Video: Voices from Oodena

Tonight was opening night of THIN AIR 2008.

Unlike last year, and, according to Tanya, spouse of Perry, the year before, this year's Voices from Oodena actually was IN the Oodena.

I'm not sure precisely what an Oodena is, but I like saying it. Oodena. Oodena.

The night was lovely.



My favorite things about the evening, aside from the readings (amply covered by Courtney and, I think, Jay) were the swarms.

The children who moved over the stony bony ribs and shoulders that surrounded the amphitheatre. The late summer mosquitoes immediately over our heads, interspersed with midges, and the gulls in the airspace over that.

The children who rolled bony bonelessly down the hill while Marc Prescott talked about a kiss that would sum up a lifetime of kisses, one lover to another. The rabbit that quivered in the orange light while Chandra Mayor read of Ms. Purdy's and gin and then started nosing the late summer grass immediately next to Opening Night spectators.

The air, both warm and cool. The words, rising from the grass, from the centre of the amphitheatre.

THIN AIR.