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Library Hosts
“Poetry Matters”
Greenville Public Library offers an excellent literary blog “Fourth
& Sycamore” written by Librarian David Nilsen. David has
recently formed a poetry appreciation group called “Poetry Matters”
which first met in July. Here is how he explained it in his blog:
“As I explained a couple weeks back, Poetry Matters. It has mattered
greatly to my life, and I want it to matter in yours. I’m pleased to
announce the Library will be starting a poetry appreciation group to
allow lovers of poetry an opportunity to share and discuss their
favorite poems and poets and hopefully discover some new favorites from
other readers.
“The group will be called (what else?) PoetryMatters. Attendees will
bring books (either from their home libraries or GPL) containing poems
they wish to share with the group (literary magazines, printouts from
the internet, or other sources are acceptable too, of course). We will
read these already published poems aloud and discuss them, but we will
not, as Billy Collins says in his sly verse Introduction to Poetry,
“tie the poem to a chair with rope / to torture a confession out of
it.” We will talk about impressions, ideas, images and memories stirred
up by lines, emotional responses to verses.
“This will not be an exploration of theory or philosophy, but a
thoughtful celebration of a literary artform that can function on
levels both close to the surface and deep beneath the waves. Bring your
favorite poetry, a willingness to read aloud, an open mind, a generous
ear.
“PoetryMatters will not be the place for reading poetry written by
group members or individuals close to them. This isn’t because we think
your poetry is terrible and we don’t want you writing it, but because
it distracts from the focus of what this group is intended to be about.
We want to celebrate established, published poets and their writing in
our meetings. Keep writing poetry. If you want us to read it, submit it
to this journal.
“PoetryMatters will meet once a month. The next meeting is Friday,
August 14th at 2:00 p.m. at Montage in downtown Greenville. Bring
poetry you love and be ready to share it with the group. I can’t wait
to read with you.”
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