Melissa Maxwell
March Madness in the local literary community means one crazy-good book festival, two poetry readings, multiple writing workshops (several of which are free) and numerous visiting writers sharing their talents and experience in written and oral storytelling, playwriting and more. Let’s get to it!
Saturday, March 14
SE-YA 2020, the fifth annual Southeastern Young Adult Book Festival, returns to the MTSU campus with an event that promises to once again attract several thousand attendees from Tennessee and beyond. SE-YA was recently named a Top 20 Event by the Southeast Tourism Society, and for good reason: Powered by a fine-tuned machine of area school librarians and over 100 community volunteers, the festival creates opportunities for young adult readers to interact with over 40 authors of the books they love. While Thursday and Friday are reserved for school groups, Saturday is a community day, free and open to all, with panel discussions, book signings and more. Writing workshops, some for all ages, are also offered. Pre-registration is required for school groups on Thursday and Friday and for workshops only on Saturday. Find full information at seyabookfest.com.
Sunday, March 15
Poetry in the Boro returns to the Walnut House, 116 N. Walnut St., for a free evening of poetry sponsored in part by MTSU Write. Featured poets are Jessica Lynn Suchon and Henry Jones. Jones will be accompanied by local musician Ernest “Saxman” Newsom.
Jones is an award-winning African-American poet, artist, playwright, actor and activist. A 2019–20 Art Wire Fellow of the Porch Writers Collective and OZ Arts Center in Nashville, he is the author of Run Into Blackness: Feeling My Poetic Gumbo (Pneuma Publishing International). Suchon is the author of Scavenger, winner of the 2018 Vinyl 45 Chapbook Contest and forthcoming from YesYes Books. She has received honors from the Academy of American Poets, as well as an Aspen Words Emerging Writer Fellowship and a Tennessee Playwrights Studio Fellowship.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the event begins at 7. After a short break, an hour of open mic follows the features. All styles of poetry and spoken word are welcome. For more information, including this month’s writing challenge, see poetryintheboro.org.
Wednesday, March 25
Poets Amie Whittemore and Michelle Peñaloza will read from 2:30–3:30 p.m. in room 448 of the Walker Library on the MTSU campus. This event is sponsored by MTSU’s Walker Library and is free and open to the public. The poets will read from their work and have books available for purchase.
Whittemore is the 2020 Murfreesboro Poet Laureate and author of Glass Harvest from Autumn House Press. Peñaloza, from Northern California, is the author of several collections, most recently Former Possessions of the Spanish Empire, winner of the 2018 Hillary Gravendyk National Poetry Prize from Inlandia Books.
March 21–23
Director, actor, writer, educator and motivational speaker Melissa Maxwell will be visiting MTSU on March 21–23. Maxwell recently directed Crumbs from the Table of Joy at Julliard, but you may recognize her from Madam Secretary, Law & Order or other TV appearances. Learn from her in a free playwriting workshop sponsored by MTSU Write from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, 3/21; visit mtsu.edu/write to register. Maxwell will return to campus on Monday, March 23 for a staged reading and discussion of her play Imbroglio from 4:30–7 p.m. Both events are in the MTSU Ingram Building, conveniently located on the edge of campus with its own parking lot.
Also in March
Does your nonprofit organization or cause want to improve its process for engaging donors or reaching other goals? How you tell its story makes a difference. Storytellers Kara Kemp and Mark Lamb are partnering with the Rutherford County Area Habitat for Humanity to offer the Friday, March 6 workshop “Build Your Story: A Guide to FUNdraising through Storytelling.” Scheduled for 10 a.m.–3 p.m. at Redstone Federal Credit Union, the workshop will include sample performances, discussion, breakout sessions and a Zaxby’s box lunch. Tickets are available through EventBrite for $35. NYC-based Lamb is also offering a personal storytelling class through MTSU Write on Saturday, March 6; see mtsu.edu/write for more on that.
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“Abstractions Heal” appears in Run Into Blackness: Feeling My Poetic Gumbo by Henry L. Jones, who will appear at Poetry in the Boro on March 15.
Abstractions Heal
Fear trapped the darkness
in my skin.
Some of my expression
must live as whispers
and then some
must die as screams.
These symbols
to explain my dark definition
Are but shadows
Cast from my dreams.
Words that mourn lost inspiration
seeking love and understanding
for these eyes
A history of lynched baptisms
and a whispering golden sphinx
without lies.
What beast is my form
made by black magic
A snake that dances to the sun?
As rhythm and light
bend for creation
the shedding
of my fear has begun.
The joy and relief
of a fearless darkness
Our beauty
not mocked or shamed.
A healing by voiceless abstractions
Through these eyes
that once only blamed.
