The Morning after the Battle of Bannockburn

Foul weather, fair friends. That sums up the annual Poems-For-All Burns night. As we got underway, it looked to be a weak turnout but in they came in ones and twos throughout the night. We hadn't factored in the impact of the opening of the new Chicago Fire Pizza nearby. It's patrons now filling much of the parking on nearby streets in the evenings. So foul weather AND bad parking. After "piping" (bagpipe music via mp3) in the "Haggis" (a small can of it brought to the podium by our daughter Ru), My wife Rachel and I proceeded with the poem Haggis, a Rebuttal in lieu of the traditional reading of Burns' Address to a Haggis (which, during the open mic Kevin Jones took on with passion and a rather goodly command of the Scots dialect!)

Exceptional feature presentations by Arturo Mantecon and Rebecca Morrison made the evening a grand success, supplemented by energetic presentations during the open mic. (Thanks again, Kevin.)

Pictured above: Arturo Mantecon addressing the assembled with a spanish translation of Burns To A Mouse.