I did my second official public poetry reading 2 days ago. It was through one of my writers’ groups. It was at a coffee house, so anyone could have been there.
That’s why I was psyched to do it. I would have had my other writer friends for support, including my best friend, but my work would get exposure to unbiased strangers. Make that “SHOULD have gotten exposure”. It was pretty much just the writers that showed, so I don’t know if it counts. There was no unbiased audience, but I WAS willing to do it if there was.
I got a great reaction regardless, even on the pieces I chose that I was less certain would go over. Yay, me!
Grasping the Tale of the Fox 
I always love hearing your poems, everyone does. You need to get them published so the world can enjoy them.
It happens…there are so few people who read poetry that don’t write themselves. Keep it up, though! Writers thrive off each other.