Up Jump the Boogie!

Way to go Park University and the Ethnic Voices Poetry Series! Intimate venue, excellent opportunity to stand and visit, get to know, John Murillo.  This voice of the city (LA, DC, NY, Chicago) brought us stories in form, from cuplet to sestina to sonnet.  As this messenger read from his first published book of poetry all ears and eyes were standing on The Corner, listening to hip hop, knowing in all of us...when we were twelve, we taught ourselves to fly.

let it rain!

Finally the snow is behind us... hopefully.  We can take a little rain when it's 50 degrees!  Pat, Bren, Ralph and Frank traveled to TWP to meet with Amy and Kay (our newest member).  We caught up on what we hadn't discussed during the meetings we missed because of one snow storm after another in January and February. With the "business" part of the meeting behind us we went straight to poetry! 

Our first reader, Kay, delighted us with a poem about music, a poem about hurt, and finally a poem describing the sunset like none we have heard before. You'll be able to read them in the 2010 anthology as she will be submitting for inclusion in our book. Bren read about her favorite subject, motherhood  and shared Beth Ann Fennelly's work.  Pat compared the waving grass to the ballet and shared Carter Revard with the group. Frank read a poet from the Bowery scene in NYC, each short and to the point! Amy read a sonnet she had written as well as read from a book of poetic forms. Ralph, our supporter of poetry, was a great listener and gave great feedback. Overall, it was a good evening. 

We are looking forward to April and National Poetry Month.  Amy will be looking into a few of the points discussed in tonight's meeting and will share findings with the group at a later posting.

Beth Ann Fennelly

Wine and cheese and poets happy to be together, Pat, Mary, Ralph and Bren crossed town to Rockhurst to the third of the MidWest Poets Series. We gathered Michael into our circle and listened as Beth Ann Fennelly told stories and recited from her collection.  Stories about love and children and mothers (and childbirth) and relationships spiced with memories of romance real and imagined. I checked my timepiece to confirm, wondering how the hour could possibly have gone by so quickly. You'll want to add this poet to your must read list.

February Meeting

The next KC Metro Verse meeting is Tuesday, February 9th at 6:00pm. We will be meeting at The Writers Place and will continue to meet there for our meetings. The Writers Place is not charging us to use the facility; however, there will be a donations basket passed around. Please consider giving a buck or two each time we meet. It is expensive to run their facility, and they are going to be promoting our group on their calendar, website, etc. Donations will be a nice gesture on our part.

the meeting is really the 19th

at Missi's house.

less than perfect post!

FIRST MEETING IS JANUARY 14 ... must have looked at an old calendar for the post and of course the knowledge to change (edit) old post has not been garnered as yet, so accept the bloggers sorry! and see you on the second thursday.

Another Year Has Passed

January 11, 2010 is our next meeting date....  see you at the lake.  Take a minute to mark the second Thursday of each month in your new calendar (or on your e-calendar with popup reminder!).  Many of you remember that cold snowy night six years ago when we huddled around a pile of poetry books on a coffee table in Missi's living room to establish Kansas City Metropoilitan Verse the Kansas City Chapter of the Missouri State Poetry Society.  Lofty vision (with a rather lengthy name) and a great idea.

We have a new VP, Amy Davis.  Thank you Amy for stepping up to the plate.  And thank you to Michael Wells for his years of dediction to the group and most of all to the art of poetry. Amy also has lots of ideas to share with the group.  She plans a book review section of the blog wherein she will review books of poetry listed in the KC Star, NY Book Review, and others.  This year we will also be taking submissions for original poems to be posted on the blog.With 13 active members submitting poetry there should be plenty of good reading!

And speaking of submissions! kcmetroverse anthology vol 4 will be out by National Poetry Month.  That means even more submissions...  It is also time to update your bio... Many of our member poets have grown in the poetry community.  Let's shout out about personal and professional growth.

While we mention growth, it's time to balance the chapter account by settling up for books out on credit. Any owed over 90 days should be collected soon.  A treasury report will be fanned out at the next meeting.

We look forward to another great year in poetry!!!