Seen and Heard: Homegrown Poets Ignite

Sheila Packa

"Although the wind blows terribly here, moonlight also leaks between the roof planks of this ruined house." --Izumi Shikibu

Monday evening the Duluth Homegrown celebrated its 11th Annual Poetry Showecase featuring nearly 40 local poets, including several Duluth poet laureates. Tina Higgins Wussow curated the program, and The Murder of Crows (Gaelynn Lea and Alan Sparhawk) provided musical accompaniment. Gathering at Sacred Heart Music Center, we left all of Monday's MayDay slush and chill at the door for a very warm evening celebrating the spoken word.

The poets who shared came from a range of backgrounds, united by a common interest, this appreciation for poetry. Many familiar names and faces were there, including past and present poet laureates. The themes ranged from light-hearted word play and imagery to circuitous barbed observations.

First out of the gate was Deborah Cooper, who read a humorous piece called Confessional Poem, comprised of a series of "confessions' from the point of view of a guilty spouse, beginning with the words, "I hid your cake," an amusing way to describe the challenges of getting old together and her passive/aggressive ways of getting even. Michelle Matthees followed with Swap Shop, a fun poem with a short story feel.

Other themes the poets touched included observations about tossing books, about the loss of a beloved mastiff, the horrible feeling that accompanied lying after being caught stealing, the white horses of Sigurd Olsen, the various winds one had been buffeted by on a road trip from Wisconsin to New Orleans, a poem born of love and pain, that sense of being stunned by reckless beauty, poems from a nasty poetry collection (Killy Kay), Mayday (Ellie Schoenfeld), the gift of naming, a poem about getting into a fight with a politician, a broken piece of clothesline, and Bob Monohan's "To All the Shrinks I've Loved Before."

Tina Higgins Wussow read her piece The First Day Of Work followed by Zach Shears' reflective "Always Trying to Interior Design My Mind." The Northland was a theme that wove its way through many poems as well, as in Yvonne Rutford's Still Life Porch in March or April or May. Allen Killian-Moore gave us Descriptions of Fitgers.

I, too, shared a piece titled "Warhol Revisited"

Writing -- whether poetry, essays or business reports -- is about word selection, and the manner in which these words are assembled, their relationships in the sentence, or non-sentences at times. The words evoke imagery and connections and even when nebulous can move us in unexpected ways, as with this line from Amy Clark's poem Drought: "I am stunned by all the reckless beauty."

There were young poets, life veterans and everyone in between. Kathleen Roberts, who shared an insight from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar with the poem Teknon, began by stating, "I'm still young but I've learned a lot." You could tell this was true simply by noting her manner of delivery. Roberts began by addressing the matter of Julius Caesar's famous last words, "Et tu, Brute?" The Latin that Shakespeare used fails to capture the depth of pain in this moment. The Bard used Latin because his listeners would likely not have understood the original Greek, which was actually 'Kai su, teknon?' (Trans. "You too, my son?") Note the deeper implications of the betrayal in this more intimate anguished sigh.

Mary Lee also drew word pictures from ancient civilizations, Greek Mythology being her pallet.

Gary Boelhower sang and read his "First Song" again, the only poet to disregard the instructions to hold strictly to the three minute window we had been given. It's a powerful poem, but thankfully he was the only rule breaker with 35 others sharing.

Several members of the UWS writing department faculty were on hand to read as well, so I selected this piece by Julie Gard, an associate professor in the Writing & Library Science Department.

On the Garage Sale of a Favorite Poet
by Julie Gard

Every unfinished cross-stitch, milk-white vase, dented puzzle box and empty perfume bottle resonates with potential literary significance, as do the worn hiking boots that the poet surely wore on a walk in the woods that inspired one of the best poems ever written about bears. A teetering stack of books are ones that the poet probably read, some avidly and with a sense of revelation. Apparently he does not need to read them again. On a 1960s tapestry, two purple-haired angels form the syllable "O," and a National Book Award winner intones wry poetry on a loosely spooled cassette tape. From a 1974 anthology of Minnesota writers, I learn that everyone's hair was long in the year I was born. I dig beneath placemats and rusted tools, but nothing he wrote is for sale, not a single observation. The closest thing is a bag of embroidery thread with intertwined strands of orangeade and spruce. I know I'll find something to use in there. Every Christmas, we'll take out those angels.

* * * *

I once imagined giving a talk titled An Hour of Poetry for People Who Are Not Into Poetry. It would be an attempt to share poems that are accessible, entertaining or thought-provoking -- the operative word being accessible. To see what poems I might have shared in that hour you can follow this link.

Meantime, the poetry of life goes on all around you. Get into it. It's never too late to begin.

EdNote: The title of this blog post was derived from Christopher Grant's exclamation "Poets of the World Ignite" which appeared in one of his three poems, a spin on the Mayday observation.

Film, Photography and Verse at Homegrown Day2

"Poetry is the mother tongue of mankind." ~J.G.Hamann, 1762

Elipsis captures Sparhawk at the Red Herring.

Homegrown may have begun with music as its first heartbeat, but it has matured the weeklong Twin Ports phenomenon has matured to embrace all of the arts. Monday evening I was able to attend a portion of the film festival at Zinema, the photography opening reception at Red Herring with an original performance by Alan Sparhawk and the Poetry Showcase at Sacred Heart Music Center.

The Poetry Showcase is now ten years old. In previous years the venues were small, and when the doors opened last night I heard someone utter their concern that Sacred Heart was too big, that it might feel empty even with a good crowd. Truth be told, the room filled substantially and the change of venue proved to be a very good move.

I've not been at poetry readings in other parts of the country for a long time, but one thing that happens here is the addition of a sensitive musical accompaniment in the background.* The first time I experienced this was at Al Hunter's Beautiful Razor reading at the AICHO in 2013. Since that time I have noticed it effectively used several times including our readings at the Red Mug last year during Dylan Fest. In that occasion Richie Townsend quietly contributed with his electric guitar complement. Last night Townsend's guitar was joined by Gaelyn Lea on violin, an extra addition that added much in the context of the occasion. (EdNote: I later learned that this sentiment was not universally shared, perhaps because it was a little too loud and a distraction at times.)

One cannot say enough about the Sacred Heart as a venue, especially as the evening sunlight descended and the stained glass window shifted with the waning illumination. The grand arches, the pillars, the iconography all contributed to good effect as the poets shared facets of their life journeys and portions of their souls with fluency, occasionally pointed turns of phrase and potent lyric arrows.

Tina Higgins Wussow, who hosts a poetry gathering at Beaners Central the third Thursday of every month, served as moderator. Beaners, along with Katie & Jacob Farkas, also provided coffee and snacks for the evening.

Bob Monohan making an impression.

Those who missed it but who appreciate live poetry readings should mark their calendars for a very special evening of poetry during Duluth Dylan Fest later this month. The event, titled Poets of the North County, will take place at the Underground on Wednesday May 25 at 6:30 p.m. featuring Duluth Poet Laureates Barton Sutter and Jim Johnson, among others. It is said that when years ago Sutter was proclaimed first Duluth Poet Laureate he immediately corrected the interviewer and said, "No, the first was Bob Dylan."