s fun to connect with an audience at a reading rather than confront “the erudites and eggheads” who set themselves up as critics of poetry books.
Still, the former English and psychology major at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill hopes to publish a book of his poetry someday. One obstacle is indecision about whether to compile old poems or pick a theme and write poetry around it.
Another obstacle is Alston’s cynicism about his own work. “That’s probably the most limiting thing in my poetry and in my life in general.”
He counters his natural cynicism, Alston said, with a sense of optimism in his writing.
Alston said his poetry grew out of song lyrics, which might be part of the reason he prefers rhyming in his poems. He said he probably has written lyrics for 500 songs over the years and has penned 750 poems, about half of which he could put his hands on. “Some I don’t want to find.”
His writing style is “sensualist,” Alston said, but he also puts a lot of humor into his poems. “They may not be funny to anybody else.”
He likes to write in the first person, although “seldom am I the person.”
Alston doesn’t set aside time to write poetry. But if you see him with a faraway look during a lull in court or in the council chambers, he said, there’s a good chance he’s composing or editing a poem in his head.
You can hear a sample of the results Thursday night at The Java House.