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[Back to index of January 2008 articles] Poetry Coffeehouse Nourishes Body and Soul By Lucy Chumbley In a parish hall decorated with collages of autumn leaves and waist-high laminated posters of the French Impressionists, a group of poets gather to talk about art and life. By day, the hall at Grace Church, Georgetown, houses a Montessori school. But once a month, at night, it is transformed into a Poetry Coffeehouse featuring local poets and, when the budget allows, jazz musicians. For more than 14 years, the coffeehouse has been one of the church's signature outreach events, says David Bujard, who has been an organizer since 2003. While some people come for the poetry and fall in love with the church, Bujard claims the opposite was true for him. "I gained an appreciation – a love – of poetry through those readings," he says. "And then I offered to help run them." When the Rev. John Graham, a jazz aficionado, was installed as rector in 2004, he added musicians to the mix, enhancing the experience "in ways that we could not have guessed," Bujard says. This fusion, with a focus on partnership and improvisation, has delighted "poets who never thought they'd read with jazz music in the background and jazz musicians who had no real appreciation of poetry," he says. "The entire audience is at the edge of their seats, thinking, ';Can this possibly come together?' And it does." Tonight, five poets will be reading selections from a new anthology, Family Pictures; Poems & Photographs Celebrating Our Loved Ones, edited by Kwame Alexander (Capital BookFest, 2007). But first, they are tucking into a pizza dinner with members of the audience – little globes and A First Atlas set out on the shelves behind their heads – and talking about their families and what inspires them to write. Poet and George Washington University professor Mary Sherman Willis says during her career as a journalist, she was concerned with "recording things, dealing with the truth." But after the birth of her children, she began to channel truth differently: through art. "I believe that any artist is in fact performing an act of worship if they are on their game," she says. "The idea of artistic truth is probably more truthful than many other things." Katy Richey, a middle school English teacher clad in brown suede and a stripy scarf, describes her love of words: "They're fun," she says. "I like to look things up." Richey, who went to "Jewish grade school, Episcopal high school and Catholic college –and came out believing in God," says she does not intentionally address spirituality in her poems, "but I'm sure it's coming out." Poet, children's author and elementary school librarian Jacqueline Jules holds up the first book in her new Bible story series: a vividly illustrated version of the story of Abraham. As a librarian, getting children to read is a big part of her motivation to write, she says. Angela Boykin Turnbull, a former president of the African American Writer's Guild says social justice is an important part of her work. "I think of it in terms of using my work as an activist," she says. "When there is an injustice that occurs that deeply impacts me, I use that to further educate and share my feelings with the community." Turnbull, who is a Catholic, says her writing also allows her "to go into that deep spiritual place and explore what was already there." "My writing is completely spiritual to me," says Deanna Nikaido, author of a collection of poems entitled, Vibrating With Silence. "When I started writing, I felt like I was falling asleep. It wasn't until I was formally introduced to meditation that I realized what was happening to me." Now, she prepares herself with a pen and paper and writes words as they come to her. "I don't sit down to write something on purpose," she says. "Sometimes it's that way, but 90 percent of the time it's not." Clearing away plates and freshening up their coffee, audience members shift their seats away from the table to face a lectern, from which the poets read their work. "This church is so fun to come and read poems in," says Kim Roberts, a Jewish poet whose work also is featured in the book, introducing the others. "Because here we are, standing at what feels like a pulpit, but talking about all the messy things of life." Poems follow about love and friction between mothers and daughters, devoted and neglectful fathers, long and difficult marriages, death and empty nests. Those who read at Grace come from all faiths and none, and are chosen for their talent – all are published poets – not their spirituality. But "they come in, and when reading their poetry in the church, feel they need to address spirituality in some way," Bujard says. Likewise, the audience is a mix, Graham says, with the majority coming from outside the church. "There are some devotees inside the parish," he says. "But it's more community, which is in some way what we want." "We have members of our church, some of whom have been quite longstanding, who first heard about it through the Poetry Coffeehouse," Bujard says. "We also through the Poetry Coffeehouse have a broader outreach. …We reach out to people who may not come to any church on any Sunday morning. We plant the seed." If these people ever find themselves in a place where they need the church, "we've paved the way," he says. "We make it easier for them to enter a church, because they've got good and welcoming memories." Plus, he says, quoting St. Paul ("If anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things," Philippians 4:8), "excellence in art is rewarding for its own sake." [Back to index of January 2008 articles]
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