Neil Gaiman reads poem for Tori's baby at his last Angel Show in Chicago

Updated October 21, 2000

During October 2000, Neil Gaiman was doing his last Guardian Angel Tour, where he shared poems and stories with audiences and raised money for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. On October 16, 2000, Neil did a reading in Chicago, IL at The Vic Theatre. While there, he talked a little about Tori's new baby Natashya and read a poem that he wrote for her! Find out details about this magical evening below, where I have several reports from people who attended this magical evening.

UPDATE: I now realize that when Neil shared this poem with people during some of the stops on this tour, he really did not want it to be told to the public at large. I respect Neil's wishes on this, and you will not see the actual words to the poem on the Dent.

You can also read more about this and the latest news on various movie projects related to Neil at the Ain't It Cool News web site. It appears that Neil also recited Tori's "The Blueberry Girl" poem at St. Mark's Church in New York on October 18, 2000.

Reports from people at the Chicago Angel show

From Jessica Grant (faeriegrl):

Just got back from the Chicago date of Neil Gaiman's Last Angel Tour. It was fabulous, but wanted to pass along one of the highlights of the evening. Neil mentioned that his friend Tori Amos had just had a baby (rounds of applause from the audience), that he was so proud of himself for keeping it secret since March. HeÝspoke about how some VIP tickets were auctioned, how some of the winners paid over $1000 to do dinner with Neil. He felt that they deserved a little something extra. So for one of the Chicago auction winners, not sure if it dealt with a conversation they had at dinner or what, but he read a poem that he wrote for Tori's baby for the woman who won the auction. Guess she must've been a toriphile. I only mention this because it may not be read at the other shows.

He said he was in Las Vegas writing American Gods about a week before Tori was due. She phoned and asked Neil to write a little somethng for her, a "little prayer or something" and he wrote a poem for the baby. He said that before she was born, they wereÝcalling herÝthe "blueberry" (and Neil referred to her as the "bump"), and in his poem he petitions the fates to give "a blueberry girl" the best possible life, free of "bad husbands at 30", "false friends at 15" and the like, to follow her dreams and find truth. The recurring verse in each stanza was "prayer for a blueberry girl" and finally "gifts for a blueberry girl". It was a beautiful poem, very eloquent in craft (as usual with Neil) and sincere. Stunning.

I also want to take this chance to encourage anyone in the remaining cities to RUN OUT and see this show. I've never had the opportunity to attend one before, but this is sadly the last one and it was such a captivating evening. Neil is as wonderful a reader and speaker as he is a writer and the whole night was just magic. Two hours of entertainment for $20, $16 for students (prices may vary in other cities, not sure). On top of that, its going toÝa great cause.

Oh, BTW, neil pronounced the baby's name as Nah-tah-sha (same as other spellings such as Natasia) Low-reh-in (accent on first syllable)

From Andrea Norstad:

i went to the neil gaiman reading benefitting the comic book legal defense fund last night. it was fabulous. he read a poem, taken as a request from an audience member he'd had dinner with the night before, that was written for tori and her baby. he told a story about how tori called him a couple weeks before she was due to give birth and asked him to write a poem or a prayer for "the blueberry," which is what she had been calling the baby. or, as neil said, "the bump." he read a beautiful poem about "a blueberry girl." it was like a prayer, very repetitive, calling to the different ladies of the world... ladies of love, ladies of paradox, ladies of all sorts of things i can't remember right now. i wish i could have written it down, although i don't think it's something he necessarily wants to be public in its entirety, and if he does he'll do something about it. when he was talking about tori calling him he used this cute little voice that sounded a lot like her. it was quite excellent, and gave me little tingly chills. :)

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