A poetry event that encourages local people to explore, in verse, the people and places that have shaped their lives is set for 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 21, at The Corner Coffeehouse in downtown Hopkinsville.
Homegrown Poems: Your Places, Your Stories in Verse is co-sponsored by Hoptown Chronicle and WKMS in support of the Hopkinsville Big Read.
“We hope folks interested in this event will take inspiration from the poem ‘Where I’m From’ by Kentucky author George Ella Lyon,” said Hoptown Chronicle editor Jennifer P. Brown.
The poem (included at the end of this story) is an evocative look at the numerous influences in Lyon’s life — from “the dirt under the back porch” to “fried corn and strong coffee” to “leaf-fall from the family tree.”
The idea of how a place and people shape us is an interesting prompt for poetry during the community’s focus on the Big Read selection, “Our Town,” by Thornton Wilder.
- RELATED: See a schedule of all Big Read events
- RELATED: Corner Coffeehouse up and running at new downtown location
“Anyone who comes to the Oct. 21 event is welcome to read a poem they have written, but you don’t have to write anything to participate,” Brown said. “We’ll welcome anyone who wants to hear others read their poems.”
The Corner Coffeehouse will be serving their coffees, teas and baked goods during the poetry event.
Hopkinsville’s sixth Big Read kicked off Monday at the Alhambra. It is sponsored by the Pennyroyal Arts Council with support from several community partners. Big Read events continue through Nov. 8
Where I’m From
by George Ella Lyon
I am from clothespins,
from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.
I am from the dirt under the back porch.
(Black, glistening
it tasted like beets.)
I am from the forsythia bush,
the Dutch elm
whose long gone limbs I remember
as if they were my own.
I am from fudge and eyeglasses,
from Imogene and Alafair.
I’m from the know-it-alls
and the pass-it-ons,
from perk up and pipe down.
I’m from He restoreth my soul
with cottonball lamb
and ten verses I can say myself.
I’m from Artemus and Billie’s Branch,
fried corn and strong coffee.
From the finger my grandfather lost
to the auger
the eye my father shut to keep his sight.
Under my bed was a dress box
spilling old pictures.
a sift of lost faces
to drift beneath my dreams.
I am from those moments —
snapped before I budded —
leaf-fall from the family tree.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
