February Poetry Night at the Coffee Shop
We had a local poet come to our town square coffee shop to talk about his collection of poetry in his book Dust. Ethan Jacobs, a graduate of our high schools and Auburn University, shared his inspirations and writing processes, and he held an audience spellbound for a half hour with his poetry. What a gift! Ethan majored in Education but chose to follow his passion of woodworking as his career path. We are so proud of Ethan.
I’m especially proud of him because one year prior to his reading, I sat in this very room with him to record several YouTube shorts of him reading his poems when his book was still a dream coming together. It was a glorious moment to see him holding his published book in his hands as he shared with his audience of 16 people ranging in age from teenagers to attendees in their 80s. I’m sharing a couple of those clips at the end of today’s post (we made QR codes of the videos and placed them in small frames around our county so that people in restaurants or places of business could scan them and discover a poem; and a few were even hidden in plastic Easter eggs!).
We’ve decided on our town theme for National Poetry Month this year.
Awakenings.
It goes with our coffee shop, the hub of our sharing, and the rural spring buds and blooms and greening of the world waking from winter.
And, perhaps, it calls to the inner poet.
We gave attendees a time to write at the end of the evening. Here is my elfchen:
Awakening
awakening
sunshine streams
coffee brews ~ I
leap into life......caffeinated,
ready
Common Threads 
Your slice shows such support for this poet. You recording him a year ago. Now you and others listening. Your town honoring poems. All so lovely! You are inspiring me to think about what I can do in my community?!
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Thank you, Sally. The gatherings of community are my heart, and I’m glad it sparks an inspiration to do the same.
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This slice leaves me smiling ear to ear as I think of all those teachers who likely encouraged writing and thinking about poetry as well as all those who have encouraged this young man to follow his passions – diverse and wonderful.
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Thank you, Anita. For a small, rural town that is more about hunting and fishing and has, populationally, not as many readers as other towns and even fewer writers, we do celebrate our local talent at every opportunity. Thank you for reading and feeling the joy along with me.
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I’m remembering the poetry readings I once organized in our small town. That all stopped with Covid. I should consider doing it again. I love seeing the space and feeling like I was there. I’ll check out the videos later. (Grands coming soon.)
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Margaret, there is something spiritual about a poetry gathering. Every time we have one, someone new shows up with a deep need longing to be seen, heard, met, understood. There is power in poetry that just isn’t found elsewhere.
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Ok. I couldn’t resist. The poem Dust is so wonderful, full of emotion, memory, longing, and truth–everything a poem should be. What a wonderful poet.
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Kim,
I love the way you’re bringing poetry into your community. The poem “Dust” is so good. It really captures the dirt road aesthetic I knew in Missouri and invites others to consider the dust in their states. In Arizona we had desert dust storms.
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Thank you, Glenda! I love celebrating National Poetry Month with various writing and reading/listening opportunities in April, but this year we are building pre-poetry month opportunities and experiences as we work toward an Open Mic night in April that will invite poets and lovers of poetry to come and share one they’ve written or one they love. Ethan has a natural talent, and he cultivates it, too. He practices poetry like a physician practices medicine, living in it and making new discoveries along the way.
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What a full circle story! This place looks so wonderfully quaint and inviting! I have been seeing the elfchen form pop up a lot lately, and it makes me want to play with it! Yours was perfect to start my morning!
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Thank you, Leigh Ann! I first learned about this form from Margaret Simon, who introduced it in her blog this year, I believe. I read a little more about them, and they are German Cinquains. I tend to prefer the shorter forms for their power and approachability. Yes, yes – – try one! I’m so glad I followed Margaret’s lead on this.
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Kim,, I love the videos of Ethan’s readings. What a marvelous idea to put up QR codes to share a poem. I need to learn how to do this. What fun!
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Thank you, Barb! I could tell from the QR code count tool that people are drawn to scanning QR codes. It’s fun to see how people enjoy “discovering” poetry!
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You need to give me a few insights about how to set this up.
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I think I used QR code Generator. They expire, so I had to get a subscription. I can help you.
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I’ll text you.
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Kim, I’m new to the elfchen/elevenie form, having just played with it recently when Margaret introduced it on Ethical ELA. I find it absolutely enchanting. It provides just enough room to really play. I ADORE the theme chosen for NPM, “Awakenings” – and your “awakening” elfchen so embodies you! Sunshine, coffee, leaping, ready…it is how I see you in my mind. Such lovely offerings here from you and Ethan – his poems are so powerful. I celebrate you both.
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Thank you, Fran! I’m so glad Margaret introduced us to the Elfchen.
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Oh, I want to have a town poetry month. And that coffee shop looks amazing.
I love your elfchen.
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Thank you so much! Our coffee shop is a wonderful hub for our gatherings.
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What a gem of a world you are creating there – town poetry with a them of Awakenings, oh my, this takes my breath away. The coffee shop is beautiful, I love all the wood and brick. I enjoyed listening to Ethan Jacobs; I appreciate the soft rhyming and his many nature images…his line “live was lived beneath the sky” is mesmerizing for me. Thank you for taking me into this sweet corner of Georgia! Next trip to visit my Georgian in-laws, we’re going to have to check out this coffee shop. Just beautiful, Kim!
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Thank you, Maureen! We do love our small town. Come have coffee with me! I’d love to meet you there.
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Well, isn’t that a sweet Ethan reading poetry, with his own poetry book come to life. How lovely. I love the walls of the coffee shop. I’d like to come and sip some tea with you and Maureen! I want to do something with poetry in my town, and now the time is here….Hmmm, maybe I’ll have to think of something quickly.
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Thank you, Denise! Poetry events bring out the best in all of us. Thanks for reading, and I hope you plan a fun event.
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