traveling poetry classes in february 2017 @ the other farm brewing company in boyertown.

we decided to schedule the next two classes more in advance and with specific themes of focus as prompts for anyone who wants them. but as always, writing poems about other topics, or just observing and commenting on poetry in class, not necessarily writing any to share, is perfectly fine, too. and as usual, people are welcome to attend regularly or just once in a while, when they are in the mood for some good old poetry-hugging.

next classes--

when: sunday, february 12 @ 1 p.m. & sunday, february 26 @ 1 p.m.

where: the other farm brewing company in boyertown @ 128 east philadelphia avenue, boyertown, pa 19512 (nommm-worthy sandwiches and winter weather cups of coffee, tea, chai, etc. a winning factor for our traveling poetry class, indeed)

optional themes of focus:

• sunday, february 12-- animal totems; symbolism of animals
• sunday, february 26-- identity-exploring poetry

cost: $20 per student, per class (we usually meet for 2 hours or more)

if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at poetrywithjenniferhetrick@yahoo.com. 

and if you know anyone who may be interested in our class, feel free to share this blog content onward.

(this summer-panting kitty is named jinx; she lives near the trout run reservoir in rural boyertown and hunts for tiny rodents like she's getting paid to do it, yet she loves to just stretch her belly wide and roll around on the floor in off-hunting hours, too.)

1908 rhoads opera house fire reflections through a mid-january memorial service in fairview cemetery.

in mid-january, my traveling poetry class ventured out to fairview cemetery for a memorial service of the rhoads opera house fire victims, with the flamed devestation dating back to 1908.

the event, hosted by the boyertown area historical society through the efforts of margaret and carl harner, had at least 40 people in attendance, although i wish more young people besides reporters cared and show their interest at these kinds of events. but my 30-something self, seemingly 83-years-old inside, is doing what's possible to believe young people won't let history of value die away, perhaps as they develop curiosity about their towns and heritage as they get older.

below are eye-scenes from the event, along with a sky-view of the original opera house building as it looks now, notes from what we heard the harners explain of this local-turned-national history, and a poem inspired into the fruit of writing by barbara tucker.

Hai-Ku
by Barbara Tucker

Rhoads Opera House
“The Scottish Reformation”
Boyertown was thrilled

                                                          Mrs. Monroe wrote
                                                          The play and many others
                                                          What could go wrong?

Located on the
Second floor with few exits
Death trap for many
                  
                                                          Mrs. Monroe hired
                                                          Mostly locals and untrained
                                                          Proved to be fatal

Firefighter killed
Pulling the water wagon
A tragic ending

                                                          Chance placed someone’s boy
                                                          At the entertainment there
                                                          Lost in flames and fear

400 were there
171 perished
Some remains unknown

                                                          Mrs. Monroe was
                                                          Subpoenaed but refused to
                                                          Appear, was accused
  
January night
1908 is recalled
By those who still care

community poetry one picture at a time-- inviting poems to be published through the key, a positive local news publication.

an introduction to community poetry one picture at a time
by jennifer hetrick

people who know me probably realize there’s hardly much i could adore in this life more than poetry. with this in mind, as a writer and editor, i am grateful to understand that language is a powerful tool to get through to people. it is also carved into what’s creative in us. and our world is brimming with inspiration which is often missed because of how busy, stressed, and distracted we are.

in teaching poetry locally, i’ve learned just how valuable it can be to pair captivating photography with what’s bardic in our days. as a quick vocabulary lesson, “bard” means “poet,” so “bardic” is an adjective to describe all things poetry-related.

i love the eye-savvy lure of photography, too. it just makes sense to pair poetry with pictures as a practice (alliteration station maximum, yes!). so i am thrilled to introduce readers of the key to my concept of community poetry one picture at a time. i’m also happy to promote the healing-oriented aspects of this endeavor, as it is an automatic benefit to anyone who tests it out.

i launched this concept in summertime on my blog and facebook page. through it, i share one of my own locally taken photographs, and i welcome people of all ages, backgrounds, and places to write their own poem whisked into existence by this glimpsing. i publish all of the poems online, as i believe in the importance of all voices being heard as much as possible when art is created in this often messy-minded world of ours. having diversity across perspectives and language of varied voices in the art of words through eye-scenes is a great way to promote positives in life today.

