Hickory – Deceased Winston-Salem poet Rodney Holman had a vision of making poetry accessible to people in unexpected places. In 2012, members of the Winston-Salem Writers, including Carol Roan, Sam Barbee, and Kevin Watson, became aware of Holman’s ambition and worked with him to make it a reality. Their labors created a program called Poetry in Plain Sight, consisting of poems printed on posters and placed in shop windows in downtown Winston-Salem. The first set of posters debuted in January 2013 just weeks after Holman passed away due to complications from diabetes.
Since that time, Poetry in Plain Sight has expanded to 8 NC cities: Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Burnsville, Wilmington, Durham, Greenville, Raleigh, and now, beginning in May of this year, Hickory. 48 poems, 4 each month, have been selected and printed on posters to be displayed in “plain sight.” In Hickory the poems will be featured at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse, Patrick Beaver Library, Hickory Community Theater, and Hickory Wine Shop. Poets selected for PiPS are also featured at readings in several locations across the state, including Poetry Hickory on the second Tuesday in October.
The PiPS poems for May are “Flashes” by Glenn Coats of Carolina Shores, “Hide and Seek,” by Joanne Durham also from the NC coast, “Wisteria” by John York of Greensboro, and “Blessings” by Chris Abbate of Holly Springs.
Poetry in Plain Sight is now coordinated by the NC Poetry Society. For more information on PiPS, visit ncpoetrysociety.org/pips/.
