Everyone Brought Their Style @Little River Poetry Festival 2023
Poetic License?
Everyone brought their style to the last day of the 3-day festival.
Sunday Best?
Richmond poet Joanna Lee was Sunday’s featured reader. Her poem “To the Daughter I Never Had” knocked me out. “There were days I never thought of you, whole stretches of hours I was happy finite. Weeks I got lost just living. When I was your age, I never thought of legacy. And now… There were other days, are other days still, when I miss the tininess of your hands…”
Larry Brown’s poem “A Burial on Family Land” choked me up. “The government bought my father’s family farm to expand the glidepath to the airport… A plane went over as they pushed the white wooden farmhouse into its grave… All was gone: His birth cry, the laughter of siblings; the sounds of thankful relief when spring crops made their way to the Sunday dinner table…”
One of the highlights of Sunday was the ensemble reading, “Everything is Possible,” curated by festival co-founder Jack Callan.
Poets reading their poems for the theme were Eric Forsbergh, Larry Brown, Jack, Joanna Lee, festival co-founder Judith Stevens and Edith Blake. The production ended with all the poets reading parts of Jack’s poem Stonehenge.
Music accompaniment for the ensemble was provided by Jim Best and Brian Magill.
Gina says, “Brian can play every instrument you never heard of.” He had a digeridoo solo.
Believe it or not, Gina’s signature poem is a “Poop Poem.” She, a dedicated mom of young children who wears a “Poetry Matters” t-shirt, gets asked to read it every year.
The Open Mics were a forum for truth telling that brought attentive listening, laughter, goosebumps and sometimes tears.
There were lots of topics covered and younger poets represented.
Every year poets kayak down the river and read their paddling poems under the overhanging amphitheater of rocks where Jack and Judith conceived of the Poetry Festival.
Krista shared her kayak poem at the final Open Mic. “Coasting down the one lane Little River, rather than rushing into over analyzed investigations in search of so-called deeper meaning, meandering towards softly spoken simple truths, uttered under the influence of the moon whose lunar light has always been with us.”
Katherine did the closing with a prayer poem before Judith led us in a back-rub huddle in preparation for some long rides home, which came after lots of heartfelt feelings and contacts were shared, along with many hugs!
Read about Friday’s Mic Drop Poetry Festival HERE and Saturday’s Gong Show HERE. Last year’s coverage of the festival, published in The Floyd Press is HERE. Next year’s festival, the 9th annual, will be May 31 – June 2.