readers are welcome to submit one original poem which they write. i will publish all poems on my blog and facebook page. the key will publish as many poems as feasibly fit into the layout for this new feature in each latest issue.

submitted poems can be written in any form or style.

include your poem’s title, your name, and your town of residence.

send your poems to poetrywithjenniferhetrick@yahoo.com or thekeyofberks@gmail.com.

the deadline is sunday, february 12, 2017.

to see all poems published online, visit—

blog: http://poetrywithjenniferhetrick.blogspot.com

facebook: poetry with jennifer hetrick

and here is the first poem sample to start this new endeavor, inspired by the picture above.

(this photograph stemmed from the boyertown borough)

the blur after wind
by jennifer hetrick

edges of cold keep

molecules in maps

across worn wood.

some of us follow

fences with our eyes

during the deep hull

of winter. we forget

that this wood had its

own stories before it

knew milling, that

since water carries

information*, this

ice knew memories

before it left sky

for my backyard.

*this is in reference to masaru emoto’s research which was based in japan. he died in 2014 but studied water crystals and wrote several books about his findings.

the spring eye-scene inspiration is three charming pigs chomping down at meal time but from a view away from their iconic little snouts. the photograph was taken at eckerton hill farm in rockland township.

we look forward to receiving your submissions.

&&&

to see the original version of this feature in its digital format, besides also available in the community, in print, click here. this poetry content is on pages 6 and 7 of the winter 2017 issue. you will also see a list of the distribution sites of the publication across regional businesses in our area at the end of the pages. the key is published through the happiness project of reading but spans outside of berks county and is continually growing in its reach.

insect poems in my traveling poetry class & teaching syllables to young sisters through a dolly parton song.

in late december, my traveling poetry class focused on insects, but we often explore other topics, too, so some subjects went off into reflections of geese and fields of stubble-cut corn and a man passing a high school girlfriend outside of a storefront once he's greying and has been through two divorces, older and not sure if he is wiser. 

and barbara tucker had a great line about deer: it's the dawn and dusk that they love the most.

we met at steel city coffee house in phoenixville, chester county, for the first time in months and sat next to the faux-fire. 

this orange-moving blur against the wall prompted interest from two young sisters who sat near us because they wanted to be near those flames, too, and we didn't blame them one bit for that. their names were ryan, 5, and taylor, 7. 

ryan, with silvery blonde hair shining even in winter, asked, are you a teacher ? i said yes and pointed out who my students were, sitting around me.

their father sat nearby. we first started with reading "my tennessee mountain home" by dolly parton for its poetic lyrics and talk of june bugs, which we wouldn't have guessed are the copper-backed beetles you can sometimes see out in your backyard in warmer seasons.

i gave the little girls copies of the lyrics to read and follow along with and let them know they could take them home with them. young ryan was especially excited at the prospect of finding the song on youtube later with her ipad. 

i asked the sisters if they knew what syllables were. they said no. so i explained them sound-wise, and i asked them to count the syllables of certain words in parton's song. i used my fingertips to help them notice the math better. they grew accurate very quickly and beamed at their sudden success. i told them to keep counting syllables in life after they left, as we knew they were about to say goodbye soon.

ryan offered to spell "man" for me, since she knew the letters in the correct order, and then she went on to spell "cat." i asked how to spell "car," and taylor helped in noting that if you take out the ''t,'' and you put an ''r' there instead, you have ''car.''

these moments were actually pretty brief, as the family left in not too long. but we loved these minutes deeply, in easy agreement as a class. plus, my two students of the day were retired teachers.

scenes from steel city coffee house and some of our shared writings are below. the poem by jim harrison is one from out in the world. he is a good friend of former u.s. poet ted kooser who served in his position from 2004 to 2006.

