Poetopoly I

Imagine a board. Imagine some cards. Picture some dice. Take it from there;

You see the square in the corner with the 'Do Not Pass Go' card? Good. Then we'll begin.

You perform successfully at a major festival, having been accepted on the strength of your c.v. and happening to know a trusted performer whom the organizer asks about you. Also having been at a conference and meeting a slam poet who recommend you try for it. The second year, you are entrusted with organizing some of the programme for that marquee. It goes well, two of the poets you ask being quite well known. Collect £20 in expenses. What you don't know is that the organizer in question is thinking of handing on to someone else...they get back to you on the third year saying is it alright to not ask you back as they only have people twice? Certainly you reply, thinking you don't want to pressure them, and have had your crack of the whip. A couple of years later, they have handed on to someone else whom they deemed reliable and stuff, and have retired unwell, from the post. You realize that had you been a bit more pushy, the new organizer could have been you. Much of past allusions and conversations are made plain. You had that feeling at the time, but you thought it would be a decade or more in the future opportunity, not soon. You send off your c.v. to the new organizer thinking it's been a while, and that it would be great to do that festival again, of course you don't mention that you nearly got offered their job. When the rejection does come in, it's a Dear Everyone, not even personalized. Go to jail?

You perform at an event hosted by someone you met at the said festival, as part of another more regionally well-known festival. It goes well - not a huge audience, but one of the nicest, and the organizers are delighted. 'We must have you back!' they enthuse. You never see the promised fee, nor hear from them again. Pay £50 in some sort of tax. The other festival you get asked to as a result of the big one, pays you in a lunch token...for £5.

You should have...been more pushy, got back to the big fest organizer the year after...bothered the organizers of the other event soon afterwards...?? Wear a dunce's hat.