MTSU Write, Poetry in the Boro, and the Bloom Stage are collaborating to bring poet and memoirist Pauletta Hansel to Murfreesboro for a weekend of events on May 31 and June 1. Pauletta is a beloved writing workshop facilitator and author of ten poetry collections, most recently Will There Also Be Singing? (Shadelandhouse Modern Press, 2024) poems of witness about Hansel’s native Appalachia and this nation, and Heartbreak Tree (Madville Publications, 2022), which won the Poetry Society of Virginia’s 2023 North American Book Award.
Friday evening, May 31
Reading and open mic
Poetry in the Boro will feature Pauletta at our monthly poetry reading and open mic at Dapper Owl. This event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 5:30 pm, event starts at 6:00 pm. More info about the open mic is below.
Saturday, June 1
Writing workshop The Power of Two: The Diptych Form
MTSU Write hosts this generative workshop in which poet and memoirist Pauletta Hansel will introduce the Diptych, a form for lyric essay or poetry which offers the writer two lenses through which to examine a subject. The diptych is a form wherein you can lay side-by-side two differing views of the same subject, or two subjects in which you hope to find commonalities. In this generative workshop, we’ll take a close look at examples and each participant will have the opportunity to create and share a first draft of your own. Optional: feel free to bring photos or other objects which relate to a subject you wish to explore.
Please register using this Google form.
More about Pauletta Hansel
Pauletta’s poetry and prose has been featured in Oxford American, Rattle, Appalachian Journal, Still: The Journal, Verse Daily and Poetry Daily, among others. Born and raised in southeastern Kentucky, Pauletta was Cincinnati’s first poet laureate, and the 2022 Writer in Residence for the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library.
About the open mic
Open mic readers can share poetry or spoken word: 2 poems or four minutes, whichever comes first. Reading a favorite poem by another writer is fine, too. Sign up for the open mic on site.
We ask that readers be prepared to keep their pieces “PG-13” depending on our venue and audience, which sometimes includes younger people.
The Dapper Owl coffee pub is located at 2412 East Main St. just past its intersection with Rutherford Blvd., on the east side of the MTSU campus. Doors open for mingling and refreshments at 5:30 PM. (Please note: doors will not open until 5:30–the staff will be doing a soft close to their regular day and preparing to reopen just for us.)
The feature will be at 6:00, with open mic to follow. Drip coffee and light snacks will be available at no charge. However, we hope that you’ll order from Dapper Owl’s tasty menu to help make this a winning collaboration for all of us! Their menu includes coffee, tea, beer, cider, and baked goods. We’ll have an update on any special menu offerings closer to the event date.
Challenge words
Here are our challenge words chosen by our community at our last gathering–not without some controversy, we admit–on the weekend that Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department dropped. In celebration of all poets, tortured and not, consider writing a new piece to share that includes one, some, or ALL of these words:
fortnight | alchemy | sin | soliloquy | prophecy | robin | fix | bow | albatross | manuscript
Your donations are appreciated
ADMISSION TO THESE EVENTS IS FREE. A DONATION of $5 or more is appreciated to help us offset our costs. You can donate using PayPal at paypal.me/poetryintheboro. We also accept donations on site.
Poetry in the Boro thanks MTSU Write and the Rutherford Arts Alliance for their on-going partnerships and support.