Poetry In The Park

If you've been feeling that your Saturday afternoons just ain't what they used to be, the weekly free poetry readings in Ann Arbor's West Park could be your ticket out of The Rut.

And if you write poetry, short fiction, or merely inspired grocery lists, Poetry-in-the-Park offers an opportunity to bring your creativity out before others who are likewise attracted to pen and paper or typewriter for creative satisfaction.

Tony Klein, who is coordinating Poetry-in-the-Park this summer, explained that "reading before others, especially poetry, is an art form to me. These poets are sharing a part of themselves. It's like showing paintings, only it's being done with words."

In its fourth summer, Poetry-in-the-Park begins at 2 p.m. in the West Park bandshell in Ann Arbor every Saturday from June thru August. Although the focus is on creative writing, the stage is also open to performing arts such as music, drama and dance. The atmosphere is informal (performer-audience raillery, performer interrupting reading to scold children, occasional dog fights), the audience intimate ("about 30 to 40 persons each week") and attentive, and the readings range from traditional styles to the innovative, if not bizarre. The quality of the poetry presented is uneven but usually competent, with surprisingly frequent flashes of excellence.

"There is no screening of performers," Klein emphasized. "Anyone who calls me or comes by the bandshell on Saturdays can read. During audience participation recently a guy who is getting a divorce got up and started reading 'Fuck you! Fuck you, Sherry!' Sometimes it's more like a therapy session than a poetry reading."

Commenting on criticisms that the free-form informality of much of the work presented does not constitute Poetry (with a capital 'p'), Klein grinned: "I know that. That's the way it's supposed to be." During its four summers Poetry-in-the-Park has, however, presented Linda Silverman, Donald Hall and Jane Kenyon, Robert Stilwell, Faye Kicknosway, Ken Mikolowski, and many other local poets not as well-known, but good.

After the three or four scheduled readers, there is an audience participation period for anyone who has a poem or two tucked up a sleeve.

Finances for advertising the free readings come out of Klein's pocket. In exchange for "monetary contributions of whatever a person can afford," he offers books that poets have contributed.

Klein said that Poetry-in-the-Park "is to encourage people who write but never read (or seek publication of) their work...closet poets. It's the first place that I ever read and it did me a lot of good. Hearing other poets helped me realize that what I was writing wasn't very good and made me want to improve it. I guess I want to encourage others in the same way," he concluded.

For more information call 769-1633 or 663-4633 in Ann Arbor, or drop by West Park (on Seventh between Huron and Miller) any Saturday at 2. 

- Mike Long