Tag: Steve Brooks

Found poem commemorating AVL 100TPC 2013

As promised last week, here is a found poem I constructed based on the poets who read at the Asheville 100 Thousand Poets for Change event.

Poem for 28 September, 2013

Do not wonder when I say it directly to your ear,[1]
“I am writing a letter to my dead sister. . . “[2]

We anticipate the leap into freedom. [3]
We make our vows in the beach dunes. [4]
We need visual signs of healing. [5]

All that remains is the small few. . . [6]
A home where the family never can return. [7]

They sold their own inheritance. . . [8]
And must return to the center. . . to learn more. . . [9]
It is possible to have everything. . . or at least twenty dollars. . . [10]

NOTES: Each line in this found poem is from the following poets who read at the Asheville 100 Thousand Poets for Change event on September 28, 2013.

[1] Britt Kaufmann
[2] Barbara Gravelle
[3] Steve Brooks
[4] Jeff Davis
[5] Jessica Newton
[6] Jeff Davis
[7] Caleb Beissert
[8] Britt Kaufmann
[9] Jessica Newton
[10] Brian Sneeden

100TPC Quote Steve Brooks

100TPC QUOTE Brooks

If you missed the 100 Thousand Poets for Change Asheville event last weekend, quotes from each poet will be featured here. The first quote is from a poem Steve Brooks read: “We anticipate the leap into freedom…”

This week in Asheville, 100 Thousand Poets for Change

100TPCAVL Web Poster
Just a few more days until the Asheville 100 Thousand Poets for Change event!

Join Caleb Beissert, Steve Brooks, Jeff Davis, Davon Dunbar, Barbara Gravelle, Shanita Jackson, Britt Kaufmann, Matthew Mulder, Jessica Newton and Brian Sneeden at Sly Grog Wine and Beer Lounge (The Downtown Market, 45 South French Broad Avenue, Asheville, North Carolina), Saturday, September 28, 2013, 7 PM – 9 PM.

Asheville Poets represent 100 Thousand Poets for Change

100TPC2013

Here is your official invitation to join a global event called: 100 Thousand Poets for Change.

The Asheville event will be held September 28, 2013, 7 PM – 9 PM at Sly Grog Wine and Beer Lounge (The Downtown Market, 45 South French Broad Avenue, Asheville, North Carolina). Featured poets include: Caleb Beissert, Steve Brooks, Jeff Davis, Davon Dunbar, Barbara Gravelle, Shanita Jackson, Britt Kaufmann,  Matthew Mulder, Jessica Newton and Brian Sneeden.

Use the hashtag #100tpcAVL when sharing details about Asheville’s 100 Thousand Poets for Change event.

For more information, or if you have questions, please leave a comment. Thanks!

UPDATE: Here’s a PDF file of the event poster for 100 Thousand Poets for Change Asheville event next week. Download here: 100TPC AVL Poster.

Write Stuff: ‘Cause that’s what poets do

Proof positive that I can write under pressure with many children under the age of six (no, they are not all mine). Before you click the link and read this week’s Write Stuff1 post, here is the backstory.

My wife and I invited a friend and her children to join us for a Bele Chere2 excursion. My children were very excited to have guests and were acting accordingly by running from one end of our small cottage to the other end while loudly proclaiming their enthusiasm. I started writing the piece around 11 AM amid the din of my progeny, and guests arrived around 11:30 AM for an early lunch before we headed to Bele Chere. With double the children the beautiful chaos did increase. By 12:30 PM I had posted this week’s column while everyone else ate lunch.

For more than I month I had been reading and pondering the essence of this piece but had not committed it to paper. Inspired by the lyrics from the Steve Brooks’3 song Dead Poets Society (from his Purgatory Road album), I chose the title — “‘Cause that’s what poets do.”4 My outline for the piece was simple and I offered the question, “Why should I write poems if people are more interested in my activism?” Realizing the piece ended darker than I anticipated I added a sarcastic spin at the end àl a George Thorogood’s “One bourbon, one scotch, one beer.”

So here’s this week’s, “‘Cause that’s what poets do.”

By the way, Bele Chere was a hoot! The kids enjoyed it because they all received balloons that they could fight over and the parents enjoyed it because the children were very tired from all the walking and went to bed early. And that is what parents do.

NOTES:
1) Write Stuff, accessed April 9, 2009, http://www.take2max.com/writing/ (page no longer available, web site deactivated. Write Stuff published blog posts from 2006 to 2008. Write Stuff moved to Write Anything, https://writeanything.wordpress.com/)
2) Bele Chere, was the largest free festival in the Southeastern United States until 2013, accessed April 27, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bele_Chere
3) Steve Brooks, accessed April 27, 2026, https://stevebrooks.net/
4) Matthew Mulder, “‘Cause that’s what poets do”, July 30, 2006, Write Anything, accessed April 27, 2026, https://writeanything.wordpress.com/2006/07/30/cause-thats-what-poets-do/