That’s what we at WAM (Warren Artists Market) do and have been doing it since our first gathering in 2012. In February 2013, we sponsored an Art & Poetry reception where we poets wrote poems about the art exhibited by hometown artists and read the poetry while standing next to the artwork. It was great! The art and related-framed poems remained in the library (by request) for 2 months!
The artists were the late Jay Person, Wheeler Smith, and Ronnie Williams. The poets were Thomas Park, Sherman Johnson, and me. And so it began.
We hosted FFP open mic nights at the Warren Food Works, moved a few times when they were closed, and came back again. Their crew was always helpful and encouraging, supplying us with food and great liquid refreshments. Special nights were held, sometimes honoring particular holidays, sometimes featuring live music, sometimes dancers performed. Singers performed a cappela. Other special nights were held sponsoring Book Release Parties & Signings. Sterling Cheston added music selections to our events. Guest readers were featured. Often it was standing room only!
We facilitated a writing group at the Senior Center resulting in Chapbooks published; hosted play readings, and held workshops.
WAM began publishing an annual anthology in 2013 with SITTING WITH A DRUNKEN SORCERESS Poems and Prose to invite you, to incite you, to delight you, followed by Life Preserved: Memories An Anthology and INSPIRATIONS, an anthology on Warren County, and THIS I KNOW an anthology. Presently we are accepting submissions for HOME an anthology.
WAM is a writer’s collective and offers after school creative writing-arts programs. It was founded by writer, teacher Thomas Haywood Park.
We continue to grow and improve, to draw participants from greater distances, letting artists and writers know that our door is open and the mic is on.
Category: Warren FoodWorks
FIRST FRIDAY OPEN MIC NIGHT! JOIN US!
FIRST FRIDAY OPEN MIC NIGHT! AT 108 S. MAIN ST. WARRENTON NC 7PM–
Join us in an evening of readings and who knows what or who, may appear to perform? Gabe will be offering foods, coffee, tea & cold drinks. BRING A FRIEND. Keep our literary tradition alive! Come out to read or just listen!
FIRST FRIDAY POETRY NIGHT
It’s here on Friday-our First Friday Poetry, open mic night, 4th Dec. 7:30 to 9:30.
Come in; you can hear Reasons for the Season.
Come in to hear original works read by the poets who wrote them.
Come in to read your own words or the words of someone you enjoy.
Come in; just listen, FoodWorks, 108 S. Main St Warrenton NC
Come in, nibble on local foods and delectable desserts.
Come in, taste the wines and beers of North Carolina.
Come in and share a table with old friends or meet new ones.
SAVE THE DATE! FRIDAY, 23 OCT. 7 – 9 BOOK READING/SIGNING of THE AFTERNOON CROWD at the American House Tavern * A Warren Artists’ Market Event
Warren Food Works 108 So. Main Str. Warrenton, NC252-257-1239.
In the worst of times, a barroom can be a dangerous place, in the best of times it can be fun, educational, and a good source of income. My few years tending bar at the American House Tavern, in the middle of horse country in the 70s, were the best of times. Some of the people I met became dear friends, some were dark horses, and some just had plain old good stories. I love a good story.
A tavern, with their daily regular customers and the newbies that walked in for the first time, is like a small neighborhood. You get to know some very well and others only their façade. But people reveal more than they realize when they are in public. Many stories didn’t get into the book. I’ll talk about a few of them.
Come out, bring your book to be signed, or you can purchase one for $10, or just come to hear the stories.
AN EXCEPTIONAL FIRST FRIDAY POETRY NIGHT
The September First Friday continues to exceed my expectations! I thought that the holiday weekend would bring us a small group dedicated to our efforts of bringing poetry and oral expression to Warren County. Instead, the Warren Food Works (WFW) was packed with a diverse crowd from 18 to 80 mingling, enjoying each other while eating, drinking, and soaking up the words cast out into the atmosphere.
A wide range of poetic subjects seeping from the hearts of writers-Warren County writers, and Virginia writers, too, silenced the room with absorption. The always-welcome songs sung so beautifully by Shavon Russell Jones and afterwards, her sister, (forgive me I didn’t get her name.) A big surprise to everyone when volunteer from behind the bar, Cris Hunter ended the evening with the most beautiful rendition of Nature Boy. It brought some tears for the beauty of it. Their voices were like melted chocolate, velvety smooth and mesmerizing to everyone.
Miranda Medlin offered a stirring presentation, taking all into her realm. Devonte, a poet from our last year anthology Sitting with a Drunken Sorceress gave us his words and Travis Bullock continues to bring people in just to hear what he has to tell us.
So many others came to read, to share thoughts, feelings, and to merely listen. It was a very full night; a night to show Thomas Park what his dream has wrought; a night to make him proud for all his efforts.
JENNY GORDON GRAY BOOK READING/SIGNING FOR SIR ARCHY
The Warren Artists’ Market is hosting a Book Reading/Signing on Thursday, May 28, at the Warren FoodWorks, with Jenny Gordon Gray featuring her first book Sir Archy. Her book is about horses, in particular about the greatest sire the USA has ever known. Sir Archy was born as Robert Burns in 1805. One partner is his ownership, Col. John Tayloe III, changed his name to Sir Archy. These were the days when horse racing was for the gentry only and races would commonly last for four miles. It wasn’t long before no one would race their thoroughbred against him.
It was William Ransom Johnson who brought Sir Archy to Warren County, North Carolina in 1808. That’s when Sir Archy’s fame would become even more so; that’s when, in 1810, he became a stud horse. He was farmed out from one place to another siring more than 400 winners. His bloodline includes such champions in the Racing Hall of Fame as Man O’ War, Seabiscuit, Native Dancer, Secretariat, and Seattle Slew. While Ms. Gray is not into thoroughbred racing, she does own a descendant of Sir Archy and does dressage riding
The public is invited..
FOR THOSE WHO MISSED FIRST FRIDAY POETRY NIGHT AT WARREN FOODWORKS
A friend, who missed coming to FFPN at the Warren FoodWorks last week, asked me what I read. Attempting to step into the absent Thomas’ shoes, not an easy task-he is a natural emcee, I read a bit more than usual. As he is always asking everyone “Why do you write?” Reading one of my pieces from Jyoti Wind’s, The Creative Arc, An Anthology on Writing, seemed appropriate. My well-read copy is pictured here. Reading again and since WH Auden is one of many favorite poets, I read:
W H AUDEN QUOTE
“A poet is, before anything else, a person
who is passionately in love with language.”
W.H. Auden (1907-1973)
This quote from one of my favorite poets
sits with truth on my lips, slides down to
my heart and nestles there, as it finds a home.
In love with language, words that tickle me,
making me laugh; sometimes outright giggle
words can impress me with their sincerity
depress me without any reason just because
they are a word that forms an unhappy picture.
Poets take these words and move them around
write one higher on the line to make it jump
or rest quietly to let you sigh, take a deep breath
be happy to see it, special words can be italic
to touch you, you will remember those words
so precious that they imprint on your mind
and stay there
Bards play with accents as in persona poems
where you use the voice of another, allowing
your words to come from their mouth or is it
their words from your pen, after stepping into
their shoes, testing their waters, feeling how
someone else thinks. Is that possible?
Or is it guesswork and misunderstanding.
Playing with words on paper is part of that
love of language; moving them around
forming an outline of a heart or a tree
simply for pure delight. The power of a
printed word is image, to impress another
or catch their eye while playing like a child
hoping to leave a mark on the reader.
Arlene Sandra Bice © 3/2015