Above is the first picture in the series. I call it "Prayer Drum." You see, prior to the reading Susan explained that every event at the Jacobson House is preceded by a prayer. She explained that normally the prayer would be lead by young men sitting around the drum, singing in the traditional way. But, she said, the young men were out of town - mostly at the Sundance. "So you'll have to make do with me." Strikingly, the prayer she offered was within the Christian tradition (e.g., she invoked the name of Jesus).
I had no objection. I suppose those poets with non-traditional spiritual leanings (or none at all) accepted it as the cost of being Blue in a Red State. Such things are fairly much accepted as part of the landscape in Oklahoma, the buckle of the Bible Belt.
The poetry reading on Saturday did not include a prayer. Unless you count the music David played, or the words of Woody Guthrie (which George read). Perhaps my poem "Praising the Muse" would count as a prayer, but it wasn't read until near the end of the reading.
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