Poetry in the Boro: Featured Readings, Open Mic, Community

The poetry scene in the greater Nashville area is incredible. I’m convinced a poetry addict can find an event or two to attend almost every night of the week. But you know what else can be incredible? Nashville area traffic. For those of us who live outside Davidson County, getting to and from events in Nashville is an exercise in unpredictability. One day you can do it in 35 minutes; another day add an hour or more to that time due to the excuse of the moment – a wreck, a rain shower, rubbernecking…

So I’ve been thinking for a while that Murfreesboro should be big enough to support its own poetry event, and I’m thrilled to announce that with the support of numerous folks, we’re going to make it happen!

Beyond traffic inconveniences, it has of course been a violent and uncivil season, and I can’t say I understand why or know how to fix all the brokenness. But I can say that I believe one anecdote to all the bad news is to gather as a community and to support each other’s creative endeavors.

Poetry in the Boro is a monthly open mic for poets & spoken word artists (we’ll surely allow a little short-short prose, too). In even months, we’ll be tagging onto the Boro Art Crawl, beginning Friday evening, 8/12. In odd months, we’ll meet on a weekday evening and have an invited reader for 20-30 minutes, then the open mic time.

I’ll be sharing more details soon, but for now I invite all of my middle Tennessee friends who are readers, writers, and appreciators of art to “like” the Poetry in the Boro Facebook page.

I am so hopeful for this event as a welcoming platform for diverse voices in my longtime hometown. I am also filled with gratitude for the enthusiasm and support of the Boro Art Crawl committee; for Allison Boyd Justus and Denise Satterfield Wilson for their help with getting this off the ground; for Jennifer Wachtel Kates and MTSU Write for sponsorship support; and for my poetry group, The Delineators – Will Brown, Kerri French, Bryanna Licciardi, and Aaron Shapiro – for engaging Murfreesboro with their poetry and their open hearts at previous art crawls, paving the way for this next step.