By Katie Sullivan
Cavalier Daily Associate Editor
Between an open-mic session, three local poets, a jazz trio and a belly dancer, the fifth annual Charlottesville Erotic Poetry Festival could be the perfect place to take a Valentine's date.
The festival will take place tonight from 8 to 10 at Tokyo Rose sushi bar located off Ivy Road. The first hour is open mic, for anyone who wants to get up and read a poem. The second hour will feature the poetry of local artists June King, Dustin Kidd and Stevie Jay.
Graduate student Amanda French, who founded the festival after attending a similar event in Denver, said she named the festival "erotic" because no other word came close enough to defining what the festival is about.
"I was looking for a word that went beyond love or sex and lust," French said. "Erotic combines the two aspects."
French said she wanted to create a space where people could share both their own and other people's poetry.
"Many people are really eager to share," she said. "There are always enough people willing to get up and read. I think the fact that it doesn't have to be original poetry, plus the casual atmosphere, makes people more comfortable."
French also brings anthologies to the festival for people who decide to read at the last minute.
The event does have a $5 door charge, but the fee goes to cover the costs of publicity as well as perhaps a small payment for the three featured poets.
French chose the three poets based on her past experiences with their work.
Both Kidd and Jay have been stars of the open-mic portion of the program in previous festivals.
"June has her own festival, and she's a marvelous reader," French said. "She knows a lot about beat poetry, as well as writing her own."
Several of the poets will be performing to the accompaniment of Max and Friends, the jazz trio that usually plays Tokyo Rose Thursday nights.
But there is more to the Festival than what appears on stage.
C-ville Weekly photographer Barnaby Draper also will contribute with a showcase of his view of eroticism as an art-form.
"He told me he had some erotic pictures," French said. "I said, 'Hey, hang them up.' The pictures are beautiful."
French cautioned that this will not be a typical, calm poetry reading.
"It's a high energy thing," she said. "It's about bawdiness and sensuality -- there's a lot of laughter involved"
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