 

 

 

the (boyertown) rhoads opera house fire-- memorial service for the 109th anniversary-- sunday, january 15, 2017: a traveling poetry class excursion.

my traveling poetry class will have its first excursion in 2017 in fairview cemetery in boyertown, as we'll be attending a memorial service for the victims of the rhoads opera house fire. the devastating blaze, which prompted legislation to ensure public building doors were able to be opened from inside and out, grew its flames on january 13, 1908.

the memorial service, hosted by margaret and carl harner of the boyertown area historical society, is slated for sunday, january 15 @ 1 p.m. at the grave marker below, which reads as "the unidentified" in larger lettering.

this event, free to all of the public, will not be too long, as it'll be during the cold of winter weather. the service is to honor the victims and this tragedy-rich part of local history, 109 years later.

the closest address across from the entrance of the cemetery is 332 west philadelphia avenue, boyertown, pa 19512. while the cemetery has its own driveway and no official designated parking, street parking is across from the gates.

my current traveling poetry class students and any new students who would like to attend this event can join us afterward. we will be meeting at the other farm brewing company, which is located at 128 east philadelphia avenue, boyertown, pa 19512.

the cost for the class is $20 in genuine dollar bills. students are welcome to bring their own previous poetry or other creative writing for sharing and discussing with the class, as we always aim to give each other open-minded feedback and reflections. reading from your journal, notebook, sheets of paper, or an electronic device is fine, but you are also welcome to bring copies for everyone to read. 

and we'll plan to discuss the memorial service to help stir ideas of poetic writing to craft from this experience.

we usually meet for at least 2 hours and sometimes more, depending on how long students are interested in talking, reading out loud, gaining feedback, writing, etc.

for any questions, email the instructor: poetrywithjenniferhetrick@yahoo.com.

winter wreath haiku.

carol wozniak arrived at my door yesterday afternoon with the surprise of a beautiful wreath of a not so traditional yet absoultely eye-savvy and heart-hugging kind. each november, she is a wreath-making maven after endeavoring in real estate in most life-minutes. 

she designed several other wreaths as donations from richard a. zuber realty for the second annual festival of wreaths & gift basket raffle to benefit the liberty fire company, which is right down the road from the host location, the keystone steam fire engine company number no. 1. i always figure, since firefighters are the ones who show up if your house is somehow unfortunately set aflame, as awful of a thought as that is, when deciding what nonprofits to support, reminders of this possibility make it all the more a good idea to do what you can for these volunteers so that they always have the resources they need to do their crucial work in communities.

at least one of her other designs involved a similar style as this wreath, which now has a home on my previously boring-looking front door. i didn't know it was boring until i saw how pretty it could be, though. and the ripped out and rolled up pages from a weathered book paired swimmingly with the history-rich wood of my front door.

the door's new appeal based on this elegant yet rustic, hand-made wreath seemed to deserve a freshly seasoned haiku.

apples, pears, leaves that

never fall away―a wreath

tells hearts you are loved

the december writers' recital at oley valley elementary school.

last friday, oley valley elementary school hosted its december writers' recital in its library at the hands of jenny albee. this is a special opportunity where teachers are allowed to pick only one student per class to share their writing with an audience of family and friends as a way to showcase their language talents on the page. the library hosted two separate sessions for the recital, and the morning one is featured here.

some of the topics from students' writings were vacationing in ocean city, new jersey, and autumn in pennsylvania. here are a few of the lines from what students wrote and shared.

seagulls flocking for food

i also smell greasy french fries

i taste the lemon-y lemonade on the boardwalk

*

i feel cool breezes every night

my favorite feeling is gooey pumpkin guts when 

you put your hands in the carved pumpkin

i also hear crows cawing

with thought of apple cider and oley 

fair french fries, my mouth waters

*

bubble wrap and orange big foot footprints on the floor

*

a lot of people say, "where did you get that blonde hair"

*

turkeys have 5,000 to 6,000 feathers on their bodies

female turkeys lay 10 to 18 eggs at a time―that is a lot of eggs

did you know that when turkeys are excited, 

their necks turn red, white and blue

unfortunately, scenes of actual writings and awards from the recital didn't happen with my camera, but lillee grace hetrick's mom kindly took some eye-scenes to pass along as more visuals for this kid-honoring day. 

just eight-years-old, she is a more creative niece than i knew of myself at her age, aside from a poem which i wrote about deer in the woods for my second grade teacher. but this attention to promoting the talents of young kids through their writing abilities is a welcome approach to positives in our often distracting, too rushed world today. and this may just be one of the memories which stays with them and helps them to believe in themselves when they're the adults in charge of our world, once they're grown-ups. hopefully they take this care of thought, observation, and language-crafting with them.