“Poets in the Park” conjures fresh air, poetry as play, and words wafting over flower beds.
| Poets in the Park blossomed again in Redmond this year thanks to Redmond’s Poet Laureate Michael Dylan Welch, Redmond Arts & Culture Commission, and RASP (Redmond Association of Spokenword). Redmond, I discovered, can’t decide whether it is fonder of bicycles or art. (Although, why choose?) Redmond sports the nickname “Bicycle Capital of the Northwest,” leaning on history: they claim the Redmond Bike Derby, begun in 1939, is the nation’s oldest bicycle road race. Perhaps next year I’ll bike to Poets in the Park. This year I drove to the event, snaking along detours around closed highways as wildfires burned near my home—I almost cried with happiness at Redmond’s cloudy skies and mist. |  |
In Anderson Park, haiku blossomed on sticks, children hoola-hooped and teeter-tottered, and vendors sat at folding tables covered with poetry. Poets and enthusiasts took classes, nibbled mango and strawberries, and sat, quietly, imbibing a feast of words. Offerings included a teen stage, cowboy poets, WA State Poet Laureate Elizabeth Austen, and talks on “Being a Daily Poet” and on “Letting Your Muse Find You.”
I was honored to read onstage with a fun and lively group: Carolyne Wright, Mary Hake, Leonie Mikele, Samantha Updegrave and myself represented the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts. Mary’s poems looked out through the eyes of her special-needs children; Samantha rocked and rapped her strong words; Leonie’s words fluttered, dived and took flight; and Carolyne, naturally, spoke with a touch of Eulene.
Thanks Redmond! Here’s to more such events that bring poetry outside, next to ice-cream trucks, playgrounds and drinking fountains. Here’s to demystifying poetry, and plunking it prosaically onto shady barefoot grass. Redmond, we love you, even if we’ll fight ya for that nickname. Thanks Michael Dylan Welch, thanks RASP, thanks everyone who put in time and effort to plop poetry down where it seems as natural and fun as...riding a bike.
Thanks Redmond! Here’s to more such events that bring poetry outside, next to ice-cream trucks, playgrounds and drinking fountains. Here’s to demystifying poetry, and plunking it prosaically onto shady barefoot grass. Redmond, we love you, even if we’ll fight ya for that nickname. Thanks Michael Dylan Welch, thanks RASP, thanks everyone who put in time and effort to plop poetry down where it seems as natural and fun as...riding a bike.
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