This column is sponsored by Arlington Arts/Arlington Cultural Affairs, a division of Arlington Economic Development.
Poetry in Arlington is quite literally on the move. The six winners of Arlington’s 22nd annual MOVING WORDS Poetry Competition have their poems printed on colorful placards displayed aboard Arlington Transit ARTBus vehicles, enlivening the ride for thousands of commuters.
The six winning poets were juried by Arlington’s 2nd Poet Laureate, Holly Karapetkova, who also will have a poem displayed. The winners were chosen from a field of 211 poems submitted by 85 poets from the D.C. area. Printed on colorful placards and displayed prominently inside Arlington Transit’s ART Buses between February and September, their poems will be seen by thousands of riders. Each winner also will receive a $250 honorarium.
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NELSONVILLE The February session of the Spoken & Heard series hosted by Kari Gunter-Seymour, Poet Laureate of Ohio, will be held 7 p.m. Thursday at Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville.
Spoken & Heard is a seasonal series of literary events featuring award-winning authors, poets and singer/songwriters from across the country.
February’s event will feature poet Allison Joseph and author Wesley Browne. To register go to stuartsoperahouse.org.
Joseph lives, writes and teaches in Carbondale, Ill., where she is on the faculty at Southern Illinois University.
Her poetry collection, “Confessions of a Barefaced Woman” (Red Hen Press) was a finalist for the NAACP Image Award in Poetry and won the Feathered Quill Book Award.
INTRODUCTION
As I’ve learned from my own experiences in the classroom both as a student and as an instructor, poetry is so often taught badly to us in grade school (if at all). I am, to this day, learning how to undo the myth of poetry being the work of certainty a perfect command of a subject, experience, event proclaimed through verse. This is obviously a byproduct of the ways in which the Western canon is taught: the work of “great masters” whose genius we are trained to admire and respect. But my immersion in queer and disability writing has taught me the value of
January 21, 2021
Every now and then a member of the
NDQ editorial board reaches out and tell me how much they liked this or that contribution. It should go without saying that just like most of our readers, editorial board members generally enjoy most of what’s in the
Quarterly. Even so, every now and then someone feels like a poem, story, or essay speaks to them in a distinct way.
This has happened with two poems from Lindy Obach and this prompted me to re-read them and appreciate them all the more. Both “Red Poppies” and “Quieting the Honking” look through intergenerational windows to speak to the present. “Red Poppies” resonates with yesterdays inauguration in almost uncanny ways. “Quieting the Honking” evokes Biblical parables to remind us to hold fast to those we love.
Dec 31, 2020
MARQUETTE After organizers received over 500 votes, the five finalists for U.P. Poet Laureate for 2021-22 represent writing from Marquette, Alger, Houghton and Chippewa counties.
They are April Lindala of Marquette, Beverly Matherne of Ishpeming-Marquette, M. Bartley Seigel of Houghton, Rosalie Sanara Petrouske of Marquette-Munising and Tyler Dettloff of Marquette-Bay Mills-Sault Ste. Marie.
“Something that really excites me is that all five of the finalists are strong performers on stage, so that any upcoming readings featuring these poets, whether in person or online, will be sure to be a powerful experience for the audience,” U.P. Poet Laureate organizer Ron Riekki said in an email. “I hope whoever is selected for the U.P. Poet Laureate position links up with these other finalists for future events.