The venue was filled with chairs and tables as poetry loving patrons began flooding into the Bloom Cafe and Listening Room in Bristol, TN. This evening was one that would change the hearts, minds and outlook of a number of people. On the stage a microphone and small table; both begging to be utilized. The owner of Bloom, Em Fehr, stands at the microphone and excitedly introduces popular slam poet, Andrea Gibson. The crowd, that has now swelled to standing room only, fills the space with intense applause. Andrea Gibson steps onto the stage, humbly thanks Em, and takes her place behind the mic.
The poetry that flows from Andrea’s lips is raw, intense and real. The emotion behind every word and every pause craves to be noticed and acknowledged. Words fell from the microphone and crawled into the laps of those listening and revealed vulnerability and truth. From love, to no more love, from death, to new life, every single poem beckoned the heart to rip itself open and take in the words like a child clings to its mother’s bosom for comfort.
As the letters formed inescapable content, the music playing behind them enhanced the feeling you received through the speakers above. For nearly three hours, the audience sat in complete and total acceptance of what they were hearing. Every moment was mesmerizing and every poem a lesson. Afterward, you could line up to meet Andrea and buy her books or merchandise. The line to do so wrapped the back wall of Bloom and continued to grow. The sense of immersion that was felt that evening is one that a baptistery only imagines possible.
The Theatre Ovation 