less more more less

1990s collage – foto by Smith

In 1800 there was but one city with a million people (London).
In 1960 there were 111 cities with more than a million people.
In 1995 there were 280 cities with more than a million.
In 2008 there were more than 300.

In 1975 there were five mega-cities.
(A mega-city contains more than 10 million people.)
In 1995 there were 14 mega-cities.
By 2015 there will be 26 mega-cities.

Global population in 1946 when I was born into this vale of fears was around 2 billion. 63 years later there are 6.77 billion (none of them sired by me), an increase of 4.77 billion people and 239% in my own time.

So maybe there are enough people around to fill our poetry audience tonight for our first feature reading since we returned to America 3 months ago. I figure thousands will show up, along with hundreds of agents and publishers and film crews. We’ll probably become famous overnight, collect an entourage of sycophants and start wearing bling and long faux fur coats while drinking shampaign and snorting cocaine lite.

Stop by and see for yourselves.

Lix and Kix Poetry Reading for May
featuring
Kathy Ireland Smith and Steven B. Smith
Visible Voice Books
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
7 pm
1023 Kenilworth Ave
Cleveland, OH 44113 USA
(216) 961-0084

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I always wonder whether anyone will show up for my readings or shows. I remember a poetry reading on my 50th birthday: there was myself, poet laureate Daniel Thompson, 3 other poets, and one person in the audience. Still, it was a good reading. Sometimes less IS more, but even so I want more More.

cover of 1970s private journal – foto by Smith