Philly Poet Laureate Yolanda Wisher Hosts "City of Poetry" Event
The Denizen Recommends: Metropolis of Poetry
The urban center's new Poet Laureate invites Philadelphians to see and make poetry happen everywhere
April. 27, 2016
I've spent a lot of time thinking most how poetry can be a public fine art.
In 1999, a collective of us poets, grad students, and neighbors in Westward Philly started a free reading serial in a community church/thrift shop. We read our poems to riders on the subway during rush hour. We went poetry "caroling" upwards Baltimore Avenue. We wrote poems in chalk on the sidewalk. In one case upon a time we wrote up a mission and goals:
Poesy for the People (Philly) continues the work of poet June Jordan's California-based organization of the aforementioned name. Poetry for the People is a collective comprised of students, activists, and community members who are committed to inciting collisions between poetry and activism. The collective seeks to engage Philadelphians of all backgrounds in an ongoing dialogue apropos the different forms and responsibilities the spoken and written word can take. Poetry for the People seeks to make poetry happen everywhere and in everything we do and especially for everyone.
Afterward, from 2006 to 2010, I directed a neighborhood verse festival in Germantown's Vernon Park equally a mode to build common ground between yo
ung people from public and individual high schools in the expanse. We were on a mission, too: To build relationships between schools, customs organizations, businesses, and neighbors in northwest Philadelphia in society to foster an ongoing commitment to youth and creative expression.
At present, in 2016, when people inquire me what I'yard going to do equally the tertiary Philadelphia Poet Laureate, I say, one way or another: "The same affair I've been doing." And non with mental attitude (perhaps a little), but with joy. Joy that I have the City backside me. That my past experiences with poetry in Philadelphia have expanded my heart and tuned my ears for this job, to experience and listen for all that's really going down here poetically. Then to build with information technology.
This evening, I'yard leading an event at the Philadelphia Museum of Art chosen "Urban center of Poetry." It's an evening of poesy and operation throughout the Museum. Visitors will explore a "City of Poetry," with interactive workshops, pop-upwards poets, random acts of verse, and games at verse stations. The evening will feature performances by me and my band The Afroeaters as well as the 2022 Philly Youth Poetry Motility squad.
Our City of Poetry has its own magic, its own make of social and poetic justice, its own one thousand customs of poets immature and young-in one case, building row home rengas out of the lush life of our words.
"City of Verse" isn't intended to be a one-nighttime stand. It's an ongoing invitation to take part in the rich literary history that's been and continues to be made in Philadelphia with over 70+ poetry organizations and—dare I say—thousands of poets. Few cities across the nation can claim the depth and diversity of our poetry scene or the die-hard participation of our audiences.
"City of Poetry" is a call to experience the delight, introspection, and connectivity that poesy provokes. In thinking about "City of Verse" as an ongoing chat and collaboration with Philadelphians, I envision the possibilities of mapping the urban center with and through poetry and exploring its intersection with seemingly divergent spheres and industries. Think poetry and/as municipal services, poetry and/as karaoke, or poetry and/as fashion!
To shut a coming together this past March with activity leaders for the upcoming event at the PM
A, I asked folks to share what came to mind when they considered the phrase "Urban center of Poetry." Afiya thought of "people every bit the words." Autumn thought of "a region that bleeds beyond the boundaries of Philadelphia." Jacob recalled Poet Trolley Commuter of the 34 and 10 in Westward Philly who announces upcoming stops with rhyme and wit. Jonathan imagined "people pulling tankas from trees and eating them, walking haikus with crazy colored hair." Mindy conjured the image of "a bunch of people with their heads tilted upward" and their pharynx chakras wide open up. Courtney thought of "poesy as infrastructure, poetry equally the bricks and mortar." Davy saw a "William Carlos Williams car fabricated of words, both material and immaterial, both space and feelings."
Every bit a student of poetry, I learned that the poem you lot are writing or reading can open you, modify you lot, tin be the catalyst for subterranean growth. In the precarious dearest in which the poem is communicated, it becomes a style of crossing and leaping boundaries. It becomes a chance to emotionally evolve. It turns strangers into kin. Our City of Poetry has its own magic, its ain brand of social and poetic justice, its own m community of poets immature and young-one time, building row dwelling rengas out of the lush life of our words.
Come listen and build with u.s.a..
Yolanda Wisher is the city'southward 2016-2017 Poet Laureate, every bit well as a 2022 Hedgebrook Writer-in-Residence and 2022 Pew Fellow. She also works as Primary Rhapsodist of Wherewithal for the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture.
Photo Header: Marker Palacio
Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/yolanda-wisher-city-of-poetry/