I don’t know exactly what to call it — compulsion, obsession, ritual, routine, habit, expectation? I’ve hosted 236 readings at Poetry Hickory over the last 20 years, and at almost every one I’ve read a new poem of my own.
This month when Poetry Hickory took place, I was traveling, and so I missed the opportunity to read a new poem in front of that familiar audience of 35-45 local poetry lovers. Yes, of course, I literally missed it, but what I mean is I missed it in the way you miss a loved one who is called out of town for too many days, that longing, pining, felt-absence sort of missing that we express when we say at the end of a text or email, “I miss you.” And I know that sounds a bit melodramatic, but getting to do something you love regularly for as long as I’ve done Poetry Hickory creates a sort of innocuous dependency.
I started Poetry Hickory at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in September 2007, five years before my wife and I bought the coffee shop. I started it because I had recently discovered that a poet I greatly admired, Tim Peeler, was living in Hickory, but few local poetry readers knew that because there was no regular reading series here to give him the opportunity to connect with a local audience.
Peeler and Robert Canipe were the first two featured writers for Poetry Hickory. Only 13 people attended that first reading, but Peeler has been featured a dozen more times for much larger audiences since then. It only took 3 or 4 months before the series caught on and our audience size had doubled, and now tripled. Part of what helped the attendance grow was adding an Open Mic segment to each event. Apparently there have always been more poetry practitioners in Hickory than one might expect.
We maintained a format of 2 featured readers and half dozen or so open mic readers for about 9 years. But I was regularly having to tell people that we didn’t have time for them to read. So, starting in 2016 we adjusted the format to a single featured reader, nearly always someone with a new book to sell, and as many as 15 open mic readers, many of whom are regulars, some of whom have also been featured at least once.
The series is well respected enough to have drawn 3 NC state poets laureate (Shelby Stephenson, Jaki Shelton Greene, and Joseph Bathanti), as well as poets from as far away as Ireland, Maine, Illinois, and Washington state when they’ve been able to coordinate their travel plans with our second Tuesday of each month schedule. I get enough requests to be the featured writer from poets with new books, that I’m currently scheduling 16 months ahead.
The next Poetry Hickory will take place at 6:15 on August 11 at Taste Full Beans, and the featured writer will be Morgan DePue, who is a fantastic performance-style poet originally from Lincolnton, now living and teaching in Ashe County, whose first book, “Rambling Meditations of Bone-Weary Wandering,” was recently published by Seed Bed Press, founded by Poetry Hickory’s other original featured writer, Robert Canipe. Attendance is free and open to the public. If you’d like to read in the open mic, email me at asowens1@yahoo.com or text me at (828) 234-4266. If you want to know more about Poetry Hickory, check it out at www.poetryhickory.com.
Now, back to that compulsive longing to share a new poem that I missed by missing this month’s Poetry Hickory. I am fortunate enough to have another venue that allows me to share new work, specifically, this one. So, here is the poem I would have read had I been able to attend this month’s Poetry Hickory.
Simple Math
Early mornings,
before 7:00,
9 months out of 12 hours,
I sit on my back porch with 2 dogs,
listening to bird song.
Always the opening rush,
house wren, cardinal, robin, blue jay, towhee.
Then it slows,
house sparrow, pewee,
but continues to come steady,
titmouse, nuthatch,
most, predictable,
red-bellied woodpecker,
but always a surprise,
yellowthroat,
or two,
killdeer, kinglet, oriole.
Such counting,
chickadee, red-winged blackbird,
the simplest math,
grackle, catbird,
but also the most sustaining,
house finch, mourning dove, bluebird.
Scott Owens is Hickory’s first Poet Laureate, author of 25 collections of poetry, and professor of poetry at Lenoir Rhyne University. His columns are archived at www.scottowenspoetry.com.
