Poetry reading in the United States is dramatically up, according to a new report from the National Endowment for the Arts. Over 28 million U.S. adults read poetry in 2017, nearly a 75 percent increase from 2012. Poetry reading is particularly on the rise among young adults, various racial and ethnic subgroups, women and adults with only some college education. One likely reason for the increase is social media, but this is not the only cause.
These trends echo locally with the growth of the poetry section at our local Barnes & Noble, and with attendance at Poetry in the Boro. They also reinforce my often-stated belief that poetry is just like music—there’s something for everyone out there.
Hearing poetry well-read or spoken adds so much to listeners’ enjoyment, and who to better read poems than experienced actors? That’s what Poetry in the Boro will be offering at their next event on Sunday evening, July 8, at Murfreesboro Little Theatre. Following featured poet Dana Malone, MLT actors will read poems written by audience members and well-known poets.
Dana Malone
Dana Malone is a writer, editor and writing coach who has lived in Nashville since 1990. She co-hosts Writings on the Wall, a monthly poetry event, and recently coordinated the Poetry on Demand program for The Porch Writers Collective and WPLN (Nashville Public Radio). Her most recently published work is featured on the podcast Versify and in the publications Number One and Native. Malone has read and performed throughout the eastern United States, the UK and Australia. She will also teach a creative writing workshop at the Frist Art Museum in conjunction with the exhibit Chaos and Awe in July.
If you want to write a new poem for this month’s Poetry in the Boro, this month’s challenge is to write a poem on the theme of independence (of any sort) without using the word itself. If you’d rather bring a favorite poem—written by you or anyone else—you must bring a printed copy. The Poetry in the Boro team can print a poem for you if you message them by Saturday, July 7, at noon.
Doors open and poem submissions begin at the July 8 event at 6:30 p.m. The featured poet will read at 7 p.m. that day. Find full details on this free event on the Poetry in the Boro Facebook page.
More local literary news:
Wednesday, July 11, at 6 p.m., the Murfreesboro Barnes & Noble monthly book club meeting will discuss Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman. This event is free and open to the public.
Through July, the Murfreesboro’s Inaugural Arts Laureates will hold an exhibit of their work in the Rotunda of Murfreesboro City Hall. Entitled “The Other Side: Contrasts in Our Community,” the exhibit includes photography by Jessica Nelson, painting by Ginny Togrye and poetry by Kory Wells. About 20 tanka—short, five-line poems—written by community members of all ages are on display in one of the collages of community work.
Lacrimosa: Charleston
(Mother Emanuel, Walter Scott)
by Dana Malone
—for SATB chorus
Left alone to—scream in
Language without vowel
Only the gut—the guttural, clicking
Of tongue against teeth—rolling Rs
At the backs of minds blurring
Breaking news—wars, filthy lucre
Shots in the backs of black men
Resonant bone of hurricane
And house of worship—bullets riddling
Charleston—death-cold and drenching
The angel oak bitter and bleeding
Sorrow breaking on the October battery.
This is where the sonnet (requiem, judgment) ends:
In a wreck at the Four Corners of Law.
