"What The Darks Do."

Last Friday night my wife and I went to the SYNC @ Nettwerk to see Sarah (Masen) Dark, her husband David Dark, and their daughter Dorothy Day Dark, well, do what the Darks do. The Darks are the proverbial friends-of-friends that I've never really gotten to know, but admire quite a bit.

Before things got underway, we were all handed what can only be described as "skulls on a stick"-- paper cutouts of drawn skulls, taped to a wand-like white stick. I was never quite clear as to their purpose, except that Sarah kept saying something to the effect of "this evening is about death." Attendees whose paper skull had a star on the back were periodically invited to come up and read a word and its definition. The definitions weren't from dictionaries, but were instead written by poets and authors. My skull had a star on the back, but I did not reveal this fact. Probably has something to do with middle-school trauma.

Dorothy Day (seven years old) began the evening proper with a reading of her poetry. Now, I suppose I am not much of a judge of poetry, but I liked it very much. Not in a "isn't it cute that a seven-year-old is writing poetry" kind of way, but in a "wow, that would be good even if a 22-year-old wrote it" kind of way. This was both highly enjoyable and slightly scary, as if she could be a superchild who would use her powerful mind to make me levitate about the room at any moment, my arms and legs flailing about, helpless.

Next was David, writer of such books as Everyday Apocalypse and The Gospel According To America (the latter which I own, have attempted to read twice, and failed to finish for now). He read short portions of fiction and invited us to come up to him afterwards if any of them sounded like they would be a good novel. They were intriguing, but I would have preferred to hear an entire short story or one of his non-fiction pieces. He has a very unusual voice and I love hearing him read.

Sarah was last, singing first with some friends of hers, then alone with her guitar. She played all new songs, including a few (surprise!) about death. I enjoyed them, but was getting tired. Her voice and playing make me sleepy (always have), but in those last conscious moments, I think "this is wonderful."

There are a couple of younger Darks, not old enough to get on a stage with microphones...I wonder what they will Do when they are older?