Your Poetry Menu and American Life in Poetry: Column 588
Poetry Menu
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6/29, W-- 7:30pm, Write Your Wednesday: A Weekly Poetry Open Mic hosted
by Genevieve Williams at Barley Street Tavern (2735 N 62nd St, Omaha).
7:30pm start. Sign up in person at 7. No cover! (every Wednesday).
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6/29, W-- 8pm-12am, Acoustic Open Mic for musicians and poets at
Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso (1624 South St, Lincoln). Hosted by
Spencer. For more information call 402-477-2007. (every Wednesday)
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6/30, 7/1-3, 5, 7, 9, Th-Su-- 8pm, Shakespeare On The Green presents The
Taming of the Shrew at Elmwood Park (south of UNO's Bell Tower
(64th & Dodge, Omaha)). See full details at NebraskaShakespeare.com.
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7/2, Sa-- 1-3pm, Omaha Writers Group at Petshop Gallery (2725 N 62nd St,
Omaha). A weekly writing workshop open to the public. Bring your work
and bring your friends. Every week, Gen provides coffee, snacks, and
writing exercises. (every Saturday)
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7/4, M-- 7pm, Open Mic at the Moon, at Crescent Moon Coffee (140 N 8th
St #10 Lower Level, Lincoln). For more information, contact cresce...@inebraska.com and check www.crescentmooncoffee.com/. (every Monday)
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7/5, Tu-- 7pm, Tuesdays with Writers
at The South Mill (4736 Prescott, just west of 48th and Prescott,
Lincoln). Tonight Tuesdays With Writers celebrates 18 years! If you
want to read, there are openings. There is an open mic following the
feature. For more information or to read, contact Deborah McGinn at dmc...@lps.org (1st Tuesday of the month)
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7/6, W-- 7:30pm, Write Your Wednesday: A Weekly Poetry Open Mic hosted
by Genevieve Williams at Barley Street Tavern (2735 N 62nd St, Omaha).
7:30pm start. Sign up in person at 7. No cover! (every Wednesday).
-
7/6, 8, 10, Th-Su-- 8pm, Shakespeare On The Green presents The Taming of the Shrew at Elmwood Park (south of UNO's Bell Tower
(64th & Dodge, Omaha)). See full details at NebraskaShakespeare.com.
-
7/6, W-- 8pm-12am, Acoustic Open Mic for musicians and poets at
Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso (1624 South St, Lincoln). Hosted by
Spencer. For more information call 402-477-2007. (every Wednesday)
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7/7, Th-- 6pm, a July Evening at Mo Java (48th and St Paul, Lincoln). Tonight we have three writers, and one songwriter:
writers Heidi Hermanson, Cat Dixon, and Marjorie Saiser; songwriter Donn Samuelson.
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7/8, F-- 7pm, Open Mic Poetry Night at Espresso Shoppe (419 North Dewey
St, North Platte). It's a fun, funny, widely varied group. Poems can be
short or long, funny or touching, rhymed or free verse. Musicians too.
George Lauby of The North Platte Bulletin emcees and makes you feel
comfortable. (2nd and 4th Friday).
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7/9, Sa-- 1-3pm, Omaha Writers Group at Petshop Gallery (2725 N 62nd St,
Omaha). A weekly writing workshop open to the public. Bring your work
and bring your friends. Every week, Gen provides coffee, snacks, and
writing exercises. (every Saturday)
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7/9, Sa-- 7:30pm, the OM Center
Poetry Slam and open mic (1216 Howard, Omaha). It's the
longest-running slam in Omaha, often featuring some of the best
performance poets in the nation. Open mic starts at 7:30 followed by
the slam; sign up BEFORE 7:30 as signup is limited. Hosted by Zedeka
Poindexter. $5, $3 for students. Call 402/345-5078 or go to OmahaSlam.com for more information. (2nd Saturday of every month)
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7/11, M-- 7pm, Open Mic at the Moon, at Crescent Moon Coffee (140 N 8th
St #10 Lower Level, Lincoln). For more information, contact cresce...@inebraska.com and check www.crescentmooncoffee.com/. (every Monday)
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7/13, W-- 7:30pm, Write Your Wednesday: A Weekly Poetry Open Mic hosted
by Genevieve Williams at Barley Street Tavern (2735 N 62nd St, Omaha).
7:30pm start. Sign up in person at 7. No cover! (every Wednesday).
- 7/13, W-- 8pm-12am, Acoustic Open Mic for musicians and poets at Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso (1624 South St, Lincoln). Hosted by Spencer. For more information call 402-477-2007. (every Wednesday)
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American Life in Poetry: Column 588
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE
There's an old joke about a truck with a five-ton license and ten tons of canaries on board. The driver had to keep getting out and banging his fist on the side to keep half the canaries flying. Here Jane Mead, who lives in northern California, gives us another truck full of birds. This keenly observed poem appeared in The Autumn House Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry, 2015. Mead's most recent book is Money Money Money/ Water Water Water (Alice James Books, 2013).
Passing a Truck Full of Chickens at Night on Highway Eighty
What struck me first was their panic.
Some were pulled by the wind from moving
to the ends of the stacked cages,
some had their heads blown through the bars—
and could not get them in again.
Some hung there like that—dead—
their own feathers blowing, clotting
in their faces. Then
I saw the one that made me slow some—
I lingered there beside her for five miles.
She had pushed her head through the space
between bars—to get a better view.
She had the look of a dog in the back
of a pickup, that eager look of a dog
who knows she's being taken along.
She craned her neck.
She looked around, watched me, then
strained to see over the car—strained
to see what happened beyond.
That is the chicken I want to be.
We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2015 by Autumn House Press, “Passing a Truck Full of Chickens/at Night on Highway Eighty,” (Autumn House Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry, 2015). Poem reprinted by permission of Jane Mead and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2016 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.