Gather Ye Poets at the Norfolk Library

By Bina Thomson

“That time of year thou mayst in me behold/ When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang/ Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,/ Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.” The words of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73 rang out through the Norfolk Library Great Hall as people gathered on an October evening to listen to poetry and commemorate fall. Attendees sipped warm apple cider or wine and shared poems they loved, many of them original works.

The event, on Oct.18, was the first of a monthly series the library is introducing called the “Poetry Café.” These are poetry readings shared in a group setting, yet intentionally without dense academic discussion. Each month will feature a different theme. October’s theme of “leaves” ushered in poems detailing the colors of fall, personification of leaves as they depart from trees and the emotional experience of changing seasons.

Launching the Poetry Café was a joint effort by library staff, with Leslie Battis citing the Saratoga Springs Public Library’s program as her inspiration. She recounted that its most recent café evening was focused on Barbie, highlighting both the versatility of a café and the fun that can come out of it. Norfolk library staff decided that the cafés would be great fall/winter programs to bring people to the library and to focus on the experience of sharing poetry aloud that too often gets lost in classroom-type discussions.

There is some debate on the origin of the phrase “poetry café.” Some argue that it refers to the Modernists (Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, T.S. Eliot) sharing their work in the cafés of Europe. As spoken word poetry has gained traction and the genre of slam poetry has evolved, some trace the phrase to the Nuyorican Poets Café in New York City. It was founded in 1973 by Rutgers professor Miguel Algarín to give New York Puerto Rican poets a place to meet and share their work. Although the café was closed for several years in the 1980s, it continues to serve as an arts center for the Nuyorican community.

Poetry cafés differ from poetry slams in that a slam is usually a competition between poets. There is a judging panel, and audience engagement often informs the judges’ choices. Poetry cafés more closely resemble “open mics,” which are usually held at coffee shops and bars and an open microphone is available for anyone to share their work. Poetry cafés, however, allow for people to share work by other poets.

Poetry has always been a powerful literary form, playing on sound and language to convey emotion. The Norfolk Library café group called attention to this poetic feature after one reader shared a Gerard Manly Hopkins poem, “Binsey Poplars.” Hopkins wrote it about a group of aspen trees cut down without notice and his subsequent grief, and many listeners shared their own sadness at the loss of the trees. “It’s a good reminder,” one listener said, “that the things we do have real consequences on our natural world.”

As conversations about the climate crisis grow more tense and political discussions more heated, perhaps turning to poetry can help restore common ground, reminding individuals of the role they play in the bigger picture. As a past United States Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo, once reflected, “All cultures and peoples turn to poetry during times of celebration, transformation and challenge—those times when ordinary language cannot carry meaning beyond our understanding.”

The next Poetry Café will be held Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 6 p.m., at the library. A Zoom link to the meeting will be available; to receive it, please email thenorfolklibrary@gmail.com after registering through the library website.