Chronicles of the Vertical Soup Exchange

When I was in college (in the early 90s btw — think of me sporting flannel), I was part of a literary group. This group would host a couple of poetry readings each year and one year, one of the goofballs I shared this group with suggested we call the event The Vertical Soup Exchange.

This suggestion was made after the typical round of silly brainstorming, but when he said it, we all said, “Yes. That’s it.” And so it was.

Then, and now, Vertical Soup Exchange means nothing. It’s just a collection of words that sound kind of nice together. But I’ll tell you, it caused MAYHEM.

The administration of the small, private, liberal arts college were convinced (CONVINCED!) that the phrase meant something. They implied that it was possibly dirty. They suggested that it was somehow inappropriate. They made noises about shutting the thing down.

A poetry reading.

What rebels we were.

My point: sometimes there IS NO MEANING. Sometimes, there’s no intent. Be careful when you go looking for hidden meanings; they may all be coming from your head, not the writer’s.