Poetry Under the Big Tent
-The following first appeared in The Floyd Press on June 13, 2019 with the title Word World.
The weekend’s rainy weather didn’t dampen the poetic inspiration of those who attended the 4th Annual Little River Poetry Festival (LRPF) (June 7 – 9). The weather may have deterred some from attending, and some events (kayaking and hiking) were cancelled, but everyone who came was kept dry under the festival tent for a variety of featured poets, workshops, open mics, live music, catered meals and yoga stretches.
It was a year to go with flow, the flow of attendance, the rain and the river, festival founders Jack Callan and Judith Stevens agreed. “We knew what to expect, and we knew it was going to be a different kind of festival. We’ve had three years of perfect weather,” Stevens said.
“But we felt it was going to be good,” she continued, “and it was.” Stevens explained how they added extra workshops when the off-campus activities were canceled, and people responded positively to that. “Being in the tent was like being cocooned. We felt there was a deeper sharing.”
As the festival wound down on Sunday, Callan and Stevens expressed gratitude for the quality of work shared and the level of the participation. They were encouraged by new and returning participants who attended despite the weather. Along with the city/country interactions of poets from Hampton Roads and those from the rural mountains of Floyd County, poets came from North Carolina, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
The fifth annual? “We’re looking forward to next year,” Stevens said. “We’ve got great ideas and poets we’ve already asked to be featured.” – Colleen Redman
Photos: 1. LRPF co-founder/organizer Judith Stevens reads a poem that was inspired by the Robert Smalls story. Smalls was a slave who stole a Confederate ship, delivered it to the Union, kept his family together, freed slaves and later became a U.S. Congressman. 2. Brian Magill, a Nasa computer programmer from Tidewater, began his reading by ringing a singing bowl. 3. A poet reads at one of several open mics in the round, which took place throughout the weekend festival. 4. The audience listens attentively to a poetry reading. 5. C. J. Expression was a featured reader who read from her book “Dear Broken Woman: Trials to Triumph” Friday evening. C.J., who is from Chesapeake, also led a workshop titled “Beating Writer’s Block by Giving Voice to Inanimate Objects.” 6. Tanya Cummings, a past LRPF featured reader who hails from Williamsburg, reads from her poetry collection, Pachamama and Scientific Eve.
Local writer Katherine Chantal was one of the featured readers on Saturday. She read poems about aging from a new collection she is working on and the introduction from her soon-to-be-released book Kindness: A Primal Benevolent Blessing.
Attendees participated in a back-rub circle led by Stevens between readings.
Local poets Mara Robbins (left) and Colleen Redman (this writer/right) shared a body-of-work that consisted of poems they had written over the years about and to each other, along with their individual takes on themes. They also presented a workshop that engaged others to riff off thematic topics: poetry personified, to punctuate or not, Peter Pan and Wendy and more. Listen HERE. Listen to Colleen’s Jesus poem HERE And Mara’s HERE.
Poets paired up to workshop ideas together.
Erin McCarty of Marshall, Virginia (right) and Eva Poggi from Virginia Beach (left) brainstorm poems together. McCarty later shared from a poetry personified prompt, “My poetry sits around like a neglected teenager wearing two short shorts and raging blue eye shadow …” while Poggi’s poem encouraged McCarty’s poet-within, closing with “please… continue writing the next line…” McCarty was a featured reader and presented a workshop titled Making Friends with Venn (diagram).
Jim Best and a fellow-poet share their collaboration.
Inspired by the day’s readings, J Scott Wilson, poet and manager of Hampton Roads Artistic Collective, works on some of his poems.
Past LRPF featured reader, James Bane arrived on Sunday after attending the Southern Fried Poetry Slam festival, which was held in Fayette, NC, this year. At the LRPF, Banes participated in the recreation of an ensemble poetry performance, Heal the World. The poems were originally performed for a Poetry Society of Virginia event in Williamsburg, VA. Listen to James HERE.
Co-founder Jack Callan performs “ensemble reading for 6 voices: Heal the World” with five other poets.
The festival is held at Daniel Sowers’s On the Water and some of the Sowers family dropped by, the youngest of which is Arianna, held by her sister Annalise. – Colleen Redman / Read about last year’s festival HERE.
